This is long overdue…
So basically… we should have started this blog a month ago. If you’re our family or friends just now reading this, I sincerely apologize that it has taken us this long to get this thing up and running. The delay is equal parts due to a lack of service and honestly, we’ve just been having too much fun.
If you’re new here, hi!! We’re Connor and Alicia and you can read all about us and our lives on the about page. We know that’s not why you’re reading this blog, you’re here for the adventures and stories- and boy, do we have a lot of those already.
In order to give the full picture of where we’re at and what we’re doing, we need to rewind a little bit to May of 2024.
Connor was working as a carpenter, Alicia as a teacher and Creative Arts Director for their church. They were wonderful jobs, but we both knew they were temporary going into them. We had been engaged for two weeks and planned on having a shorter engagement period since we weren’t planning a big wedding and just wanted to be married. We had the most intimate backyard ceremony (Rebecca and Marcus, if you’re reading this, thank you again!) followed by the most incredible reception held at Forest Trail House in Mint Hill, North Carolina (shameless plug). It was a magical day all around and the weeks leading up to it never felt heavy or stressful because we knew this was what we wanted- our closest friends celebrating the culmination of our hard work, our relationship, and sending us off on this grand adventure.
Prior to our wedding, we spent months in prayer about what to do when we eventually got married. Do we keep our jobs and look for a house? Do we take a local honeymoon to save money? Do we just dirt bag until we know what we want to do with our lives? The hardest part about making big decisions like these was knowing what was from the Lord and what was just our selfish ambition. So, we prayed for discernment. Almost immediately, we both knew that we needed to spend some time on the road. Traveling has always brought us closer as friends, from mission trips in South Africa and NYC, to our first big backpacking trip in Peru, to many cross-country roadtrips with friends, we have been fortunate enough to see a lot of this beautiful world together, as well as separately. There’s something about packing only the essentials and stepping out to new places that just has so much magic behind it.
“Keep close to nature’s heart and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” - John Muir
So that’s exactly what we did. Alicia had recently sold her house, we both sold our cars and most of our belongings at various yard sales, and we decided to take six months to see the parts of the country that we hadn’t been to- and yes, that includes Alaska. We both have dreamed of going to Alaska since we were kids, so we routed our whole trip around making it there in peak season. With beautiful weather, maximum viewing of the Aurora Borealis, and a truck set up that we had only dreamed of (that’s for the next blog post ;)), we were ready.
As always, when you’re pursuing something that you feel like the Lord has led you to, there are bound to be obstacles. As our blog posts progress, I’m sure we’ll get into more of those and how we overcame them, because it’s important to see the hard work and tears that go into dreams. One thing that we both have learned in our lives- if it’s easy, it’s probably not worth it. Comfort is a tool that the devil uses to keep us complacent, never daring, never speaking out, never reaching people for Christ with boldness.
From here on out, our blog on this site is multi-faceted. We will keep those of you interested up to date on our trip, as well as offering advice to readers thinking about doing the same on what to avoid, what routes to take, gear lists, etc., and sharing our “grateful’s” and God moments along the way. Thanks for getting this far! Onwards and upwards!
