A Journey Across the United States

And with very little planning I was off! Me, Adam, and 5 month old Kota, and some clothes and a laptop crammed into a tiny two door Camaro made our way from New Hampshire all the way to Apple Valley California. We made the coast to coast trip in record time, though not really. It only took use three days to make the drive. We didn't miss out on having fun along the way though we stopped and saw the views, swam in hot springs, peed in canyons, lost and won big in vegas, and still made record time.

This was my first full month on the road in my new home base of Apple Valley California. Still getting used to the 100 plus degree heat and the lack of green grass anywhere. Apple Valley was in the middle of no where in the Mojave Desert and about a 2 hour drive to LA and the coast assuming theres no traffic. That didn't stop us from doing a ton cool stuff this month though. From the dog beach, surfing, hiking, grammy museum, sliding down waterfalls, and even partying in Mexico this was a jam packed month for sure!

September was another awesome month looking back at it. I think I was starting to get a little lonely and miss my family and friends at this point as its the longest I've ever been away from home. However this month my friends Adam and Timmy flew out to see me which was a ton of fun and much needed. I also got to meet Jaylans friends for the first time which was really while also spending my first real weekend in Vegas which was a ton of fun.

So much happened this month from Adam and Timmy coming out to visit and us going on hikes, cider tastings, soccer golf, and the Santa Monica Pier. To spending the weekend in Vegas sneaking into Speakeasy's, walking the strip, and surprisingly not gambling all but one dollar. Also worth noting I went to the famous Comedy Store in LA and saw a bunch of Kill Tony regulars a few other notable comedians and then surprise guest Bill Bur! And we were front row somehow.

Oh also in terms of seeing cool stuff I visited Sequoia National Forest by myself with Kota which was a really neat experience. As well as Jaylan and I camped in the Joshua Tree National Park.

I also forgot the very very beginning of September we went to the San Diego Zoo las minute exhausted after our Mexico trip we decided to stop by while we were down south and it was so worth it, coolest zoo ever hands down.

October was action packed. We moved from southern California 6 hours north to still be in the same state... California. However the new home base was now Martinez, California. Which is in the bay area right next to San Francisco. This was such a cool and exciting move. From being in the middle of the desert and two hours away from everything we were now right int he middle of the action. Everything was so close there was so much to do.

No time was wasted, little did we know this would only last about a month/month and a half. This month on top of moving I also decided to ditch the Camaro for something a little more travel friendly and got a truck. I realized getting stuck on dirt roads and mountains was only so much fun, but it wouldn't be fun in Colorado when the plan was to snowboard every weekend in the winter.

We visited Lake Tahoe literally my favorite place on earth that I've traveled to yet. Towards the end of the month we did everything we could do when we knew we were leaving soon. Hikes, Alcatraz, Napa Valley, exploring the city, self driving cars, and more.

November was a very interesting month. Jaylan left for our next destination a week or so before me and I did a few more cool things before leaving California. I went down to San Jose and a bunch of cool stuff in the city there like this haunted mansion, the google headquarters, and the computer science museum which was really cool. I also got to go to Yosemite National park with Kota for the first time and it was amazing.

After that I was heading to Kearney, Nebraska to meet up with Jaylan. This was not a first pick destination... While one of the most boring and smelliest places on earth Nebraska was a new adventure. If you ever go to Nebraska it just smells like cow poop 24/7.

The trip to Nebraska was a whole story in it self. Kota and I saw a comedy show in Salt Lake City Utah and we got stuck in a blizzard in Wyoming. All while driving on one straight road for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

While Nebraska was not "green" this time of year it was our first time seeing grass in a while which was awesome. The house I rented was sooo nice it made the time there a lot more comfortable. We also kept the adventure alive by exploring a cave which was neat, one of the only cool things I remember about Nebraska.

December marks just about 6 months of being on the road. During the week things are quite in Nebraska, not much going on. It's a very simple life. A lot of gym and walking the dogs after works. It's kind of nice how close and walkable everything in Kearney was.

But during the weekends it was still adventure time. We were only 5ish hours from Denver so we spent two weekends in Colorado snowboarding out west for my first time and it was awesome!

Towards the end of the month I went home for two weeks to visit family for the holidays and it was good to see everyone again. I also snowboarded back home in New England and damn I don't remember it being that icy... I missed Colorado snowboarding. But that was still next on the bucket list so there would be more..

January was packed with traveling. No videos this month sadly as I was on the move constantly. I started in New Hampshire and left shortly after new years to meet Jaylan in Kentucky. I saw Niagara falls from the American side on my drive. We spent a day or two there then flew out to LA for my works holiday party which was really fun. I was really sick though and I messed up my ears on the plane and couldn't hear all weekend... Then is was back to Kentucky where I drove back to Nebraska for the last two or three weeks of our time there.

February was one of the most fun and eventful months yet. We finally left Nebraska and couldn't wait to get to Denver. We left pretty much the first day of the month. The beginning was rocky, the first rental didn't end up being as nice as we thought so we got out of that and found a much nicer one in Littleton.

After that hassle of moving out and in and out and in we had friends coming to visit the next weekend. It was a full house. Adam and Sam came to visit me and Jaylans friends Jamie, Evonne and Tre also came to visit. It was a fun weekend with some of the best snowboarding conditions I've ever experienced at Vail. Although we did take the beginners down a trail we probably shouldn't have and wasted half a day.. after that we split up and it was great though! The trip home was an adventure in itself we didn't even make it home we got snowed in the mountains because of an avalanche. We drove around looking for a hotel forever and they were all booked up. With 5 of us in my mid sized truck sleeping in the car wasn't really an option. Eventually I found a hotel lobby and got the code from some nice guests and we crashed the night in the lobby. When we woke up it turns out we were at Keystone mountain. Too bad we had to meet our other friends at Breckenridge, but the drive was still pretty short.

There was so much that happened this month that its hard to remember. I also bought a very nice new camera because I crashed my drone earlier that month. So the videos from now on change from drone videos to regular videos. Still some really cool shots though.

March was a great month, still trying to squeeze some snowboarding in on the weekends the season was coming to an end shortly. Luckily there is no shortage of things to do or see in Colorado. With Kota sent away to boarding camp to be trained to be a good boy we used the opportunity to explore Colorado to its fullest. After we dropped Kota off on a Friday we set off on the ultimate Colorado road trip. We basically drove through all of the Rockies. Our first stop Friday night being the Colorado national monument, this was the start to an epic weekend. We saw three National Parks in this 72 hour period. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Mesa Verde, and The Great Sand Dunes National Park. Along with a bunch of other cool stops like Telluride, Leadville, and some impromptu hot springs in Pagosa. I don't think I could remember all the stuff we did on this two day trip, I really should've started this website earlier....

We ended the month with Jaylan's family visiting for the weekend exploring the city and the Royal Gorge route which was a really cool scenic train ride. We got the back outside platform all to our selves for a good part of the trip until everyone in the front noticed and started coming back too.

With the skii season official at an end for us there was still so much to do in Colorado and now we had more time. We went hiking a bunch, the Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park right next to it were beautiful. Garden of the Gods was really cool, but kind of small and felt really similar to Red Rocks. After being too and hiking around Red Rocks a bunch of times by now I finally went to my first Red Rocks concert! Dustin Lynch, defiantly not my first pick of an artist but concert selection in the winter/spring was limited and we still learned all the songs we could and had a great time.

Our last month in Colorado, but the adventures did not stop. One of my favorite adventures was a trip to a mountain top them park. You literally had to take a gondola up to the top of a mountain to get to this park and leave it. It was small, but there were no lines so we rode everything twice and the rides were so cool. My favorite being the swing thing that went of the side of the mountain. We got lunch at the restaurant at the top and the view of the mountains and valley was the coolest restaurant view ever.

Denver Zoo was also pretty cool, still not as cool as the San Diego Zoo, but definitely worth a visit. The Devils Lookout was probably one of the best views on a hike I saw while in Colorado. We also explored an abandoned ghost town of the side of a mountain which was really fun.

And before we left Colorado we finally saw a moose! We saw it randomly on a little random stop we made, it was across the river we were sitting at. So we chased it down to get the best view of it.

We arrived in Lexington, Kentucky late last month, but this was our first full month in Lexington. Jaylan is back home and gets to see all her family and friends again. So its been a mix of being home and still adventure mode for me. I got to see and do a lot of new things in Kentucky this month. Natural Bridge was such a cool place and hike, it almost feels like a mini national park and Miguel's is now my favorite pizza place after hiking I hope they franchise and open everywhere I hike. Mammoth Caves was amazing, such a huge cave. I also went down to the national corvette museum which was really cool even though I didn't win the corvette I wanted. I also went to my first rodeo and I really enjoyed that, we did a bourbon tasting, and went to see Mt. Joy in concert, my second time this year, I saw them back in LA at the Hollywood Bowl as well. Oh an Kota got his balls chopped thats why he's in a cone in all these pictures.

My second full month in Kentucky was a lot of fun filled with a lot of cool adventures and summer vibes. However the highlight of the month was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had no idea it would be so cool, but we took a long weekend trip to Gatlinburg and the downtown was so cool, we did tons of moonshine and cider tastings. We also did some cool hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and I checked off another National Park. Also Pigeon Forge was really neat, the town over. I would describe it as the Vegas of random fun shit to do like go karts, arcades, dinner shows, etc. Oh yea and Dollywood is there too and we did a bunch of rollercoasters. At the end of the month I headed back home for a bit, I'll be staying in New England for the next few months and spending some time with friends and family.

August was crazy month a lot of moving around and seeing friends and family. I'm a little late in posting this chapter because it was so busy at the end of the month. I spent the month of August back home in New Hampshire since my place in Maine wasn't ready till early September, so I couch surfed for the whole month going back and forth between family. It was busy month to stay the least, but I am glad it worked out that way because I got to spend lots of time with everyone that I wouldn't have otherwise.

August had its share of adventure too, but it was mostly focused on seeing friends and family. Jaylan started work in Maine this month, but she came down to NH pretty much every weekend and got to meet a lot of my family and friends as well. Somehow how Adam got me into surfing this month and I immediately bought a wet suit and board and have been trying to go every week. Gotta get ready for Hawaii surfing now! lol

In September we finally settled in at Old Orchard Beach, Maine and I love the location. We are right next to the pier, walking distance to the beach and all the bars and restaurants around. We spent a lot of time hanging out with friends this month and also getting back to some National Park exploration. We went camping in Acadia National Park with Adam and Sam which was super cool and a great time. Got some surfing in this month and found my new favorite spot, "Higgins Beach" in Maine.

October was a busy busy month. We had lots of visitors and lots of adventures. 3 out of 4 weekends in October we had friends and family visiting. We started off the month going camping in the white mountains and leaf peeping at Artist Bluff and the Kancamangus Highway. We also explored Maine a little more, went to Peaks Island, saw some lighthouses, and tried some new restaurants. I also went to two concerts this month Kota The Friend and Henrik. We also locked in our next location, next month when we come back from vacation we will be heading to Boise, Idaho!

This was an absolutely crazy month filled with tons of adventure and too many stories to count. We started the month in Old Orchard, Maine said bye to our place on the beach, which was fine it was getting cold anyway. We spent the weekend of November 7th back down in New Hampshire and spent some time with friends and family before leaving for Aruba! Yea we went for vacation for one week in Aruba. Got some nice sun and relaxation, snorkled, did a rope swing of a pirate ship, explored a National Park, rode the coastline of Aruba on UTV's. Oh yea and also we got engaged! So pretty successful trip to Aruba in my books. November 18th we got back from sunny Aruba and landed in chilly Boston. After literally one day of work on the 19th we were back on the road that very night! We were on our way to our next destination of Boise, Idaho. The trip itself was a monster, second only too the NH to Southern California trip. It was around 40 hours of driving split over 4 days, not evenly though we only got about 3 or 4 hours away the first night, but it was something. The reset of the days we drove sun up to sun down and then some. It would have been easier if we could have taken turns driving, but we each had our own cars. We did get to check off two National Parks of the bucket list though on this trip, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio and the Indiana Dunes National Park in... Indiana. I will say they were two of my least favorite and most underwhelming National Parks, but glad we got them in regardless. Now Idaho. We've only been here for about a week now, but the least I can say is its definatley not just the potato state... Idaho might be one of the most unknown hidden gems of the US, it is one of the coolest most beautiful states we've been too. Their are mountains literally everywhere, you can see them from the city where we are staying and you can drive through them for hours and hours and hours. We did a few hikes so far and they were awesome. One of my favorites were in the Sawtooth Mountain Range, and on the way back from our hike we found some natural hot springs, which we went back to the next day and hung out for a while, completely free on the side of the road. I'm gonna leaves this at that because I don't normally write this much here, but stay tuned for more Idaho adventures.

December was our first full month in Idaho and I have really been enjoying Idaho so far. It is a much more beautiful state than I originally realized. I like to call it the "Quite Colorado" because of its beautiful mountain ranges and outdoors, but the lack of crowds and smaller town vibe. So much to do and see in Idaho still.

January was an awesome month for us. Really felt like a month full of adventures! From Jamie coming to visit and road trip to Jackson Hole to ski and "cross country ski/snow board" in the Grand Tetons, to Day trips like our Sun Valley ski trip, to solo getting lost in some super remote canyons in east Oregon (probably shouldn't have done that one) we had all types of adventures this month. I'm beginning to appreciate Boise's location as one of the ultimate "road tripping" destinations. You can get to so many cool places and National parks if your willing to drive. I'm glad we also decided to extend our stay in Boise until June so we will get to see the foothills turn green and go on some cool road trips we wouldn't have been able to do if we were leaving at the end of February.