I'm moving all my Instagram posts to this blog for back-up. I love all the memories, thoughts, experiences, lessons that I've documented on Instagram, and don't want to risk losing them forever. So here you go . . .
JUNE 23, 2020
Greetings! My name's Brenda and this is my story so far... 📝
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In December 2017, I decided to quit a job I loved, leave a city I'll forever call home (PDX!🌲), and transform my passion for travel and nature into my everyday life. 🏆 I committed two years to the dream of #vanlife 🚐 planning to spend two weeks in each State 🇺🇸 exploring the well-known sites and the hidden gems 🧐 with my 11 pound best friend, Ranger, pulling me on his leash. 🐶
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A few months later 🗓 after test driving vans (like this one☝🏻in March 2018), buying ceiling fans and water pumps, and excitedly sharing my plans with friends and family 🤸🏾♀️ a twist of fate handed me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to Australia for work 🇦🇺 and I took it. ✈️
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Two years have passed ⏳ and I'm still aching for the freedom of the road. The simplicity of a minimalist lifestyle. The coziness of tiny living. And the peace of dwelling in nature. 🌄 So I'm moving back to the States as soon as possible (a few life admin items pending) to shift this dream out of park.🚦
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For 2.5 years now, I've been stalking vanlifers' Instas, YouTubes, podcasts, blogs, and websites, absorbing as much knowledge and inspiration as I could from their experiences - both good and bad. ✔️I feel it's only fair to provide that same service to anyone out there who might have a little tingle of a dream fluttering in the back of their mind. ✨ So, without further ado... 🥁 I've created this account to give back to the #vanlifecommunity. 🙏🏻
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Buckle up, I'm confident this will be a bumpy road! 🛤
JUNE 24, 2020
Planning my move back to the States, first stop: SE Utah to pick up my Main Squeeze. It's a legitimate possibility I'll have a coronary when he runs into my arms again. 💗 Ranger is gonna LOOOVE all the #vanlife adventures we have in store...
JUNE 25, 2020
Meet Ranger, my soon-to-be #vandog. 🌿 I'm like a parent on Christmas Eve - so excited for all the surprises I have in store for my lil man! 🤶🏼 Little does he know I'm moving back from Australia soon to steal him away and turn our lives into a perpetual adventure. 🏆 All those dreams I talked your oversized-ears off about 2.5 years ago... we're gonna do them, Bud! 🚐
JUNE 26, 2020
And just like that, we're $1,500 committed to #vanlife. 💍
JUNE 27, 2020
Two years ago I was #vanlifing through the remote roads of Iceland. It was my first time living in a van, learning the rules of the road and country. 🇮🇸 The wind was so fierce, I was afraid the van would blow right over and roll away with me tumbling around in it. 💨 I met bartenders who let me park overnight in their driveway, and even delivered dinner to my sliding door. 🍗 An old couple invited me to their table for lunch, where we exchanged inspiring travel stories. They were so impressed by my independence, it actually made me feel so much stronger than I'd known. 🙏🏾 Magical things happen when you're free and alone! ✨ I got lost on foot multiple times (with no cell service) trying to find the waterfall in the 2nd and 3rd photo. But it is still the most profound, powerful, and peaceful memory of my life. 💙 I'm so excited to take on this new lifestyle - beautiful moments, frustrating moments, and everything in between! 🌱
JUNE 28, 2020
I went to Iceland in June - middle of "summer" when the glaciers were significantly melted down, and the infamous Diamond Beach was bare black. 🖤But it meant the roads were safe and open, and sleeping in a van was feasible (though still frigid - I remember trying to type captions for my photos in bed at night, but my fingers were so cold the screen struggled to recognize their touch). 🥶 This trip is still the greatest nature experience of my life - slightly beating out Costa Rica, Vietnam and Croatia. 🥇
JUNE 30, 2020
This is the exact weekend I decided to commit to #vanlife.☝🏻It was Christmas Day 2017. I couldn't take time off work to visit family, so Ranger and I hit the road for the four-day weekend. 🛣 We meandered down the Oregon coastline (aiming for Samuel H Boardman State Park - highly recommend!) and spent the days wandering deserted beaches and trails 🍂 while everyone else snuggled up cozily with their loved ones. 🎄That freedom to chase nature with my Best Friend 🐶 and sleep wherever we chose and drive whenever we felt like it... that was the turning point for me. 🏆 And I'm so eager to feel it again! 💛