Hi y’all! I wanted to give an update on the Summer, Matt, and Garrison family road trip 2025 (which I am calling here, SMG Nomadication). If you have any questions, please reach out to me. Considering this is my first update I should explain what is going on in a little more detail.
The 5Ws: Summer, Garrison, and I collectively decided to hit the road last fall. G and I were at home hanging on the couch and Summer, working from home, poked her head out of her office after an exhausting set of meetings and said something along the lines of, “Y’all want to sell everything and hit the road?” Me a G consulted through glance, and agreed, we were (we are) game. I was hell bent to be done with my masters degree by May ’25, I have a year left on my teaching certification, G was down to adventure, and Summer ordered a satellite internet device.
We spent a lot of time at RV shows and RV dealers. We had lots of conversations. Do we sell the house or rent it? What kind of truck to pull an RV? What size? By December/January the politics of Texas continued to shift more anti-women, more anti-1st Amendment (especially the freedom from religion aspect), more anti-public education laws, and generally less individual freedom for everyone except a narrowing version of white dudes. Texas is a trip all on its own. We were looking at a Texas that we both recognized and were becoming wearier of. We understand the future is, as it always is yet only rarely grasped, unwritten. We’ve become more aware as the years move forward, that our generation is rapidly becoming older adults within the living cohort of our species’ existence. As parents we understand that one of the most important things we can do is to provide our kid the best education we can. We also wanted to find a place we could call home if we’re seriously considering leaving the one we already know. Would we find fulfillment of that goal somewhere other than our home state of Texas?
A friend of the family, Alejandra, mentioned that she and her partner had spent a year on the road going from AirBnB to AirBnB around the country. RVs seemed like a lot and the RV culture/experience I was exploring online wasn’t my vibe. I come from an old school road trip family[1] but the stability of a home for Garrison and Summer, as she works remotely, would be paramount. So, we began to explore the world of house rentals. We had already got rid of my old truck and were in process of selling off Summer’s car. We consulted with the realtor we work with and figured the house would sell better if we weren’t in it. Easy right?
Houses were flying off the market and we were hopeful ours would get snapped up quick. We moved into a two-bedroom apartment and a storage unit, this was the true start to the nomad life we were embarking on. We asked G where he wanted to go, he said Hawaii, we compromised on an Alaskan cruise in June with my mom, aunt Mary, and cousin Henning. The move to the apartment was awesome, Sum working, G in school, me finishing up my MA. Our San Marcos house went on the market in March. As soon as we put the house on the market, interest rates hiked and it turns out FEMA just updated some flood plain maps and the land our house sits on got reclassified. It’s mid-July as of writing this and we have had a total of 2 people even come to view our house. C’est la vie.
Our trip is paid until the end of September, and if the house doesn’t sell, we’re heading back to San Marcos to plot more, mostly adventure and rebelliousness, and continue to build home with each other. Until then, let me update you on the actual trip. I will go into more detail about the trip in future newsletters. For now, let me just timeline it out then share some pictures.
June 1: moved out of the Apartment into a few footlockers and a truck. I forgot to mention we have two dogs as well, Dax (our old man) and Nugget (the anxious Malinois mix}. Headed to stay with my in-laws, the ever-amazing P&L on their farm out in Colorado County, TX.
Mid-June: Alaskan Cruise, it was pure amazing. Glaciers, hikes, history, romantic views, culture, humpback whales, and a big ass boat. Dude.
Late-June: Back to TX to finish outfitting the truck and final prep.
June 26th: Road trip to Meyersdale, PA. It was a road trip for the ages. Visited the Mom and Pop Game Shop in Texarkana, the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, comic books in Lexington, KY had, epic Appalachian views, and father son talks for the ages.
June 29 – July 31: Meyersdale, PA. Beautiful country, lots to say. So far trips to Cumberland, Gettysburg, Frank Lloyd Wright houses, meeting old friends, local and community history, architecture, French and Indian War history, the history of the National Road, politics of a swing state, and ice cream… so much ice cream.
July 31 – August 3: Philadelphia
August 3 – August 31: Hartford, CT. G has been into researching bionics and prosthetics. He watched a vid about a disabled sea turtle named Charlotte with a problem called “bubble butt syndrome” (I am a product of the 90s and I still can’t get Mack Daddy’s hit out of my head) and a team of people who developed the prosthetics to help the turtle swim again. I reached out one of the companies in the video and scheduled to tour the 3d printers’ facility in August with G as a VIP! I am reaching out to MIT and Harvard to see if we can’t tour.[2] We hope to tour Boston, Mystic, New Hampshire, Vermont, and so much more if we can (Sum snagged tickets to see Bad Religion and Dropkick Murphy’s in NH)!
September 1 – 30: Craryville, NY. Should be dope, hoping to see the leaves begin their change (maybe a little early), Hudson River Valley adventures, a weekend in Seneca Falls then Niagara, then Canada so we can get our new passports stamped. We are venturing into NYC for a weekend. Hoping to see old friends and family. I also start homeschooling G for his fifth-grade year, on the road or not!
October: If the house sells by September we will continue to plan for the next leg of our journey. If not, we will move back to San Marcos and continue to venture out when we can to continue to plot on adventure looking for a new place to call home. I am also for sure teaching G his fifth-grade year.
Stay Tuned!
[1] A prompt for a short
[2] Beats the time I had the Marine Recruiters show up to the house when I was a kid. Sorry again for the early heart attack mom!
dobbshead 