Life Less Ordinary: Currently: July

Currently living/working in: Just last week, we reluctantly turned over the keys to the Superfeet Supervan! As for our living situation going forward, we’ll be in Denver through mid August, then head back to New Mexico to teach environmental education for our fourth session at Fenton Ranch.

Current mood: Post-trail blues … our epic summer adventure is over and it has finally sunk in. I think of that 1989 Soul II Soul song, “Back to life, back to reality ...”

Currently excited about: Though we are disappointed our nomad travels have ceased, we are excited about getting back to our tiny cabin in the woods at Fenton Ranch, teaching the kids again and re-domesticating the Fenton cat (can’t really call her our cat since she’s everyone’s cat now).

Currently not excited about: Adulting. These next 12 days in Denver will be filled with all those tedious life logistics you people probably deal with on a weekly basis, but Justin & I try to avoid until it catches up to us! Plus, we are in a perpetual state of unpacking and packing again, and frankly, that is never fun, but a byproduct of being nomadic. At least there are cute faces in Denver to distract us.

Currently amazed by: Justin is officially the “category manager” of knives and multitools for Backpacker Magazine. We’ve been testing gear for BP since 2013, but Justin always wanted to step it up into a category manager position. His persistence and hard work has paid off!!!! I am pretty proud of how he is handling his new role.

Currently proud of: Storage Wars. I’ve complained plenty of times on the blog about our storage unit in Danville; in fact, just recently in this post. But, I truly think we made a dent in our main storage unit and are continuing to go through stuff while we are in Denver. I’m always the one who yells “DONATE!” and Justin yells “KEEP!” However, I am quite impressed at J’s recent attempts to prove he is not a full-on hoarder. It's hard to simplify when you are a gear junkie.

Currently thankful for: Well, I can finally say it. We put 13,000 miles on the Supervan and there were no speeding tickets or accidents. We (Justin) got pulled over once, we got one parking ticket and we allegedly missed a few tolls, but overall, pretty great track record. Phew!!!

Currently regretting: Spending way too much energy tracking our mail around the country. Most people don’t get a lot of mail, but we seem to get more than others because of product testing and shipments from our gear sponsors. We spent an unnecessary amount of time this summer tracking down packages and mail that were supposed to arrive well before we did. Another byproduct of being gypsies …

Current confession: We’ve spent our whole summer conserving our 5GB phone data plan (that we had to upgrade from 2GB) for Google Maps and emergencies only, stealing moments of Internet when asking every friend/family for their WiFi password and spending too much $$ on Starbucks coffees to cram in computer time in between driving. The point is, while we love unplugging and being disconnected, it is not recommended when trying to run a mobile marketing tour funded by sponsors.

Current guilty pleasure: Unlimited Internet and private restrooms while we are in Denver. We’ve used more public restrooms in the past 3 months than all of you combined. Guaranteed.

Currently reading: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck. J & I have been listening to this book about Steinbeck’s 1960 road trip across America with his dog in his camper. It had us shaking our heads often in agreement even though it took place in a completely different decade! We still have a few hours left on the book, but I’d like to finish it.