Family magnetism
Hello! Following is an announcement from both Steph and I…
From Stephanie:
A New Adventure
The ups and downs of traveling for a long period of time are real. The new places we visit and people we meet can overwhelm the senses with beauty and exhaustion at the same time. There are new experiences over every hill and a sense of loss at the amazing things we just found and left. I am grateful for this season to experience all the ups and downs of life on the road.
This journey has taken us places we could not have planned. Every day is different and leads us to places unknown. We have heard and seen things that cause us to stop and feel grateful as well as push us to continue this project and experience more.
After six months we found ourselves heading home to Colorado to sell our beautiful cabin. Unsure of our final destination we got the cabin ready and headed back out on the road. Through New Mexico and Texas our nose turned east and felt that maybe we had been headed there all along. We moved through the states until arriving in the familiar land of Virginia. The pull toward family is strong and we happily allowed ourselves to be drawn in.
The first part of The Hard West Project has now come to an end, and we find ourselves in another new place. A place to start over again, yet with familiarity. A place to continue writing this book. A place we can thrive.
We have landed in Richmond, Virginia.
Our hearts now reside in many places. Our dearest friends in Colorado, our newest friends on the west coast, and now back with our sweet friends on the east coast. We are truly blessed.
We hope to finish the book in this new city full of surprises and hope. We hope to inspire you and bring new thoughts regarding our unhoused neighbors. And we hope you find yourself in our neighborhood saying hi soon. The door is always open (when we get one of course).
From Chris:
Saying goodbye to Colorado
What a year it’s been so far. Life changing to say the least. I’m sure we’ll be drawing from what we experienced for a long time to come.
As we find ourselves at the end of this leg of the project (9 months in) it seems like a good time to give an update.
First off… we’re exhausted. The kind of exhaustion a kid experiences after a day with friends in the woods hard at play. Also, the kind of exhaustion one feels when starting something new (in our case, just about everything) – releasing the past and opening up to the future.
After 6 months or so on the road we felt compelled to head home to Colorado to get our beloved cabin ready for market (look for the shameless pitch at the end of this post). A tough decision but we knew it was time. The decision had been coming into focus on our trip and really coalesced when we headed toward the interior states of Montana and Idaho.
Before leaving for our trip we’d made the decision to resist burdening our travels with the question: “is this a place we’d like to live?” trusting instead that something would find purchase when our travels concluded. It gave us more freedom to stay present to our project and the people we met. This turned out to be a very good decision. We also committed to staying unscripted throughout – this is much more suited to my personality and an act of courage for Steph’s planner personality. She found a way to thrive regardless.
This Summer, Steph headed back to Tennessee for our niece’s wedding along with our daughters Abby and Hannah – her experience of being with family really moved her and I was reaching the same feeling, we miss being near the kids. So when she returned we talked out our choices and landed on Richmond Virginia. We had always said that if we were ever going to move back East, Richmond would be our city of choice.
So here we are. Living in our COW (cabin on wheels) moving around the Richmond area exploring the neighborhoods and finding our way. Richmond is a gorgeous city. Filled with 19th century architecture, great food, homeless resources, corner pubs, theater, music, museums, tons of history all waiting to be discovered. The James River runs through the town as well.
The people here are really kind and we’ve met some gems already. Though it’s tempting to find a position within the homeless services here, I think it has the potential to be unfair. Onboarding is expensive for organizations and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time and money only to realize it’s a bad fit for me… so we’d rather volunteer and do our homework before pursuing something in the homeless sector.
So, I’ve secured a position with a company here that does historical preservation (my first career) among other things and I started a few days ago. Man, am I out of shape! I’m already loving the crew, and Eliot, the owner, offered Steph and I a place to park our camper in the city so we don’t have to move around or commute! This is a huge gift.
Thanks for being with us on our travels, our writings which will continue and the whole project. Thank you especially for the support (of every kind), we have felt very loved and taken care of.
More to come!
The pitch: If you know anyone who would love to live in the mountains of Colorado with Pikes Peak in their backyard in arguably the most beautiful location in the region… two blocks from more coffee shops than any town of 8 thousand people should ever expect to have. Several hundred miles of hiking, single-track trails and access to everything. Send ‘em our way and we’d really appreciate it.
