LONG STORY SHORT By Kristine McGowan  My mom’s photos from each day we departed for a leg of the Big Trip, from left to right: July 3, 2023; Feb. 15, 2024; and July 1, 2024. (Yes, I wear the same outfit on each of our driving days. Don’t judge.) We’re back from our rafting trip down the Colorado River, and in our rush to get home and prep the trailer for the next leg of our journey, we completely forgot about a huge milestone that came and went this week. This Wednesday, July 3, marked a year since we hit the road full-time and officially started our Big Trip. You’d think we would have raised a glass to that anniversary, but we didn’t. Not because we didn’t think it worth celebrating, but because we were more focused on another, arguably bigger milestone. In addition to that anniversary, this week also marked the beginning of the third and final leg of our trip. Yep. A few days ago, we towed the trailer away from my parents’ Southern California home for the last time. It won’t return until November, when our Big Trip will finally come to an end. That felt far more momentous than the anniversary. That said, we’re trying not to look too far into the future. The topic definitely comes up more often, especially now that the question of where we’ll end up after the trip looms larger every day. But for the most part, we’re trying to just enjoy these last months on the road. No matter what comes next, we’ll never get this time back. We may never get another chance to travel like this. So we’re going to make the most of these last five months. And with that in mind, we’re heading north. Where have we been? After returning to SoCal in June, we dropped off Catsby and the trailer with my parents before heading straight to Utah for a five-day rafting trip through Canyonlands National Park. (I hope you enjoyed Catsby’s shenanigans while we were away.) That may sound like an exhausting trek—because it was—but it turns out, it was exactly what we needed. For five days, we did nothing except float along the Colorado; hike in the most remote regions of the park; eat delicious meals on sandy beaches; and, of course, ride through some gnarly whitewater. I’ll write more about our time on the Colorado soon. For now, I’ll share a few photos here and say that we came off the river feeling rested and rejuvenated. Where are we going next?We’re kicking off the third and final leg of the Big Trip with a couple brief stops in Arizona and New Mexico before we begin cutting our way north. Note: The numbering of our stops below is inconsistent with that of our previous newsletter and Our Route. That’s because we’ve made some adjustments to our route (including cutting our stop in Sedona, Ariz., as mentioned in the previous newsletter). We’ll update Our Route to reflect those adjustments soon!  93. Flagstaff, Ariz.
94. Santa Fe, N.M. 95. Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, Colo. 96. Colorado Springs, Colo. 97. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo. 98. Wind Cave National Park, S.D.
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