Cold As [insert body part here]!

We have been in Glacier National Park the last couple of days. Fortunately, it is still as spectacular as I remember it. Unfortunately, it is still "winter" in northern Montana. In MAY. The month where it often hits 100 degrees in Phoenix. But I guess since there is still snow on the ground and it has been 36 degrees inside our van at night, they might be right to call it "winter".

Given those conditions, check out the brave soul we were entertained by while having lunch yesterday:

Video here

Kids these days!

After lunch and a "movie", we went on a hike to Avalanche Lake. Part of the hike bordered a beautiful creek...

...and we had a surprise waiting for us at the lake in the form of a new friend.

Yep, it's still "winter" here.

Today we will head to Canada once again to visit Banff and then stay with a Couchsurfing friend in Calgary. We are practicing our border crossing story already and will report back!

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Why Are We Here?

There are three ways to answer this question: Why are we here? (What are you two up to?) For the past few years we have been watching our budget closely, paying off our debt, and saving as much as we can. This has given us the freedom to pursue a dream. What dream, you ask? A random one! While we do not have a definite goal or specific plan, we have developed some guiding principles: Let life rule instead of work. Explore the country and the world. Trade "stuff" for genuine experiences. Create rather than consume. Develop a spirit of volunteerism. Take odd jobs in unfamiliar disciplines to see if there is something we love, but don't yet know we love. Live in the moment. Work for ourselves as much as possible. Dance outside our comfort zones in order to grow. Find a way to stretch the money we have saved for as long as possible. Identify properties of cities that we like should we choose to "settle down" again. ("You kids back there bet...

I spy...

I was looking for directions on Google Maps today when I realized that Google had just added "birds-eye" views for Fort Collins. So, of course, I went to see what our home looks like. Much to my surprise, I found that Google just happened to catch us on the morning of March 29, 2012. Our moving day! So, you better think twice before deciding to run around naked in your back yard. You never know when the aerial photography plane is going to fly by!

Money, Money, Money!

I am a huge fan of talking about money, or at least talking about it in a way that opens up discourse and de-tabbooifies 1 it. Now that we are transitioning from making money and saving it to living off of what we've saved, I want to share our monthly travel budget with you (developed in Mvelopes ). Here is our working budget for the US portion of our trip. Some details: 1. The State Farm category covers auto insurance for the van (~$70) and life insurance (~$40). 2. As you can see, the Lodging category is not very high. We are planning on staying with friends and family, sleeping in the van (in KOA's , state parks and Wal-mart parking lots ) and couchsurfing 2 . 3. The Auto category covers gas and any needed repairs (knock on wood). We will be driving approximately 10,000 miles in the next three to four months and expect to get around 15 miles per gallon. Sorry about the car emissions, planet Earth. We promise to balance it out by not driving a car for the following three ...

Curious Souls

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