Thank You

We've finished the greatest adventure of our lives, and we're so glad you came along for the ride.

Dec 12, 2024

Back in September, while on the ferry to Isle Royale National Park, Jason and I began introducing ourselves to a few other passengers. The ride to the island would take four hours; we wanted to make conversation to pass the time. Inevitably, we told a couple about our Big Trip.

One of them chuckled. “You know you have the rest of your lives, right?” he said.

We laughed, too. Because we know how it sounds: putting our careers on hold to see 29 Major League Baseball parks and all the national parks in the contiguous U.S. before our mid-thirties. It sounds kind of awesome—and totally nuts.

And on that ferry ride, I couldn’t help wondering: Was it worth it?

In our newsletter and Instagram, it might look like we’ve been vacationing for the last 18 months. In reality, though, this trip took a lot of planning, patience, and adaptability. We’ve dealt with tornado warnings and technology failures. We’ve made bad decisions on the heels of heat waves and poor Apple Maps directions. Leading up to this ferry ride, our trailer had sustained some damage and needed major repairs. And just a few weeks ago, our truck threw a fit, compelling us to cut our losses and head home early.

In short, this trip tested us in ways we couldn’t have predicted before we hit the road last summer. That was never part of our plan.

But I’m so glad it happened anyway.

If this trip has taught us anything, it’s that we’re capable of far more than we’d ever imagined. That we can overcome any bump in the road, big or small. That we can dream up a wild idea and make it a reality.

We have the power to create the life we want. That’s precisely the lesson we needed to learn as we enter the next phase of our life.

To answer that passenger’s question—you know you have the rest of your lives, right?—yes, we know. But we had the chance to do this trip now; we didn’t want to let the opportunity slip by. And even with all that went wrong—or perhaps, because of it—the Big Trip has fulfilled its purpose.

We used to daydream about living on the road and seeing a new place every day. Now, we’re daydreaming about the next place we’ll call home and the next steps we’ll take in our careers. We’re thinking about our future.

And thanks to this trip, we know we can make our future whatever we want it to be.

This will be our last newsletter. If we can get back on the road to finish this trip the way we wanted, we may send out one more. But for now, this marks the end of this adventure. It’s time we move on to the next.

Thank you for coming along with us. Jason and I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as we did—not to mention Catsby.

Where have we been? Everywhere.

Except for Iowa, Delaware, and Rhode Island. (Sorry, guys.) Maybe we’ll get to those states one day. For now, we’re happy with where we’ve been.

Before we sign off…

To commemorate the end of our trip, we jotted down our favorite places we’ve been and food we’ve eaten. We hope you enjoy reading—or, better yet, that these stories help you plan your next adventure.