Wanderlost : On the Eve of our Departure...

Sitting at the bar in Smiley's Acoustic Cafe in Greenville, SC. Josh is wrapping up a 3 hour show played to a crowd dominated by an 18-top table of 20-somethings who quite possibly have no idea that there's live music going on 4 feet from them. I'm being a super dork and pulling out my laptop at the bar. I have a million things running through my head right now, because we're leaving for Europe tomorrow. For 3 1/2 months. This makes me nervous, anxious and excited. Nervous and anxious because I feel like we could use a couple more weeks of planning and rest/ relaxation, but excited too of course. This will be our third trip over "the pond" together, but by far the longest. And being a generally worried person, I can't help but think of all the things that could go wrong. . .but it will be fine, right? It will be fantastic!

When we tell people about the month we just wrapped up, they think we're crazy to head to Europe right away. I think in August we added about 6,000 miles to the van and passed through 15+ states. In total this year we've put about 26,000 miles on the car and been to 38 states. Folks keep asking about our favorite places. . . there are too many to name. Yellowstone was incredible (of course). New York and Boston are always great. Arkansas was surprisingly awesome (especially the Fayetteville Roots Festival!). But when I think of places that we could actually see ourselves living. . . Well, it's no surprise that we're drawn to Madison- esque small/ medium sized college towns. Northampton (Mass), Portland (ME), Bellingham (WA), Missoula (MT), Ft. Collins (CO) and Asheville (NC) are at the top of my list.

swimming in the river in Arkansas with Jennie & Chris

We realized recently that when we were planning this whole live-on-the-road vagabond lifestyle (which was supposed to last a year. . . it's been 13 months) we didn't plan an exit strategy. The question of where and when to "settle down" is always looming over us, and we might just put it off a bit longer. When you have nothing tying you down, the endless possibilities can be a bit overwhelming. And for now, there's only the next 15 weeks in my headlights. . . after Europe, who knows?