Time has always seemed to go too swiftly for my taste. Traveling, it seems to go by even more quickly. I remind myself to be present for this moment. Just breathe, and be. It seems to help. Time is apparently malleable, and as much as I can, I want to stretch it out, both in our travels and in life.
Prayer flags in the Garden of 1000 Buddhas that we visited today near Missoula, Montana. Reminders for staying present appear in the most unexpected places.
When we embarked on this journey, we had no idea how long we would travel. With five years on the road, I sometimes think we should have done it all by now. But we haven’t. There’s still so much more to do, more to explore, and so many more adventures ahead. We’re on our way back to Lopez Island for the summer, and crazy though it seems, it’s already time to plan our fall and winter travels.
A New Look for Raven and Chickadee
Meanwhile, for the past several weeks, I’ve been immersed in creating our new website. I am not technologically inclined, and our old website was giving me so much trouble that I came close to shutting it down. (Truthfully, what I felt like doing was setting it on fire, and gleefully watching it go up in flames.) But Melissa, my website guru, talked me down from that idea, and with her help, we have a new site. I’m good at coming up with what I want our site to look like; not so good at figuring out how to implement it.
So, here it is, our new site unveiled! Bigger photos, bigger font, easier navigation (there’s finally a “forward” and “back” button for navigating posts), a new option that makes it easier for commenting, better search options, and a new gallery, among other things.
Oh! And there’s a new header on the home page—it’s a photo of a fabric wall hanging that I made with the help of my friend Diana, artist extraordinaire. It hangs in our bedroom in our trailer.
You may have noticed that the background on our site is still purple. Really, did you expect anything different?
Remember this? This was laundry day a couple of years ago. I got more comments on this photo than probably any other photo I’ve ever posted. Apparently, I really like purple.
Laundry Day
In getting our new blog incarnation ready for its debut, I’ve been sorting through the photos we’ve collected in our travels to put together our new gallery. It has been a long and winding trip down memory lane, and a good reminder of how many adventures we’ve had over the past five years. The gallery has some answers to the eternal question, “What are your favorite places that you’ve visited?” It’s only a smattering of our favorites, but it’s a start. And whoa, is it ever a vortex to start sorting photos and looking for favorites…
On that note, I’m making myself move forward so that I can get this blog up and running again! We’ve been to lots of new places in the past couple of months, and we’re excited to share them with you.
Thank you, dear friends, for accompanying us on our travels. You make our journey all the richer.
Love,
Laurel and Eric
At one point, I would have thought five years was plenty of time to see everything too, but given our experiences so far, I completely agree with you. There is just so much to see in this country and the best stuff is, oftentimes, off the beaten path. Your photo gallery is proof of that – so many places we haven’t been and some I hadn’t even heard of. It could be completely overwhelming if it wasn’t all so exciting that we get to do this in the first place.
The changes to your site look great. I am 100% with you on not being technologically inclined, but it really is worth it to make your site as easy to read and user friendly as possible. I also like that you kept the purple. It’s good to have some consistency and, fun fact, purple is our ‘theme” color too – hence, “Barney the purple RV.” What can I say – it’s a GREAT color!!
Anyway, glad you are back to blogging on a regular basis. I am looking forward to hearing all about your post-Florida travels!
Thanks, Laura. I’m glad you like purple—it makes me feel like I’m in good company! :-) We also feel like the off-the-beaten-path places are some of the best discoveries we’ve made in our travels. And this country is so enormous, there are plenty of them to be discovered. Five years in, and we’re still excited by all of the possibilities! Including meeting up with you two. Hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
Seems you and I have been working on similar things. Going through my external drives and scouring through the past five years of travel photos has been daunting but fun. WordPress made it easy for me to freshen up my blog theme. I still have to go through my tabs and update, but that’s for another day.
My son is getting married later in the summer and purple is the main color!
Ingrid, I’m not sure what kind of WordPress site you have. If I had a regular WordPress site instead of a more complicated self-hosted site, I could do the updating myself. But apparently, there’s no going back once you set up a self-hosted site, and it’s beyond my skill level. :-( Have fun going through your photos!
A purple wedding sounds like my kind of event!
Congratulations on five years on the road! It’s easy to see how that much time can fly by, yet there is still so much to see and do! It’s a very fulfilling lifestyle. I like the changes to your website, and I am so glad you stayed purple! Cheers to the next five years!
Thanks, Linda. I’m so glad you like the blog changes (and the purple)! Time really does fly in this lifestyle. We’re excited about what’s ahead—and looking forward to meeting up with you and Steven in Portland in October!
I really like the new look…..but then again, I really liked the old look!
The gallery must have taken FOREVER to compile. I’m impressed. Either I’d still be going back and forth, unable to decide which to include or the gallery would end up being 5 pages long. Good job Laurel! I wait (patiently) for your next post.
I’m delighted you approve of the new look, Sue. The updated site was a necessity because of technical problems—but I’m happy with the result! You’re right, the gallery took some serious time to put together—it was all too easy to get waylaid walking down memory lane. I had to drag myself away and say “enough already!” There will be many updates to the gallery, though. :-)
Hi guys, the upgrade looks great. Your posts always inspire, especially since we share so many interests. I’m delighted to be refurbishing a pickup camper with my sweetie before hitting the road for a month in the Canadian Rockies. It’s just a little more storage space than backpacks but with a much better bed. We’re bringing inflatable SUPs too, because paddling is so much fun and a great way to quietly enjoy the water and its critters and views. Your photos and general approach on the road are a wonderful reminder of the joys ahead. Thanks for putting forth the effort to share your unfolding path.
It’s wonderful to hear from you, Joanne! Your plans sound fantastic—the Canadian Rockies are on our wish list, too, within the next couple of years. A pickup definitely offers a lot more storage space and a MUCH better bed, as you said.
You are such an intrepid adventurer, I love hearing about your plans. And I always think of you whenever I see mosaics in our travels (which as you can see from our photos, continues to be one of my favorite art forms). Happy travels!
Nice job with the new blog format! Glad you kept the purple background:) I absolutely love the header on the Home page. You certainly did put some work into the Gallery photos. Choosing just a few shots is very difficult. Of course, those cute little otters is my favorite:) We need to go through some of our photos to chose a few for new wall photos for the house. The large Paris oil reproductions just aren’t us. That might be a task for our August stop off in BC to drop the storage unit items before we head north. If temps keep staying as high as they are now, we won’t be outside much so maybe a review of our photos will be in order. So very glad to see you back. And very happy the blog didn’t crash and burn (but I can understand). Looking forward to more beautiful words and photos:)
Oh good, I’m happy you like the new look, Pam! And thanks for noticing the new header. I had fun making it.
Somehow, I figured the otters would be your favorite Gallery photo. :-) I know you’ll enjoy looking through your photos and choosing artwork for your home! With all of the traveling you’ve done, it won’t be easy to decide—I can’t wait to see what you choose.
Haha, you have NO idea how close I came to setting this website on fire—thanks for your encouragement!
Love the blog, before and updated. Looks great! Love to have the blog as a reference.
Enjoy Lopez. Miss you guys?
Thank you, Beth. It’s gratifying to know that our blog might be helpful for our other nomadic friends. I know your tips have been helpful for us (even though I haven’t been able to convince you to start a blog. :-)) We are going to miss you so much on Lopez, but can’t wait to hear about your summer travels!
I love traveling vicariously through you and Eric. It is always an immense pleasure and an intimate experience to see you and the wonderful marvelous places that you visit. As I sit here in my garden of the five Buddhas admiring my new addition of prayer flags, I get to experience you being present to the beauty of the garden of a 1000 Buddhas in Montana! You remind me, and I am touched again by the meaning of staying present. I’m honored to be your friend and fellow 🎶🎶 Music lover. Cynthia
Cynthia, there is no more beautiful and peaceful garden than the one you have created! We have so many memories of wonderful times in your garden and studio, sharing music and friendship. We’ll be back in October, but meanwhile, come to see us on Lopez this summer! Much love to you and Kyle.
Wow!love the new look and this new font that I am writing. And I like the gallery too! Like you I have thousands of pictures that I don’t know what to do about :) I guess it will be on the hard drive until we settle somewhere.
I hope I can see where that Prayer Flag come July 4th where we will be hiding during the holidays.
You are inspiring me to have a new look on Lowes RV Travels! but when do I find time?
Each time I see purple I always think of you :)
Thanks, MonaLiza! Yeah, it’s definitely a dilemma to know what to do with all of the photos we collect in our travels. Are you going to be in Missoula over July 4th?? If so, definitely visit the Garden of 1000 Buddhas.
There is never a good time for doing technical stuff. But sometimes we have to, and I’m so grateful that I have a wonderful blog guru.
Kind of embarrassing, but I guess I’m known for my purple addiction!
OMG! Will this be the fifth summer since we met at the Lopez Island Library? What a fortuitous evening that was. Bruce and I look forward to your upcoming return in a couple of weeks. We are in Ucluelet, BC and using your blog from last year to guide us.
I love the purple laundry.
Sheila, I think this will be the sixth summer that we’ve shared with you on Lopez! Whatever it is, we’re happy that we’ll be seeing you and Bruce again in a couple of weeks. We’re excited that you’re in Ucluelet and can’t wait to hear about your adventures! Hope you’re loving it. See you soon! :-))
Kudos for keeping up a blog, and the associated technology! I can barely keep notes on where we’ve been and what we’ve done these past 4.5 years, let alone publish. Love the new look
Thanks so much, Leah. I agree, it’s a challenge to keep up with a blog (hence I am always behind) but it’s the only way I’ll ever be able to remember where we’ve been and what we’ve done. When I get comments from blog friends, it inspires me to keep blogging. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. :-)
Love the new look! It still looks like you, but it is a bit easier to navigate and get around. I also really like the format of photos embedded within your writing. Five years? You are right, I can’t believe it has been that long for you, and for us as well. We aren’t full timing, but as you know the past five years have been very full with life and such. Also, I have spent a considerable amount of time scanning and editing photos for a large memorial slide show that I completed for Mo’s brother’s gathering this past week. So much work, and yet such a treasure for his friends and family to have all those old family photos in one place. I also have several blog posts from way back when Picasa was around and the Picasa Web Albums were where I stored everything. I am still trying to get all that in order and trying to redo those old posts as I can. Photos take up sooooo much time, and definitely do not contribute to staying in the moment, but oh I do love them. Again, great job on the new web site and travel safe.
Sue, that’s exactly what I was hoping—that our blog would still look like us, but be much easier to navigate. Thanks for the affirmation!
I can only imagine how challenging it was for you to sort through all of those years of photos—it’s such a beautiful gift that you created in honor of Mo’s brother. Sending hugs to you both.
Congratulations on 5 years on the road!
Your new site looks great, especially the gallery. Not sure I would have the patience to go through all our photos and pick favorites.
Still hope our paths will cross one of these days!
Thanks, Gayle. Sorting through thousands of photos is daunting, to say the least. I do like having a place that I can stash some photos, instead of just having them lost in the archives of the blog. But trying to choose favorites is kind of crazy-making!
And yes, most definitely we hope to cross paths with you two! Perhaps we need to make a plan.
Five years on the road! Congrats! It IS amazing how the older we get the more time seems to fly by. Not like when I was a kid in school and each day felt like eternity! Being present and not stressing about the future really does help me to fully appreciate wherever we are. Looking forward to reading more…
Love the purple color of your blog as it’s unuque and easily recognizable as you – and just to let you know we painted the front of our house a light purple lilac color and we LOVE it!
Peta
Peta, I’m doing my best to not grasp onto time, but instead to be present in the moment…I know you understand! I’ll bet your house is lovely painted lilac! We have a deep purple front door and awnings on our home in Ashland. And lots of purple in our trailer decor. :-)
So glad you didn’t wait to get on the road until everything was just right. Time passes so quickly and so much that would have been missed. Your photos are great. Glad your blog is up and running. I like the new look.
No kidding…if we had waited until everything was “just right” we probably still wouldn’t be on the road! Sometimes you just have to take the leap, right? Glad you like the new look, Debbie.
Looks great…and of course it is purple! :-)
I love looking back through our blog every few months, brings all the fun and beauty of our travels right back to me and puts everything into perspective!
Lisa, I enjoy looking back through our blog, too—I just have to be careful right now to not spend too much time reflecting on our past travels because I have some serious catching up to do! :-) You’ve created a wonderful journal of your adventures with your blog.
Looks like I’m late to the party. Cool font this comment is typing in. The site looks great but then I thought your previous one looked great so apparently I’m not much of a judge. Too funny that the line of purple tops is one of the most commented upon things in your fabulous blog of all that you’ve done in your five years on the road. Congratulations to you both!! So happy you’ve come through everything and have no limitations in what you can do. Wish I were on my way to Lopez, that’s for sure. Safe travels.
PS lovelovelove the Save my name etc option!!
Sherry, I’m so glad you like the new comment option that makes it easier to comment! Our other site was driving me crazy. Hopefully, this site will be well-behaved until the day we decide to come off the road.
We feel really fortunate to be continuing our adventures. Thanks for your good wishes—we’re hoping to see you and David next winter!
Not surprised the new format is wonderful. Thanks for all the work to make it even more reader/commenter friendly. Had I opened it and found the purple gone I would have thought I was on someone else’s blog!! Love seeing the Home header and remembering seeing it in person in Ashland just after you’d completed it. It’s so beautiful!! I agree time goes even faster in this amazing life – and that there is so much still to see.
I’m also excited to see that you guys are meeting up with Steven and Linda – you’re four of our favorite peeps!!
Jodee, I love that you remember seeing the raven and chickadee wall hanging! It also makes me realize just how quickly time is passing by…it seems like only yesterday that we were parked next to each other at Emigrant Lake!
We’re looking forward to meeting up with Steven and Linda in October—and we’re looking forward to our next meet-up with you and Bill! Florida in the winter, right? :-))
Love the new look for your blog!! It is fun to look back at all the places and things we’ve done. We actually have 2
chapters to our full-time journey. We full-timed in our Dutch Star in 2008 and then came off the road. Now we are back in our 2017 Oliver Legacy Elite II….how do you say minimalistic??? Oddly enough we are loving it! We “fit” in so many natural settings!!
Looking forward to following your blog and getting to know Raven and Chickadee!!
Thanks for joining us! Your journey sounds so interesting, going from a big motorhome to a cute little trailer. I know exactly what you mean about fitting a smaller trailer into natural settings. That’s exactly why we decided to stay with a smaller trailer. :-)
Nice job with the blog. The header photo wasn’t showing for me until I went to the gallery to check out the photos, and then … voilà … there it was. So many memories lie within those photos … not sure I could have picked so few myself … an eternal struggle, just like staying on top of the blog seems to be. I think my favorites are the egret and the lighthouse with the two red chairs. We’re also five years now on the road … going on six. Haven’t traveled in the motorhome as much as I thought we would as our overseas travel plans have taken priority, but we’ll keep chugging along.
Erin, your overseas travels along with your motorhome travels make for a very rich life. You understand well the challenges of staying up with photos and blogging while on the road. Reflecting on our travels helps to anchor the experience for me, so that’s a good thing. But I do need to move this caravan along. :-)
The new look is beautiful! And wow, 5 years already. Incredible! I wonder what the next 5 holds for you two. Love you both so much!
Thanks, Amanda! I’m glad you like the new look. :-) Kind of amazing to realize that we’ve been on the road for five years…we’re looking forward to the next chapter and hoping you’ll join us for more adventures. Love you, too!!
I love the new look Laurel. Five years goes by in the blink of an eye, doesn’t it? Looking at everything we have yet to see and do on our travel list, a lifetime is not enough to accomplish it all. I love that you and Eric find the “off the beaten path” places to explore and share them with us. I am allowing myself to slow down the pace this summer, focusing on fitness and healing. I will live vicariously through you and others that I follow. I am certain I won’t be disappointed following your travels. Looking forward to hearing more about your summer adventures.
LuAnn, it seems like you’re making great progress on your travel wish list—but I understand what you mean about feeling like one lifetime isn’t enough. I’m so glad you enjoy accompanying us on our travels to known and not-so-known places—we certainly love following along with you.
Thinking of you and hoping that all goes well with your hand therapy this summer. I’m sure you’re busy planning your next adventure! :-)
I’m finally catching up. We’ve been on the road since June 19th. I like the new changes and now know you can own more than two purple shirts. Lol!
Haha, oh yeah…it’s possible to have WAY more than two purple shirts, Brenda! :-)) Hope you two are having a blast traveling in your sweet little Casita. Looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!