The first time out with my camera in a while – these photos were captured at Picacho State Park in Arizona at sunset, 12/20/20.
Sunset In The Desert
Author Archives: Jess
Gulf Shores, Alabama/Gulf State Park
What was meant to be a two night stop over in Gulf State Park turned out to be a five night stay, and we could have easily and happily stayed longer.
We left Pennsylvania in our motor home on Saturday, and after two overnights in Cracker Barrel parking lots (one near Knoxville and the other just north of Gulf Shores), we pulled into Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, early on Monday morning.
We stayed at the state park campground and couldn’t check in until after noon, so we parked at a beach day use area and spent a few hours recharging on the beach after two very long drive days. We then set up camp at our site in the late afternoon and spent the next 5 days enjoying the state park and beginning to learn the ins and outs of this road life adventure.
Highlights of our time in Gulf Shores include:
Bicycling! The state park was amazingly bicycle friendly, with paved trails through the entire park and out to the towns of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. There were wooden bridges going over marshy lands that connected the trails and took you right out to the coast. It was a super quick bike ride from our site out to the beach, and we were grateful to get to spend some beautiful time on the beach, at the water. 🙏🌊
Meeting fellow road lifers! We got in touch with a couple that was staying a few sites away from us and ended up having a few drinks with them on evening at their site (Hi Jeff and Becky! ☺️ @bradylife on Insta). It was honestly out of my comfort zone to just get together with someone I didn’t know, but we had such a wonderful and memorable conversation that it goes to show me that I should do things out of my comfort zone more often. We loved getting to hear a bit of their story.
Fresh gulf seafood! We love to experience new places through food, so we wanted to get some fresh, Gulf seafood while in Gulf Shores. We initially planned to get take out from a local restaurant, but decided to buy fresh seafood from a local market to cook our own instead. Greg picked out cobia – a new to us fish – and some Cajun seasoning made in Louisiana. We made Cajun seasoned cobia with herby steamed potatoes, and enjoyed the fish so much that we went back to the same market the next day to get it again.
Nightly sunsets! Mama 🌎 gave us a beautiful show every evening while in Gulf Shores. We took a sunset bike ride through the park one evening and we had a great view of the sunset at our site, too.
Learning! This was our very first set up on the road, and we were grateful for the opportunity to start to learn some of the ins and outs of this life. From setting up, getting around, daily routines – we have already learned so much, including the necessity of being flexible, which is what Our Open Ended Life is all about! We can’t wait to continue to learn and grow on this journey.
Gulf State Park – we liked ya a lot and will for sure be back.
Notes From The Road, Amarillo to Memphis
We woke at around 5:45 and were pulling out of our Airbnb driveway at 7:30 a.m. It was still very dark, and we were instantly greeted by the lights and sounds of school start time and rush hour in Amarillo. It was bitter cold and extremely windy.
We were in Texas only for a short time this day, and it was the only place where we got a small glimpse of the sun. It never ended up coming out the entire day. At around 8:30, on route 40 outside of Amarillo, surrounded by huge wind mills, it briefly peaked around some clouds.
From Texas, it was through Oklahoma – the first either of us had ever been to the state. After driving through the entire state, I said that it was like a bridge between what I’ve come to know as the western landscape and the eastern landscape. Just after making it through Oklahoma City in the center of the state, the landscape went from being brown and red desert and plains to slowly turning into forest. And then we entered Arkansas where we were full on surrounded by forest, which reminded me so much of driving through Pennsylvania. We got our first rain of the trip in eastern Arkansas.
This was our longest drive day, and I think all four of us were feeling it by the end. We were staying at a hotel just south of Memphis – in Southaven, Mississippi. We wanted to grab dinner in Memphis on our way through and that ended up being way more of an adventure than we were ready for that late in the day. It was neat driving into Memphis in the dark, being greeted by all of the city lights. But between one way roads, road closures, and the restaurant that we ordered take out from being in the middle of a pedestrian only street – it took us a while to get our food.
We were so ready to be out of the car once we got to the hotel. Cold Mexican take out never tasted so good. Cheers to day three!
Notes From The Road, Cortez to Amarillo
Day two of our trip east was driving from Cortez to Amarillo, Texas. This was a shorter drive day – just over 8 hours of drive time, which we took advantage of by sleeping in just a bit. We packed up and left Cortez at 7:45 a.m. It was a gorgeous Colorado morning – cold but pleasant, and the morning light made everything have a pink tint to it.
Most of the day was spent driving through New Mexico, which we were both looking forward to because neither of us had ever been to or driven through the state. The drive through New Mexico was epically beautiful and massively perspective giving. Seeing and driving through areas so vastly different than what we are both used to affected us both deeply and gave us a welcomed dose of perspective. We are definitely looking forward to making it back to New Mexico to check out the mountain biking, hiking and arts/culture scenes.
We stayed the night in Amarillo, Texas, in an amazing little Airbnb. It was a converted garage and had a completely fenced in back yard, so we let Ivy and Forest both out free to explore the yard on their own. That honestly might have been the highlight of the day for me. It was such a peaceful and happy way to end the day. Ivy made some chicken friends through the fence, Greg and I enjoyed some delicious Mexican takeout and a beer, and we all took in the sounds of evening time in Amarillo.
Notes From The Road, Boise to Cortez
Before we begin our motor home life, we first are driving from Boise to the east coast. We’ll spend a week with my family in North Carolina, and then some time in Pennsylvania with Greg’s family, which is where we’ll pick up the motor home and hit the road. As I type this, we’re sitting in an Airbnb in Amarillo, Texas, following day two on the road from Boise to North Carolina. I thought it’d be fun to type up some notes from the road from each day of our trip, and then maybe keep this up occasionally as we dive into motor home life.
Day one of our trip was driving from Boise to Cortez, Colorado. We left Boise right at 7 a.m. and pulled into our Airbnb in Cortez just as the sun disappeared behind the horizon, around 6:30 p.m.
Highlights from the day were watching the sun rise in Idaho – our last Idaho sunrise for a while; driving through Utah’s landscape which is absolutely stunning and was made even more beautiful through all of the amazing fall colors out right now; and arriving in Colorado just before sunset, and then watching the bright, pink sun disappear behind the horizon just as we were done driving for the day.
We discovered a place that we never heard of but definitely want to visit – Canyons of Ancients National Monument. And the charming little town of Cortez. Honestly, we were only staying there because it was on our route and we were able to find an affordable and pet friendly Airbnb there. But it was an adorable little town that I would be happy to find myself in again. We wanted to pick up some beer to go, and we found a place online right away that looked great to us – Wild Edge Brewing Collective. A little story that I want to remember – we looked at their selection online and picked out a rye pale ale that sounded really good and then looked at their hours and realized that they were closing right then. So, we found another place to get some beer that sounded just okay. We got in the car to go pick it up, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I just call Wild Edge to confirm their hours?’ So I called and the bartender confirmed that they did just close, but if we were close, we could swing by to grab some beer to go. We were so excited and it was so kind of the bartender to stay later than he might have so that we could try their beer. And it was so good! Definitely, definitely a place that I would return to.
Until next time!
— Jess
This is Our Open Ended Life
One year ago, we were just several weeks into living in Boise. A new city, a new state and a new part of the country. And now, we’re less than one week from leaving. One year ago, we had no idea where we’d be in a year. But to be honest, I would have never guessed that we would be embarking on the adventure that we are about to.
In less than one week, we’ll once again say see ya later to our belongings, and pack up our car with just the things we need. We’ll once again drive across the country with just those essentials and Forest (our dog) and Ivy (our cat) in tow. This time though, there is no destination in mind. There is no place or location to make it to.
And what a better time to introduce this new blog, Our Open Ended Life. Because that is what this is all about.
We’re Greg and Jess. We’ve come to really believe that the point of this life is the journey itself. Not a time or a place or an achievement in the future. It’s the here and now, the every day, and trying to live fully with each and every day we’re given.
A little over one year ago, we cleaned out and wittled down our belongings and moved across the country to an apartment that was half the size of our house. Now, we’re doing it again. We’re taking our already downsized belongings and downsizing again. We’re choosing the things that actually matter, that we actually use, and moving into a motorhome.
This blog is a place to not only journal and reflect on the specific adventure we’re about to embark on, but on all that inspires and changes us in this open ended life. We’ll both be sharing and documenting our journey on this blog, as well as on our Instagram (@ouropenendedlife). We really don’t have a destination in mind – it will just be us, our motorhome and all that comes to us along the way.
–Jess
Our Open Ended Life 