Alive and Kicking Where We've Been, What We're Doing and Updates

Howdy y'all! We realize we've been more-or-less MIA since December and we want to update you on some of what we've been up to and what the future is looking like for The Democratic Travelers.

So what have we been doing for the past four months? Well, a lot and nothing.

We spent three weeks in Florida with John's family over Thanksgiving. Hanging out in tropical, sunny South Florida while the rest of the country was getting pummeled with snow was pretty sweet. We also needed to make a serious repair on the Airstream's A-frame - we had a temporary brace made so that we could make it to Dallas by Christmas.

On our way to Texas, we made a quick stop in New Orleans to spend a few days with Laura's sister. The holidays came and went and we ended up staying with Laura's family through early February. During that time, John made lots of necessary repairs and upgrades to the trailer, including getting the A-frame permanently fixed (Thanks again Paul and Ann!).

There's been much back and forth about whether to continue traveling. Our financial situation has been a roller coaster ride over the last year - working on a freelance basis and both having astronomically high student loan debt meant constant stress and worrying about whether we could actually afford life on the road. All signs were pointing towards throwing in the towel.

But we finally said FUCK THAT!

We're young, we have the means to travel, and we need just enough to get us to the next place…and pay our student loans and all our bills. Let's pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make this thing work.

So instead of traveling at a crazy-fast pace like last year, we're slowing it down. In 2013, we stayed in each place for an average of three days. This year, it's gonna be more to the tune of one to two weeks. Slower is cheaper, slower is better.

Our first stop this year was Austin. We stayed for two months and it was incredible - we're a little bit in love. We met so many top-notch people - travelers and non-travelers alike - saw so many beautiful places and tasted some great food and beers. It's looking more and more like Austin is a top contender for places to settle down (whenever that happens).

So what's next?

On April 10th, we embarked on a three month loop of the not-so-deep south and midwest! Check out our itinerary below:

This part of the country is new to both of us and we're super excited to explore the best parts! There's a good handful of suggestions already on the map, but there's lots of room for more! If you've had good times anywhere in or around these cities - put it on the map!

As you my have noticed, we've rolled out some new features for the blog!

John redesigned the blog and added multiple sections: Features, Quick Trips, Kitchen, Garage and Drinks. Expect some how-to posts on replacing trailer brakes and repacking bearings in the Garage section, delicious food and cocktails in Kitchen and Speakeasy, as well as the regular full-length blog posts in Features and quick profiles in Quick Trips.

And now you can leave comments on blog posts! Not exactly sure why this is just now happening, a year and some months into our trip, but you are now free to comment away!

You also may have noticed that the blog is waaay behind. Like eight months behind. Yikes! So every Thursday, we'll be posting a new #throwbackthursday blog post in order to catch up in addition to current blog posts so you know what we're up to right now.

Oh…we got another dog!

I know what you're thinking: we're totally crazy. Truth, but how can you say no to that face!

We rescued Marlow from the Dallas SPCA (the same shelter we adopted Bulleit from) about a week ago. She's a two year-old corgi/pointer mix (we think) with little baby legs, is pretty much in love with Bulleit and is the sweetest little snuggle monster. She's a perfect fit as the fifth Democratic Traveler.