Day 1 - I Believe in Ferries

We had an amazing send-off weekend in Grand Rapids, MI, We celebrated our friends Tyler and Stephanie's wedding on Saturday evening at the City Flatts Ballroom. Sunday we enjoyed a very special day with family. And now it's time to truly embark on this grand adventure. This morning we woke in the RV to the humming of the S.S. Badger's engines. 

After walking into Ludington and a great breakfast at Brenda's Harbor Cafe we donned or mask's and boarded the boat. We begrudgingly left Duncan in a kennel on the car deck, but we know he'll be okay. The Badger certainly brings back memories of my childhood as my family and I used to take the car ferries to and from Wisconsin to visit family.

We found a comfy spot on a couch and settled in for the 4 hour journey across Lake Michigan. The boat left it's dock promptly at 9 and we were underway. Time for some coffee...

This S#!t's gettin' real...

 It's just a Monday evening, but today is the start of an amazing journey.

My name is Jonathan, but I go by JB and my wife of 54 days (yeah, you read that right) is Erica. We met in nursing school many years ago, but that's a story for another time. We are in our 40's and have a house in Northern Lower Michigan, but because there is such a high need for nurses across the country, we've decided to head out on the road. Erica is an amazing ICU nurse with extensive COVID experience and we both feel that she can really help some of the struggling health systems around the US. And if we do this right, we can make a jump start on our retirement nest-egg.

So what happened today?

Well I'm glad you asked... Erica officially changed her last name to mine. Isn't that awesome!!

It is for sure, but that's not really what this blog is about, so the other thing that happened today is we both put in letters of resignation to our respective employers. Although we've been talking about it seriously for weeks, this felt like a "point of no return" moment.  We are hoping to head out in mid to late September with our fifth wheel trailer and our dog, Duncan, so there is lots to do around the house to progress towards such a huge life transition.

So what is this blog going to be about? Another good question... I enjoy poetry, prose, songwriting, and even a bit of photography so I plan to document our journey wherever it takes us. We are brand new RVers, so the transition to full time RV life should be adventuresome and lend itself to rookie mistakes and humorous stories. We plan on really getting to know each location we take a contract by diving in and experiencing the people, culture, food, and of course nature that makes up the community and it's surrounding area. We are taking bikes, kayaks, backpacking gear and we plan to use it all. Neither of us are experts at any of those activities, so if you're looking for an outdoor adventure guru, I'd be happy to recommend a few.

If you want to see pictures, read poems, and hear stories about two newlywed middle-aged nurses trying to make a difference during this pandemic while traveling this great nation, stay tuned...