BIG NEWS- Road Trip Plans!
We can hardly believe we are saying this out loud...but on April 15th, we are hitting the road for a year-long U.S.A. road trip! Traveling to the National Parks has been a dream of ours since we got married and we can hardly believe its becoming a reality. Okay, time to fill people in on some details.
"Visitors to RV show dream of making great escape"
Hilariously insightful Star-Telegram newspaper cover in Jan. 2014, caption reads: "Kallie Savage and fiance, Kyle Nossaman, both of Dallas, look over 2014 Tiffin Zephyr, a 45ft motorhome." (that's us in the blue jackets!)
We always dreamed of taking a year-long road trip, and when we found the bus everything just clicked. We weren't ready to hit the road just yet, but buying the bus made it sink in that we were fully committed to making this happen. No turning back. Fast-forward a year of living in and out of the bus, working, and planning for our road trip on the side. And now we're here...45 days away from departure.
We started by finding the most efficient route of traveling to all 47 National Parks in the lower 48 states, which can easily be found with a Google search (see image below). We then listed them in driving order and set a tentative timeline next to each park. For example, Yellowstone may need 2 weeks while Carlsbad Caverns probably only needs 3 days. We want to keep our timeline as flexible as possible because we are well aware of the obstacles and detours that will happen along the way; however, the National Parks are very popular to visit, so we are doing our best to stay on top of reserving popular campsites, excursions, backcountry permits, etc.
We'll start up north in Minnesota (Voyagers National Park) and then head west
Another fundamental part of this trip was figuring out the logistics of getting from point A to point B (ex: driving to the grocery store, Visitor's Centers, laundromats, trailheads, etc). Most of these parks are huge but only have roads that accommodate smaller vehicles. We also want the bus to feel more like home and be settled instead of strapping things down every single day to drive it where we need to go. We realized the solution to this problem was a motorcycle that could fit in the back of the bus!
Last week we became the proud owners of a 2014 Honda Grom. It checks all the boxes: small enough to fit in the back of the bus, seats 2 people, has a fuel injected engine (125cc) so it will perform well in all altitudes, and gets 120 mpg so it can handle driving long distances through National Parks that may not have a gas staton nearby. We literally can't wipe the smiles off of our faces when we're on this thing. It's a blast. But along with getting a motorcycle, theres insurance, licensing tests, buying a ramp and rack, helmets, etc. So we are staying busy to say the least.
2014 Honda Grom (and yes, there are foot pedals for 2 people)
As for work, I tried to submit a leave of absence request, but HR didn't quite know how to handle that...so I had to quit. But, I plan on returning to my current Labor and Delivery RN position after the trip. Kyle will be taking a break from his normal role at GearJunkie and instead will be writing articles for the site about our travels, gear, bus life, etc.
We are excited to unplug and live as simply as possible over the next year. Traveling and being outdoors is our passion and we feel overwhelmingly blessed to have the opportunity to do just that. Please reach out if there's a National Park on your bucket list- we'd love to meet up! We can't wait to drive through places like Dallas, Searcy, Little Rock, Nashville, California, and Florida to see friends and family. We'll do our best to keep everyone posted and share stories from our journey along the way! Best places to check for updates would be this site or our instagram @emeraldmilebus.
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"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."
Proverbs 16:9