Category Archives: RV

Answering Patagonia: A Wild Call to an Untamed Land

April 3, 2013 By in Marathon, Racing, RV, Trail Running, Travel, Ultra marathon Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

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Before Alaska and before moving into the RV, there was Noble Canyon. It was while running down this much-loved, familiar trail with my good friend Christine Bilange that my eyes were first opened to Central and South American possibilities.

Christine urged me to not disregard my Central American roots so easily, to reconcile and re-connect with my father and my family in El Salvador, and to seriously consider the possibility of returning south for a cheaper and more natural life.

When my legs are tired, my mind is open, and I had 60ish miles on my legs that week. I went on to run a 100-mile training week at Noble Canyon, summiting every day for five days, and spending several of those miles thinking about what Christine had said. Before that day, I had envisioned myself living in the US for the rest of my life. Why not? We had everything here.

I had even scoffed at Shacky’s suggestion months ago that we look into Central/South American living. “Why would I want to go back there??” I demanded. “My parents worked so hard to get us out…”

But I knew that South American living was cheap, I knew that the land was still rugged and raw, and I felt a strong southern pull on my heart.

“We’re moving South!” I exclaimed to Shacky when I met up with him at the bottom of the canyon. He raised his eyebrows.

Instead, we drove north.

And we continue north—toward Alaska. But the South/Central American seed is still there. Shacky has begun following blogs of American expats who are living full-time in South and Central America. He has come up with places to visit, and spots to camp.

I have begun reading in Spanish and following a blog about El Salvador. We have discussed running across El Salvador (only 160 miles!), and I even had the brilliant idea of running from the northernmost point in Alaska to the southernmost point in South America. This would take us three to four years, but Shacky still needs some convincing (maybe include the PCT?).

This month, my dad is in El Salvador looking into charities and logistics to support a run across that country (this would be the first time it has ever been done). He’s doing the legwork as far as security and supplies, and I’m back in touch with him after almost two years of silence.

Many weeks after Noble Canyon and Christine, I found myself sitting in a Volkswagen dealership in Arizona when a Skype call from Nick Barraza came in. He wanted to talk about the Patagonian International Marathon (ultra distance available), the conservation efforts in Chile, and the Patagonian Ambassador Program. His timing was impeccable.

Listening to him describe Patagonia, I knew we had to go there. Nick took me on as a Patagonian Ambassador and I got this lovely profile page, alongside some awesome names like Krissy Moehl and Dylan Bowman. I am truly honored.

But what excites me the most is Nick’s descriptions of the conservation efforts in Chile, and the mountains there. I have a vision of us spending several months in Chile, working first-hand for this cause, and running those mountains.

I asked Nick for an interview to try to express the lure of Patagonia. Perhaps you will also feel drawn to this wild land.

Interview with Nick Barraza

NickBWhat is it that calls you to Patagonia?

As with any natural area of beauty and wonder, Patagonia speaks to the adventurer in me. The biodiversity, pristine lakes, breathtaking glaciers, and majestic rock formations make this region extremely special. In short, my inner-coyote howls for Patagonia.

How did you get involved with this race?

Now that is a long story! After completing the inaugural marathon in 2012 I had accumulated a handful of ideas along the run. Wanting to aid Nomadas International Group SA (NIGSA) in their quest to promote and aid conservation in the Patagonian region, I initiated contact with the company and offered my support and work in any form possible.

What do you hope that runners will gain from this experience?

I hope runners are inspired to come down to Torres del Paine, Patagonia and partake in this collective and international effort to spread education and inspiration around the conservational efforts taking place throughout region.

Runners will not only be able to see one of the earth’s most precious landscapes, but also dip their feet into Chilean and Patagonian culture. This event connects local Chilean runners with runners from all around the world and brings people together to celebrate the culture and preservation of Patagonia.

How have you been involved with conservation?

Studying and researching as an Environmental Scientist has always led me, in one way or another, to a conservation project.

However, it was not just my degree and path of study that led me to participate in various aspects of local and global conservation. In fact, most of my involvement with conservation has been through volunteering within local communities.

What is your favorite memory in Patagonia?

Ah, now this is wonderful question, and a very special one too! As a result of running the race in Torres (and a long story to follow), I met my amazing girlfriend and partner in crime in the heart of Patagonia.

Little did I know that three months after the race we would both end up leaving our respective jobs to set out on a three-month backpacking excursion through Chile, Argentina, and Peru.

Our journey changed my life in ways I would have never thought possible. The magic of Patagonia is responsible for harboring our initial connection and for that I am eternally grateful.

What is your favorite Patagonia wildlife and why?

Well, I am a big fan of foxes, that’s why I have a dog that looks just like one! However, I am going to go with the region favorite on this one and say guanacos. Let’s just say they have very intriguing personalities and tend to showcase these personalities through spitting at passing trekkers. They are very amusing creatures! Google them!

Besides attending the race, how can people get involved?

For people that cannot make the event, we invite you to join us in our quest to spread education on the sustainable initiatives taking place in the Patagonian region. Connecting with the event on Facebook, Twitter (@PatagonMarathon), and helping us share and promote the race and organizations the event supports.

Also, we invite anyone and everyone to post blog entries, pieces in magazines, local newspapers, etc., to help get the word out there. If you do decide to do this, please let us know, so we can feature your piece on our site and social media networks!

We have also created the Patagonian Ambassador Program. Which seeks to partner with runners, writers, filmmakers, and any one else who is inspired and passionate about our event and conservation in Patagonia. You can view the program HERE.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this amazing team of ambassadors please get in touch with us at info@patagonianinternationalmarathon.com

Patagonian International Marathon Video

Direct YouTube link HERE

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Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life

April 1, 2013 By in RV, Trail Running, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

IMG_0183Last week I was inspired by the weekly photo challenges on WordPress.com, and decided to give one a try. I had a blast today documenting a day in our lives. The challenge was to take one photo every hour as you go about your day. I took a little bit extra, but at least one photo every hour.

So often I try to express through words what our lifestyle is like: living in an RV, bumming around, eating, running, writing, and reading. I’m a word girl, not a picture girl. So this was the perfect challenge to help me think outside the box, and I gained a new perspective on what it is we really do all day.

I found my inspiration renewed with this experience. I could write a post about every single one of these pictures (hover or click on the photo for a caption). One picture truly is worth a thousand words.

Welcome to our Monday.

Good morning sleepyheads!
This is where Ginger took her morning pee.
High expectations for a day this beautiful.
Everwhere we turn, beauty surrounds us.
Scouting out a boondocking spot to spend the night. It has everything we need: a water source and a spectacular front yard.
If the dog’s happy, I’m happy.
Soft sands in Utah. Quite a change from Arizona’s cholla a few weeks back.
Freedom
Boondocking. You don’t get views like these in an RV park.
Scouting out a doggie daycare in case we need to put Ginger up while we hike Zion.
Running to Mommy!
I love this face.
We spotted a butterfly (moth?) across the creek, and I tested the camera zoom.
Playing in the river. Shacky said the cold water felt great on his calves.
We drove to another spot for more great views.
There’s always time for some ball play!
I stumbled on a gorgeous little building that looked just like a summer home, but when I peeked inside it was actually a laundry. We threw in a load while surfing free wifi.
Oscar’s is an amazing vegan-friendly little spot. And their beer mugs are huge, which is pretty rare in Zion.
My salad at Oscar’s. I scarfed it down! Delicious.
Marriage: everyone deserves a chance to be equally miserable.
Shacky’s burger. Someone strongly recommended the Murder burger.
They made my margarita using white wine instead of tequila. Our waiter said the restaurant was located too close to an elementary school, so they couldn’t legally serve hard alcohol (typical Utah). However, walking around after dinner we found that Wildcat Willies (DIRECTLY across the street from the school), had a full list of hard alcohol on each table. Hm.
The dog may play during the day, but the cat comes out in the evenings…
Momma cat leaping from the counter to the bed. Watch out for her crazy eyes!
Ginger supervising my work.
Shacky is both trip-planner and driver. In the evenings, he is hard at work doing the legwork for the next adventure. I basically just run, write, and take pictures all day. He’s so incredibly awesome and I would be much less cooler without his behind-the-scenes magic.

A lovely end to a day well played.

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Check out my book: The Summit Seeker

4 Powerful Lessons From a Nomadic Life

March 6, 2013 By in RV, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

AZ

I am writing this from a picnic bench at Thunderbird Conservation Park in Glendale, Arizona. I’m surrounded by hills, littered with trails going in all directions for many miles. My dog is lounging under a tree, exhausted from some hearty ball play this morning. She snoozes with one eye half-open, just in case I get up for an unscheduled run. I can see mountains in the distance.

The sky is overcast and the weather is pleasantly cool—a refreshing breeze, yet it’s warm enough for just a t-shirt and short shorts. That’s what I’ve been wearing all day. I wore this at my raw vegan breakfast, during a one-hour solo yoga session at the trailhead, and for my long walk with the dog.

Now I sit and type, hugged by nature, and I reminisce on what has brought me to spend an entire Tuesday (as well as yesterday’s Monday) bumming around at this particular trailhead, with no tasks other than to feed my mind and empower my body in whichever way I please.

I have already written many words on how Shacky and I moved into an RV and gave up our jobs to travel, run trails, and in my case—write my first book. But now we’ve been on the road for several weeks. My book has come out, it’s doing great, and I’ve started my next one. In that time, there have been many concepts that have shifted my perspective on the world, and there is value here for everyone—whether you live in an RV or not—to make small changes and enjoy a life that is just a little bit more awesome.

Here are some secrets I’ve gleaned from my still-new nomadic life:

1. Uni-tasking

Back in the “real” world, when I had a job and a house, I found myself multi-tasking constantly. It was my only chance at completing my lengthy list of chores and responsibilities.

At work, there was no down time. The daily tasks (checking email) were overshadowed by the weekly tasks (writing, editing), which were overpowered by the monthly tasks (preparing reports and keeping those page views rising). Month after month, the tasks repeated themselves.

At home, there were chores like dishes and laundry and dinner and cleanup, which had to be attended to immediately if they were to be completed before bedtime. The repetitive cycle was never-ending, and only served to keep the house in working order, like a hamster wheel that turns round and round but never advances anywhere.

Moving into a 22-foot RV, 97 percent of my previous To Do list was eradicated. There was no office to spend my day in. There was no house to maintain. In place of my To Do list, I formed a Project List. These were not tasks that repeated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. These were big ideas and huge projects that would take months—years, even—to see through. For the first time in my life, I had the time to slowly chip away at these dreams, and set them into motion.

The first big project I tackled was writing my first book, The Summit Seeker, a task that took me nine months to complete. Besides writing my second book, other things on my Project List include:

  • PCT thru-hike
  • Run across El Salvador (approx. 160 miles)
  • Spend a summer in Alaska
  • Live in Slab City for one year
  • Run across America
  • Live and work at a farm for one year
  • Live and work at a wild animal sanctuary
  • Summit all of Colorado’s 14ers (mountains reaching 14,000 feet)

I no longer multi-task. I don’t have to. I have the time to sit and spend hours, or a day, or a week, completely immersed in one project that interests me. The progress I’ve seen from this uni-tasking is mind-blowing, and cringe to think of how many of us have big ideas on the back burner while we desperately try to cycle through the smaller, meaningless chores of daily life.

Call to Action Challenge

Set aside one hour of each day to pursue your personal projects. You probably already have one in mind. It’s that one thing that you’ve been meaning to “get to” when your schedule clears up. Guard this personal time fiercely.

Neglect your daily chores if you must and follow the natural flow of your curiosity. Did you read or see something that you want to learn more about? Follow that trail all the way through. Yes, it may lead to a rabbit hole or a dead end, and that’s okay. Pursue your interests, even if you start by staring off into space, just pondering.

Accomplish something that won’t have to be re-done in a week or a month. You don’t have to change the world, but maybe you will learn a new instrument, pick up a new language, or write a book.

2. Authenticity

When I was working in an office, I got called to my supervisor’s desk one day and asked to put on my shoes. Because I worked behind my own desk all day and because I never had comfortable business shoes, I would kick them off under my work space. Nobody would notice, but once I forgot and walked to a meeting two doors down the hall in just my socks. I got in trouble.

In my old life, there was professional-Vanessa and there was play-Vanessa. There was the Vanessa who dressed business casual and went to meetings, and there was the Vanessa who played on the trails and acted silly with the dog.

One of the first things I noticed after moving into the RV was that most of my Vanessas evaporated. There is only one Vanessa now—just me. I didn’t have to wear dress shoes or wear a meeting-face. I was no longer expected to look or act a certain way. I could be myself.

I began to rediscover myself, and I learned more about what I loved and disliked. Getting comfortable in my own skin gave me a newfound confidence. I stopped second guessing my dry and sarcastic sense of humor (Would the office folks get offended?), and I stopped censoring my opinions (Was this the appropriate crowd to express my true views?). I regret with all my heart every second of my life I spent trying to fit into a mold that was not me.

Call to Action Challenge

Go 24 hours straight just being yourself. Genuinely and fully. Be the same person at work that you are at home, that you are on the trails, that you are deep inside. You will be surprised at how much you can get away with. Once you’ve mastered that, go for three days. One week. One month.

Catch yourself every time you’re trying to be someone or something else. It will take time, and yes you will offend some people with your ridiculous views and obscene sense of humor. But keep at it. You’ll slowly weed out all the people who shouldn’t be in your life, and those who can truly love you will be drawn your way.

3. Sufficiency

A few weeks ago, the thermostat in on our RV fridge broke and we lost the ability to store food there. It would either get very warm or completely freeze, and all our food went bad. We shut the fridge door and started doing what I thought was impossible: living and eating well without a fridge.

I instinctively switched to a mostly raw vegan diet, but the most drastic change of all was the shift in my perspective on sufficiency. Our fridge is tiny, so it’s far from what most people would call abundant. Anyone could see that we were already living minimally… but were we really? With the fridge, it was easy to buy a little extra. Sometimes we’d throw extra food in the small fridge until it went bad.

Now, by force, we eat day-to-day. We buy what is truly sufficient. We know that if we can’t eat what we have today or tomorrow, we’ll have to throw it out. We have one box where we keep fresh fruits and veggies like oranges and cucumbers, as well as another microwaved-sized drawer to keep everything else. Here we keep soups or pasta or canned beans. And that’s all the space we have.

It sounds restricting, but the fridge-free experience has been liberating. It has freed my mind to think in terms of the present, and not worry about what I will eat the next day. This has challenged my fears about the future, and focused my energy on doing the best I can today.

Call to Action Challenge

Go three days without using a fridge. This is tough to get your mind around, but easier than it sounds. At the very least, it will improve your awareness of exactly how much you need to eat every day and how much food is actually wasted. Anybody can get through three days. A lot of food, you may be surprised to find, does not actually need to be refrigerated, especially if you’re eating it that same day. Eat fresh food while it’s fresh.

4. Hospitality

Do you know that feeling when you have guest over, and you sense that they genuinely enjoyed their time with you? They loved your food, they were refreshed by your conversation, and they benefited from your comforts and amenities. Serving them made YOU feel good. I was always taught to take in strangers, and help travelers. But these days, how many strangers and travelers really cross our paths?

After leaving our home, Shacky and I became those strangers and travelers. And the hospitality we have experienced has blown us away. People WANT to help us. They want to share their showers, laundry rooms, food, beer, wine, pools, hot tubs, and homes. As much as we have gained from this unexpected hospitality, I always come away with the sense that these families were just as refreshed by treating us well.

A highlight for us this week was visiting Hannah and Jay. We were strangers to them, but Hannah read my book and invited us over for dinner, sight-unseen. We knew nothing about them, but we ended up loving their company—they had some amazing reptiles, and shared many of our interests. It turns out that Hannah is from Alaska, and we hope to see her there again this summer and meet her family.

How often, in this day and age, do we invite complete nomadic strangers to our home for a meal? True hospitality is still as magical as it always was, and we’re missing out.

We don’t give people enough opportunities to help us. In a world where everyone has everything, hospitality is a lost art. We all have enough to make our own dinners. We can swim in our own pools. We can use our own amenities. But when you put yourself in a place of need, even in a small way, that spark—that desire in others to help—is ignited.

Even harder than offering hospitality is receiving it. We like to be independent and self-sufficient. It’s hard to put yourself in a place of need, and even harder to ask for help. Yet Shacky and I have seen the joy and satisfaction that others feel when they are able to help us.

Call to Action Challenge

Put yourself in a place of need. You don’t have to become homeless, but put yourself in a position where you can benefit from the help of a friend or a stranger—and ask for that help. This can be as small as borrowing a book, a kitchen item, or asking for a batch of cookies that your neighbor is so good at baking. Don’t pay them for it, but genuinely and fully appreciate it.

This sounds douchey, but I guarantee it’s a beautiful exercise. You are allowing someone else to help you, and you’re putting yourself in a place of vulnerability. Of course, that person is free to turn you down, and it’s okay if they do. Just ask someone else. Receiving hospitality is harder than offering it, and I strongly suspect that the greatest benefit goes to the person who extends the help. Give others a chance to give. And always give freely yourself.

I wish that these insights had become clear to me even before we started roaming the country. You don’t have to be a nomad to reap these benefits.

If you do any of these challenges, I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know how it goes. You can also email me at vanessaruns@gmail.com, or tag me on Facebook with your challenge at facebook.com/vanessaruns.

See you on the singletrack!

The above post was syndicated on vagabondish.com.

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CHECK OUT THE SUMMIT SEEKER HERE

THE SUMMIT SEEKER

Alaska-bound and Other Adventures

February 12, 2013 By in Alaska, RV, Travel Tags: , , , , , , 10 Comments

Alaska

In a few days the Shacky, Vanessa, Ginger, and Momma caravan will be leaving the familiarity of San Diego to slowly start moving North—Alaska-bound.

This will be the longest Shacky has been outside of California since his Navy days, and for both pets their longest trip outside of California ever. For me, it will be my longest road trip and my very first time through the West coast.

There were mixed emotions for me yesterday when I realized that we probably won’t be back in San Diego until next fall, or possibly later. I’ve been here less than two years, but it very much feels like home. Our friends here feel like family.

Still, we are excited about the prospect of a new adventure. We have good friends yet to meet and favorite trails yet to discover. I’m very nervous about bears, having never seen one in the wild. I’m concerned about Ginger and the cat and the RV—there’s just so much that can go wrong and so many unknowns. We also don’t know what the hell we’re doing. But I suppose that’s the best way to learn!

Soon I’ll be running around with things like bear bells, pepper spray and/or knife…all of which are so foreign to me. I love animals but I’m also a little of scared of them in the wild. This trip should take me way out of my comfort zone.

Speaking of animals, our first few weeks in Alaska will be spent helping out at Steve Krochel’s Wildlife Sanctuary where he adopts and rehabs countless wild animals. On their Facebook page, they show a bear named Kitty and a huge moose you have to climb on a ladder to feed. There’s one more photo that saddens me: a beautiful but dying owl. The caption warns to not use rat poison as a form of pest control. This owl ate a mouse that was poisoned, and it took her life.

We’d like to head to Seward after the animal sanctuary for 4th of July celebrations, then run the Crow Pass marathon in Girdwood in July. After that we’re playing with the idea of running the Resurrection Pass 100. It’s been described as a mostly self-supported race right through bear contry. Gah!

Other things we’re looking forward to is the fishing and possibly hunting, both of which I have zero experience with. The hunting I feel really weird about, which makes me think that I should try it. Although I’ve been sticking to vegan for about six months, I’ve heard you can get bear bacon in Alaska, and I’m not above trying that. I’m also excited to try elk and moose for the first time.

For me this trip will be all about new experiences, new discoveries, and lots of firsts. I’m hoping to do as many things that make me scared or uncomfortable, which so far has been a good theme for my 2013.

Shacky and I will be taking our sweet time driving north, and keeping detailed notes. We’ll start with some runs in Arizona to train for Zion 100 in Utah. After Zion, we’ll keep driving north. I’m particularly excited about driving through (and running) British Colombia. I’ve never seen those rugged parts of Canada, and I suspect I’ll feel right at home.

In other news, I’m a few days away from publishing my first book, a series a memoirs about running. It’s titled The Summit Seeker: Memoirs of a Trail Running Nomad. And I’m 1,000 words into my second book, a close look at ultrarunning from a female perspective. This next one will take much longer to write. I plan on conducting hundreds of interviews and some heavy research. I think it’s going to be a ground-breaking book for this niche topic, and I’m already excited by the responses I’m getting from women at all levels of ultrarunning.

A couple of other new twists have been my little foray into the world of yoga. I have been doing yoga every morning for a few days now, and loving it. A couple of weeks ago I spent some time with my dear friends Caity and Pat, and that was the start of my yoga habit.

I started doing yoga with Caity every morning, also inspired by Angie Bee’s yoga progress. I continued doing it on my own and I’m pleased with the feeling of building my strength. Now that I’ve trained for and completed four 100-milers, I feel comfortable with running high-mileage weeks. But I’m not yet comfortable with a high-yoga week.

SONY DSC

These days I’m trying to keep my running more focused to climbing and descents, while spending more of my time building a stronger core and upper body. I think in the long run, this will go a long way to improve my 100-mile times. Zion should be a good test.

Another morning habit I have is reaching into my bag of peace rocks. My friend Caity took us to Harmony, California when we were visiting her, and I saw they were selling “word rocks”—basically just rocks with words like LOVE and PEACE written on them. I wanted some, but they were pricey, so I decided to make them myself. Here’s what I came up with:

Word Rocks

word rocks 2

Every morning before yoga, I reach into a bag and grab a rock at random. Then I spend my yoga session and the rest of the day thinking about ways to positively reflect that word, and let it seep into my behavior. If I can’t master it, I stick with that word for the next day as well until I feel comfortable with it. The only word I’ve had to repeat so far has been PRESENT. As in, staying in the present.

If I haven’t bored you yet, there’s another little project that has been taking up my time. I have an unofficial 2013 resolution to master as many useless skills as I possibly can in 12 months. It’s a play on the idea that you have to set a resolution to improve your life and really make a positive difference. What if I just want to hang out and learn useless crap? I’m hoping to prove that’s a worthy goal as well.

On the list are things like:

  • Learn to juggle
  • Learn to skip stones
  • Learn to be ambidextrous

But in the end the joke is on me because I’m finding that these “useless” skills are actually quite beneficial.

I bought a Rubik’s cube because I thought solving one could be a useless skill. Then I realized that they have championships and records for the Rubik’s cube. I saw a freaking 20x20x20 Rubik’s cube that took five hours to solve on youtube. I watched in awe. The Rubik’s is just one small example, but I learned that it helps my mind work in a different way, forces me to practice patience, and brings people together (everyone wants to try it). Not useless at all, but pretty cool.

I love the nerd convention here:

Direct YouTube link HERE

Then I started trying to do a handstand, thinking THAT might be a useless skill. But my core is improving, I’m getting stronger, and it’s pushing me into yoga. I feel great. So again, actually quite useful.

At the end of the year, I’d like to put these projects together, record videos, or even write something up about what each of these useless skills have taught me, and how important it is to acquire a new cool skill every so often… just because.

On top of that, we’ve been doing RV renovations to our Rialta. We got a great heater put in, converted our microwave into a storage area, and converted our old TV into a kitty playground. We still have a few final touches to make, then I hope to be posting photos/video soon.

These are exciting times and busy days. Stay tuned for more!

Direct YouTube link HERE

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East Jesus in Slab City: Finding Community in the Desert

January 3, 2013 By in 2013, RV, Travel Tags: , , 6 Comments

East Jesus

“The only way to find out about East Jesus is if someone else tells you about it. We want to keep it that way.”

- Frank, East Jesus resident cook

National Geographic was turned down the opportunity to document the commune that thrives at East Jesus. So have countless  other media. These guests and residents live simply, humbly, and off the grid. They snub publicity and large media corporations.

When we drove up to the gates of East Jesus, Frank came out to greet us.

“How did you find out about East Jesus?” he demanded.
“Mike told us.” Shacky replied. Mike has lived in Slab City for more than 20 years, and installed our solar panels for less than half the price we were quoted at any other solar company. He did an amazing job with high-quality panels.
“Mike’s a good guy,” Frank smiled, and welcomed us in immediately. He gave us a full tour and invited us to stay for a couple of days.

East Jesus was first described to me as a remote spot in the desert where artists gather to create beautiful things out of the garbage that they find lying around Slab City. “People come (to Slab City)  and see that there’s garbage everywhere. What they don’t realize is that it’s not our garbage–it was already here. We’re just trying to create something beautiful with it.”

All of the artwork at East Jesus can be touched, sat on, climbed into, and fully experienced. They have a Mercedes that has been set on fire. A towering elephant made out of discarded rubber. A “babies in barbed wire” display. They have a VW bus that has been intricately decorated and has visited Burning Man twice. And these are only small examples of the fascinating creations at East Jesus.

After the art tour, Frank took us behind the PRIVATE PROPERTY signs into the gathering places of their commune. We explored their kitchen, outdoor living room, functioning bathroom, power room, library, and music room. They provide wifi and three meals a day. They have a BBQ, a smoker, and a fire pit.

“The first 48 hours here are free,” Frank explains. “We know what it’s like to be a traveler. Sometimes you just need a place to stand still for a couple of days.” East Jesus will take you in, feed you, and give you a safe place to sleep.

“After that, we require one hour of work per day, five days a week, ” Frank explains. For “work” you can do anything you want. You can work in the kitchen, you can clean, or “if you want to blow shit up, we have shit to blow up.” The concept of “work” is to do something you enjoy and are good at.

This little commune is established on the belief that people, if left alone with no rules to restrict them, can and will live up to their full potential. I am reminded of my own years of office work and its limitations on my creativity, ideas, and passions.

For $150 per month here, you can live in their community. The “rent” includes free wifi, all meals, working bathrooms, a music room, a library, and the freedom to use any of their resources to create art.

As Pat Sweeney said after our tour, “It makes me happy that this place exists.”

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Ultrarunning Through 2012: My Year in Point Form & Video

December 24, 2012 By in 100 Miler, 2013, Racing, RV, Ultra marathon Tags: , , , , , 9 Comments

Today I was going through my old photos and I was really taken by how filled this year has been with so many firsts, and so many amazing adventures. Here is my year in point form, and in photos.

January

* Started the year with a new distance PR at Across the Years: 100K
* Completed the Disney Goofy Challenge in January (half marathon followed by marathon the next day)

February

* Ran my first 100-miler at Rocky Road 100
* Completed my first mud run (Spartan Race)
* New marathon PR at Surf City

March

* First DFL at Rodeo Valley 50K (four-way DNF with friends–the best kind!)

April

* Beat Shacky for the first time at Oriflamme 50K
* First of many Mount Baldy summits

May

* Grand Canyon R2R2R
* First of many shared miles with ultra legend Gordy Ainsleigh
* DNF at PCT 50 (Grand Canyon legs)
* Slowest 50K ever at Born to Run 50K (failed barefoot attempt)
* Second 100-mile attempt at Nanny Goat 100 (dropped at 55 miles)
* Quit my job to focus on running and writing

June

* First pacing gig at San Diego 100
* Met Scott Jurek and got my Kindle autographed
* Shopping for a Rialta RV
* Got my dreads :)

July

* Training runs with Gordy Ainsleigh on his stomping grounds & Western States course

August

* Bought the RV!
* Transrockies 6-day Challenge (120 miles)

September

* Course PR at Noble Canyon 50K
* Volunteered at inaugural Mogollon Monster 100

October

* Completed inaugural Cuyamaca 100K
* Visited and ran in Zion National Park
* Summited Arizona’s highest peak, Mt. Humphrey’s
* Finished my second 100-miler at Javelina 100

November

* Ate my way through the Krispy Kreme Challenge (Lite Division)
* Ran the last few days with Rae on her Run Across American
* Completed my third 100-miler at Chimera 100, my first mountain 100
* First Zion 100 training run
* Ran with Colby on his first marathon

December

* Cheered friends at their first ultra at Ridgecrest 50K
* Multi-day Noble Challenge (5 summits in 5 days, 100 miles)
* Next up: Across the Years 72-Hour

Transitions

* From barefoot running to minimalist running (and sometimes Hokas!)
* From some roads to all trails
* From flats to mountains

* From 50Ks to 100 milers (still haven’t run a 50 miler!)
* From racing everything to racing some, and volunteering more

Highlights I’m most proud of:

* From zero 100-milers, to three in one year (should be four at Across the Years!)
* Finished my first book, to be released in 2013 titled The Summit Seeker: Memoirs of a Trail Running Nomad
* Ditching the daily grind and moving into the RV to explore, write, and run

May your 2013 be filled with joy and adventure. Happy Holidays!

Ultrarunning Through 2012 Video

Direct YouTube Link HERE

Annual Performance Self-Evaluation Assessment for Hobos

December 13, 2012 By in RV Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Hobo
It’s that time of year again. All the spiffy worker bees are filling out their employee self-evaluations, looking back on a year of growth and progress. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here in my dreads with the cat attacking the string on my hoodie. I may or may not be wearing any pants.

But fear not Team Hobo! This year will be different. This year we can measure our progress. This year… we have self-evaluations.

Last year, my boyfriend Shacky and I walked away from our office jobs to move into a Rialta RV with our dog Ginger and a stowaway kitty who appeared on our doorstep (pregos!) as we were getting ready to leave. Our life since then has been one trail adventure after another, and we are very much enjoying a life free of the 9 to 5 grind followed by the 6 to 10 chores and housework.

Here are some videos to give you an idea of what our life is now like:

RV Living and Traveling in the USA

Direct YouTube Link HERE

Quitting Our Jobs to Live in a Rialta RV

Direct YouTube Link HERE

Trail Running Adventures In Utah

Direct YouTube Link HERE

Although we are carefree, we are still growing and learning. When our days become a blur of mountains and beaches and furry animals, it can be difficult to measure our progress. Especially when we don’t know what day it is.

Here to help, are six main categories of hobo living, followed by a series of statements to help with our self-evaluation. I would like to tag the following hobos and invite them to fill out this evaluation on their own blogs:

And you can fill it out too! If you’re at all interested in living simply, embracing minimalism, and love to travel, feel free to see how you stack up and post on your own blog. Find out if you’re ready to join Team Hobo! Any suggestions for additions or edits to the evaluation are welcome too.

My answers are included below.

FYI: We loosely define “hobos” as people who have either given up their homes or their jobs (or both) to pursue travel, a simpler life, and/or financial freedom. The “hobos” we know are nomadic, free thinkers, open minded, and are always grateful for a hot shower and a cold beer. They have all chosen this lifestyle.

homeless-sign-robot

The Self-Evaluation Assessment for Hobos

Please give yourself a letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) for each of the following six categories, and briefly describe your evaluation.

1. Embracing Minimalism

A – We have gotten rid of 95 percent of everything we own. Our RV is small enough that we can’t keep anything that doesn’t serve multiple purposes, even if we wanted to.

2. Feeding Hobbies

A – Our lifestyle revolves around trail running, our only major hobby.

3. Managing Expenses

D – Being new to hobo life, we spent the first couple of months eating out a lot. We now eat most of our meals in the RV and are learning where to buy cheap fresh fruit and veggies. This last month has been a huge improvement, but our annual performance overall is still low.

4. Learning New Things

B – I’m learning a lot about trail running, but I’m not reading as much as I’d like to on different topics. I have many unread books on my Kindle that I’ve been meaning to get to.

5. Personal Growth

A – The hobo transition has taught me so much about who I really am, and what I love to do. I’ve learned to stay true to myself.

6. Balancing Relationships

B – We have had the amazing privilege of developing new relationships and spending time with people we previously only knew via Facebook. We can still do better with this though. Both Shacky and I love our solitude as well.

homeless-sign-email

Now for the following statements, please rate yourself as:

  • Below Average
  • Satisfactory
  • Above Average
  • Superior

Briefly explain your ranking.

I know how to discreetly steal toilet paper.

Satisfactory – It’s easier when you carry a purse, which I rarely do.

I prepare meals in under five minutes.

Satisfactory – We are eating mostly raw, which cuts down drastically on meal prep.

I always know the location of the nearest spot I can spend the night.

Satisfactory – Shacky is really good at this, but we’re still nervous about getting “kicked out”. We’ve only been kicked out once, from a Walmart.

I manage to find a hot shower at least once a week.

Satisfactory – When hot showers are unavailable, rivers and creeks and trailhead faucets are great substitutes.

I know who my boss is.

Superior – Kitty is boss. She sleeps wherever she wants and we dare not kick her off, even if our legs are cramping up.

I set and meet weekly goals.

Superior – Mileage and climbing goals for us. I track my goals weekly and monthly, hitting at least 200 miles/month. My mileage has been increasing for the past six consecutive months. Woo!

I know what my benefits are.

Superior – Fresh air, freedom, the open road, travel, adventure, and exploration.

I give back to my community.

Satisfactory – We are looking forward to even more volunteering in the coming year. We love to help out at races and fatass events.

My workload is realistic and achievable.

Superior – I only work on things that I love.

I have mastered the art of dumpster diving.

Below Average – We have yet to try this. But we’re intrigued!

I know where to find an electrical outlet.

Satisfactory – We can find outlets, but the trick is to find one where we don’t feel obligated to buy anything. Haven’t mastered that last part yet.

I know where the nearest wifi is at all times.

Satisfactory – We have a cool app that helps us out, and we continue to improve. Libraries are great, and we were thrilled to learn that the beautiful and quaint Old Temecula has city-wide wifi.

I keep every plastic bag I come across.

Superior – We use these these for garbage, dirty clothes, and plastic wrap. Easily reusable as well.

I re-use tea bags.

Satisfactory – I like my tea relatively weak, so it’s not much of a problem. But drying them out is a pain.

I don’t pay for salt and condiments. Packets are free at Taco Bell.

Satisfactory – The little packets are so cute! We’re still working through some older stuff from the house as well.

I don’t pay for forks and knives. They are free at Taco Bell.

Below Average – We still mostly use our own cutlery.

I raid Lost and Founds.  

Below Average – We have yet to do this! Seems a litttle like stealing to me though…

I always use public toilets to poop.

Satisfactory – We rarely poop in our own RV. Porta-potties, coffee shops, McDonalds… all fair game.

Actually, sometimes I poop in the woods.

Superior – Guilty as charged.

Thank you for time, hobos. You may now continue doing whatever you want, all of the time.

Coming Soon: My friend Margaret is having Team Hobo T-shirts made. Stay tuned!

7_5

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5 Keys to Enjoying All the Benefits of Money Without Actually Having Any

October 2, 2012 By in Minimal, RV, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 14 Comments

Mogollon Monster 100 Trail

This year, my boyfriend and I took the dog, the cat, and walked away from our home and our jobs. We moved into a tiny Rialta RV, relinquished our possessions, and gave up many of our luxuries. In exchange, we opted for a life of endless travel, complete freedom, and all the time in the world to do exactly whatever.

Neither of us had ever lived in an RV before, and we’ve both worked hard all our lives. We had “normal” office jobs with 9 to 5 hours, and lived for the weekends just like everyone else we knew. We believed that to enjoy some aspects of life, money was required. We didn’t have the financial luxury to do what we wanted 100% of the time… but oh, if we ever won that lottery… THEN we could really live!

What we’ve found after some time on the road is that everything we wanted was there all along, and it didn’t come with a price tag. Here are the principles we embraced to retire into a wealth we didn’t think was possible for us.

1. To be twice as rich, halve your expenses.

The 9 to 5 rat race is a bum deal. It requires you to work yourself thin to afford things that you never have the time to enjoy. You kill yourself to own a big home that you can never spend any time in. Your PTO piles up with vacation time which you never use because work is too demanding. You’re too busy climbing the ladder, earning money to afford those vacation. Which you never take. See the pattern here? You live for the weekends, except by the weekend you’re so exhausted that you have limited energy. So you mostly just rest. It’s an awkward cycle.

It doesn’t work this way for everyone, but for us it did. We decided to opt out by drastically cutting our expenses. Giving up the home was a big one. Mortgage was a money suck. So was maintenance, things to fill our home with, and cleaning.

I gave up my cell phone and replaced it with a free Skype number. By installing solar panels on the RV (in progress), our electricity expenses will be big fat zero. No money spent at RV parks either, since we need no hook-ups. If we don’t feel like driving, we can self-support at a remote trailhead with no amenities for weeks at a time.

We use free wifi, which we can find on pretty much any corner these days. And when we want to, we disconnect by parking on a mountain trail somewhere, embracing isolation. Our water use is minuscule, as we use creeks and waterfalls to rinse off or hand wash our clothes with biodegradable soap. We have no cable or television, but we like going to the movies!

We have one small pot and one small pan, which we use to make food in the RV. Living is simple and extremely cheap. With our family of two adults, one dog and one cat, we can live very comfortably like this on $1,000/month or less.

With our current savings, we could live for about three to four years without working at all. But I still do the work I love, which is writing. I’m currently writing books and articles. The life of a writer is more a labor of love than a way to get rich, but since our financial needs are so low, I can support us all through writing.

I have a laptop where I do all my writing, and then drop into town for a wifi connection to email things or make a post. I also have a Kindle with over 300 books on it, which I pull out before bed for some good quality reading. I get free Kindle books online on thousands of topics. Since everything interests me, I don’t think I’ll ever finish all the books I want to read. Without a 9 to 5 job, I can do more writing (potentially more income), more reading (higher quality research for writing), and more living (many more experiences with so much more to write about).

Want to be twice as rich? Halve our expenses. You’ll be surprised and how little you actually need to feel happy and fulfilled.

2. You don’t have to own something to enjoy it.

This principle blew my mind. There are so many things we can get for free, or for very minimal payment that others work tirelessly to own. Some of them I have already mentioned, like cable,  internet access, and e-books. But also other things:

Instead of owning a pool, we can park at the ocean for days of free water play.
Instead of a gym membership, we can spend weeks playing on endless miles of trails.

We can also enjoy activities like kayaking, fishing, or scuba diving (to name a few) via rentals, for a fraction of the cost of what it would take to own the gear for these activities. Not to mention that the things we value most – fresh air, travel, and the freedom to enjoy life, don’t cost us cost a single penny.

3. Lack of money buys freedom.

If you’re filthy rich, you can enjoy limitless freedom. But when you’re dirt poor, you can actually enjoy pretty much the same freedom. If you happen to be somewhere in the middle, that’s when you’re tied down. In the middle, you need to work to pay your debts and expenses. You’re not rich enough to stop working, and not “poor” enough to give up those expenses and luxuries. You’re stuck indefinitely.

When you’re too poor to afford a lot of the “luxuries” that are so common in that middle space (like, furniture and lawn care for example), you have complete freedom to spend your time doing whatever you want. Just as if you were rich. You don’t have to work as much, or not at all. You have no one to report to. You can come and go as you wish. No home to maintain. No rooms to clean. You can pick which opportunities and activities you want to be involved in, and you can actually be picky about it. Your range of choices in life is significantly wider.

These days, many people consider a good travel trip a resort vacation, which of course implies money. But I’m convinced the reason we crave resort-type spots is because we’re exhausted from working so much that we need a quiet place to rest and unwind. However, when you’re working less, you’ll be amazed and how much energy you have. Suddenly a resort vacation sounds boring. You want to run. Hike. Move. Swim. Travel. All of which we can do indefinitely, and free of charge. And if you still want to rest, try lying on a beach like a sand bum for… as long as you want. And that’s the life we’re living now.

4. There’s free stuff everywhere.

Sadly, we live in a society where so much is wasted. We waste food, products, and energy. Fortunately for RV bums like us, this also means we have an endless supply of free goodies at our fingertips. We can get our hands on anything from food to travel products to personal hygiene products… and the list goes on.

In this consumerist society, we could easily survive on samples alone. And if that’s not possible, we are happy to offer manual labor or personal service in exchange for the goods we need. No currency exchanged.

Between the two of us, my boyfriend and I have a wealth of bartering services at our disposal. He has an engineering background and is awesome all those “boy” things like manual labor and figuring things out and not needing directions. I’m more creative and great at anything related to writing, PR, editing, publishing, promotion, online, etc. This, combined with my journalism background, gives me additional access to limitless products in exchange for reviews or help with promotion.

For example, we don’t always pay for running gear or races (unless we want to, and we still do when we want to support certain products or events). I get free pet gear for our dog and cat – things like food, leashes, running harness or packs, etc. The most common things I get for free are clothing, running shoes, and sunglasses. These are the three things I regularly have to turn down because I either don’t have enough space for them in the RV, I’m not interested in the product, or I don’t want to put in the time to write a review.

The product benefits extend to my boyfriend as well, and this aspect alone has saved us thousands of dollars. I often joke that my boyfriend and I are the best dressed hobos out there, testing all the latest “stuff”. I should also mention that not having a job means I have more time to put lots of miles on all this gear, promote what I like,  and produce many more reviews and videos, making the freebies much easier to get. Yet another aspect of freebies we enjoy is sponsorships. Over the years we have been sponsored by SportKilt, INKnBURN, and GORE-TEX.

Despite the fact that I’m not currently “working”, I am definitely indebted to all my previous jobs in journalism in both editorial and writing positions. All of these gave me the skills that I am now freely living on. I smile when I remember my first day of journalism school, when my professor scared the crap out of everyone by telling us that there was no good living to be made in journalism, and we would be poor for the rest of our lives. If you’re an aspiring hobo, study journalism. I took a chance and studied what I loved, and now I have all the financial freedom in the world. And yes, I’m still money-poor.

If you’re not a writer , these same freebie possibilities are still open to you. One common misconception is that you have to be an elite in order to get sponsorships or freebies. Untrue. All you need is to be noticed. To have some clout. To have a personality or an appearance or a following that makes you stand out from the crowd. Anything at all. You could wear a costume. You could cover yourself in tattoos. You could have a popular blog.

This only works if you do something that fits with your personality, and stay true to yourself. Staying genuine is key. It’s very obvious when someone is doing something outrageous just for attention. People don’t follow fake people.

In the world we live in now with endless blogs and the opportunity to self-publish, it’s easier than ever to “be a writer”. But keep in mind – you still have to be good in order for people to follow you. You have to offer something. Here is a great post by Jason Robillard to get you started on the road paved with freebies.

5. Movement buys happiness, not money.

We’ve all heard variations of the saying that money buys (or doesn’t buy) happiness. I don’t know too much about that, but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that movement definitely equals true happiness. I have this epiphany every time I’m running on a deserted trail in the middle of the week when everyone else is at work. I am happy when I’m moving. And I don’t think it’s just me.

My boyfriend and I can indulge this thirst for movement on a daily basis and sometimes several times a day. The joy we feel in being able to physically move our bodies all day long is unparalleled.

I’ve watched our dog make a transformation as well. In her old life, she stayed at home and waited for us to get home from work. She got long runs on the weekend, and sometimes a shorter run or ball play during the week. We tried to take her out as much as possible, but her outdoor time didn’t compare to what it is now.

As soon as we put our dog in the RV environment, she transformed. She is more well behaved and, for the first time since I’ve known her, genuinely tired at the end of the day. She is no longer jealous of the cat (ha), and she used to be more skittish of other dogs. Now she wants to meet them. Her doggie self-esteem has improved too.

As soon as we wake up in the morning, Ginger and I step right out on the trail to run or hike. Then it’s breakfast. Then more playtime until it’s time to go to bed. Yesterday she was prancing through a creek with us, jumping and barking playfully while we all splashed around. Ginger lives a better life now than some humans do. And I believe that this is how all humans are meant to live.

The truth is, we belong outside. Our bodies, our skin, our organs, were built to be outdoors. We belong to the trails and the mud and the streams. Yet these are precisely the things that we have built walls to keep out. We sanitize ourselves agains the very things that scrub our souls clean, and then wonder why our bodies are breaking down along with our spirits.

Our minds were not created to be satisfied with the repetitive motions of menial jobs. We are not stimulated that way. We are not happy. But here on the trails is where we find ourselves.

All this is all free. I could run a new trail every day from now until my dying day, and never cover all the great space that this beautiful country has to offer. So much of it we will never seen. And yet during the week, we are all alone on this great land. We run and laugh and play and wonder where everyone else is. And then we remember – they’re all at work.

So What Can We Do?

I understand that not everyone wants to do what we’ve done. And some people actually enjoy their jobs. But there are small things that we can all do to live more richly and spend less money. Especially if you work at a company that is not your own, or in a menial job that is not your career and not your passion, try some of these tips:

1. Cut expenses.

No matter what your budget looks like, there’s probably something you can cut out that you don’t need. I can’t tell you what that is, but you may know. Trade that extra money in for free time and rest.

2. Take a vacation.

Screw work. You earned every single one of your vacation days, so don’t let them pile up into meaningless hours. Nobody will ever remember the extra hours you put in at work, but the memories you make on a vacation are truly priceless.

3. Take lunch.

Stand up. Get out of the office. Go for lunch. Literally – eat lunch. Go for a walk. Do not ever, ever, ever work through your lunch hour. Unless you own the entire company, you’re giving away your time for free. Your time is worth much more than what they are paying you.

Take the entire lunch hour, and don’t come back early. Take every break too, and make them count. Run around the block. Do burpees in the hallway. Run sprints to the lunch room. Do whatever it takes to make your body move and don’t waste a single opportunity to go outside.

4. Sleep soundly.

The worst thing you could ever do for your health and family and wellbeing is to lose sleep over work. Either by working later than you should, taking work home with you, or just losing sleep thinking about work problems. Learn not to give a crap about work when you’re not there. The world isn’t going to end.

Unless you are the president of the universe, they are not paying you enough to lose one single minute of sleep over your job. Your job does not own you. Take your full eight hours of sleep. Especially if you’re living for the weekends, you need to be well rested during the week so you can actually enjoy your days off.

5. Redefine wealth.

Remember that there are countless ways that you can be rich with no money. You can have a wealth of experience. A wealth of knowledge. A wealth of resources. A wealth of personal contacts. There is so much in this world that can be lived and experience and enjoyed with no money at all.

This is hard to believe for us because we are conditioned to believe that we have to BUY and OWN in order to truly live. This is a lie. Change your view of the world. It’s a big world out there, and we are truly rich when we can explore it.

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New RV Home, New Life

A New Home, a New Book, a New Adventure

August 1, 2012 By in Book, Running, RV Tags: , , , , , 7 Comments

It has been two months since I quit my job in the hopes of bigger adventure and I am busier than ever. I have zero regrets and I’m excited to share some of the things we have in motion this month:

1. RV Purchase

Shacky and I are days away from owning our new home, a Rialta QD RV. Here is a video tour of our tiny mansion:

Quitting our Jobs to Live in a Tiny Rialta QD RV from Vanessa Runs on Vimeo.

We’re both very low maintenance campers at heart, and I have no doubts about this move. A year from now, we’ll be looking back and kicking ourselves for not making it sooner.

The most challenging part of moving into an RV will be getting rid of all the stuff we have in our house. We are now opening our home to “looters” who can come and grab whatever they want, make an offer/donation to help us out on our new lifestyle, and walk out.

We have all the normal stuff that people live with and everything must go:

  • furniture
  • electronics
  • kitchen stuff
  • movies/video games
  • books
  • clothing
  • linens
  • vacuum

We even have unopened wedding gifts from a past life containing brand new dish sets, glasses, decorations, etc. We also have a motorcycle… and our hybrid car to get rid of.

“Like an estate sale, only you’re not dead,” as Caity put it.

If there’s anything you’re looking for, feel free to send me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com. If we have it, you can have it.

Email me as well if you want to just drop by and take a look. I’ll be putting stuff on Craigslist as well.

And – we’re looking for a mountain bike to possibly trade or buy cheap. This will be our transportation when we’re not driving the RV. It’s not for racing or anything special other than getting to the store for some groceries or checking out a new town. Something used and reliable will do.

We’ve already given away or sold:

  • A motorcycle
  • Full weight sets
  • Lawnmowers
  • A brand new (still in the box) beer home brewing kit
  • A kayak
  • Fishing gear

As you can see, a lot of great stuff that we just have no way of keeping.

2. My First Book

I’ve written 38,022 words so far. I still have a few more things to add to the first draft, but I’m super psyched about this book. It inspires ME to run. Often when I’m writing, I’ll have to stop, get up and go for a run because it puts me in the mood. This will be a great read.

3. Transrockies

Shacky and I have been sponsored by GORE-TEX to run Transrockies this month, a once in a lifetime opportunity. For six days, we will be running beautiful trails in amazing company. Ginger will vacation with Matt Seng, who will be taking her on brand new trail runs of her own.

Great things are happening! Don’t forget to dream big my friends…

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