We may start posting "life on the road" updates that are not included in YouTube filming.
We've been actively on the road since January 29. We stopped in New Orleans, first, as you'll see in our first travel vlog on YouTube. We then travelled through Texas, stopping at National Forests and Grasslands along the way.
Kind of funny - We picked a bad day to visit the Grasslands. When we got there, all we could smell is smoke. When we arrived to our spot for the night, about 100 yards away was a controlled forest fire. We did some research and learned there was a controlled burn just for that night. Leave it to the newbies to not research a place before driving over (at night, might we add).
All was good though, Darian has asthma and the smoke wasn't triggering inside the van at all. The next morning, you could barely smell anything. It was a beautiful little spot, nonetheless.
We've had so many unexpected things happen already. We didn't have service to work, so the next morning, we drove to the closest Walmart, 30 minutes away. During the work day, we got hit with a snow storm.
It was Wednesday and the snow storm was supposed to last at least a couple days. The town we were in was very rural and we didn't have access to a gym to shower. So we (carefully) drove 30mph in a snow storm to get to the next town with a gym and hopefully better service. Our "one and a half hour" drive was closer to three hours.
We reached Vernon, Texas and discovered the gym to be permanently closed. Like true vanlifers, we stayed the night at the local Walmart. It was our coldest night in the van yet. We weren't quite prepared for that level of cold (10°F). Our pipes froze and our outdoor shower/water heater broke. That being said, we were quite relieved it was the outdoor shower that broke and not another part of our plumbing since we don't rely on the outdoor shower at the moment.
Thursday, though it was still snowing and even colder than Wednesday, the roads had been treated for the weather. This is the only reason we decided to push onward and get to Amarillo, Texas where we would have access to gyms and other amenities. We're glad we did.
Friday was a beautiful, sunny day. The roads were virtually snowless. After being cooped up in the car for a couple days, we were excited to move on with our journey. We decided to make our way to Albuquerque. On our way out, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch. It's a simple place and a quick stop, but we actually had a lot of fun getting some photos and letting Aussie run around and explore. More photos on Instagram, @rickymckay__ and @dariustyquarius.
On the way to Albuquerque, we made a detour on Historic Route 66. It was nice and we had it pretty much all to ourselves.
Now, if things weren't interesting before, they get a little more interesting on Saturday, February 5. Arriving to Albuquerque was our first major elevation change. Like previously mentioned, Darian has asthma. She also typically sits at a lower blood pressure. We both had COVID-19 over Christmas and have both had lingering congestion issues since then.
Waking up Saturday, Darian felt really sick. She felt similar to when she had COVID, though that couldn't had been the case. After a call with her mom, we decided to stop at Walmart and get all the essentials. Vitamins, Mucinex, and tons of electrolytes. We're walking through the aisles, and Darian starts to feel lightheaded. She fainted, not once, not twice, but three times. We eventually got her inside the cart and decided to head to the Emergency Room.
On the way there, she was awake and slowly improving. We arrived to the hospital and she decided to lay in bed for a while, hydrate, and see how she feels. After a while of sitting in the hospital parking lot, we decided to drive to a close by dog park to let our anxious Aussie go for a run. Darian decided to go in the dog park and stand by a bench incase she felt lightheaded again. This would be the real test for us if we needed to take her into the hospital. She was standing for about 40 minutes with no issues. Aussie played, Darian hydrated, and no ER visit was made.
We spent the weekend back and forth between the City of Albuquerque and Cibola National Forest. We've seen bear prints, heard coyotes, played with the drone, fixed our plumbing, and have overall taken it easy. Darian's not quite 100% yet, but on the ups.
We plan to stay in the area until Sunday so we can see a show in the area on Saturday and explore the city a little bit before making our way to Phoenix.
Lastly, we just want to mention that although we've experienced some hurdles during our short time on the road, we are both very happy and not nearly as stressed as we would be had equivalent stressors occurred while living in Metro Atlanta. There is something about being on the road that has been extremely calming and therapeutic for both of us.
Let us know what you think of this update and if you'd read them going forward. We love getting feedback of all types.
With love,
Ricky, Darian, and Aussie
