Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading your post. I am also post menopausal and on the road home to myself. I am 59 and started a 2-year journey around the world leaving simply 😀. I’ll keep reading your journey. Have fun.
Thanks Melinda! We own it. We bought the empty shell and then we designed the inside and worked with a team in Durango, CO to help us build it out. We got it in 2020 😄
Jessie, I love this so much. Traveling by oneself is just incredible and I need to do more of it. I'm about to buy my permit for desolation wilderness and take myself for three nights, by myself, out to the lakes and camp and swim and just be ALONE. Also so much yes to writing without listening too hard to all the editors in our heads. I think for me, filling my cup looks like balancing my love of my closest and dearest people with my deep need to be in nature, to cold swim, to create, to write, to be in solitude and silence. I try and get that for myself at least a few times a week. But there is nothing like a solo trip to bring oneself back to oneself. Yay you!! Thank you for sharing this trip with us! xo
Oh that sounds AMAZING Jocelyn! I hope you have the most wonderful time. I feel similarly with the need for balancing time connecting with our special people and also alone time to recharge.
Jessie, this reads like a woman giving herself permission to be present to her own life in real time. The campervan tradition carries so much meaning because it began as a need for distance, breath, and perspective during a hard season, and has become a yearly practice of returning to yourself with more trust, freedom, and openness. I especially appreciated the way you name friendship, your relationship with your dad, solitude, movement, and the road itself as part of the healing, because coming home to ourselves often happens through the people, places, and quiet rituals that remind us who we still are. Thank you for writing from the road with such honesty, looseness, and courage, and for inviting other women to ask what helps them feel more fully alive in this season.
Enjoy your journey it sounds amazing! I too started a similar tradition 4 years ago for similar reasons. I go on really long walks in beautiful places with my best friend. Our first long walk was the Camino in Spain. This practice changed my midlife experience. Look forward to reading more about your adventures!
Enjoy your trip! Looking forward to the dragonfly story - dragonflies are special to me. Also, love that you've been doing this roadtrip the last few years. I'm originally from Michigan and moved to Vancouver, WA back in September 2018. Every time I would go back and visit, I alwways flew...until last year; I was going through some serious midlife crap - identity crisis, questioning everything, etc. and decided I wanted to make the cross country road trip to Michigan instead of flying. I spent 3 weeks (between being on the road & visiting family) away. It was EXACTLY what my soul needed. So I decided to do it again this year and once again it was just what I needed. Thankfully I have been self-employed since 2006 and have the freedom to work from anwhere and can do these extended time away trips the last few years.
Thanks for sharing your story! That's awesome you gave your soul the experience of driving. Twice! Long road trips can be a really nice place to hear ourselves again.
Love this and can't wait to read your dragonfly story! I love the magic and messages that Mother Nature brings. I also resonated with taking forever to write something and I'm working to let go of that perfectionist nature too. Enjoy your journey! 🦋💖
I love this post , it feels real , genuine , like I could be sitting across from you drinking coffee and chatting , I wish more of us would write like this and stop allowing editing and ai to manipulate our prose to suit the algorithm or the trend . Keep writing like this , I love it 💖
I am from Idaho!!!
I love Idaho! It’s such a beautiful state!
I just read several of your pieces and sincerely enjoyed them. I’m trying to describe but keep getting an error. I’ll keep trying!
Hi Toni! Thanks for reading and I’m so glad you’re enjoying my pieces. Hmmm … that’s strange about the subscribe issue. I just subscribed to you!
Oh my gosh! I took a similar trip minus the camper van and it was one of the most liberating two weeks and 3000 miles I've ever encountered. ❤️
Wow! Did you write about it? I’d love to read if you did!
Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading your post. I am also post menopausal and on the road home to myself. I am 59 and started a 2-year journey around the world leaving simply 😀. I’ll keep reading your journey. Have fun.
Thanks Nadia! I look forward to following your journey too!
Looking forward to following along on your travels! Do you own the camper van or did you rent it? I have so many questions!
Thanks Melinda! We own it. We bought the empty shell and then we designed the inside and worked with a team in Durango, CO to help us build it out. We got it in 2020 😄
That’s so great!
Jessie, I love this so much. Traveling by oneself is just incredible and I need to do more of it. I'm about to buy my permit for desolation wilderness and take myself for three nights, by myself, out to the lakes and camp and swim and just be ALONE. Also so much yes to writing without listening too hard to all the editors in our heads. I think for me, filling my cup looks like balancing my love of my closest and dearest people with my deep need to be in nature, to cold swim, to create, to write, to be in solitude and silence. I try and get that for myself at least a few times a week. But there is nothing like a solo trip to bring oneself back to oneself. Yay you!! Thank you for sharing this trip with us! xo
Oh that sounds AMAZING Jocelyn! I hope you have the most wonderful time. I feel similarly with the need for balancing time connecting with our special people and also alone time to recharge.
I'm soooo excited. A little nervous too. It will be my first solo backpacking trip. Do you go other places solo in your van?
I’d love to hear how your experience goes! I’ve traveled other places solo in my van but usually meet up with friends at my destination.
Oh yay! That's so fun. I'll be happy to tell you about it! Of course I'll write about it on my Substack too! xoxo
I've always wondered what it would be like to just travel... this gives me a window into the hidden benefits.
I'm so glad Tiffany! There are so many hidden benefits and also hidden challenges.
Ohhhh I bet! I’ve always seen the road is a natural expansion path!
Jessie, this reads like a woman giving herself permission to be present to her own life in real time. The campervan tradition carries so much meaning because it began as a need for distance, breath, and perspective during a hard season, and has become a yearly practice of returning to yourself with more trust, freedom, and openness. I especially appreciated the way you name friendship, your relationship with your dad, solitude, movement, and the road itself as part of the healing, because coming home to ourselves often happens through the people, places, and quiet rituals that remind us who we still are. Thank you for writing from the road with such honesty, looseness, and courage, and for inviting other women to ask what helps them feel more fully alive in this season.
Thank you ✨
Enjoy your journey it sounds amazing! I too started a similar tradition 4 years ago for similar reasons. I go on really long walks in beautiful places with my best friend. Our first long walk was the Camino in Spain. This practice changed my midlife experience. Look forward to reading more about your adventures!
Oh wow, that sounds like such a fulfilling and beautiful tradition, Melissa! Where will your next walk be?
This year we went to Maine and then in the fall we are guiding a group along a coastal trail in Scotland.
Enjoy your trip! Looking forward to the dragonfly story - dragonflies are special to me. Also, love that you've been doing this roadtrip the last few years. I'm originally from Michigan and moved to Vancouver, WA back in September 2018. Every time I would go back and visit, I alwways flew...until last year; I was going through some serious midlife crap - identity crisis, questioning everything, etc. and decided I wanted to make the cross country road trip to Michigan instead of flying. I spent 3 weeks (between being on the road & visiting family) away. It was EXACTLY what my soul needed. So I decided to do it again this year and once again it was just what I needed. Thankfully I have been self-employed since 2006 and have the freedom to work from anwhere and can do these extended time away trips the last few years.
Thanks for sharing your story! That's awesome you gave your soul the experience of driving. Twice! Long road trips can be a really nice place to hear ourselves again.
Love this and can't wait to read your dragonfly story! I love the magic and messages that Mother Nature brings. I also resonated with taking forever to write something and I'm working to let go of that perfectionist nature too. Enjoy your journey! 🦋💖
Hi Amy! Glad to know you resonate with that, we can work on letting go of the perfectionist together! Stay tuned for my dragonfly story! ✨
I didn’t realize they shut down a highway from winds yesterday (also a Coloradan), glad you got to your destination safely though!
I am really enjoying how you’re writing, without the internal editor on. Keep it up!
Oh that's awesome you live in Colorado too! I got out of Colorado just fine, the road was closed in Wyoming to high profile vehicles.
I love this post , it feels real , genuine , like I could be sitting across from you drinking coffee and chatting , I wish more of us would write like this and stop allowing editing and ai to manipulate our prose to suit the algorithm or the trend . Keep writing like this , I love it 💖
Thanks for the encouragement Liza! It feels so much better to write this way too, so I'm going to keep practicing doing it this way!
I’m so glad Tiffany! There are many hidden benefits and also many hidden challenges!