Introducing the “Vagabond Tour”

This summer we made a rash decision based on a number of factors. First, the craziness of US housing markets. Next, our 15 year old got a full ride to Culver Academy (boarding school) to play lacrosse and our oldest son who graduated in May is off to Marquette University, also to play lacrosse. Third, much like many new empty nesters, we started the feeling the need to downsize. We had always felt the house was way too big, but it was all we could find in the school district at the time. Without two teenagers and their friends around, the house would seem that much bigger.

I think people generally think of the word “vagabond” as negative. However, the definition is “wandering from place to place without any settled home; nomadic” which pretty much describes our current situation perfectly. Thus the name of this series of travel, “vagabond tour.”

Work From Anywhere?

We expected at least another three years of living in Cincinnati in the big house until the youngest graduated, but that all changed in a blink of an eye. While these are all good problems to have, it didn't change the fact that we needed to act quickly to take advantage of the housing market. Without much discussion, we went for it. We got several offers within a couple of days and that was that.

We are suddenly, yet intentionally, homeless. Which begged the question of what to do next. Why rent in our hometown of Cincinnati when we could potentially take a little adventure? We both love to snowboard. We have often dreamed of being able to work out west in the winter for a few months since we can both work from anywhere. At least I can, hubs is restricted to the US due to his job. With kids in high school, that was never an option but now suddenly it was.

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Travel Blog USA

It's always been my intention to write more on Heal Nourish Grow about travel. We are fortunate to take some great trips every year. Travel is huge component of my ultimate wellness plan and we prioritize it. Once we decided to do this, it was travel blog USA, here we come!

The current plan is to do this for about six months, unless we find a reasonable house to purchase in the meantime. We are considering real estate outside of Ohio so we could end up residents somewhere else. Although we'd miss our friends terribly, the benefits some other states have to offer such as mountains and no state tax may convince us to move elsewhere.

I'll be taking you along on our adventures via this new USA travel blog with the intention of being much better about writing about all of our travels from this point forward. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to keep up with our adventures. You'll also want to check out my Instagram stories for a daily dose of what our VRBO/AirBnb life on the road looks like.

Travel Blog USA Destinations

I'll share our plan so far but of course this may change at any time. First we came to Michigan where we have a lot of family and friends. We're currently in the Lewiston area at East Twin Lake and will be moving to Boyne Mountain Resort next week. We have lots of fond memories there but with no kitchen it's not going to be totally idea.

After that, we'll visit some more family in Chicago. It's another one of our favorite cities and we haven't visited for a while. The next stop is nearby at Marquette University where we'll be helping our oldest move in for his freshman year.

From Milwaukee, we'll drive across several states to our first rental destination in one of our favorite places, Big Sky, Montana. Before we get there though, we'll be stopping at Mount Rushmore and Deadwood. I'm excited to get some great drone footage at the National Memorial as well as check out the daily Main Street shootouts in the wild west town of Deadwood.

Best Ski and Snowboard Destinations

Skiing and snowboarding in Big Sky is amazing and we've visited many times in the past. There are plenty of things to do in Big Sky MT in the summer/fall season as well. They have amazing hikes, Yellowstone National Park nearby and fly fishing in the Gallatin River right outside our back door.

This is a photo of the cabin we chose for our first stop. We're trying to keep the cost reasonable for the most part, but there may be an occasional destination where we splurge a bit. Although most wouldn't consider this rustic cabin a “splurge” you could consider it to be than in terms of how close it is to the river, Big Sky Resort and Yellowstone National Park.

Work in Rental Properties

VRBO and AirBnB make renting short term a lot easier than it has been in the past. Our plan is to rent reasonable accommodations for a month at a time. We chose some of our favorite snowboard destinations, areas we like or new places we want to check out. The current agenda is Big Sky, MT in September, Sedona, AZ in October, Taos, New Mexico in November, Salt Lake City/Park City, UT in December, Jackson, WY in January, back to Utah in February for some amazing pow and Colorado in March.

US Housing Markets

Let's talk about the housing market first. In the US, housing markets have gone nuts. People have been leaving crowded urban living. The desire for more space and less people have made certain markets explode, increasing demand in many areas. In addition, raw material prices have gone way up and supply of housing is down also leading to price increases. Even the area we lived which is typically pretty stable in an up or down market saw significant appreciation.

For most people, it may not be possible to take advantage of the US housing markets going up. Even if you sell high you'll still need a place to live. For us it works because we can wait for the market to settle. We'd like to downsize somewhat anyway and are no longer tied to a specific geographic region due to schools. What we're really hoping for is a US housing market price correction in the near future. This would allow us to get into a desirable community at a more normal price point.

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  Vagabonds are Hiking Sedona, it Never Gets Old
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  Red Rocks and Sunsets via Salt Lake
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  On the Road Again
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  Vagabonds Back in Cincinnati?
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  Vagabond Tour Settles in Big Sky Montana
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  Travel Blog USA: Chicago, Marquette, Culver and South Dakota
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  Michigan: Boyne City, Petoskey, Charlevoix, Lewiston and Walloon Lake
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  Introducing the “Vagabond Tour”