Cities we're visiting

1. Greenville, North Carolina

One of our first stops was Greenville, South Carolina. We got to spend some time visiting our friends Scotty and Savannah. We all met in college and Scotty and I were fraternity brothers at SigEp, and Scotty and Savannah got married this past year and moved into Savannah’s grandmothers house. They are in the process of remodeling and you can follow along on their instagram. We were able to stay for a few days and had a great time in both Traveler’s Rest and Greenville.

2. Jacksonville, Florida

On our way back to Sarasota prior to heading out west, we made a quick stop in Jacksonville to visit Sam’s friends from high school, Tommy and Natalie. Tommy, Natalie and Sam rowed together for Sarasota Scullers for several years, and coincidentally also raced against Sarah and her team Atlanta Junior Rowing Association before they met in college. They live in a pretty cool spot near the St. John’s river - we had only been to Jacksonville once before so we didn’t have a great understanding of the layout of the city.

3. Austin, Texas

On our way through Texas, we stopped in Austin for a couple days to visit a few friends and get a taste of the city. When we arrived, we went straight to Austin Terrier to meet up with a couple friends from college, Eduardo and Santi. It was a nice dog-friendly spot, where Ravioli got to meet his new dog buddies Griffin and Jimothy the Corgi. After lunch, we headed to Zilker Park to have a few beers while loungin in that tExAs SuN (cue Khruangbin stuck in my head & hopefully yours).

4. Sante Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, NM was a stop we were pretty excited about. Our good friend Tony had moved there after graduating from Georgia Tech, and we had been wanting to visit him for a while. We got to stay with him and his girlfriend, Becca, and their two cats, Oswaldo and Penelope. Oswaldo really took a liking to Sam. The first morning we were there, Sam and I went to the OG Pantry for breakfast (there are two now), per Tony’s recommendation.

5. Bequinox - LA Regional Burning Man Event in California City

Towards the end of April, we attended Bequinox, which is the LA regional Burning Man event. At around 1,500 people, this event is tiny in comparison to the main Burning Man, which is about 80,000 people. We had never attended any of these events, so we thought this smaller scale one would be a good test as to whether or not we would like the main shindig. We joined Sam’s aunt Gale and her group of friends in California City (seemingly the middle of nowhere) on a small piece of land recently purchased by the organizers of this event.

4. Sante Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, NM was a stop we were pretty excited about. Our good friend Tony had moved there after graduating from Georgia Tech, and we had been wanting to visit him for a while. We got to stay with him and his girlfriend, Becca, and their two cats, Oswaldo and Penelope. Oswaldo really took a liking to Sam.

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The first morning we were there, Sam and I went to the OG Pantry for breakfast (there are two now), per Tony’s recommendation. I got Hueovos Consuelo and Sam got the breakfast burrito - it was a delicious southwestern breakfast where I learned about getting a meal red, green or christmas (red or green chile peppers, or both mixed together). The Pantry had the most welcoming and local feel, and we both loved it. There were tables of older men meeting for their daily or weekly breakfast. Everyone seemed to know each other somehow. And we felt right at home.

After breakfast, we went to another one of Tony’s recommended spots, Iconik Coffee Roasters on Lena Street to work for the day. We really strayed from our usual black drip coffee here and started off with a cappuccino each, then later got a matcha latte and a toasted english muffin with peanut butter and fruit on it (super good snack and inspired us to buy english muffins to have in the van!). Tony met us here to finish out his work day, and then we headed to The Brakeroom for a beer.

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This was a nice dog friendly place with some good Santa Fe Brewing beer.

We picked up Becca and went to dinner at Second Street Brewery. Some more good beer and food here. I got the enchiladas (with christmas peppers lol) and it was very good.

On our second and last day here, Sam and I went to Counter Culture for a breakfast burrito that was pretty rad - Sam’s favorite for an on the go style breakfast burrito. We didn’t stay here long, but it seemed like another nice spot to work while enjoying some food and coffee.

After work we all went on a hike at Dale Ball Trails. We did a quick loop - about 2 miles, but it was still nice to get some activity in and be able to bring Ravioli with us. It was a perfect last stop before heading out of Santa Fe that night.

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We continued on Route 66 for a couple hours that night. Woke up in Grants, New Mexico and spent the day working from the van there. We snapped this photo before continuing on, and it was just too good to not include.

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Yeah. He’s cool.