We’ve been on the road, living in our van for one week now. It’s definitely not been what I expected yet. But we’ve learned a lot already! The biggest lesson being that we know nothing. 

We already knew that partly – we purposely left without the van being completely pimped out. You know what I’m talking about – google van life, and it’s all these instagram perfect vans.

Mike and I have followed a lot of various van life accounts this past year. A lot of them take months, if not years, to build out their van. Nah, brah – I’m a planner, but that would have given me way too many opportunities to chicken out and take the easy, comfortable route of staying at my job. These vans are stunning of course… but we didn’t want to take the time, and especially did not have the money that it would take. 

So we decided to spend the first few months traveling before committing to certain layouts, cabinets, shelves, equipment, etc etc and learn what’s essential to us, and what’s not.

We also had no idea how to pack our items. By the end of the day, it was basically all thrown into totes and bags, and we just called it good.

We left the Quad Cities right on schedule (planned on 10am – left at 4pm) and started driving to Michigan to visit a few friends. Mike wants us to still live on some sort of schedule, so we ended up stopping for the night at a Pilot truck stop and sleeping. Surprisingly, it was a great night sleep! We put up our shades on all the windows, closed the curtains, took a sip of whiskey and cheers-ed our new life and passed out. 

We continued the next morning to Kalamazoo, Michigan to visit my friends; Zach and Tesi. They work at Sherman Lake YMCA, so we were able to workout that morning and see the beautiful summer camp. We only had one night with these lovely friends since they’re leaving to explore the Great Smoky National Park! Kindred spirits, they are. 

They took us out to a delicious lunch and dinner (best salad I’ve had in my life at Maru – check this place out if you’re ever in Michigan) and of course, to Bells Brewery, which is Michigan’s oldest craft brewery. I had an Oberon and a mango habanero beer – yum yum! 

That day/night was when the frustration began. Mike was at Autozone for hours because some pulley thing had snapped (I’m good with car stuff) and that night alllll the things were either in the way or not being found.  You know when you wake up in the middle of the night to sleepily shuffle to bathroom?  Imagine that, but someone had lifted your bed 4 feet and also rearranged everything and you run into or trip over every item while stumbling to find the light. Life feels a bit like that in the van right now.

Being the wonderful friends they are, Zach and Tesi let us stay at their house after they left for vacation so we could organize our lives (it’s a little better now). We also got the part in from Autozone and got back on the road to go visit Mike’s friend, Eric.

We met Eric at a local pub just outside of Detroit, called Shamrock Pub for delicious and cheap burgers and beers. His wife, Megan, and daughter, Nora were both sick, so after dinner, we drove to their house, parked the van, walked Luca and their dogs, and went to sleep in their driveway. Van life is sexy, ya’ll! 

Luckily, the next day Megan was feeling a little better so Eric was able to go mountain biking with Mike and I ran with Luca at Stony Creek Metro Park. The trail systems are really well maintained around Detroit  – directional signs are apparently a luxury back in the Quad Cities, and are not deemed as an essential. I’ve gotten lost many a time at our parks, but there was no way here – at every intersection, there was a map, along with a posted number of where you were at. QC, step it up. 

Anyway, we lounged around after that for a little while and watched a Netflix movie (Game Over, Man…. go watch it if you like Workaholics) because Mike ended up picking up a job for the next day(s) in Toledo, Ohio. For the money, we figured it was definitely worth our time to add an extra month or so to this trip. 

I ended up helping Mike because there was no one else and it would get done a lot quicker – we put PVC piping and wire up on the roof of a JCPenney’s in a mall for security cameras.  Here is what I learned in my first work experience in a trade/skill/manual labor job: it’s a lotttt of waiting for other people, it’s hard as hell, and SO worth it for the money. We also got the added fun of windy rain the whole day we were on the roof. Seriously though – mad respect to all those that work in a trade job. You deserve that paper. We were there for two days – the first was literally waiting around for everyone else to figure things out, and the second day was non stop moving and working. I was exhausted after each day – so we treated ourselves to delicious beers and food both nights. Maumee Bay Brew Pub the first night for wings, and Bierstube for jalepeno burgers. We drove around SO much that I now feel like I’ve seen all of Toledo, Ohio – and it’s nothing to write home about, that’s for sure. 

 

Finally, after all that was done, we headed to Kentucky to actually see National Parks – you know, the point of this trip. But we came across the Kentucky Bourbon Trail first – so obviously we had to stop. So far we’ve visited Buffalo Trace and Woodford Reserve. Out of those two, Buffalo Trace was our favorite. Despite it being much bigger (the second largest in the country!), it had a much more personal, relaxed feeling. Our tour guide, Dave, was wonderful. For my Parks and Rec fans, he was a mix of Ron Swanson, and the other Ron from Eagleton.

Woodford Reserve was stunning, but felt much more sterile and like a showroom. It sounded like the guides were reciting lines. Buffalo Trace tour was also free, and Woodford was $15 per person. 

Fun whiskey fact – 3-5% is lost every year that it’s in the barrel. Which makes sense on why aged whiskey’s are so expensive!

Today, we are going to check out two more distilleries before we (finally) head to a National Park, Mammoth Cave!