(Badlands National Park. This was the first dose of surrealism on our month long journey)
This trip was not your typical couples retreat, it was way bigger than that. It was more of an attempt to find ourselves and reconnect to the truths of what really matters in this amazingly beautiful world.
This might have been the closest thing to absolute freedom that we ever got to experience within the digital age we live. How often are you given the opportunity to simply unplug and go anywhere you want within no parameters, commitments or obligations? Just to pick up a few cameras with the person you love and the open road. What more could you ever need?
Well we first needed to figure out how we were going to travel. After considerable research, we decided to truly take on the open road with a truck camper. We considered a hotel or Air BnB but we really wanted to experience living off the grid. We wanted to have the ability to park and easily drive through big cities where we knew a regular trailer would have difficulties. We also considered a winnebago (a drivable RV) but the price was too high for just the two of us so we happily settled on the truck camper idea. We began our search and quickly realized how hard it is to find truck camper in New York State. They are very popular out west. We still don’t know why that is…But we didn’t lose our determination and ended up finding our perfect tiny home away from home a couple hours away via Craigslist for $3700. And what do you know, it was the right parameters for our F150, 5.5 ft short bed truck.
(Welcome to our tiny house)
To our surprise, this little camper contained:
- Bathroom with sink + shower
- 30 gallon water reservoir
- Queen sized bed with a TV
- Refrigerator and freezer
- Full kitchen table
- Gas stove
- Heater with thermostat
- Microwave + full kitchen sink
I remember Alex’s excitement that it came with a TV and HD antenna yet we never turned it on once throughout our whole trip.
As the inside was still in mint condition, we wanted to add our own little touch with the exterior. Initially, we decided to take on a full paint-job ourselves and give it a black finish to match our black truck. Because in all honesty how sleek would it be to travel cross country in black on black? After 75% of completion of our DIY paint job, one of us wandered inside the camper only to find that it was a hot-box to say the least. It was a warmer than usual day in September and the walls were radiating heat like we couldn’t believe. I guess that’s science for you in its truest form. The thought of going to the west coast in a hot-box seemed terrifying and although it looked pretty awesome, we decided to take our loss and pay someone to do a professional paint job. This time, in a LIGHTER neutral tone. We settled on good old sandstone tan. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being basic.
(Alex spraying the camper with rust-oleum)
At the time, “White Gloved Vegan” was merely an idea. We weren’t sure what we were going to do with it but we thought the name and notion behind it was clever enough to take a chance on. We ordered large sticker decals from Etsy that had our @whiteglovedvegan logo and created social media accounts. We thought this would be a good way for anyone interested to join us on our journey coast to coast. If nothing came of it, we would be happy with visually documenting our journey for family and friends and for us to look back on.
(The decals are still in perfect condition!)
Our main mission for this trip was to see America for what it’s most known for, its national parks. We made a savvy decision by ordering an annual national parks pass as this was the cheapest way to go. It cost $80 for the pass, but gave us access to every park in America for a whole year. If interested, you can purchase the pass here.
(Roadtrippers app)
At this point you’re probably wondering how we knew where to go. Our new best friend was this website/app called Roadtrippers. It’s a mobile travel planning platform that contains millions of the world’s most interesting locations. We were able to pin the places we wanted to go and it would automatically create the directions and give a timeline so we knew how long we could stay at each place. And it’s free! You can find the roadtrippers app here.
Since we are both vegan (if that wasn’t obvious enough), we were apprehensive about finding food especially in the desert lands. Just to be prepared, I meal-prepped cashew cheese lasagna and wrapped individual servings in foil to store in our tiny freezer. I also made a couple containers of butternut squash mac and cheese. Boy am I glad we did because at times we would drive hours and hours without seeing any signs of human life.
(Cashew lasagna – so delicious and easy on the go)
Our food savior and the ultimate game changer for us was The Happy Cow app, a vegan and vegetarian restaurant guide. This allowed us to search for vegan options in every location in the U.S. It covered restaurant addresses, reviews, hours, and phone numbers. We ate the most incredible and mind blowing vegan/plant-based food on our vacation and we owe it all to this remarkable app. You can purchase the app for $3.99 or use the website for free here!
(Happy Cow app)
We also purchased a generator so we could have the capability to use electricity when boondocking. Boondocking is essentially camping without hookups in an undeveloped area. We learned that this is allowed in certain parts of national and state parks. This type of camping truly made our road trip unforgettable. There’s something to say about living within nature at its most natural state.
(Boondocking in the Badlands)
To be on the safe side, Alex purchased extra pill cases and worked with his doctor to insure that he had backup medication for his heart condition. Something you wouldn’t even think to worry about in your early thirties but that was the whole driving force behind this trip. Through Alex’s near death experience, we learned that tomorrow is not promised no matter what age you are and we were hungry to take on an impulsive adventure.
Saying this trip was quickly planned is an understatement. Mid-september, we made the decision to unplug from our daily routines for a few weeks starting October 7th. We weren’t camping experts by any means but compared to what obstacles we’ve dealt with in the past couple of months, potential camping problems seemed trivial. We locked our house, closed the garage door, and pulled away. One month later, the trip turned out to be the best time of our entire life and something we will never ever forget.
