I looked and looked and couldn’t find one anywhere… It was early spring 2020, right before Covid hit. There were whispers about some virus that was coming, it was a strange time. At this point in my life I was running a fledgling startup, grinding hard, I wanted out, I wanted to spend time with my young family. I wanted freedom, and this thing, this thing would give us just that.

And then, there it was, a 1971 off grid Airstream….. And the craziest thing was it as for sale in my town, unreal…. I immediately bought the camper, literally having no idea how to run any of the complicated battery systems, I’d figure that out later, for now this was the first step of getting us closer to the road, to adventure, and to a life both my wife and I wanted for our 2 small children.

After a quick crash course in battery systems and solar, we felt semi prepared, at least enough to do an initial trip. If I knew then what this simple idea would evolve into I would have said that’s fucking insane… We took off, headed for the Canyonlands. We found a great spot, off grid, way out, a zone we have come to love called the Needles Outpost. We settled in and fell in love with the pace of life, slow days, exploring the surrounding areas, lots of rock scrambling, cooking outside, living close to the land, it was spectacular…. I remember people slowly trickling in to the area with news of the outside world, something was happening, this virus was here, and it was spreading. We eventually had to get supplies so we headed up to Moab and I went into this grocery store and was hit with the reality that things were definitely changing. Low inventory, packed full of people in masks, running around buying everything. At checkout I was told I had to put back 2 avocados… It was chaos. Well, this definitely changed our plans, we rushed home to Montana, ran to Costco, bought everything we could and locked ourselves into our house and waited….

As Covid took full effect, I began to realize a couple things, it seemed the virus was really hard to catch outside, and everyone was inside, to me that didn’t seem to make any sense. After a couple weeks locked in the house we wanted out, so I packed up the rig, hooked up the Airstream and hit the road. 2 Years and over 70,000 miles later when I looked back I wouldn’t have traded this time in my life for anything, it changed all of us, our relationships to each other, to the land, and ushered in a way of living that I still try and uphold to this day.

My wife informed me that we were renting out the house and had a week to be completely out… Ok, we packed our lives up, and moved out to one of my friends ranch’s in Paradise Valley, Montana. We then started prepping gear, going through the systems on the camper, figuring out how to do laundry on the road, all the things you don’t think about before you leave on an adventure like this. After a week on the ranch we were ready, we headed to Jackson Hole for a couple weeks, ( my old stomping grounds ) and then headed east, South Dakota, Virginia, North Carolina, ( Outer Banks ) Florida, Tennessee, and then back to Montana for literally 1 night. At this point I remember feeling this energy, this addiction to seeing new places and experiencing new things, I think my wife and I were witnessing our kids excitement for new experiences, and it was starting to rub off on the both of us. Life was simple, cooking outside, morning coffee, sunrise, sunset, waking up to new landscapes, it was thrilling. We then headed to Sun Valley, Idaho for a couple weeks, then out to the Oregon Coast, ( Manzanita ) which has become one of my favorite places in the world…

We stayed in Oregon for 2 weeks, we have great friends there and it has become a second home. From Oregon we headed home for Christmas, at this point we had been on the road since August.

Our next stop was deep in Southern New Mexico, and we had 2 weeks to get ready. We desperately needed a new rig, one with more towing capacity, so I quickly sold out Tundra and bought a Ford F 250 Super Duty Diesel. As we hit the road again we fell into that familiar routine, 8hr days, watching the world zip by, camping in some wild areas. Being on the road like this changes the way you think of home, it also changes the way you interact with your family. I remember our son Ash saying, when I talk about home, I mean the Airstream, and it hit me hard, what does that word actually mean? Home to us had become something different, and our kids were picking up on that. To us home was becoming a tight family unit on the move, didn’t matter where we were, it just mattered that we were together.

We were becoming road warriors. All of this was beginning to feel natural, we were learning, adapting to a new way of life, and felt really good.

From New Mexico we ended up heading up to Sedona, AZ for a month. I have always had a crazy love affair with the desert southwest. Maybe its the expanse of space, or the colors, or the way the light changes, but it has always held a special place in my heart.

One thing we were slowly figuring out, was that this way of life was simple, and simple was good. We knew this way of living was going to be harder to achieve when the kids grew, so we wanted to take full advantage of it while we could.

At this point we were about half way through this adventure. We ended up driving all the way from Montana to Vermont, where I grew up, Maine, northern New Hampshire, and all the way back to the west. All and all we ended driving more than 70,000 miles. We drove across America 4 times, and top to bottom as well. The trip ended up changing us in ways I can’t possibly express, it was magical, scary, insane, and awe inspiring all at the same time. I think some of the biggest life lessons we learned were the following; Life just happens, so freaking out about it when things go wrong is a waste of time. Home is where you are, you can always be grounded as long as you are with the people you love. You need waaaaay less than you think. Living close to the land has health benefits that are so remarkable, I have absolutley no doubt about that one. Lastly for the kids, the only thing that can fight the screen, is exploration, the “what’s around the next corner”, and “wait till we get to the next location”, this pure curiosity is what drives children, and when they are in these captivating natural environments, the screen holds no power. One major thing that I have taken away from this experience, is this, exploration is critical for building experiences, and creating experinces is what live is all about, that’s the key to a life well lived.

-K

70,000 MILES OF LEARNING

IT ALL STARTED HERE