“Wanderlust: n. a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world”
We are Suzanne and John. We’re just another couple who have decided to be nomads for the foreseeable future. Whilst we spent most of our time travelling around the country, we have made an effort to visit Suzanne’s family in Reno and Danville. We also spend time visiting old and new friends across the country.
We were life-time California residents. Lived in the San Francisco Bay Area our whole lives except for two-years when we attended college in Chico, CA. Raised our two boys there too. Married for over 30-years.
We met whilst going to San Jose State, but graduated together from Chico State in 1983 before Computer Science became so popular. Suzanne went on to get her Masters at Santa Clara University. We both started as Engineers but over time moved into Customer and Partner related jobs. Both recently retired. Silicon Valley is nuts. Might say the same for some of the people too.
We planned on staying in Northern California for five years, but family, friends and careers turned that plan into thirty plus years. To save ourselves, we moved to a rural mountain property facing Santa Clara (Silicon) Valley. Most of our friends come from Suzanne’s first job and John’s second job – go figure. Being country folk was hard work, but it was definitely worth it. It helped define us and our two sons.
Our oldest son Cameron went to UofO. He met a great gal there too and then married her. Got a dream job in Portland. Our grand puppy LuLu and Gus (plus Kitty) live there too.
Our youngest son Graham went to Wagner University in New York City. He played D1 Water Polo for two years. He has been busy building his career at NASA, SpaceX, Bedrock then Rocket Lab. Lived in San Francisco, but now lives in Baltimore.
Our furry family started with Rio (Chocolate Lab), Felix (Orange Tabby) and Lila (muted Calico). All adopted from great animal rescue organizations. Sadly, we lost Lila in 2022 and Rio in 2024.
We decided that we wanted to go full-time back in 2016. We are young, healthy and still curious. We did a great job with our two boys and they are not coming back where they grew up. Time for us to move on and to do what we need to do.
It took two years to get ourselves into a position to make this happen. Got our rural mountain property and house ready for sale – a lot fewer buyers than in town. Sold, donated, gave away and threw away most everything. Most important stuff in POD and Storage locker. Some bigger stuff being stored by family and friends. This was one of the hardest things we have ever done in our young lives. Could not have done this without the help of some very special friends (old and new). Life happens.
Purchased a Winnebago LX Vista in July 2017. Thirty-one feet. 3-slides. Gas powered. Traditional table and chair dining experience. Sleeps six. Wanted to fit easily into National, State and County parks. Might upgrade to a DP or 5th Wheel in the future, but for now we’re going to get every mile out of her and try to enjoy every minute of it. Our original toad was a 2012 Subaru Impreza manual 5-speed. Bought a 2018 Jeep Wrangler in Texas – yee haw!
Initially, we moved residency to Reno Nevada in November 2018, but then changed again 2024 when we changed residency to Livingston Texas in November of that year.