Austin has been very good to us I cannot lie, we got an apartment all to ourselves to crash in for a few days. We made Dane burritos the night he got it, then we all just hung out and caught up. I don't really like to write about specific details of what we talk about or what we are doing because I like to hold a lot of that in. 
Keeping it between the three of us, to me it hold more sentimental value. (Secret secrets are no fun unless you tell everyone). 

The next morning we made breakfast burritos... Mexican is a very reoccurring theme if you guys have not noticed yet. 

With a full belly we were off to explore Austin, S Congress st is the main strip that has all these shops and restaurants on it, so we spent a few hours walking around, listening to music and buying little trinkets for the car.

We got tacos for lunch and honest to god the best queso any of us have ever had... That was a grand ol time.

There is so much we did but I forget the order of everything... I guess I am not that good at story telling. So I will just list a bunch of other things we did.

We met up with a friend of Kembers at a very cool bar garden that had food trucks outside, we sat by the fire of course to keep our little fingers and toes warm.

We swapped cooking shows with each other one night, Kember and I got hooked on a baking show in California while Dane showed us the Final Table which was a very cool cooking show. Although as much as we would love to sit on a couch and watch Netflix we decided to get off out asses and explore a bit more. So on we went to another bar for live music.

I am honestly not sure what you would classify this band as but there was a bass, guitar, sax player and even a TAP DANCER!! That was an experience no doubt. I have never seen someone tap dance like that and I cannot lie it sounded really good.

Then we met up with a friend of Danes from home who goes to school in Austin. That was a good time lets just leave it at that...

The last night in Austin we were watching the good ol baking show and decided to bake along with it! We made some chocolate chip cookies. Honestly to die for! Okay... they were nothing that special we just bought cookie dough and cut them up and placed them in the oven for a few minutes at 350 degrees. But golly they were great:)

Anyway yeah that was our last night in Austin, we were out of the apartment by 11 the next morning, we explored a little bit more but we were then off to our next destination New Orleans.

We camped about 3 hours out of Austin which was fun, we made quesadillas for dinner, ate some candy, and watched the Great British baking show... that was our night. I hope Dane gets used to how small our van is. I will gladly set up an interview with him and let you all know. I am sure you are very curious to hear what he has to say.

Honestly I have no idea what this post will end up like, kinda just random information thrown all together. That's all I got for you today folks.

​Have a good day!!

I am starting to write this December 12 at 9:40 a full 24 hours before we are at the Austin airport picking up our brother. I just can’t contain the excitement!! It’s been 11 1/2 weeks since River seen my big bro and I miss him like crazy.

Kember and I aren’t entirely sure how we will fit but that’s for our future selves to figure out... Kember and I are just sort enough to fit in the van fully standing up, well you cannot wear shoes or even a hat. The most comfortable place to stand is right under the sunroof adding an extra inch of head space. You can even open it to add an extra half inch to that!! I know crazy right. Almost feels like we aren’t living in a van.

What really feels great is when we pop the top of our van adding several feet of head room and tons of storage for all of our crap (Kember’s crap that is). There’s a key tip for you, travel to warm places so you can have all the doors open and the top popped, really brings the outside in. That’s something people look for in a home... right mom?

Anyway I’ll continue this when We get out brother! Dane hope you are prepared to live with you 2 sisters and the most tiny space possible. In all honesty I wouldn’t ask for 2 better people to do this with. Well maybe my cats, but that’s not important now. What is important is that I love my siblings.

PICKED UP THE BROTHER!!!! Honestly I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am to be here in Austin Texas with Kember and Dane. It is truly something I never expected to do, go on a road trip with my siblings, with no end date. 

I will write more about what we will get out reckless selves into but until then I will just enjoy having my brother around who I have not see in months!!

I don’t have much to say but I like writing these small little posts about random things so here goes another one.

Ever since we got to Minnesota seeing farm animals has become a regular thing, well I guess you could say just seeing random animals everywhere has been normal for us.

So while driving through New Mexico on our way to El Paso Texas I saw a bunch of cows! I usually get very excited and say Cows or Horses! (in a very annoying childish voice of course...) At first sight of them each day, I didn’t want to break the ritual so of course I did the same. Although this time I immediately regretted saying this loud enough for Kember to hear through her headphones...

This was not a pretty sight for anyone to see, hundreds of cows in small pens pushed up against each other with barely enough room to walk. It was a sad sight to see. When Kember looked over I instantly said “wait no look at me” or “look at this beautiful sunset over here.” This has been something that we have talked about several times on this trip, eating meat. That there is a difference between going out and hunting to feed your family than being a trophy killer or America’s meat industry. That this farm was simply a kill house for all these cows. The second I saw this I thought of all the little baby cows running around with miles of open land grazing on long grass and having the freedom to be happy and play. Yet these cows right before me were just meat in everyone’s eyes, that they have no other meaning but to fill our stomachs and throw out the rest.

It’s something I don’t think I could forget, that all I have seen on this trip so far has been free range animals yet all of a sudden I was faced with the brutal reality of how we treat animals.

This all being said I ate steak last night... so yea.

I don’t see myself going vegetarian anytime soon but seeing my sister cry at the sight of these horrible conditions for cows, I can’t lie it changed me a bit. That we all give into allowing this to happen. I don’t see this changing anytime soon but maybe one day.

Even walking in grocery stores the last few months I instantly feel nauseous of all the food we produce that no one will buy, that it sits on shelves until it “expires” then to be put it in a land fill. Not even to mention all the food people buy then do not eat so they throw it out and once again goes to a land fill.

We all do this and I am not saying I haven’t wasted my fair share of food, of course I have. Just now I think about it more ever since being in this trip.

So yea that’s one thing this trip has helped me with that maybe college wouldn’t have done. I would be like every other student with an unlimited meal plan and a huge buffet of food in front of me, piling my plate, seeing how high I can stack my food each day without dropping it. Then throwing out what I don’t eat without a second look.

Living on the road seeing so many people with such lack of food, we take for granted what we have. That this cow died and I ate half of a burger and tossed it in the trash. It makes so sense to me anymore of why we do this.

There’s a little rant from me who is not a vegetarian and probably never will be at least not long term. I have eaten my fair share of tofu since we left, we bought chicken for the first time a few days ago. I think that’s the only meat we have bought in 11 weeks. So I guess you could say I’m a vegetarian¿

​Anyway I am not here to change anyone’s mind on anything just wondering if anyone else out there thinks of this stuff. Where our food comes from? Where does the food go that no one eats? There are so many questions we all should be asking ourselves. Yet the answers are the scariest part.

Motivation comes and goes all the time, at least for me no matter how much I love something or how much passion I have for doing something, in this case writing, I tend to find myself giving into excuses.
It's hard not to, we are all human, not perfect. That I realize I love to write and how it helps me get through my everyday life, yet I still find myself skipping days, weeks and even months at a time. I wonder why that is?

So I decided to just write, to stop overthinking it, I have created dozens of drafts since my last post yet I could not get more than a sentence out. I think I am doing pretty great so far I mean what got 4 sentences so far... I am killing it.

I realize now how much has happened and what I have done since my last post! I will list a few things that have happened...
-Thanksgiving
-Became a ranch hand
-My Mom cam to visit
-Went to long beach
-Went to a botanical gardens
-Got horribly sick
-Got a massage to get over my sickness
-My 18th Birthday! Celebrated with my family and had an amazing day
-Rode horses several times, I would say I am a full on cowgirl again...
-Have gone on several afternoon adventure with my family
-Did something crazy after being 18 for 24 hours
-Connected more with my family
-Fell in love with my cousins baby
-Vandy blew up although she is getting picked up soon!
-Have watched lots and lots of kids tv shows and movies
-Played Horse-opoly
-Said goodbye to my mom
-Have come to the conclusion I m moving to California in 2019

Well there you go... That is just a brief sum of everything my family and I have done...

My cousin, aunt, sister and my mom played a game the afternoon my mom was leaving to head back to Fairfield. I guess you could say it is not your ordinary game. You go around the room picking a card and reading the question before you. It was such an amazing moment with my family that got so real and raw, that we all opened up with no question. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by people I love and trust. It truly made me think of my friends who I know I can tell anything, people I trust with the world and I know they would do the same. 

I am excited to write more and share more of my ideas and words with you. I apologize to myself for not writing everyday. I should not have let myself slip up and not have discipline.
I will continue to work harder and create more content, to put more of my thoughts and ideas into words to share with everyone.