#vantilda

We're not sure when the idea came about to abandon all that was reasonable and convenient for a life of inconvenience and struggles, but somewhere in our timeline, we both felt certain it was an amazing idea. 😅

Despite the struggles, we are both still smitten with ourselves for the choice we made. It has been a whirlwind of an adventure, but we've learned, experienced, and seen so much. It has changed us most positively by forcing us out of our comfort zone and into a life of adaptation and growth. 💪🏼

The only one who hasn't changed much is our geriatric fart of a dog, Agatha. 🐾 Still stubborn and headstrong, she believes that everywhere we park is hers. Honestly, we're glad that at least she remains consistent. She has leukemia, but with her attitude and doggy disposition, you would never know it.

We continue to head into the unknown and trudge along in our trusty van, Matilda. It's jarring to remember the day we met the builders of TG Custom Vans, presented our plans, and they lit up with joy!

Building our van seemed to be an adventure in itself for them, and not a day goes by that we don't look around our new home and go "Wow, this really feels like a home," and thank them both for all that they made possible with just a little gif.

We decided to stay in Hutchinson, KS for a few weeks so that we could slow down, cook, and celebrate Chinese New Years this year🧧✨. After a bit of research and recipe hunting, we put together small, van worthy meals and snacks for the essential days.

I made my first dumplings and boy oh boy they were amazing (to us lol). As well as made my own concotion of meatballs to combine both of my husband's culture in a most delicious way. 🙂‍↕️

This video is a little glimpse of the meals we made in the van. Some of the meals had to be vegetarian and all had lots of meaning based on what was given. For example, longevity noodles. 🍜 Which are mighty long noodles that you must slurp for good luck and long life. The longer the slurp the better! 😄

We were definitely limited by what groceries we could find and what fits in a van kitchen, but somehow that made the experience even sweeter. We learned a little more about Chinese culture, shared really meaningful meals, and created one of our favorite celebrations yet. ❤️

For a keen observer: yes some were made in the house, but I forgot to take pictures of the van version! T.T

One of the many lovely things we learned is that the 15 days of Lunar New Year each have their own meaning, traditions, and even gods connected to them. ✨ Heres just a few:

🏮 Day 1 welcomes the gods of heaven and new beginnings. You should eat vegetarian to cleanse your body.

🧹 Day 2 honors family and ancestors — but no sweeping, or you might sweep away good luck.

🍚 Day 3 is known as the “rat wedding day,” when people traditionally go to bed early and leave crumbs out for the rats so that rats wont bother them for the rest of the year.

💰 Day 5 celebrates the God of Wealth, when fireworks are used to invite prosperity for the year ahead. They recommend being home save you miss a visit.

🔥 Day 7 is called “everyone’s birthday,” believed to be the day humanity was created.

🏮 And the final Lantern Festival fills the streets with glowing lanterns, sweet rice balls, dragons, and wishes for the year ahead.

Adam: "Im thankful that my wife made such an effort to try something new with me. It gave us something to focus on and enjoy while we were out in the middle of nowhere."

📍Joshua Tree, CA

On the next leg of the trip, it was a little desolate.🏜️ Nothing in sight for miles but mountains and shrubbery for our 11-hour drive from New Mexico. Only stopping for a hotel and rest area in Arizona where we battled the intense desert winds day in and out. It was like living in a sandstorm. 😶‍🌫️

We set up camp in Joshua Tree, California and waited until early morning for our chance to head out into the desert wasteland ourselves. It was chilly that morning, prompting us to bundle up in layers so we could remove them as the desert heated up throughout the day.🥾 We traversed our way down the mile-long trail to a known spot called the Arch Rock. Many small creatures were running around underfoot, running from shaded shrub to shaded shrub to protect themselves from what was circling above.🐿️

Once we reached the arch, other travelers appeared shortly after us. We were going to simply observe the rock formations until our new friends showed us how to climb them! Prompting the most fun photo shoot we've had so far. We both free climbed to the top of the arch after letting the others go first. (De'Niece's Idea.)

Adam joked about climbing on top of the arch but if it were possible he surely would have done it.🧗‍♂️💪😂 De'Niece was hesitant because she didn't think she could but after observing all the others she successfully made it to the top.🎉🏆🧗‍♀️

How These Rock Formations Came To Be:

"Geologists believe the face of our modern landscape was born more than 100 million years ago. Molten liquid, heated by the continuous movement of Earth’s crust, oozed upward and cooled while still below the surface."

"As ground water percolated down through ... joint fractures, it began to transform some hard mineral grains along its path into soft clay... and Rectangular stones slowly weathered to spheres of hard rock surrounded by soft clay containing loose mineral grains."

"After the arrival of the arid climate of recent times, flash floods began washing away the protective ground surface. As they were exposed, the huge eroded boulders settled one on top of another, creating those impressive rock piles we see today. "

https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/geologicformations.htm

De'Niece: "I am genuinely so happy I was able to wear my vault 101 hoodie in the actual Mojave desert. A major inspiration to one of the most notorious games in the Fallout game series. (My favorite series.) This desert serves as a large portion of the map for Fallout:New Vegas. Though it is not my favorite, it is my second, it is hands down the best game in the series."

After saying farewell to the last of De'Niece's family, we set out west to see the rest that the US had to offer. New Mexico was the first state that neither of us had been to. The distant mountains and rolling hills of cacti were new and intriguing. It appeared quite empty but we knew it was abundant with unseen life and beauty.🏵

We camped out at the base of Dog Canyon in the Oliver Lee State Park. The views were all around stunning and the mountains provided us with shade later into the afternoon. Protecting us from the blazing sun longer than other areas outside of their shadowy reach.

The highlight of this stop was our day trip to White Sands National Park! (We had to travel through a missile range to get there!) Though not in the shade of a mountain, the dunes were cool to the touch due to the reflective properties of the gypsum sand. This property is also responsible for the mirage-like appearance the desert takes on from a distance which we saw as we drove close. 💧

We took time to traverse the dunes ourselves for at least a mile. Far enough to be fully surrounded by the vast breathtaking beauty of the extensive white sands. We found a sled near a milepost, and chose to give it a good go! Adam, ever brave and a gentleman, showed me how to sled down a hill properly. Choosing the steepest and tallest hill to demonstrate first. I fell out of my sled a little but I'd say it was overall successful! 👍🏽

It contains the world's most extensive collection of ice age footprints. Like those of humans, giant sloths, and mammoths. Proving that humans were present in North America over 20,000 years ago.

Adam: "I remember googling the white sands in my room at 4 am 10 years ago and thinking how cool it would be to go there. It seemed otherworldly and being there surpassed my expectations. The sand was the whitest I've ever seen. If you didn't know it was sand you could easily be fooled into thinking it was snow."

This is the point of the trip where visiting family and friends was the adventure! 👨🏽‍👩🏻‍👧🏽‍👦🏽 It was a time to create unforgettable moments with the people I had held dearly in my heart and all those Adam never got to meet.🤍🥹

📍Edmond, OK

Our first stop after Hutchinson was Arcadia, OK, where we met up with my father's mother, Mrs. Shiela, and all of his nieces, nephews, and siblings! Oh, there were many of them! All with smiling faces, laughs, and good energy. ✨ They filled my grandmothers aparment with a great time that weekend.

In our spare time between festivities, we took her and her husband to see our van, visited my father, repotted some plants, and stopped at the Pops 66 Soda Ranch.🥤 A place with over 100 different sodas! 🤤

We spent a lot of time working on these days as well, but it was wonderful to spend all that time with everyone, and we can't wait to do it again! 🫶🏽

📍Tyler, TX

We made a special stop to see my little sister, who just moved out and into her own place! Words can not describe how proud we are of her! Putting herself through school 📚, raising her son, and working hard to keep themselves dry and fed.👩🏽‍👦🏽

She took us to a sushi restaurant that was quite unique. If you could put it in a sushi roll, it was on the menu and good! Then we took a stroll through the town's rose garden.🌹 Which was already teeming with life in such early spring.🐞 We planned to meet again next year, and we can not wait.

We worked here, took drives in the gorgeous countryside, and enjoyed all the amenities available at our campground.⛺️

📍Beaumont, TX

I used to live here in the last of my teen years and into my early twenties, but it is not where I met my best friend, Brittany. We met in High School in our hometown, Bay City, and have been friends ever since. I couldn't go to Texas and NOT see her. 🤷🏽‍♀️

We stayed at a quaint farm in the middle of almost nowhere.🌾 30-40 mins to anywhere, except to my best friend's house! (YAY) She came and hung out with us in our van to play a round of Clue 🎲, let me hang out at her house with her and her cats, and rented a local place so we could paint together.🎨

We went shopping in town, ate at a finger-licking good spot, and consumed unsafe amounts of Starbucks Coffee and boba.☕️ Wouldn't do anything differently. 😊

📍Bay City, TX

Last, but not least, it was time to head toward Bay City, TX. I spent the vast majority of my childhood in this place, and many of my family members still reside there. We decided to park on the beach for a night down in Matagorda, where the mosquitoes were ready for us! 🦟🤣

The weather was amazing. Mid-70s with a steady sea breeze to help combat the intense Texas UVs. We got to open up the van doors and let the breeze come through. 🚐🌾☀️ It was the first time we were able to enjoy the warm weather in the van. It was a refreshing reprieve from the short but eventful winter we had. Agatha had a blast walking and sniffing through the sand. 🐾🏖️

After the beach, we headed to a campground close to my family. It was in a beautiful wood, where the trees were just beginning their early spring bloom. Finally, we were able to host my family and have a cookout. 🍔 Burgers, chicken sandwiches, bikes, badminton, and board games made for a memorable night. 🚲🏸🎲 We left Bay City about a week after we arrived, exhausted but ready to continue our journey further west!

While driving through Hutchinson, KS, we spotted a sign for the Strataca Salt Mine and Museum. It boasted about being 650 feet underground, and that fact alone piqued our interest. We returned a few days later to give it our full undivided attention, and have not regretted it a day.

We had to enter through a large industrial elevator, but only after we were well secured in our hard hats. The 90-second ride down was pitch-black, with soft conversation happening over the slight squeak of the elevator. With no light to gauge, it was almost impossible to tell how far down we were, but you could feel everyone's slight nervousness in the air.

A feat unto itself, the passage to Strataca bored through frozen aquifer and countless layers of rock and silt, making room for the 6-ton hoist. This double-decker wonder transports up to 28 passengers on the descent — 650 feet below.

The nervousness is replaced with amazement as we enter the actual salt mines. The true museum was in front of us now, and the first stop was the Permian Room. Intriguing as it is palatial, the walls of the Permian Room act as ancient scrolls of the earth, revealing secrets of the strata formed by the Permian Sea millions and millions of years ago.

We were then greeted by the Mining Gallery, where we received an overview of life and work in the salt mines. YES! People still work the mines to this day. The mines were so expansive that not only did we see no work being done, we could not hear it either. (980 acres!!) They recently retired their longest working employee a few years ago, with an impressive 50 years under his belt.

One of the most unexpected parts of visiting Strataca is discovering that it’s not just a museum about mining—it’s also a massive underground storage vault. The mine’s environment is incredibly stable: it stays around 68°F year-round, with very low humidity and almost no exposure to light or oxygen. Those conditions make it ideal for preserving materials that would otherwise degrade over time. That’s why everything from Hollywood film reels and props to historical records has ended up stored deep beneath Hutchinson.

The same logic explains the presence of civilian defense items. During the Cold War era, underground spaces like this were seen as naturally protected environments—shielded from extreme weather, radiation, and other threats. Government and private organizations stored emergency supplies, archival materials, and defense-related items here because the salt mine acts as a kind of natural bunker. Walking through those sections, it’s striking to realize that this quiet, otherworldly space has served not just industry and tourism, but also as a safeguard for pieces of history people wanted to protect for the long term.

Adam: "Its hard to simplify this unique experience. So far underground, a stable environment.. made you feel impressed by the enormity of it? Only 15 people work in this expansive but empty almost ghost town. It was a window to a different world. The trolly tours really helped it sink in as it took us through the large black empty halls. It could easily be a horror movie situation if something went wrong. Thankfully, they say its safe!"

This leg of the trip was for friends and family just as much as it was for adventure. We arrived in Park City, KS, and were lucky enough to get a free camping site right outside my Aunt Mandy's house! Before we even went inside, Adam and Agatha were introduced to "burs," dry, pointy balls of hate that hide in the grass, ready to become one with the bottom of your foot/paw. 🐾 Adam quickly had to dig them out manually from poor Agatha's foot (don't worry, no real harm was done 🩹). We head inside to catch up and hear about a couple of places we should visit. Agatha adjusted rather quickly to the new house, acting as if it were hers, eating TJ's (their little chihuahua mix pup) food and water. Following her lead, we feasted on my cousin Erica's delicious burger-tacos shortly thereafter.

Wags enjoying a spot of sun before going full pit-Bully.

They invited us to a Super Bowl party at my other cousin's house, Shelby. She and her husband prepared a large pot of chili with a variety of juicy meats and a side of chicken. (🍖 oh yeeeah we in the south now 🍗)  Sadly, the Super Bowl was just as disappointing as the surprise that was waiting for us in our van when we got home. Our water heater busted! There was water leaking from under the sink and the walls, but Adam quickly located the point of our issue as I sopped up the water. We have not had hot water since. 😅

Highlight note: Most of the water was already absorbed by a sweater sleeve filled with the rest of the chopped-up sweater. Originally used to block the cold, it saved our butt.

Between work and visiting hours, we headed out to Wichita, where we visited The Exploration Place (you know we gotta get our museum fix 😂 It was geared more towards kids, but hey, we're kids at heart.🥰 We learned about the human body, illusions, and aircraft in their hands-on portions. They also had a theatre, so we ended that trip with a few videos about South African penguins falling in love, and underwater cave divers pushing to new lows.😉 We had tons of fun, and just knew our nieces and nephews would have had a field day in there with us! They even had Lifesize Operation!!🩻

Adam being a super chill and reliable pilot.

De'Niece: "After being in the woods for two months away from people, I was anxious to reunite with my family at first. But, like most of the time, that feeling faded quickly. I enjoyed roleplaying crashing a plane while in The Exploration Place; the kids in the back probably did not. That was definitely in my top 3 adventures so far, haha."

Visiting St. Louis, MO promised a lot but did not deliver much. We went into town to see Alicia Key's Musicical, Hell's Kitchen, and everything was very decrepit and shut down on the drive in. Entire blocks were filled with nothing but boarded up buildings from beginning to end. While the theater itself was impressive in some ways, the surrounding area seemed destitute, far from our expectations. We tried to grab a bite to eat in what would be their center city, but most places were closed. The one open restraunt only served two of the many items they had listed on their menu. It was basically a ghost town. A shell of what was once a bustling city.

Adam enjoyed the play, however I did not.

Read below if you care to know why.

ADAM: The loud and proud music was a welcome reprieve from the previous week of digging out of the snow and keeping warm in the freezing temperatures. I had been so task oriented and just focused on practical things - food, water, heat, shoveling, work - that my soul was yearning for some emotional diversity. The musical performances were generally good and helped lift my spirit and take me to a different place - back to my younger years of experiencing different social situations and exploring my inner self.

DE'NIECE: I thought it would be like most other musicals, with fresh songs written by Alicia Keys herself for a story that she wanted to tell. Instead, we got a jukebox musical. It says she wrote new songs for it, but that was almost impossible to tell as the musical primarily consisted of all of her pre-existing music in chopped bits and pieces. I feel the story suffered, becasue the focus was on trying to MAKE the songs work. The story itself was very bizarre! A young woman (Alicia) getting a grown black man in trouble because she lied about her age and wouldn't stop throwing herself at him? Its not even addressed. Just kinda happens. I would say if you like plays, its not great. If you like Alicia Keys Music? You'll like it.