As I waited for something to happen with Peace Corps, I decided that it was time to make a change in my life. I would make sure that there was room in the changes for Peace Corps, but I couldn’t wait any longer for Peace Corp to be the instigator of those changes.

In the fall of 2021, I was ready to leave my job. To be clear, I liked my work – I got to use my skills and abilities to work on something important to me. And, I worked with great people, too. Yet, I was ready to start the next phase, whatever that might be.

Winter in western Washington (state) is wet, dark, and damp cold, which didn’t seem like good conditions in which to suddenly be adrift without a plan in life. The financial side of my life would also benefit from a few more months of a paycheck and benefits – so I decided that I would work through November and then go part-time through March. It also allowed for a good transition at work, which I felt good about. And, I got to have a few months of everyone declaring how much they appreciate my good work I do and how much they will miss me.

With an end date in mind, I could make plans for what I would do on April 1. I knew it would be important to make a clean break, do something clearly different to kick off this next phase of my life. I didn’t want to find myself sitting at the same desk in front of a different computer wiling my time away.

Ideas Germinating

As I’ve said before, I’m a planner… so I started making plans. A trip seemed like a good way to get out of my routine. If I were gone April and May, I could still get a garden in; I’d just use more starts from the nursery instead of starting my own plants.

Since airline travel didn’t feel safe, I could travel by car here in the US. With my car as my bubble, I could visit friends and family without needing to stay in their homes or other lodging. I started looking at vans and plotting a route around the US. Then I came across videos of people doing “vanlife” in cars – ah ha! I could do this in my Toyota Matrix! This was now a real possibility.