Finding Home Base

We’ve taken quite the unannounced hiatus from the blog and we’re not apologizing for it this time. One of the key components to a successful blog is being consistent. Any research on the subject or blogging course will tell you that. We’ve done a ton of things this year and consistency is not one of them. Life is not consistent, at least ours is not, and I have come to accept that our hobby blog about what’s going on during our “year off” will not be consistent either. 

We still plan on putting together posts with travel tips and of course all the wonderful food we’ve been eating from the many cities we’ve visited this year. But, the difference between us and other (successful) travel bloggers is that most, if not all I’ve come across, travel for the sake of travel. We’ve been traveling with the end goal of finding the perfect little town to call home. These are two very different goals when setting out in a new city, and because of that, coming up with “blog-worthy content” often feels impossible.

A travel blogger might focus on finding the best views in an area, great hiking trails, the best cup of coffee in the city, or the best spot for instagram photos (yes, this is a thing). We, on the other hand, set off and tried to spend our days as if we already lived there. We were trying to find the town that felt the most comfortable to be in. We would find a grocery store or farmer’s market, and scope out the veggie and cheese selections (very important), walk around the downtown areas, seek out local hole-in-the-wall restaurants, ride public transportation if available, and of course hang out in every brewery along the way. We looked for people in our age group and paid attention to what they were wearing (business suits, athletic wear, did they look homeless?) and how happy they looked. We tried to imagine what we would do on the weekends when we just needed to decompress from a busy work week and then seek those things out. We looked at housing prices on the Zillow app and compared them with local job listings and average incomes, to get a feel for how difficult it might be to eke out a living. I think you get the point that our travel experiences have been a bit different than just a fun vacation in a new city. We did this in towns all over the eastern part of the country, and as far away as Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Our Garmin InReach track from the boat and road trip adventures this year (there are a couple of gaps in our route where the device was not tracking: Charlottesville to Raleigh, & Chicago through Indiana).

When we were on the boat we were supposed to check out the North Carolina coast for potential towns BUT we didn’t start north early enough in the season and the heat caught up with us, forcing us to dock the boat and set off on the road trip. Because the boat has been sitting at a dock since June, enduring tropical storm force winds at least once, the amount of work required to set sail again is overwhelming and probably won’t happen in time for us to do that trip this year.

So, at the end of our 7 week road trip we found ourselves in Poughkeepsie, New York. We thought we would make a few more stops before heading back but it started raining while we were camping, the bugs were bad, and the campsite next to us were very loud night owls. We packed everything up at 8:30pm one night and started the 14 hour trek back. It sounds a little dramatic, but it ended up being a great decision to leave at that time. We took shifts driving through the night and hit ZERO traffic going past New York city and Washington DC.

We pulled into my mom’s house on St Helena Island, SC and slept for what felt like an entire day. When we woke up my brother told us to get in his van (full of surfboards, coolers of beer, and friends) we’re going surfing. We had an awesome day at the beach and when we got back my dad called and asked if we wanted to go for a sunset boat ride. YES PLEASE! As we watched the sunset with some pretty good company, Arthur and I looked at each other, slightly buzzed, and said this is it. This is what we’ve been looking for. This could be our life every weekend if we wanted it to be.

Of course, the next day, completely sober, we decided we wouldn’t jump the gun on calling Beaufort home just yet. Arthur’s mom was coming for a month, so we decided that would be a good time to stick around and see her of course, but to also “try out” Beaufort. After that month we would maybe “try out” another town since we still have some time in our year off.

During that first month in Beaufort Arthur picked up some maintenance/construction work with a friend. I swear we have great communication most of the time, but this snuck the hell up on me! One day we’re just hanging out in Beaufort with family, then literally the next day he’s waking up at 5am to go to work. It was supposed to be just a couple days, but that was over a month ago and he’s been gone almost 50 hours a week. I guess that tells you he likes the work. So much for a full year off… It’s ok though, I guilted him into getting a dog to keep me company while he lives out his inner Chip Gaines.

Part of our happiness and success has been taking advantage of good opportunities when they come our way. And let me tell you, good opportunities don’t wait for the perfect time in YOUR plans to pop up. They come out of nowhere and you either jump on that train or it’s gone! Arthur felt like it was a good opportunity and so he jumped. And even though we had plans to do a little more traveling this year, I trust him, so when he jumped, I jumped too.

So Beaufort, South Carolina it is, for a while at least. We traveled all over the country in search of the perfect home town, did all that research on places we might like to live, just to come back to where we grew up. Really?! REALLY?! I’m back in the town I couldn’t wait to leave. When I graduated high school, I picked a college based on the program I was interested in, and the institution that would get me as far away from here as in-state tuition would allow. I didn’t consider any other aspects of the school! That’s how bad I wanted out.

We have a lot more decisions to make before we officially call Beaufort home, but for now this is where we are with our new dog. LOL! I still can’t believe we have a dog. She’s perfect for us and I’m so glad we rescued her, but she is the product of mine and Arthur’s miscommunication. “Oh, so you have a full time job now? When were you going to talk to me about this? I don’t even know if I want to live in Beaufort long-term. What was the point of this whole “finding our next home base” if we were just going to settle for the first place someone offers YOU a job?! If I knew that was going to happen I would have planned for us to spend our year off abroad! What if I don’t want to be here? If you’re going to be gone 40-50 hours a week I need a dog.” “Hilary, are we really ready for a dog? That’s a 10-15 year commitment. Are you sure?!” “Yes, I want a dog. We’re going tomorrow to find one.” And meet our sweet and sassy chihuahua Luna :) 

Anyone else have experience ending up with a new pet after a miscommunication or disagreement with your significant other?

Anyway, we’ll get our travel and food posts out at some point. We’ll make a decision about living in Beaufort long-term eventually. We’ll decide whether to do another big trip on the boat or go ahead and sell her one of these days. We are suckers for new and exciting opportunities, especially in new places, but we’re careful not to get too tied down if it doesn't feel exactly right. Settling down in Beaufort doesn’t feel exactly right, YET. It may not pan out, and if it doesn’t, we’ll pack up and move on. Again. While we’re excited for something more stable than living on a boat or living out of a van, we’re also not ready to settle for mediocre. We are trying really hard to live our best life, and for us, finding the perfect town will have a lot to do with that. So for now, you can find us kayaking in the salt marsh, surfing at Hunting Island, and enjoying a shrimp burger with a sweet tea. Here’s to rediscovering our hometown.