Soul searching can be a tough thing. It exposes the fragile parts of your nature to the cold and harsh reality of the world. Yet it can be profoundly gratifying and uplifting when following the true path of your soul. Jake and I have found with each new adventure, we get closer to finding ourselves. We absolutely love to know that there are plans in the pipeline. Its the force that drives us and keep us motivated during lesser times. No matter the amount of work or sacrifice required, the fear is outweighed by the potential amazing experience that lays in wait.

Right now, we both desperately want to go on another big adventure. Its been a couple of years, not since New Zealand that we challenged ourselves physically and mentally. Sure, we’ve explored a lot of amazing places over the past couple of years, but what I’m talking about is different. The element of the physical challenge paired with travel to a new place is what gives us the greatest thrill.

There are specific things that need to happen in order for us to continue our exploits. We had a security blanket of funds to fall back on once our adventures were complete. We’ve reached a stage where those funds that would propel us forward are no longer abound and plentiful. Not to mention the fact that both of us are feeling the deep pangs of exhaustion in our bones. It is because of this that we often like to focus on the lesser things, like settling down someplace to find home again. However other times, we both feel a great urge to do something radical, big and wonderful. Its like tug of war.

Early this year, I began jotting down a list. Not a shopping list or a day-to-day task type of list, rather our big adventure goals and dreams. It has evolved through the year and has even been a spot of contention for us. The problem is that Jake and I approach “what’s next” from different angles. He likes to know what’s coming down the pipeline so that he can mentally and emotionally prepare. I prefer to be more flexible and open, never planning too far ahead, just in case.

THE MASTER LIST (since Feb, 2018)
1. Hike the Grand Canyon – Rim-to-Rim in a day
2. Dedicated climbing in Zion (2 months?)
3. Southwest Photo Safari (check)
4. Hike TA north
5. Astrophotography Courses (check)
6. Find land and build Bosco Station
7. Finish TA book 1
8. Learn to Fly
9. Housesit in new country
10. Raft the Yukon
11. Go to Alaska (by sailboat or by car?)
12. Sail to Nova Scotia & St. Lawrence Canal
13. Elephant Volunteer program in Sri Lanka
14. Cooking school for Jill, Pastry school for Jake
15. Sled dog training / courses / Iditarod
16. Greenland Expedition
17. Antarctica Expedition
18. Bike tour Europe (OR) Trans-Canada

* These are in no particular order

Okay, so maybe they aren’t all “big adventures”, but each item is important to one or both of us. The hard part is choosing which one to focus on, as it would be impossible to do them all at once.

Some of the items above we have actually completed, including #3. Southwest Photo Safari and #5. Astrophotography Courses (though I’d like to do more!). Both were amazing and I look forward to sharing them. We also accomplished a lot around #6. Finding land to build Bosco Station. Much like 2017, we spent a good amount of time out west, namely Montana, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona in effort to find a place that suits us. Along the way, we almost managed to achieve #1. Hiking the Grand Canyon in a day. This is something we thought we could pull off, however the logistics proved inopportune (and extremely expensive). Basically we were too late in the season to make it work and thus have to wait for another time.

You might notice some of the list are more daunting, expensive, time-consuming and likely challenging, basically everything we could want! But, it poses the question of which to choose…

Our year flew by and by mid-October we found ourselves staring at our list, having to make a decision. Jake was leaning on #4. Hiking TA north, which would carry over into early spring of 2019. The problem for me is that I wanted to be with my family for the holiday and if we left for NZ, we would surely be out of funds when we get back. I also have a lot of work opportunities that would be hard to pass up if we chose to go on this epic adventure right now.

The pressure was mounting but it was impossible to make a decision. We still needed to go to North Carolina to check on Bosco boat after Hurricane Florence and that, in itself, would be expensive, with flights, rental car and accommodation. So instead of taking charge and making any decision, I kept putting it off. I focused on other things; like seeing what our sailing friends were doing this year. I remembered that S/V Dreamtime emailed us early in the year about possibly housesitting in Australia for the winter. I reached out to inquire with them, but the gig was already filled. It planted the seed…maybe we could find a housesitting gig someplace fun, new or exotic. It made the list (see #9).

For the next couple of days we did little else but research until we found several short-term housesitting gigs between Chicago (where we were) and North Carolina (where we need to go). Wouldn’t you know that we managed to book two of them in North Carolina over six weeks. The timing is perfect because now we can drive out and take care of business AND have loads of fun in the process.

Asheville, NC

Its hard to believe that just a few days ago we had no plans for our life and then all of a sudden we have the next month+ laid out. There wasn’t much time to linger so we hit the road. It was exciting to have a mission. Good thing we’re so practiced at last-minute travel and had zero issues getting to our first abode. The housesitting client’s were amazingly welcoming, as were their sweet animals. It seems that Jake and I are totally cut out for this, as we’re so comfortable in any space, it was easy to make ourselves at home. Our charges; Kai, the standard poodle and Cali, the calico cat were both so sweet and fun. Its the perfect substitute for our deep desire to have animals of our own.

Asheville is a super fun and hip North Carolina town. We did a bit of exploring, our most favorite place being the old Pinball Museum, where you can play every pinball machine or arcade game unlimited amount of time. We spent nearly 5 hours there! It was also nice to spend time hiking in the surrounding state parks. We came at just the right time to see the leaves change colors.

Time flew by and we were saying our goodbye’s to our new friends before we knew it.

New Bern, NC

The adventure continued seamlessly as we made our way further east to New Bern. We haven’t been back since the hurricane but could see remnants of the damage still remained throughout all the coastal towns. Our old marina – stomping ground was looking much improved however there were still several rubbish heaps of rotten treasures piled between moldy wood scraps. This was a common site throughout much of the area, the most shocking part is that many people’s home’s were fraught with flooding damage but there was nothing to be done about it because insurance would not pay for it. Our friend’s lost their home to the flood and were lucky enough to find suitable alternative lodging but many others were not so lucky.

Bosco boat was not a pretty site either. The damage from the hurricane wasn’t as bad as we imagined, but she was still a mess. The bimini, solar and wind machine were all in disarray, but thankfully nothing was damaged. It took us several days to get it all back in order, not to mention hours of scrubbing to get Bosco boat back up to her high standard of cleanliness. Its a good thing we came back because we also filed our insurance claim on the boat, which was approved shortly thereafter! Now Bosco is undergoing minor surgery on the outer teak rail, brand new bottom paint and a bunch of other treatments to make her better than before.

We had the best time visiting with our sailing friends, helping some of them get ready to go back to the islands. It was so inspiring that we are considering taking another trip this summer (see #10).

Myrtle Beach & Charleston, SC

We had 4 days to kill before our second housesitting gig, and thought it would be fun to take a mini vacation to Myrtle Beach. We rented a little apartment on the water which was great except that it was freezing cold outside and the idea of sitting on the beach was not that appealing.

Charleston, SC was just a couple hours away and one of our favorite places on the east coast. There is so much history and beauty packed into the architecture, walking paths and amazing waterfront. Since the weather was kind of iffy, we spent part of the day in the Charleston Museum and touring one of the mega-mansions, preserved in all of its glory even today. There are generations of stories written in every nook and cranny, decoration, costume, furniture and even architectural design.

Ocean Isle & Cape Fear

After our mini vacay, we made the short drive north to Ocean Isle, where we met another amazing lady and her sweet springer spaniel, Griffin, who is our charge for the next 2 weeks. It was perfect timing for Thanksgiving as well, so Jake and I made sure to stock up on all of our favorites; smoked turkey, stuffing, potatoes and chocolate babka (which is delicious if you have not had it before).

Jake used to live nearby when he was active in USMC, so we took several jaunts to the hold stomping grounds, which were massively more crowded than he remembered. Our favorite was definitely the Cape Fear museum, which was free for visitors as there was some hurricane damage that closed off part of it. But honestly, you would never notice because it was so fun and had tons of weird wild random things (or seemingly random). The old school games and toys were so nostalgic to play with, yes…I said PLAY with. There were tons of hands-on activities for children and grown-ups alike.

We spent our days playing with the pooch and doing lots of research. I found several long-term housesitting gigs all over the globe, the favorites being France, Italy, Australia and Canada. We never expected to book any of them, since they can be quite competitive, but somehow we managed to nab one in Calgary, Canada. We will be responsible for managing the 160 acres of land with a huge barn, chickens, dog and cat. And check this out, the couple is going to the Caribbean on their sailboat for the winter! How perfect is that? Its a match made in heaven!

So here we are, about to embark on a new country AND achieve one of the items on the master list (see #9). Hopefully it will give us a chance to save, plan and scheme for another big Jake & Jill expedition of epic proportions. 🙂