Full of extreme highs and equally extreme lows, I can honestly and truly say that 2023 was unlike any year I’ve had in my life.
The House
The year started with the culmination of The Green House Project, seeing us officially move in on January 27. Work has continued intermittently since, and we’ve had our share of challenges- we’ve had a tree fall on our roof, we’ve had leaks, and I’ve started projects that I’m not able to finish.
But, it’s our home. We deal with the problems as they arise and we move forward.
I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to own a home and for being able enough to take care of it. Well, up until October 11, I was…
Travel
As is the norm for us, we did PLENTY of traveling in 2023.
The first trip we took was in March to Tucson for Brandy to visit her property out there. On the way there, we got to stay at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM, we stopped at White Sands National Park and we hit Saguaro National Park and Tombstone while we were in Tucson.
In April, my parents and Jarrod came to visit. While they were here, I took my dad and Jarrod to Chicago for a Dodger game at Wrigley Field. On that trip, we hit Navy Pier, had Chicago style deep dish pizza, had drinks at Harry Carey’s Tavern and had dinner at a heavy metal themed bar.
In May, I took a trip to Verona, WI, to get a certification for work. I finally got to visit the fabled Epic headquarters and boy, did it not disappoint!
The day after I got back from that trip, I accompanied Brandy on another trip to her Minnesota property that saw us visit three new (to me) states. We visited Clear Lake, IA, where the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Big Bopper happened, we visited Sioux Falls, and I crossed two more states off my fucket list.
In June, we made our triumphant return to Crested Butte for a relaxing getaway that saw me work three of the five days we were there. One of the days I took off, we visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park where we saw some of the most magnificent sights I have ever seen. I also took the most rewarding hike ever while there, treated to a magnificent view of the Canyon at the culmination.
In August, we took a quick, two-day trip to Maquoketa to visit the Maquoketa Caves State Park. That had been on my To-Do List since I started at UnityPoint Health in March 2022.
In September, we made our annual trip to Albuquerque for my green chile haul. We spent most of a week in Alan’s Casita, we re-hiked Cedro Creek Nature Trail, visited with Jarrod, and had the best trip to Albuquerque ever! Upon our departure, we stopped for an overnight stay in Walsenburg to see Christy. Ash and I took a couple of hikes at Lathrop State Park while Brandy caught up with her.
In October, we took a day trip to Madison County to tour the covered bridges as made famous by the book and movie. We also stopped by Clark Tower and the John Wayne Birthplace & Museum, and had a nice little stroll on the town square. That was the most autumnal trip ever. It was absolutely perfect. It would have been perfectly fitting to finish that trip with hot apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.
The first thing we did after my accident was take a quick drive up the Historic Hills Scenic Byway, making stops at Lake Wapello and Lacey-Keosauqua State Parks before stopping for the BIGGEST tenderloin sandwich I’d ever seen.
And we finished up our travel season with a trip to Waukee for a Blue October concert at the end of November.
All told, we drove over 10,000 miles on journeys throughout 2023. And all of this doesn’t count the countless business trips that Brandy took by herself (which, for the most part, meant I had to drive her to Des Moines.) This included three trips to southern California, a trip to Spokane, a trip to Las Vegas, NV, and a trip to Salt Lake City. Wish I could have joined her on those trips, but I will definitely be on them when she does her site visits next year.
Our Careers
After a year and a half with UnityPoint Health, I took a new job with the University of Washington. The job is similar, though more focused on the specialty where I spent nearly a decade in New Mexico- transplant. The job came with much better benefits and a FAT raise.
Brandy also started a new job that, as I already mentioned, sees her traveling frequently. This new job also included a significant raise but also includes a TON more responsibility than her previous job. But she’s afforded the flexibility to work remotely, and her boss trusts her so much that there really isn’t a whole lot of oversight over what she does.
The Rest
Short, local adventures that we have gone on that I don’t really qualify as “travelling” include a short trip to Mars Hill Church followed by a hike at the Pioneer Ridge Nature Area, a trip to the Blank Park Zoo, stops in Pella and Bloomington, IL, to meet Nick and Jeff Swim, former co-workers, as well as a brief meet-up with Nick when he came to Ottumwa to visit Menards.
There have been countless trips to Des Moines, taking Brandy to the airport and picking her back up again, returning laptops for work (whether broken or surrendering it due to the end of my tenure with UPH) or even just visiting the outlet mall in Altoona.
We made several trips the other way to Iowa City and Coralville for doctor appointments, shopping, or hair appointments but none of those really warranted their own posts here.
All told, we put plenty of miles on the car, but thankfully, we both work from home so we’re saving miles by not having to commute any more.
The Ups
Right around the middle to end of August, I experienced an insane burst of serotonin, crazy happiness that I’ve ever felt in my life. Not to say I wasn’t happy before, but something triggered the realization that my life is absolutely perfect. There is absolutely nothing more that I could ask for in my life.
I carried that happiness through the end of summer and well into fall, until…
The Downs
The day I was hit by a car.
That really put a damper on things.
Since that day, I’ve gone to the ER twice, had a consult with orthopedics in Iowa City, had surgery, had a post-op visit, had a cystoscopy with urology, and a second follow-up with ortho.
The recovery has been much slower than I’d like, but is to be expected. That hasn’t stopped me from hitting snags in my emotional well-being though. I get frustrated when I’m not able to do things I’d be able to do when fully healthy, like carry a full hamper of clean clothes up the stairs from the basement.
I have to say that I can usually get out of my little funks by getting drunk and listening to Blue October. By the end of those nights, I’ve typically shed enough tears to raise the Titanic and then suddenly realize that at the end of the day, my life is pretty fuckin’ amazing.
2024
So, what will 2024 bring for us?
Well, I do plan on getting a pretty significant payout from the other party’s insurance company. Once that settlement is received, we will be paying off all of our debt, including all of our credit cards AND my car (finally, if it’s not by then) and then with the rest, we plan on trading in the Ford Edge for a big truck and a trailer. Once those are secured, we will begin the process of traveling for most of the year. Our initial plan is to start with being gone for a few months for the year, then, if we’re enjoying it, stay gone for as long as we want. We would ultimately like work ourselves up to being gone for 8 months out of the year. Of course, we don’t know if we will enjoy it enough to support that but we will start small and work ourselves up to it.
Of course, we still will have a house payment to make, but that’s the idea of paying off our debt before we do any of that, so that we can afford to be gone 8 months a year and still make our house payments, and any utilities that will need to be paid (minimal electric, water and gas.) We plan on subscribing to Starlink to be able to continue to work from the road, but that’s pretty expensive. Luckily, we will be able to offset some of that cost by turning off our Mediacom service at the house while we’re gone.
I do believe that this travelling life will be so fruitful and enriching for us, and don’t think we will have any problems doing it. And knowing we will have a landing spot for those 4 months through the holidays, and for when we’ve decided we are done traveling (which I don’t think will ever happen) is helpful.
I do plan on renewing our America the Beautiful pass early on and hope to start our travels with a trip to the southwest, hitting the Utah parks and the Grand Canyon while we are out that way. Maybe make it out to Sequoia National Park, then head north into the Pacific Northwest, swinging through the parks in Washington.
This is all way out in the future, of course, but hey, one can dream, can’t he?
There is always the possibility that things might not shake out the way we hope, or how we expect, but our fingers are crossed that our predictions will come to fruition. Even if they don’t though, we will do everything in our power to make 2024 the best year yet.
Stick around for the ride and see.
In the meantime, watch this TikTok I made highlighting the best of 2023:
@peagreen92705 2023 was unlike any other year I have lived through. I couldn't have done it without her by my side. ❤️#CapCut #2023 #yearinreview #adventure #goodtimes #badtimes #goodvibes #thrive #thankyou #grateful #amazing #love #beauty #travel #wanderlust #forever #foryou #foryoupage #fyp @Brandy G ♬ 오리지널 사운드 – minlee 민리
-Phil