In 2020, we’ll enter our seventh year of full-time travel.
In 2019, we explored Mexico, Canada, and the United States. In 2020, we’ll visit all three countries again, but in a different way.
As a full-time traveling family with a focus on location-independent, self-sustained travel, two things have happened over the years that have really humbled us.
- Amazing companies have gotten behind our adventures as gear sponsors.
- We’ve been asked to share our experiences and how we do what we do at various rallies, expos, and events around the nation (and even internationally).
We love our lifestyle and the freedom it offers. The ability to share it with others is something we don’t take for granted. We work hard to prepare presentations that inform, empower, and encourage others who are interested in this lifestyle.
But we aren’t going to be around much longer–at least, we don’t plan to be.
Our hope is to travel full-time around the world. Right now, we’re shooting for a launch date of 2022. So, simply put, our time in North America is dwindling.
When we do set off for the other continents, it will be for an extended period of time. As such, we’ve made a decision to spend 2020 encouraging others via public speaking events, while we’re close enough to do so in person.
We’ll still be doing quite a bit of non-event-related travel, though. And we love meeting with like-minded adventurers everywhere we go. So if you’ll be in any of the areas listed below during 2020, or attending a show we’re at, then please do let us know. We love to connect with as many people as we can!
(Note that we stay flexible during all “in-between” dates. Meaning our speaking dates are firm, but everything in between has a little flexibility.)
Winter 2020
Having wrapped up the holidays in south Texas, we’re heading towards Lake Havasu, Arizona, to speak at the Xscapers Annual Bash. We’ve already stopped at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. These were national parks #22 and #23 for our three-year-old son Caspian.
January 10-17: Xscapers Annual Bash 2020 in Lake Havasu, Arizona, overlanding presentation
January 18-31: Gilroy, California visiting our big kids and first grandchild
February 1-March 13: Baja California and Baja Sur, Mexico
March 14-31: Traveling with a team of overlanding enthusiasts through the Baja Peninsula
For those of you keeping track, yes, this means we plan to be overlanding through the Baja Peninsula for around two months in 2020. Last year, we did two months and 2,000 miles in the interior of Mexico.
Spring 2020
April 1-5: Calexico, California to San Diego, California
April 6-12: Spring Break with at least one of our big kids in southern California
April 13-19: San Diego, California to Joshua Tree National Park
April 20-24: Joshua Tree National Park
April 25-May 1: Mojave Road
May 2-May 5: Travel to Flagstaff, Arizona
May 6-13: Flagstaff, Arizona
May 14-17: Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, planning to present for a second year
May 18-June 16: Flagstaff, Arizona to Seattle, Washington, where we’ll spend time with family
June 17: Seattle, Washington to Leavenworth, Washington
June 18-21: NW Overland Rally in Leavenworth, presenting
June 22-24: Leavenworth, Washington to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
June 25-28: BC Overland Rally in Whistler, presenting
June 29-July 28: Whistler, British Columbia to Gunnison, Colorado
➡️ Keep reading: Ultimate Guide to 2020 Overlanding Events, Rallies, and Expos
Summer 2020
July 29-August 2: Rocky Mountain Overland Rally in Gunnison, Colorado, presenting
August 3-26: Gunnison, Colorado to Loveland, Colorado
August 27-30: Overland Expo Mountain West in Loveland, planning to present at this inaugural event
August 31-October 7: Loveland, Colorado to Arrington, VA
Fall 2020
Our travels beginning in October are very special for us. We have four states left to “fill in” on our map of the continental United States. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and West Virginia are the only four states we haven’t visited with our RV since we started traveling full-time in 2014.
Believe it or not, in six and a half years of full-time travel, we’ve never spent a night in any of these states. As we cross the United States from Colorado to Virginia in October, we plan to take a route that will have us spend at least one night in each of these four states–and thus complete our map.
This will mark the end of an era for us. Our RV adventures are coming to a close.
As I stated earlier, we are planning on traveling internationally full-time. We definitely want to finish the lower 48 before we open our next chapter. From that point on, though we’ll still have the RV for a bit, our focus will be on overlanding and planning our international route.
October 8-11: Overland Expo East in Arrington, Virginia, planning to present for a third year
October 12-November 30: Arrington, Virginia to Austin, Texas
December 1-31: Austin, Texas, where we started our travels so many years ago. We visit annually for doctors, dentists, vehicle inspections, and all that fun stuff.
Looking Ahead to 2020 With Anticipation
The coming year will truly mark the end of an era for us, and earnest preparations for a new one. We have a lot of things we’ll be announcing throughout the year. We hope you’ll stay on this journey with us. We can’t tell you how much our “tribe” means to us.
And again, if we’ll be traveling your way, reach out and let us know. The fastest way to get in touch is via our social media channels on Facebook and Instagram. For more detailed conversations, please use our contact form.
Whether you join us on a trail or hang out with us at an event, we want to encourage you to get outside. Go do something memorable this year. We each get one shot at this life. So if you’ve been on the fence about doing something epic, then make 2020 a year that will change your life.
Awesome schedule! Can’t wait to see everything else that crops up during the year.
Haha those detours and unexpected things that come up are usually what make the journey so interesting. See you soon!