It is that time of year again. When everyone looks back over the previous year, decides what went well and what didn’t, and sets new goals to accomplish over the upcoming year. Matthew and I have never been big on setting “resolutions” per-say, but we do spend some time each new year reminiscing about the previous year and outlining goals to strive toward in this one. We’ve noticed that doing this helps to keep us motivated and prevents us from sliding in to a rut.
Looking Back
So how did last year go? Did we meet our goals and would we change anything? Amazing, yes and yes. 2016 was one of the best years we’ve ever had. It was our first full year on the road and it was full of love, laughter, relationships, exploration, and adventure. Though it was not without it’s difficulties, our experiences in 2016 were defined by “living” and not just “existing”. As of December we have accomplished 27 of our 48 states goals, 29 of our 47 National Parks goals, have formed closer relationships with our family across the country, and have made new friends along the way that we can’t wait to see again. We’ve experienced beautiful moments all the way from Washington state to North Carolina. Even though we had some set-backs this year that included our car breaking down about a million times and thus the draining of some of our funds, we are still pretty much on track for accomplishing our quest and have had some unexpected and good experiences as a result.
Our budget took a big blow when we found ourselves paying for so many car repairs and hotel stays in the northeast during our attempted car road trip gone bad in September. Because of this however, we got to spend a lot more time with family members (including the holidays!) and I began looking into travel nursing opportunities, which has been a very flexible and lucrative way for us to fund the rest of our journey. If there is one thing we learned from that experience (although there were many), it is that every journey has a personality and a way that it is meant to be traveled. Our journey was not meant to be done via car and on a tight time-line, even if it was just for a month. The Adventure-Some U.S. Quest started out in the RV and it should be finished, in it’s entirety, via RV, motorcycle and with a time-line that allows for fanciful wandering.
Looking Forward
So what will 2017 hold for us? Well, with our rough outline right now, February will find us traveling South to Florida and then to the great wide west again, this time through Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. At the end of summer, we’ll head east (for attempt #2!) and finish up the last of our journey in the New England states during the Fall. If our Jello plans pan out at all, we could see the conclusion of our U.S. Quest in winter. After that? Well, we have some ideas, but we can’t tell you just yet 🙂