Road to being Yuman
Saying Goodbye To Moraine
So many people had said that we'd never make it. "Oh, you're crazy." haters would chuckle. But there we were, at Moraine state park, our getaway from home, where we'd go sort things out. It's where my grandparents ashes are spread as well as my adopted dads. It's where I proposed to Jeff, we found ourselves there again heads spinning filled with crazy thoughts, and the decision that would change our lives forever.
But we had made it this far, there was only one thing left to do. Take the leap of faith, quit our jobs, pack our things, and go for it no holding back.
On April 10th we filled up the propane at Tractor supply and drove off into the night headed south. We figured since we were going to the west coast we may as well take our time getting there and see everything the East Coast had to offer. We drover for about 4 hours before we pulled over in a Walmart Parking lot in Virginia where we spent our first night in our own home, our first night away from Pennsylvania.
The next morning we headed out it was a brisk morning and we drove through some dense patches where I couldn't see more than 50 feet in front of me at times. Mountain fog is truly gorgeous yet dangerous. Me and jeff had walkie talkies that were supposed to have 30 mile range but when we accidentally got split up we realized they weren't as helpful as we had hoped. For a terrifying half hour I sped to catch up. After what felt like an eternity, after being stuck in construction traffic, I pulled up on Jeff who had pulled off to the side of the road panicking we had lost each other. We breathed a sigh of relief over the walkies and made our way to our first official stop in Rutherfordton North Carolina at 4 Paws Animal Kingdom
4 Paws Animal Kingdom
The campground was dotted with cute themed little cabins and RV options for reservation and let me tell you, had we not had the motorhome, we would have loved a week in them as well. They were all themed and named and I could not wait to snap pics of my favorite area's of the park.
The staff were amazing! They made us feel welcome and comfortable and gave us all recommendations for a repair company so we could get everything needed done and thank goodness we did.
It was clear when we got Coach home and in our driveway we were going to have an issue. In PA, rain fell hard. Day after day and before we left we noticed a pool of water on the front Dash. We had sprung a leak.
All of the weather seal that had been applied in years past had been done, lets say a little haphazzardly ignoring the importance of prepwork. It had separated and peeled off from front to back. Explaining the white sheet I saw fly off as we were driving it home.
The RV Repair team even let me join their team, helping scrape the old sealer and prepping the surface for a fresh coat. While me and the one guy tackled the roof, the other one took it upon himself to inspect the rest of the bus. Finding and fixing a leaking faucet and discovering our tires were over a decade old. That should've been changed before we even left PA.
After finishing the roof, resealing the windows, and inspecting everything to make sure it was 100% we parted ways. Confident now that we had everything we needed for our new start. Once we got the new tires at least.
We spent our time exploring, socializing, and reintegrating all of ourselves back into society. We were all relatively antisocial, and our last stretch at our jobs drove us to isolate heavily and our dogs had never been socialized. So much of the first week was uncomfortable, but I knew coming in to this that lifestyle was as far from what I was used to as possible and I've learned to embrace discomfort.
Apollo had a health scare the second day, he had an allergic reaction and was coughing so bad I thought we were going to lose him. I was panicking but I remembered to bring Benadryl thankfully. Nothing changed with the first dose so I broke down and gave a second and finally he calmed down and caught his breath. I had to keep giving him Benadryl the rest of the stay but as long as I did he loved every second of his stay. He went from aggressively barking at other people to actually greeting a few chosen ones, on the second to last day we walked to the office to express our gratitude and there was already a golden retriever in there. I panicked, last time he was this close to a big dog I broke up the fight and to my astonishment he didn't bark once and kept to himself.
I went from washing my hands obsessively 30 times a day to 3 maybe 5, I have severe germaphobia, arachnophobia, and general anxiety. I dove head first into the lifestyle, the only way I know how to do things. I began to accept that a lot of my fear is just my brain run a muck and I can finally separate between how I feel and how I act. I even interacted with a couple jumping spiders which I learned are very charismatic little spiders and will jump right up to you.
We had the best possible start we could've asked for. Not only was it our first week and three days of RV living it was actually the Highest holiday. The infamous 4/20 Easter. So, I'm not big on Easter, but I am big on 4/20, so I had my day, we were in a legal state after all. They even had a weed bar. Of course we had to go and celebrate.
Me and Jeff split a gram joint dipped in keef, did a dab from a bong, and relaxed watching a kid playing the play station behind the bar. We got a blunt to go and went back to the motorhome. We chilled and streamed tv, we didn't need it but I am so glad we got Star Link. Without it none of this would be possible, or at least not at the pace it's developed, you better believe I'm going to enjoy the perks of being able to work on my website while listening to youtube videos in the background on my colossal for a motorhome 65 inch tv.
We wrapped up our time at 4 Paws. We met so many new people, and Apollo and Charlie made so many new friends. It was sad to say goodbye but it was time to get out there and really begin our new lives. The adventure had truly begun. Next stop Hilton Head South Carolina and the ocean.
We checked out a little late from four paws. We're not morning people. It went relatively smooth though. The staff was really understanding. We got out as soon as we could and hit the highway.
The drive to Hilton Head was 6 hours, It was a windy 6 hours, the mountain roads showed us natures beauty but also natures power winding sweeping left to sweeping right.
Then our worst fears came true. I ended up having to pull into a truck stop to use the restroom and our walkies failed to reach Jeff driving the bus in front and we ended up getting separated.
I only stopped for ten minutes max, let Apollo go to the bathroom too, got back in and desperately headed back down the highway frantically radioing for Jeff. Static. I was panicking. He had told me the address and put it in my maps but it didn't save it under the last search. 10 minutes turned to 20, Still no sign of Jeff, still radio silence. I came to a fork in the highway. Thankfully I knew I needed to continue south. After that point I was in the blank.
All of the sudden traffic crawled to a halt in both lanes. It was a traffic jam. Keep in mind I'm driving a manual sports car that's a stick shift with a 30 pound rescue dog on my lap. It was stop and go for an eternity. My foot was killing me. It had been another 20 minutes in the traffic jam alone when all the sudden a very broken voice came through on the walkie. It was Jeff. I caught up, It was construction, he was pulled over waiting just past it. I instantly felt relief. Everything was going to be fine. I saw him as I crested a hill, he saw me, and I let him back on the free way and we were off together at last.
It felt like we had been on the road for an eternity. It was the 7 hour mark that we started questioning our life decisions. We just kept driving and driving and driving. We had to be getting close. That next exit has to be ours.
Finally that exit was ours and we continued on windy country roads for what seemed like another half hour maybe 45 minutes.
The mountains were behind us. It stayed very green, the greens got darker. Weird stringing vines dressed almost every tree. I confess I was surprised it took to 5 minutes away before we saw the first palm tree. The first sign of the tropics, and the heat we desperately sought.
We pulled in it was dark out. A full 8 hours on the road me and Apollo clambered out of the Miata and in to meat an equally hot and flustered Jeff and Charlie but we had made it. As over it as we were we pressed on setting up. Jeff had the electric on in a minute, I turned the AC on in seconds. We sat and cooled off in the AC for a half hour or so. We were beat. We got the e-bike out and set up the tehters for the brats and called it a day.
As I write this I remember being so aggrivated and tired I said I don't care how beautiful it is out there right now. I crashed shortly after I sent that sentiment to my mom. We were there safely. That's what mattered I reassured myself as I closed my eyes.
I slept more that night then I had in probably months. A solid 10 hours, I felt refreshed and when I opened up the door to reveal the woods outside. I googled what that stringy stuff was on the trees, it's Spanish moss. We were in the woods with Spanish moss on every tree, Pollen and floating specs magically caught the sun light. It was gorgeous.
The puppies settled right in with us. We spent the first day relaxing and exploring our new temporary home. Jeff's foot was killing him but it didn't stop him. We explored on the e-bike and took in everything St. Helena had to offer. I didn't take many photos the first day as I just wanted to relax.
We went to the beach the second morning with the puppies in our laps. This was Mine, Apollo's, and Charlie's first time at the ocean. It was just as I immagined. Palm trees everywhere the eye could see, a vast open beach and waves double the size I've ever seen but thats not saying much as the only lake stiller than the lake I grew up at is Lake Placid.
Charlie didn't know what to make of it, he tried biting a wave, that didn't work, so he tried jumping the wave, only to be damned by his short stature and land still ribs deep. He kept jumping and attacking the waves, I lured apollo in, he went up to his belly but one big wave crested spooked him and he headed back and wouldn't let his belly be in the water after that but he did seem to enjoy walking the beach with the water at his legs and sand at his paws.
We walked up and down the beach, I was contemplating going swimming but as we walked we came across three beached jellyfish. I noped out. We decided to wrap up our morning at the beach by sitting on our beach towels watching the waves. I took apollo shell hunting but it was pretty slim pickings.
I snapped this pic as we were leaving. We headed back to the motorhome with puppies so tired they both fell asleep on our laps before we even left the park. Also future Ash here, I am writing this almost 3 months later and yes there is still sand in our car. There will always be sand from the east coast in our car. Jeff rested the rest of the day to try to ease his swollen foot while I went out with the camera and decided to see what shots I could get. I was not disappointed, and I don't think you will be either. Enjoy this gallery of all the photos from St. Helena Island.
Our time at St. Helena was origionally only going to be 3 days, 2 nights. However I woke up the next day my fibromyalgia decided to flareup and Jeff was dealing with a swollen ankle. His foot was killing him. We decided to rest that day and hope we felt better in the morning. Spoiler alert, we did not. I woke up at the time we were supposed to be checking out. Jeff hobbled in the motorhome. He extended us a couple days. Why make moving more miserable than it needs to be. We had time to get out west.
We ended up staying 5 days. I was still drained, Jeff's ankle was still a bit swollen but we felt well enough to continue. Unfortunately due to the health issues during this leg of the trip there isn't too much I can say about our trip at St. Helena Island, South Carolina was beautiful. With Spanish moss dressing the trees like garlands, driving the roads in the evening felt like the perfect ambiance for a horror film. We left our spot at Tuck In Da Woods and hit the highway. West. We were headed to where our dreams had taken us. Our next stop was Hidden Cove in Arley Alabama.
Arley Alabama
Charley Loved Arley and did his best to be loud as a Harley. Here's a Picture of Jeff looking at Charlie watching those birds. Those tempting birds.
As we sat at a gas station 10 minutes away from the RV resort we noticed how dark the clouds were. It looked like it was about to get bad real quick. We finished fueling and managed to pull in as the first couple drops fell from the sky. Jeff hooked up the electric, water, and sewage in record time. I flipped on the AC and we moved our clutter around so we could use the fridge and we waited and relaxed in the AC until the storm passed.It rained harder than I had seen it rain in probably 2 years from living in PA.
After the rain cleared out I decided to go exploring. Hidden Cove was very beautiful. There were some destination trailers and even a mini golf course, and was very scenic. Plenty of flowering plants and colors galore to entrance the eyes.
I closed the photoshoot at the Dock. I've never been a fan of being on a dock but when I see photo's I have to take them. The inside of the dock house was super spooky, It swayed back and fourth with the mild chop and I'm not sure why but being in here made me oddly uneasy.
I even saw bigfoot.
As I was turning to leave the river I glanced a top the hill and did a double take. I got squatched. There he was silhouetted on the hillside. With my photoshoot complete I decided it was time to really stretch my legs and check out the local skatepark. And I was not disappointed.
The skatepark was a plaza style park and in my opinion the coolest feature was the fact it was built underneath a bridge to give the riders a break from the sun. The transition was nice and smooth, the volcano in the one picture was my favorite obstical. I skated until I had nothing left. We decided to call it a day and wrap up our stay in Alabama. It was a very pretty location and there were so many more pictures I feel I could've taken but I'm beyond happy how the trip was going at that point. We packed up, and for the first time we weren't scrambling to be out next minute. We cruised out of there eager for our next destination. Catherine's Landing in Hot Springs Arkansas.
Catherine's Landing
Catherine's Landing Entrance
"Look at that Charlie! You're the greeter!" We felt welcome as soon as we turned right on to the mile long entrance road. Me and Jeff love signs and the entrance was dotted with them. From the familiar to us deer crossing sign, to less familiar ones like squirrel, snake, turtle and even possum.
There was even a bigfoot crossing! No sighting though, I couldn't get that lucky.
We Got ourselves checked in and got set up right away. We were both tired but this place looked incredible. We couldn't wait to get into anything and everything we could. We paraded our e-bike around scoping out photo ops and get the lay of the land. There were tree playgrounds, a pond, and it was right off the river with a boat rental at the far end. There was so much fun to be had I actually forgot to take any photos with the good camera. I really learned at this stop to relax, to live in the moment, and even though this project is important, I had plenty of time to get all the photos I'd ever need.
They offered zip lining and it was cheap enough that even with Jeff's petrifying fear of hights agreed he had to try it. He couldn't pass up the opprotunity. I was chomping at the bit. I am scared of heights too but zip lining was on my bucket list. Thankfully, I was able to bring my cell phone along, and after the first couple practice ziplines, I felt comfortable enough to hold my phone for a few very fun videos. I've compiled them and Made one zipline compilation for you guys to enjoy.
Thankfully zip lining was exactly what I needed to reinvigorate me on this project. It was our final day at Catherine's Landing when I finished packing up the computer and cleaning up the inside of the RV I decided to spend my remaining time in Hot Springs Arkansas doing a photoshoot, I had a few photos that I had taken but I loved my time here so much I wanted to do my best to photograph everything. I doubled down, learning iso and different frame rates. This is where I really started to hit my stride and this project became serious.
I wrapped up the photoshoot, tossed the camera in its bag, grabbed Apollo and we hit the road. We were heading to Oklahoma City. Only 5 and a half hours away. After the fiasco of a drive to St. Helena, we agreed that we would never schedule an 8 hour drive again. The guy we got the RV from wasn't kidding. Anything after 4 hours and you really start to feel the effects of being on the road.
The drive to Oklahoma City was as smooth as it could have gone. This was going to be a 5 day stay. I stayed proactive I took a fair few pictures with the good camera when in the process of transferring photos to my desktop the sd corrupted and all the photos from Oklahoma unfornunately weren't salvageable. It was a total loss. We had one more day left to stay, and I figured since I had managed to hit a skatepark in every city we stayed in, I would hand the camera over to Jeff, and we would capture a skate sesh in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Skate Sesh!
I loved the park. The transition was smooth and there were so many different areas to try new things. There was graffiti everywhere. Real art. I skated for an hour and a half maybe 2 before calling it a day and getting ready for the next day, the next leg of the road trip. Next stop Tucumcari New Mexico.
Tucumcari New Mexico
The terrain began to change. The trees were replaced by short shrubs, it got more arid as we continued. We drove passed the Albuquerque exit meaning we took our wrong turn at Albuquerque. We had to tell that joke.
By the time we got to Tucumcari New Mexico I was out of gas. Metaphorically and quite literally. I didn't notice it but as we approached our exit my needle dipped below E. We were still running but I prayed there was a gas station nearby. We turned left into the RV park. Got set up, and to our luck there was a gas station half a mile away. It made it and only had .3 gallons left. The lowest I've ever taken it. Full on gas and gas station food we drove in to town to see what was what.
We were on the historic Route 66. It almost felt as if we had taken a step back in time. there were diners , art on every building and many of them themed. There was the Motel Safari or the Historic Rt 66 Motel that greeted you with a plane sitting at the entrance and a fuselage off to the side of the building.
We explored for a bit more and decided to call it a night. New Mexico treated us to our first ever desert sunset. And I can say without a doubt. there is something magical behind the desert's setting sun.
Time flew at Tucumcari. I spent a lot of time outside on the e-bike and working on the website. I loved New Mexico, it was very pretty and the weather was perfect. I found myself telling myself that if things didn't work out in Arizona I'd be willing to come back and give this area a chance.
Our time wrapped up at Tucumcari New Mexico. We hit the road once more for Verde Valley Arizona.
Verde Valley.
Just before the Red Rocks and Sedona we arrived at our campground for a 2 week reserved stay. We had been pretty quick in the last few stops just to get through the boring part of the country, but we were here. In Arizona, anywhere out here was home in my eyes.
The RV Park was massive on the side of a hill. At the top, the entrance, and a view for miles of desert peaks and shrubs as far as the eyes could see.
Apollo and Charlie had become complete different dogs at this point. Apollo started actively coming out of the room for attention and isolating less, there was a certain pep in his step, and the black scab that was his nose peeled off one day revealing a baby fresh pink nose like he had before. He still loves the bedroom and his personal AC unit. Charlie prefers the living room where he can chew his treats and no freeze, however polar bear cubs do as they please.
The highlight of this part of the adventure for me had to be the Skatepark with a view of the desert monuments. The skate park was perfectly smooth, nice transition, and a nice park section I skated for a bit when another Miata pulls up and parks beside us. Jeff goes off and has a whole conversation, apparatnly he was from New Jersey and moved here 10 years ago and loved it. He gave Jeff a handful of recommendations for mountain roads to travel after I was done skateboarding and it wasn't too long after we had done a few runs together, I parted ways with my new friend and we went to find those winding roads and thrill Jeff was after.
The Miata friend was not wrong. Those were some wicked fun roads. We went the speed limit and still had a blast. That's how you know a road is good or not. We meandered our way around for a while and decided we would go visit the iconic red rocks of Sedona.
If you don't like skateboarding that's okay, maybe you don't like red rocks, that's okay too, maybe you're not a fan of sunsets. Now that makes you a monster. In my opinion Verde Valley had it all. An out of this world landscape with an amazing Skatepark, with an Amazing view, and the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen.
All Verde Valley Pics
Two weeks came and went in the blink of an eye. However this ended up being my least favorite stay on this adventure. Why? Bad neighbors. Since the first day we parked and got setup, I heard our neighbors yelling at our dogs to shut up.
Ok, our dogs are barkers, a Mini Wiener dog puppy, and an 11 Year old American Eskimo rescue who has had one heck of a difficult life. Yes they bark. But we were flagged as soon as we got in as bad tenants. Several complaints of loud dogs, also several speeding violations as you were expected to go 10 miles an hour down the steep hill side, and a stalling 5 miles an hour in the plan. Even on a bike so after my last encounter being told to slow down I just walked everywhere.
Our neighbor situation didn't get better, nor did them stopping us and griping about one thing or another, and if I'm going to be honest I really feel it was more targeted at us being an LGBTQ couple. The security instantly had an attitude with us the minute we pulled in the campground and we just didn't feel welcome. After our two weeks were up we were happy to pull out of our spot and move on to the next. Verde Valley is definitely somewhere I would like to return but at a different campground and give it a second chance as I really feel our neighborly experience kind of ruined the experience. We were off to the Yuma Foothills. Only 4 and a half hours away. We resisted the urge to fly the bird out the window as we pulled out.
Two weeks came and went in the blink of an eye. However this ended up being my least favorite stay on this adventure. Why? Bad neighbors. Since the first day we parked and got setup, I heard our neighbors yelling at our dogs to shut up.
Ok, our dogs are barkers, a Mini Wiener dog puppy, and an 11 Year old American Eskimo rescue who has had one heck of a difficult life. Yes they bark. But we were flagged as soon as we got in as bad tenants. Several complaints of loud dogs, also several speeding violations as you were expected to go 10 miles an hour down the steep hill side, and a stalling 5 miles an hour in the plan. Even on a bike so after my last encounter being told to slow down I just walked everywhere.
Our neighbor situation didn't get better, nor did them stopping us and griping about one thing or another, and if I'm going to be honest I really feel it was more targeted at us being an LGBTQ couple. The security instantly had an attitude with us the minute we pulled in the campground and we just didn't feel welcome. After our two weeks were up we were happy to pull out of our spot and move on to the next. Verde Valley is definitely somewhere I would like to return but at a different campground and give it a second chance as I really feel our neighborly experience kind of ruined the experience. We were off to the Yuma Foothills. Only 4 and a half hours away. We resisted the urge to fly the bird out the window as we drove off for Yuma Arizona.
Yuma Foothills
The greens of verde valley became the tan, and brown paradise I always dreamed of. Little foothills emerged as we pulled in to the resort we would spend the most time at and where we are happy to call home.
Unbeatable Sunsets
There is so much I want to say about our time in the Yuma Foothills I admit getting a bit of paralysis as I write this so I will start this part of our story off by telling you since evening one the sunsets here are unlike any other in the country. I'd wager to say the world but as I have not seen the world I'll just go with the best sunsets in the USA from coast to coast. But we hadn't made it to the coast just yet. Enjoy this mini gallery of Yuma Sunsets, and pereodically I will update this gallery with more.
One sick family
Not too long after pulling into the Yuma Foothills campsite I fell very ill. I had the worst pain all over my body, I was cold, so cold. Water felt like needles hitting my skin, I began coughing and vomiting later on in the day.
The next day and a half I didn't improve and I found myself in urgent care. They gave me meds to manage the symptoms and sent me on my way. it helped considerably but 5 days went by and I was still sick. To make things worse, Jeff began getting sick too. Thankfuly for him he didn't have the nausea and vomiting but he did have awefull chills and coughing his lungs up.
Jeff was sick for about 5 days, me... To be determined, truthfully I've had some health issues since this that come so close to going away but then flare back up. The worst was the first few days and I feel this new sense of normal after about two weeks.
Skateboarding Enthusiast
This is where my passion for skateboarding exploded. No sooner than I was feeling better I found myself a regular at the local Kennedy Skatepark. I skateboarded ten years ago, before I got sick, when I did, I never thought I'd be able to skate again. However this journey has allowed my body time to recover, and regular skateboarding on the journey here loosened me up so when I found a regular park to attend I could get back on the skateboard and not only ride as good as I used to ride but better. I don't have the tricks that I used to but I am a far more confident and comfortable rider.
At one point I was going for pro, but I never mastered the basics. I was a best tricker just hucking whatever airs I could not knowing what my board was realling doing, this time I have decided to focus on mastering the basics and learning tricks later. I now feel confident riding regular and switch, and am focusing on balancing both sides of my body to get rid of some of the bias my muscle atrophy has left me with.
We finally made it
Coast To Coast
We had made it to where we wanted to live, but we saw the east coast, we still had the urge to see the west coast. Our RV only got 5mpg so we we decided instead of moving from our spot we were comfortably settled in, we would get a rental car, grab the pups, and some stuff and we would hit the coast for a day an spend the night in a hotel. We picked up our new to us 2012 KIA Forte in Electronic blue and Set off.
We had Finally Made It Coast To coast! It was a bit cooler day than we were expecting, 65 and cloudy when we arrived at the beach but it was a beautiful sight none the less.
It's true what they say, the joy really is in the adventure. As I didn't take many photos when we actually settled down and enjoyed our time together. This has been part lifelong dream project, but also real life reality creating this new wonderful life with my Fiancé who I proposed shortly after we realized this dream was becoming a reality so I've had to find a balance of media life, and time to put the camera down and enjoy time together and ease my troubled mind as well.
We stayed at a hotel that the booking app said accepted dogs that apparantly hadn't allowed dogs in years. Oops! The manager understood our situation though and after consideration, and us promising that we would leave the hotel room exactly as we entered it even allowed us to stay. I feel it important to add here but the discrimination to pet owners is real and our options are painfully limited and I feel this an issue that genuinely needs to adresed. It was a debacle and we were tired and hungry at the end of the day so while we got our room set up I walked across the street to the local Dennys. I got a double burger and Jeff a pot roast melt. His favorite. And it was all we needed. We crashed for a couple hours, to be woken up by what sounded like gunfire. I panicked and Jeff flew out the door to see if he could see anything from the balcony.
Turns out, it was just the nightly fireworks display from sea world. We enjoyed them and I went straight back to sleep afterwards. I was beat but that was just one extra cool thing that I did not count on happen and made this trip even just a little bit more memorable.
I slept the night away and in the morning was ready to really do some photography. I grabbed the camera and set out down the street. I took a picture of the gorgeous bush out front
If ya couldn't tell my favorite color is purple, well it is, And these purple flowering bushes were like a fantasy to me. And then I saw the most beautiful looking RV park that I'd want to stay at.
But I knew it was time to go! There were plenty more photos to take on the way back to Yuma and my very brief visit to San Diego really opened my eyes to a lot of opportunity, and opened a door I most certainly want to go through again. I put the camera down, grabbed Apollo, Charles, and Jeff and we we got back in the car. Taking a scenic detour through the mountains. A little bit out of our way, but locals said it was worth it so we felt it necessary to give our honest review of it.
Worth it!
This scenic detour put on display almost everything California has to offer. An unmatched, diverse, beautiful landscape ranging from rolling green hills with humble abodes perched atop them to luscious green mountain peaks with windy mountain roads traversing the unforgiving terrain, and even mountains made out of boulders that looked like a giants sand box. It truly took my breath away. It felt ripped straight from my favorite racing game. Nothing like flying through the mountain roads holding the camera as steady as possible, and taking a shot with some GeForce behind it. Every twist every corner every turn revealed something new! I found myself for me to photograph whatever was around every next corner and this road trip was an absolute blast.
The California Gallery
The Perfect Place In between Everything
With us having finally made it coast to coast. We knew where we wanted to finally call home. Yuma! The perfect place in the middle of everything we want to do. 3 hours from San Diego, 3 hours from phoenix, 3 hours from lake Havasu.
For the first time in my life, I've felt a sense of normal. I was always meant to be out here. The heat, the dry air, coming from someone who lived in the grayest city in the US, moving to the sunniest city was one of the best changes I could have made for myself and with so many photos left to take, I am just getting started down here. For once I feel human, I love where I'm at.
All my life I have felt out of place. Never content with where I was. I can say that after hitting rock bottom 3 years ago, getting sober, building this dream from the ground up I can say I am home and I can say without a doubt that no matter how dark things may seem at times, NEVER stop dreaming and fighting for what you want for your future. Things get so much better than you can imagine. In 3 years I have gone from hardly being able to walk up 3 flights of stairs to living my best active life home in desert and accomplished everything I had dreamed of doing. So now? It's time for the next big dream and that is to make the world a better place one photo at a time.
Thank you for joining me on this wild expedition across this country, and I hope you enjoyed this first edition of Coast to Coast. I sure did, and I cannot wait to see what this wild ride has in store So stay tuned, follow Ashliveslife for more beautiful photos and be well.
