A new direction for the Two Travelin’ Chicas

It's time to leave the United States.

Five years ago, November 2019, Johnna and I handed the keys over to our beautiful, custom, comfortable home we had built in 2000 to the new owners. 

We thought we would travel for a year or so in the Van around the US, Mexico, and Canada then perhaps travel to Costa Rica or Ecuador and settle down but COVID hit and it changed everything.  We managed to close on the business on March 15th, 2020 as planned...right before the lockdowns, and we managed to finish the build on the van with the help of my brother in law Cory Brady.  We moved out June 1, 2020.

We ended up traveling around the western US mostly for 2-1/2 years as the borders north were closed.  We did spend an about 6 weeks in Baja, Mexico in February and March of 2021 during Covid and we were lucky enough to cross into Canada in August and September of 2021 right after the border opened. 

In January 2022, I was called home suddenly from Arizona as my little sister Kara was hospitalized with Covid-19.  Her husband and son also had Covid so they weren't allowed to be near the hospital and here daughter, at 20 was struggling to deal with it on her own.  While Kara was struggling to stay alive on a ventilator, my father became sick and he passed away.  Kara passed away the next day.  It was incredibly difficult to loose Kara, so young at 46, and my father who I was always very close with at the same time.

A few weeks later we met up with our van in Tucson and continued our travels.  We ended up traveling through all 10 western states. We camped, fished, hiked, biked, paddle boarded, and pack rafted.  We met new friends and old relatives on the road as we finally had time to visit.

Our sidekick and best buddy Gandaulf traveled with us everywhere.  In fact, he thought the whole trip was about Him.  We would sometimes travel hundreds of miles just to find a large piece of grass to throw him the ball.  And it was.  It was about Gandaulf as everything revolved around him. He was never left behind. 

On a trip home to settle the property our lessees had defaulted on, we lost him.  His tumor in his eye separated and we had to make that impossibly hard decision to put him down.

So after almost four years on the road, and after the loss of our beloved dog, we decided to sell the van, the trailer, and the side-by-side we towed around so we could travel abroad.

We spent most of last year traveling through Europe and SE Asia before coming home and picking up another van.  We wanted to finish the trip we started in Canada and Alaska before we were called home early for Dad as his health was declining.

We made that epic trip to Alaska and now we are at a new crossroads.

Trump won the presidency.

On November 5th, 2024, Donald Trump won the presidency again.  I wasn’t as shocked as I was when he won in 2016 because no-one thought he could win then but this time was different.   Everyone said it would be a close race which was totally baffling to me.  How could this vile man win over the votes of nearly 50% of this great nation?

His resume reads like this:

• 34 Felony Convictions (for covering up paying off a porn star of all things)

• Indicted on 88 criminal felony counts

• Found liable for raping E Jean Carrol and then defaming her and lying about it

• Found liable for fraud and fined almost a half billion dollars

• Declared bankruptcy 6 times after receiving almost a half billion dollars from his father

• Found guilty of defrauding customers in his Trump University scheme fined 25 million

• Brags about sexually assaulting women

• Incited an insurrection when he tried to overthrow the government killing 5 people

He did nothing to stop it.  He did nothing to stop “Hang Mike Pence”

Half the country voted for this vile, hateful, vengeful, man who now gets away with all of his crimes and gets rewarded with immunity to do whatever the hell he wants now.  It’s shocking how unfit this guy is and how many of his close advisors and Generals came out to warn us and we still voted to put him back in office.  It's also shocking to find out how the internet has blown up with people just learning how tariffs are paid by us...yes the consumers...and not the foreign countries.  I will assume most people thought the “economy” or more correctly the price of eggs and hamburger has not come down and that Trump will somehow fix it.  Ya, he’ll fix it by tacking on 20% to your price of everything with his tariffs and just wait until he deports half of the farm workers....that should help the price of lettuce and oranges.  So stupid!

I am personally enraged but more over I am mourning the loss of this great country.  I am feeling alone and scared.  I also feel like we have spent the last 8 years NOT talking to family and some friends about politics because it’s such sensitive subject that it’s near impossible to start now.

Democracy requires the government protect equal rights for everyone which is why it's a problem for many on the far right.  Our democracy is and has been being taken away for a while now.  Equal rights have been stripped away by enacting voter suppression bills, and taking away Women’s rights to make decisions about our own bodies, or what we can or cannot read, or the “don’t say Gay” laws being passed in Florida.  It’s been happening and it going to get a lot worse.  You want to think that democracy is here to stay but I have news for you, democracy is something we have been working to achieve and we have never really been a true and complete democracy. Instead, we are moving quickly toward Autocracy.

Trump is not even in office yet and he's nominating people without requiring FBI background checks and he’s demanding his Senate “recess” so he can unconstitutionally “place” his nominations into power without the “advice and consent” required from the Senate.

Matt Geatz has been under investigation for sex trafficking minors and drug use.  He is a fierce defender and supporter of Trump which is much more important than any qualifications to be Attorney General.

Fox and Friends News Host and army veteran Pete Hegseth paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault.  He has zero qualifications to run a large organization of over a million people.  He wears white nationalism tattoos with pride.  As a white nationalist and a true Trump loyalist he’s fully qualified.  Loyalty above all.

Oh and don't even get me started on RFK Jr.  He’s just a worm brain whack job that shouldn't be anywhere near the Health and Human Services department that will oversee the CDC and the FDA. A total science denier. He’s against all vaccines. Ya, lets bring back Polio and the Measles. He’s said, without evidence, that vaccines cause autism.  He’s called for no childhood vaccines.  He’s claimed that anti depressants cause mass shootings. Oh ya, he should be in charge of the CDC and the FDA.

In this new administration, they believe that some people are inherently better than others.  They will restrict rights for LGBTQ+ people.  They will go back to the times when Christian values made the Man superior and the Women compliant to obey and be quiet.  Maybe even take away the right to divorce, even if the man is abusive, following the guidelines of Hungry’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. We are now entering a space of inequality.

Unfortunately, Trans people, and I know many, are going into hiding.  Families with undocumented members are scrambling, even ones who have been married to US citizens and contributing to society of 10 or 15 years.  Couples who want children are afraid they may not receive healthcare if they have complications.  Being pregnant could now be a death sentence if you have a miscarriage or are in a car accident or need a D & C.  We care more about the dead or unborn child than saving the life of the mother who has almost always wanted that child very much.  Imagine your 12 or 13 year old daughter, neice or grand child getting raped by her uncle and being told she has to carry that baby to term, even at the cost of her life or her fertility in the future!  Imagine being one of the 600,000 Health and Human Services workers who believe on January 20th that they will be fired by JFK.  Plus Trump plans to fire hundreds of thousands of government workers that won’t bend the knee too.

Elon Musk has vowed to cut the budget by 2 trillion dollars.  It literally cannot be done without attacking your social security, medicare, or medicaid.  Expect your options for health care to end if you have any pre-existing conditions as soon as they gut the ACA.  And the list goes on and on.

Things are going to get bad, ugly, and unbearable for some.  For some, they won’t see it coming and will be shocked how it truly affects their lives.  For others, they will feel empowered to join in on the hate, misogyny, and racism that’s been taught by those at the top.   

So the bottom seems to be falling out.  I simply can’t move under SO MUCH SADDNESS.  That's where I am. I try to connect the two worlds where I imagine Kamala would have won.  Kindness, reason, hope, and stability, with common sense and decency being victorious.  I imagined our first woman president who treated ALL people with kindness, grace and decency.

Not everything was perfect over the last four years but many things are much better.  We created the strongest economy in the world with the lowest unemployment rate and ended up with inflation below the 3% target.  The bipartisan infrastructure bill created over 920,000 construction jobs to build roads, bridges, and airport terminals.  We were heading in the right direction although not everyone would agree.  Some would like the country to be more like Viktor Orban’s Hungry where gay marriage is illegal, women’s rights are taken away and the Christian playbook is a cover for anti semitism and hate.  Ultimately Trump’s plan is not about building the future, but ripping apart the world most Americans count on for safety and security.

I plan to leave this country, maybe forever.  If I feel safe, I will come back to visit family and friends.  I plan to find a place where there is peace and security.  I have visited these places in the world where kindness is a way of life, where people smile and accept you just the way you are.  I will go where I feel accepted, where the government will treat us with respect.  I will mourn this loss of the America I once loved.