Erin’s travel-loving grandmother passed away unexpectedly last weekend and as we drove in silence through the mountains in the hours after we received the news we could only think about how grateful we are for the people who made us who we are and who have helped shape us for this adventure we are on.
This photo was taken of Erin's grandparents on their 50th year staying at Reddens Camp in Canada on Longbow Lake. They traveled there each summer and stayed for a month or longer.
Erin's extended family would travel up there in waves to fish for hours, play cards all night and spend time with our friends and family.
We have countless people to thank and a huge, awesome, super-cool #vanlife community that we can turn to for advice, guidance and inspiration. We want to share all of these things with you.
Our Parents
Thank you for taking us on countless camping trips and making us sleep on the cold, hard ground in tents. Without those experiences (some good, some bad) we wouldn’t be able to handle the “rough” we are currently living through sometimes.
Thanks for giving us the skills of navigation, the desire for adventure and the undying desire to see what's the end of the trail.
Erin::
My family would load up our old Chevy G20 van, Betsy, each summer and embark on a two week long vacation, a new location every year. You can only imagine how I was feeling shoved into a van with my sister for two long weeks. We were friends on and off again pretty consistently. Although we felt forced to go on long hikes in the blazing sun at the time, we are incredibly thankful for these adventures. We saw more in our childhood than some people see in a lifetime. That's all thanks to our amazing parents.
MJ::
We also did a lot of outdoors stuff growing up and the vehicle that got us there was a nice white mini van. So I guess not much has changed in my life. I remember yanking out the rear bench seat with my dad and helping load up all of the gear. At least I remember helping, he might disagree. Sometimes we would stay super close to home and visit the Indiana Dunes, other times we would venture out of state somewhere I had never been. No matter the destination there was always a sense of freedom and adventure. The desire for those feelings is something that never seems to go away. The last picture really shows where i get my sense of style from. Thanks dad!
Our Friends
Thanks for everyone who has reached out to us to give us travel suggestions, gift cards so we can eat out occasionally (seriously the coffee, food and beer has been great), words of encouragement and countless gifts. We appreciate and miss you all incredibly.
Our Employers
Thank you for letting us take a leave of absence, we will be forever grateful. Erin’s work (McNamara Florist) has generously let her work from the road. If you’re ever looking for flowers/gifts in the Indianapolis area, please consider ordering from McNamara. A family-owned business that obviously cares about their employees!
After you pick up your flowers make sure you stop by Chilly Water Brewing Company for some award-winning beer. You won't find another brewery in town that does lagers as well as Chilly Water and the ales are just as impressive. MJ has worked at Chilly Water since it opened in 2014. They are letting MJ pick up shifts when we are home on breaks and have provided plenty of beer for the trip.
#VanLife Community
Anyone who is living the vanlife knows how great the community that surrounds it is. You can pull into a campground and easily find other people living their own adventures, each story different and unique. We’ve met some new friends and there are some we only know from social media.
We wanted to give you an opportunity to follow some of our faves. Check out their Instagram accounts for some incredible photos and adventure inspiration.
Brianna Madia
Living in Bertha, the big orange van, with her husband Keith and their two super cute dogs. They are incredibly environmentally conscience and encourage us to be less wasteful and love the Earth more. Brianna is a writer and we find that most of her posts speak right to us.
At least take a look at their dogs (seriously the cutest). And yes, they rock climb WITH their dogs.
Bound for Nowhere
Owen and Mak are an awesome couple that have been traveling around in their Westfalia for quite some time. They recently just changed up their vehicle to something that can take them to even more places. Their travels and accompanying photography are inspirational to say the least.
Live Work Wander
Jess and Jorge are another couple traveling around in their Volkswagen Syncro named Ripley. They have two road dogs tackling the journey along with them. Their van is awesome and their youtube channel is top notch. Is it time for the new season yet?!?!
JJ Dreier
JJ is the owner of MJ's favorite Astro. His instagram account was the first one we followed after we got our Astro and started looking around for inspiration. JJ is a really talented photographer and has a kickass Astro that he's built out for exactly how he uses it. He also runs a screen printing company that is based out of Omaha, NE. If you've ever seen one of our Astro shirts and wondered where you can find one check out www.omahascreenco.com!
Cool shirts, right?
Vanlife Diaries
This Instagram is a community account. They share stories and photos of all vanlifers. This is where we go when we are looking for some inspiration or looking to meet up with some new people!
We literally could go on and on and on. This community is amazing. One last thank you... thanks to our blog subscribers and if you haven't already - please subscribe here! :)
We'll leave you with some of our recent travel photos...
