Nomadic Nomadic.

Back in mid Dec 2020, my partner and I decided to take the opportunity of both us WFH (working from home) to travel across the country. We're still in the midst of our trip (currently sitting in sticky, yet somehow still nice, South Florida.)

I packed my entire SF apartment (which I have lived in for almost a decade), threw the majority of my belongings in storage, packed just enough for me and Dozer to survive and my camera gear and threw it all in the car. With that, Dozer and I set off to caravan with the other half of our equation.

To cut to the chase, I am only just now pulling out my camera gear. I'm not really sure why it took so long (I had SO MANY opportunities to shoot so many wonderful and beautiful things). Goes without saying, I've been slightly disappointed I didn't take my camera out sooner. But I wanted to take this opportunity to give a recap of my trip (thus far) and share some of what I have captured.

This may be a bit lengthier than normal as I'm giving you a full recap. I'm going to try to give short recaps and shoot at each state moving forward so they won't be as long. ;)

Southern California - First stop, I had to see my mom in SoCal. We made the best of it, booked an amazing spot in Palm Springs, CA and kidnapped my mom for a week. My mom doesn't know how to "vacation." The woman has been busting her ass for almost 50 years. So, the habit of "doing" became engrained. That said, once we swept her up, we made sure she was responsible for nothing other than relaxing. One thing she said on the trip that will forever be a part of my heart was, "I haven't slept a full 8 hours in years; I slept 9 hours last night!" That was my mom's first night with us in PS.

Texas - After a week with my mom, I tearfully packed my car and we were headed out. We drove across Nevada, AZ and stopped in El Paso, TX for a night. Not going to lie, I thought we were going to get murdered where we were staying and I'm so glad it was just for the night. I'm sure El Paso is great. But that night was not for me.

More Texas - Christ. Texas is fucking massive. It took us 2 freaking days of almost 10-12hr drives just to get across. I was exposed to Buc-ee's for the very first time. That place is HUGE and I was intrigued. It was like a gas station and Walmart XL all rolled into one. They had everything from a bbq pit (in the middle of the place) and sold everything from furniture, clothing and everything in-between. It's true what they say, "Everything in Texas is, (indeed), bigger." After about 12 hrs, we made it to Austin, TX and decided to stay there for a weekend. Austin is cute. I wish we had more time to explore, but we were on an agenda: we needed to make it to FL by New Years to spend time with my partner's family.

No mask NOLA - From Austin, we made our way to New Orleans, LA. Driving through Alabama to get there, I remember seeing giant lifted trucks - one of which had a huge assault rifle decal across the back window with the words "Assault Life" plastered above it. Scary. Also, lots of camo spotted when we stopped for gas.

Once we made it to NOLA, we had a mishap with our AirBnb (it had not been cleaned and that is NOT OK during covid.) Long story short, the host had another property we were able to stay in. We kind of got an upgrade...kind of (we paid the difference at a discounted rate.) Also, restaurants seem to be operating at normal capacity and not many people cared to wear masks - even in the French Quarter. Scary. Anyhow, we were there for a week before heading to North Carolina. I feel that was when our travels actually started. Everything else was just a means to get to the point where we could finally explore and stay somewhere for longer than 6 days.

North Carolina - What a gem of a place. My partner and I were able to rent a lakeside cabin for 2 weeks. It was so tranquil with a private dock for us to sit in, a huge back deck for the dogs to run around and a fireplace that we enjoyed almost every other night. It was the first time I experienced real snowfall. It has, by far, been my favorite place to stay on this trip thus far.

Every morning, we'd open our front door to a hiking trail. We'd leash the dogs up and go for hikes almost every day before we started our work day and it was jus so perfect.

The woman who owns that property also owns another property closer to Asheville, NC. So, after 2 weeks in Brevard, we headed to the second riverfront property in Asheville. That was also a very cute cabin deep in the woods. We experienced A LOT of snow there but I wouldn't change it for anything. It was nice living in a snow globe for a little bit.

Juno Beach, FL - That brings us to where I'm sitting today: Juno Beach, FL. We spent another 10hrs driving from NC to south FL where we've been for the past couple of weeks. It's definitely different from the snowy days of NC! We're in an apt about 10 min away from my partner's mother and 5 min away from her eldest sister. It's been nice being close to her family. But, I tell ya, the mosquitos sensed my CA ass coming in. They've been eating me alive...up until a few days ago. Some former US Marine friends suggested Avon's Skin-So-Soft and (so far) it's been working!

This is longwinded. Here's some unedited stuff, below. My hope and intent is to keep my camera handy and to be able to share more photos (both edited and RAW throughout this trip.)

Thanks for hangin' in there.

- T