I left out a lot of personal stuff that happened since the kids visited in March, but this is a van life blog, not my personal blog. However, to explain my travels from this point on, I’ll say things were not going well in Florida and I was beside myself trying to manage the situation from 3000 miles away. A family crisis that started bubbling up continued mounting until it became urgent enough to require me returning to Florida.
(But boy would that make another novel of a story)
I’m very grateful my job granted another temporary remote exception, allowing me to do this, despite a slight change to my role. The situation was alarming enough that I would have quit, and I’m eternally thankful that wasn’t a choice I had to make.
My family situation was anxiety producing. My job is high pressure and high stress. I proposed to return to the office in person for a week every quarter on my own dime. Having already been remote after Hurricane Ian, I knew what it would take to traverse east coast to west coast and back. And the “van time” would allow for that pressure release valve to open as I lived for just me (and my faithful dog companion) along each journey.
This time I was bringing some of my water toys.
On day one in Southern California, GMaps let me down again (the reason I was using it was because clicking directions out of my camping apps automatically opened in GMaps, so once I picked a site it switched over) and took me through private oil well roads not fit for a 20 foot van and nowhere near my destination, Carrizo Plain National Monument. I think that was the point I gave up on them completely and just swallowed the extra steps it took to use a different app until the camping apps evolved enough to prompt users for which option to use. The extra steps were worth not getting led astray anymore.
I didn’t arrive until after dark and again struggled to find a site with limited visibility. And I missed the sign stating the cattle guard crossing was rough at the entrance and pretty much jumped it. Oops.
