A new year, a new adventure.
Actually, we’ve been planning a new chapter for a while. Lori and I have been talking about boat life since pre-Pandemic times. But that adventure’s likely another year or two off.
Still, after 3.5 years of living some semblance of “normal” life in Mexico, we’re ready to switch things up.
The boys seem to have similar feelings. When we brought up the idea of leaving La Paz after 18 months and hitting the road, all they wanted to know was, “When are we leaving?”
A Quick Note…
For those of you wondering where all our daily-life blog posts went, they’re here – at HammockHoppers.com! Here, you’ll find all of our personal blog posts going back to 2010. This is also where we post all of our latest family travel blog posts moving forward. You can learn more about Hammock Hoppers and the current status of AwayGoWe.com on our updated About page.
Last summer, we spent seven weeks covering some 4,000 miles driving up the length of the Baja Peninsula, going as far north as Hood River, Oregon before heading back down to Mexico. That little adventure made one thing very clear when we returned to La Paz—we all were ready to move on.
But on to what?
Another town in Mexico, perhaps? After all, we’ve got temporary residency here until late 2025. But the appeal of picking up and starting all over in yet another town for just 9-12 months has lost the luster it once had. Besides, the kids are at a perfect age for more mobile adventures.
The other option was to start looking for a boat that was older and smaller than what we had had our sights set on to get us out on the water in early 2024.
One night as we were reminiscing about our summer Baja road trip, a thought popped into my head out of the blue. What about getting some sort of mobile home and doing the nomadic gypsy thing around Mexico for a year or two?
The fact that the idea came from me rather than Lori was a surprise to both of us. Not so long ago, I may (or may not) have said to Lori, “No way we are doing the RV thing. I know boats. I know literally zero, zilch about motorhomes and RVs.”
Yet somehow at that moment the idea no longer seemed entirely repulsive to me. We agreed to explore feasibility that weekend. But the next day, Lori had collected a dozen YouTube videos, around 20 potential RV candidates in the U.S. and Mexico that suited my specs and she had also started a spreadsheet.
The plan was to sell our stuff in La Paz and take a one way flight to Phoenix in January where we’d stay for just long enough to find a suitable home on wheels, equip and provision it, then head south.
However, it didn’t take long to notice that the available candidates in the Southwest U.S. were about the same as the Pacific Northwest, making it a great excuse to spend some time with family in Oregon while we sort all this out. It wasn’t long until we gave our notice to our landlord and had one-way tickets from Cabo to Portland.
Do we know anything about RVs, boondocking, or homeschooling? Nah, not really. But figuring it all out will be part of the adventure. And we know we’ll figure it out one way or another.
