R and J in the USA

Sure thing! Want to check out our overall and state-by-state itineraries with fancy google maps and a Garmin map of our actual path of travel? Even if you have a copy of our paper itinerary from before we left, you’ll want to check our new and ever evolving itinerary as we adjust while traveling. Head to Maps & Itineraries.

If you don’t want to spend much time reading and just want to breeze through pictures with short captions of where we are, day-by-day, week-by-week, just go to the Trip at a Glance page. 

If you are interested in longer form entries detailing our grand adventures, quirky stories, and waxing reflections as we travel through each state, visit the State-by-State page.

If you are interested in the mind wanderings we have along the way, visit the Ruminations page.

If you, like Julie, are mildly obsessed with packing, organization, gear and the art of being prepared, check out our super nerdy Packing Wins page, where Julie gives outsized celebration to the things that we were so glad we brought or brags about our (self-proclaimed) brilliant packing and organization strategies.

If you are just interested to track us in our 5Ks in 50 states adventure, well, go to the 5Ks in 50 States page.

If you are interested in learning about some of the people we encounter on the road, visit the People Along the Way page.

Want to hear us specifically detail our thoughts about van life, the ins and outs, the good, the bad and the tiny? Go to Life on the Road.

If you are interested to take a peak at Julie’s Odes to the 50 States project, well, not to put to fine a point on it, your gonna want to head on over to the Julie’s Odes to the 50 States page.

As often as we feel like it.

We will attempt to post about each state at the end of each state’s visit. In between that, we’ll post when the inspiration strikes or time allows.

If you were aware of our trip since before we began, you probably know that it took us until the middle of August to even get this blog up and running for a trip that started on May 30th. So, tending to the blog has not made it to the top of our priority list, but, when we get a free moment and enough brain space to do it, we are excited to keep you all posted! Thanks for your interest and for following along!

Yes. 🙂 Meaning, both. More of the former than the latter. We have 10 months to do the trip. In addition to hitting all 50 states, we want to get to know each state as a whole as much as we can in such a short time. To make the most of this limited time amidst our various constraints (specific places we want to see, events that have specific dates, maximizing efficiency of driving route, navigating weather and other seasonal factors etc…), having an itinerary is fairly necessary. We’ve mapped out the dates that we’ll be in each state. We will adjust those dates as we go if things take longer than planned, if we decide we want to make any changes and to take advantage of the fun and unexpected opportunities that present themselves when we can.

Our goal is to always have a day-by-day itinerary planned and booked out one to two months ahead, campsites booked, 5k races registered and event tickets purchased. One or two months is far enough out to give us enough space to enjoy our day-to-day and focus on the experiences and projects we are working on without having to chew up valuable time every day researching and booking, but not so far out that we have to cancel a hundred bookings if we end up getting one day behind schedule.

As a matter of fact, yes! So funny that you asked. If you know us, you probably know we not only have a list of said things, but that list is in a spreadsheet, and that spreadsheet has colors in it. Here is the list of things we are aiming to/planning to/hoping to do/visit in each state.

• Do a 5K race
• Make at least a small financial donation (often done through the 5K we sign up for)
• Visit the capitol city and building
• Get a picture of the “welcome to” sign
• Julie wants to swim, bike and run – at least a little bit – in each state
• Julie wants to write an ode to each state
• Post about our visit in each state on this blog
• Do our best to visit the following
  • The largest (most populous) city
  • At least one medium-sized or small city or large town
  • At least one small town
  • Visit the country-side/rural areas
  • At least one state park
  • Any national forest
  • At least one historically significant site
  • At least one culturally significant site
  • At least one site related to the native inhabitants of that land
  • Hit as many well-known or culturally significant places or experiences
  • Take a bite of at least one local food experience where there are foods that are unique or characteristic of that state (like Crabs in Maryland)
  • As many elements of architecture and urban design that is characteristic in the villages, towns and cities of various parts of the state
  • Seeing as much of the natural landscape and climates (where there are oceans, see the oceans, where there are mountains, see the mountains, deserts, rainforests, lakes, islands and so forth…)

We will do our best to hit all of these items in each state. Knowing time is limited, the 5K, capitol building and Ode to each state are the ones we are most committed to get.

That’s a great idea and it sounds lovely. However, getting to know the whole country, getting to breathe the air where people are living their lives is our primary goal. And, we have 10 months in which to do it.

It is and will be difficult to balance having time to enjoy the trip and really get to know each place with such an ambitious schedule, but, ultimately, for us, this trip is more of a survey course in the landscape of America than an in depth deep dive in any one place.

And, though this trip is definitely a luxury and filled with fun – beaches will be laid upon, mountain air will be breathed and amusement parks will be visited – it is not exactly a vacation. We are certainly out here on a mission to attempt to get to know this country, as much as can be done in such a way and in such a time period. Though the pace is fast, we have found, we can really get a fairly deep sense of place and rich experience, even with having only a short time in a place. Whether it’s the insights that come from roadside signs, the beauty and intrigue of each new landscape we make our way through, the events and culinary delights we stumble upon or the chance encounters and unexpected conversations we find ourselves in – just being in a place and getting to participate, if even just for a moment, in the places where people are living their lives, and getting to partake in the ways that fun, joy and celebration occur, or witness what solemn monuments are honored or historic stories are preserved and told – there is a lot of getting to know the country that can happen, directly or just by osmosis, even at such a breakneck pace.

Every single state we travel to – we do find ourselves wanting to stay longer or circle back to catch places we weren’t able to go. But, it has simply whet our appetite for future trips that might be more focused on really taking our time in a place.

Again, the short answer is – sounds fun! 

You might be thinking – it’s for the t-shirts. And you are not exactly wrong, per se, but that is not the only reason.

The slightly longer answer is, we wanted to have some way to participate in a community experience in each state and get to be part of a cause that people are rallying around. A 5K is a very quick, highly accessible way to quickly plug in, be part of something and make a small contribution.

That, plus, we like physical challenges and we were both planning to run regularly anyways. Oh, and Julie LOVES checking things off of lists and getting to say things like, “I did a 5K in all 50 states.”

Most of all, for Julie, she doesn’t feel like she’s really been someplace unless she runs there – and running someplace with a bunch of other people from that place takes that to a whole next level.

That’s a tough question to answer quickly, but we’ll try.

Julie has wanted to live in a camper van since before Julie knew anything about camper vans. When in high school, Julie moved her entire bedroom into her closet. This was not a walk-in closet. It was a standard-sized sliding-door closet. She slept in there – despite having the luxury of a rather spacious bedroom all to herself. Once she learned about camper vans – the coveting began. Coveting turned into dreaming and now here we are!

As for the 50 states part? Again, the quick answer is, sounds like a neat adventure! The United States is such a vast and varied land – whether it’s culture, landscape, lifestyle or anything else – there is so much to see and appreciate and savor. What a tremendous experience and opportunity to get to taste a little bit of it!

So, Julie came up with the idea and Ryan said, “Sounds fun. Let’s do it!” (Since we don’t have kids, we can do things like come up with ideas and then say, “Let’s do it,” and then do it. We will eventually leave this world never knowing the deep and primal love a parent feels for a child and will just have to hope that we can convince some of our nieces and nephews to visit us in the nursing home someday, but, for now, there are a few benefits.)

The bigger answer – well – a quote from one of Julie’s heroes, Inigo Montoya, comes to mind. “Let me esplain – no, it is too difficult. Let me sum up.” This particular idea has nothing to do with getting revenge on Prince Humperdinck, but needs summing up nonetheless. Julie has always had a strong sense of national identity, a deep sense of patriotism in the sense of America being her home, her roots, her family and the particular story that she is part of, and proudly so. Julie has long felt a desire to really know this country – and has found it difficult to do so through the limited touchpoints of YouTube comments, Reddit brawls, headlines or pontificating pundits. So we wanted to get to know the people and places that we are in this national boat with – if only to the degree that we can by traveling the country. Of course we can’t sit down and chat with 300 million people, give or take, but a lot of understanding, connection and appreciation is gained through osmosis as we travel the miles that make up this land. And so we are!

No. Well, technically no. If working means doing something and getting PAID for it – definitely no. We are both, however, working studiously on many projects that we hope will be sources of income after the trip. But we are accountable to no supervisors, we have no zoom meetings to attend, and no pesky paychecks to cash (hmmm – maybe we haven’t thought this through). We are also quite busy (this is certainly a luxurious kind of busy – not a complaint!) managing the day-by-day of a packed schedule that there is barely any time for said projects – but we are trying.

Hey! None of your business. Just kidding. Especially, for those reading this and aspiring to do it themselves, this is an important question. As stated earlier, this has been a dream of Julie’s for a long time and Julie likes to plan. So money has been saved over many years. We have both taken time off mid-career to pursue these bucket list travel activities knowing that we only have a limited window before said saved money runs out and we both need to reenter the workforce, hopefully being able to utilize projects that we (hopefully) complete during this time off towards such ends. (These include writing projects, entrepreneurial business plans and other creative activities. I.e. Julie is writing a musical and other scripts she hopes to sell and/or produce.) So, this is sort of like a temporary retirement. Also, we have no children. And children, as we understand it, are expensive. We are not certain, as, again, we have no children of our own – but as we understand it, you have to feed and cloth them pretty much every single day. That’s gotta add up. So, all that money you spent on your children’s education, cell phone plan, health care and whatever tickle-me-Elmo toy (revealing my age!) they absolutely had to have for the holidays, we still have in our bank account. Also, for those 20 something’s reading this – because we are in our mid 40s and 50s respectively, we have had more time to earn and save over the years.

No one. As per the previous question, we don’t have any. So this is easier.

Absolutely! This being a 50 states tour, by definition, Hawaii and Alaska easily made the cut. That said, for those of you astute enough to note that Hawaii is approximately 3,000 miles of water away, we will not be going by camper van. And, Alaska, though driveable, being an 1,000 mile drive will also be one we will by flying there and taking a cruise back.

No. We’re sorry you had to find out this way.

Also, just kidding. The higher likelihood is that though we indeed love you very much (assuming we know you and have already established said bond of love), there is barely enough time to fit in finding a place to shower some days – our itinerary is jam-packed to accomplish our various trip goals. Speaking of showering…

If a) we love you b) we are fairly confident you love us c) we are planning to drive through your town anyways and d) we can openly use you with your happy consent for a nice long non-campsite shower, your laundry machine, garbage, recycling and so on – and you then understand we will promptly leave after we are done using you. (There will likely be some joy and merriment exchanged briefly between here and there, and of course, much effusive gratitude and love coming your way.) If any one of these conditions is not met, we likely won’t see you (maybe for a quick hug if conditions a, b and c are met). So basically, our love on this trip is VERY conditional. Who else is getting the warm fuzzies here? We do actually want to visit, travel and spend time with you at some point. This trip is not that, however.