My husband Andrew and I both come from pretty big families. His is much larger than mine. For he is one of nine children. So, needless to say when we started our adventure, our families thought we were crazy. They were full of doubting and questions. Like, “How do you think you’re going to be able to live on the road? What are you going to do to provide for your family? How do you think you’re going to be able to be away from us for that long?” However, we just knew it was time for something different. It was necessary. We felt like we have outgrown our area. Both of us just knew that we were never going to grow being in our small town. So, small that the only one red light in this town is the one inside of the school zone. Don’t get me wrong. It's the sweetest little country home town. Like a step up from Heartland, but a couple steps down from the Hallmark Channel movies. For example, Andrew‘s grandparents were one of the first families to have a house in this town. They even were the ones who started the baseball fields, Definitely big pillars to the community. His mom and dad met and grew up in this town. They even chose to stay here and raise him and his siblings. Me, on the other hand. I am not from this area. I moved here when I was a teenager. So, I didn’t really know all the ins and outs or all the people who lived here.

 

That's what makes mine and Andrew's story so special. I was working at one of the few places to eat in town which was a pizza parlor called Hungry Howie's. The other choices there were between The Ice Cream Shop or Country Angels. Country Angels is a family diner. There was also the other place. Ironically, it was called the Other Place and was a family owned and operated diner. Remember now, I’m not from this area. So, I didn’t know everybody. When Andrew came in, I instantly fell head over heels for him, but at the same time I thought he was kind of strange. He would come in with a group of his friends. I felt like he was the life of the party, always cutting up, and making jokes. I definitely had my eye on him. But then when he was by himself he was kind of distant and kept himself. I thought that was a little weird, Needless to say one day, I mustered up the nerve to talk to him. I was like "Hey, weren’t you just in here?" Because he came in with a group of friends maybe an hour earlier. He looked at me and said no with a strange face. Never once said anything else. Keep that in mind. I will never forget this moment. I was wrapping salad and TWO of them walked in with a group of friends. I looked over at my friend Cindy who was working with me and said, "There’s two of them!" I about fell out!! She just laughed at me. From that moment on, I knew that Andrew was a twin. I always liked the one with the group of friends. He had a shit eating grin. From that point, I decided that I was going to make the first move. I wrote my name and number on his pizza box and surprisingly he called me that night and we’ve been together ever since. 

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Our life was pretty good life. Andrew and I had careers. We owned a very successful business building steps and decks. I had gone to school to be in the medical field. I worked in urgent care up until our son was born. Then a couple years later, we had our daughter and I was able to stay home for the most part. Which was the most amazing experiences I have ever had. We didn’t have a bad life, but like most people Covid happened, This caused us to take a step back and look around. We kind of went down the rabbit hole. Realizing the things that we thought and believed we’re not indeed true. In the beginning, it was kind of hard to believe. But, once you see something you can't un see it. Signs were everywhere tv, movies, food, clothing-you name it, it was there. The awakening process happened. We sat down and brainstormed for weeks and months, trying to come up with something. We just knew there was no going back to the life we were living before Covid. We had to get out of the matrix. A man name Mark Twain said this...

“Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

​Challenge accepted! From that moment on, we made a list of all the things we had loved, every hobby we could think of. The one thing in common was the outdoors. We enjoy traveling so much. Road trips have always been one of our favorite things to do. Didn't matter how long or short they were, as long as we were together. Even if we had no money or nothing to do, a good drive with no doors on our jeep with the radio up was like heaven. We would take the scenic route and before you know it we were on adventure. The all American dream working your 9 to 5, having a big house, two cars, and white picket fence wasn't for us. That saying "Keeping up with the Joneses." I have always thought how sad. Not to mention in this economy that we live in isn’t feasible anymore. Inflation is at an all-time high. The sad truth is that most people aren’t going to be able to own a house or get out of debt. We didn’t want to fall into that type of situation. Being debt-free sounded so freeing. We decided to start the process of becoming travelers. So that is when we came up with Seasoned Drifters.