As everyone is well aware, the coronavirus really messed up the last two years. My whole life got turned upside down and shook like a dog. I don’t want to talk about all the ways life got hard the last two years though, I want to post the fun things I did while neglecting my blog cause I did some things worth remembering. I’ll do my best to remember it all.
The adventure started in March 2020 with lockdown and spending 2 whole months with my family….that was great. I also was able to do a ton of work to the shop which I covered in a previous post. And then I cheated slightly and went for a motorcycle ride to test out my camera gear. I couldn’t help it! I was so bored!
THEN MY WHOLE LIFE GOT FLIPPED TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.
I ended up landing on my feet in California working for my cousin most of the summer. We built some awesome stuff, did a little bit of work, stole some signs, rode some bikes, BOUGHT some bikes and a car, and just generally had fun. Here’s just a small selection of random pictures from the summer.
We did two short bike trips that summer too. one to Santa Cruz and one to Tahoe. Here are some pictures from those rides.
We also managed to mix in a totally random new employment venture. Ground support drivers on wildfires. We both went on the first fire we were called to. I don’t claim to be some brave firefighter or anything like that….we drove trucks around delivering supplies where they were needed. Nothing dangerous and 90% of the time was spent waiting for an assignment while sitting in an air conditioned tent. BUT it was definitely different and I would put it up there with working in the ski industry…..not glamorous at all, kind of sucky really, but you end up in places and do things that most people will never see or do. It was tough in the moment but I can honestly say that I would do it again. I met some very interesting people and learned a lot about life. The people that are ground support veterans have chosen to do it for the lifestyle it allows. Yeah they live simpler lives and they can seem unambitious just sitting around waiting for an assignment, but they all live the life they are happy with. They love nature and are able to make as much money as they need during the summer to do what they want all winter. I actually identify with that now. After 2 years of utter chaos and not knowing what the future could possibly hold I’ve figured out that my memories with friends and family are WAAAYYYY more important than what my stupid job is. Am I surrounded by those I love? Are we comfortable? Are we doing what we love or at least trying to? Yes, yes, and YES! So then does it really matter what my job was? NO. I would gladly and unapologetically work as little as possible while doing what I want with those I love……period. That got deeper than I intended it to….but I stand by it.
I wish I had the writing skills that could communicate what I learned and how I felt while on wildfires, but I don’t. So on to the part that’s interesting for others. Pictures. It was difficult to stop and take pictures in the moment cause, ya know, I was at work, so most of my time at firecamp is preserved in my head. But here are some of the more interesting pictures.
After a couple fires it was getting close to the end of summer and time to start thinking about heading home for the winter and figure out how to put my life back together and hopefully keep my house. I convinced myself that I needed to get a job and be a boring person again. But I wanted to take a couple days and explore the redwoods cause I always wanted to ride a motorcycle there and I was really missing my bike. So I did a weekend in the redwoods with my sweet micro van. I ended up taking pictures of the car like I would a bike cause I’m soooo hilarious. Here’s some of that.
I got back to Jasons house and immediately started feeling sick. The next day I got a call from the people I was working for at the fires and they said that there was an outbreak of COVID at the fire I had just left and to go get tested…..of course. I tested positive and then spent the next 14 days miserable and lonely in my camper in Jasons backyard. It. Was. Rough. COVID is no joke.
As soon as I was allowed to come out of quarantine I packed up and went back to Utah with my tail between my legs, convinced that I was doomed to be an employee the rest of my life. I had spent the whole summer doing whatever I wanted to make money but for some reason the impending doom of winter was weighing over me like a dark cloud. Now I understand that was the result of 13 years in the ski industry…..13 years of knowing that my time is not mine for the next 6 months. No Christmas vacations….no thanksgiving…..6 months of 60-70 hour weeks. I managed to pull myself together and spent a few months being self employed doing motorcycle work full time, not just on the side like I was doing the rest of the summer.
Then as December approached I got sucked back in to the feeling of needing to get a job even though things were going just fine with the motorcycles. So I went and got a job in the ski industry! What an idiot. It was just as annoying as I remembered it. I think that winter was what prompted us to start thinking about moving. We visited my dad in north Idaho for Christmas right before starting my new job and I spent the rest of the winter thinking about Idaho.
I hated that winter. I kept doing motorcycle work on the side and I think that’s all that kept me sane. I woke up every day dreading going to work. I was miserable and couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to start over somewhere new.
Enough of the dumb emotional stuff. I don’t want to focus on what was hard about this time, and there was so much more to it but this isn’t the place for it. I only mention it to try to explain why we started thinking about uprooting our lives.
SOOOOO……we decided to move! And then we did that. Finding a new house was a long process and not super fun. But we did it.
As you can see, I have a GIGANTIC shop now. There are so many projects coming and I can’t wait to get my business rolling. I have a few big YouTube videos planned and I’m moving towards manufacturing aluminum panniers to start with. Tourmoto is just starting and will one day be the place people look for moto travel gear. Also I made a couple small trips and one big one. The big one will get its own post. There was so much more that happened over the last two years and this stuff was just the highlights. There isn’t enough space on WordPress’s servers for all the words I could type about our time in COVID America so you’ll have to settle for my lame pictures. The pictures from the rest of the summer are just a bunch of family pictures so that’s the end of the post…….you can leave now.