Appendix: What 10 Years of Nomadism Looks Like

The following entries are from a Google Spreadsheet I keep called “Life by Season.”

I find that three-month seasons are the easiest way for me to remember where I was and what I was doing. I’ve abbreviated the names of my friends and exes (who serve as excellent memory anchors).

The spreadsheet begins at the end of college—I graduated in December of 2004—and goes through the writing of this book.

Season	Location(s)	Notable Events
Winter 2004–5	Berkeley and Idyllwild, CA	Graduated college. Started working at Astrocamp.
Spring 2005	Idyllwild and Pacific Crest Trail, CA	Quit Astrocamp a month early to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Quit the PCT after two weeks. Took a train to the East Coast.
Summer 2005	Pennsylvania and High Sierras, CA	Worked at Camp Cayuga with R. Partial John Muir. Trail hike with D.
Fall 2005	Tahoe, CA	Bought a Honda Civic. Got Craigslist room in Tahoe. Worked at Sprouts. Brief thing with HT. Quit Sprouts. Started teaching snowboarding at Heavenly.
Winter 2005–6	Tahoe and Banning, CA	Quit Heavenly, drove length of California. Quarterlife Crisis #1. Took job at Camp Highland.
Spring 2006	Banning	Worked at Camp Highland.
Summer 2006	High Sierras; Oregon	Worked as Deer Crossing Camp (DCC) assistant director and advisor at Not Back to School Camp (NBTSC).
Fall 2006	San Diego, Banning, Seattle, WA	Attempted to split time between Camp Highland and San Diego. Didn’t work; quit. Drove to Washington to stay with Aunt W. Failed to write a novel in a month. Quarterlife Crisis #2.
Winter 2006–7	Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina	Booked one-way flight to South America. Joined by M. & P. Returned three months later. Started writing first book manuscript. Met A. & J.
Spring 2007	California (all over)	Worked for Naturalists at Large: pinnacle of dirtbag outdoor educator lifestyle.
Summer 2007	High Sierras; Oregon	Worked as DCC assistant director. NBTSC.
Fall 2007	Palo Alto and Tahoe, CA; Ottawa, Canada	Lived with P. on the peninsula, took temp job as tutor. Failed trip to Canada to be with J. Took marketing research surveyor job at Heavenly and EMT course.
Winter 2007–8	Tahoe	Snowboarding every day and getting paid for it! Long-distance relationship with A. Finished first book.
Spring 2008	San Diego and all over, CA	Denied gap year trip leader position. Started Unschool Adventures (UA). Worked for Naturalists at Large again; quit early to be with A. before she left the U.S.
Summer 2008	High Sierras; Oregon; Vermont	Worked as DCC cook and interim director. Purchased ticket to be with A., then canceled it. NBTSC.
Fall 2008	Argentina	Led first UA trip, 6 weeks in Argentina. Secured contract for first book.
Winter 2008–9	Portland, OR	Spent all my Argentina earnings on moving to Portland. Failed new business venture. Lonely.
Spring 2009	New Hampshire	Ran out of money in Portland; took job as EMT medic with Nature’s Classroom. Didn’t quit.
Summer 2009	High Sierras; Oregon; and Vermont	Presented at first homeschooling conference. DCC guest instructor. Discovered trail running. Epic cross-country backpacking trip. NBTSC.
Fall 2009	Oregon Coast	First book published! Led UA Novel-Writing Retreat.
Winter 2009–10	Bend, OR; Australia; New Zealand	Searching for a west coast “home.” Led UA Australia trip. Running & exploring in NZ with E. First Couchsurfing experiences.
Spring 2010	Ashland, OR	Met B. at conference, flew to Cambridge to surprise her. Start of ~4 year-long relationship. Ran UA Spring Leadership Retreat.
Summer 2010	High Sierras, Palo Alto, and Oregon	DCC guest instructor realization: “I need to be my own director.” Crashed with P. NBTSC.
Fall 2010	Ashland and Asheville, NC	Led UA Fall Leadership Retreat. Ran 13 miles. Exploratory trip to Asheville to visit B. TEDx talk.
Winter 2010/11	Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Peru	Guatemala tree climbing adventure. Led UA South America trip.
Spring 2011	India and Tahoe	Five weeks in India with B. Summering in Tahoe.
Summer 2011	Tahoe and Oregon	Glorious Tahoe summer of trail running and book-writing. NBTSC.
Fall 2011	High Sierras and Durango, CO	Backpacking with V. Led UA Writing Retreat.
Winter 2011/12	Asheville	Moved in temporarily with B.’s family, then Craigslist house (seven-month lease). Book-writing.
Spring 2012	Argentina and Asheville	Led UA Argentina trip. Book-writing.
Summer 2012	Asheville, Tahoe, Oregon, and Vermont	Self-published second book. Sweltering summer in the south. Ran 16 miles. Led Asheville Intensive program. Tahoe escape. NBTSC.
Fall 2012	Asheville and Massachusetts	Led UA Writing Retreat.
Winter 2012–13	Asheville and NZ	Led UA New Zealand trip. Published ZTC.
Spring 2013	Asheville and Peru	Peru trip with B. Sweet apartment in Asheville: first-ever 12-month lease.
Summer 2013	Asheville; Tahoe; and Oregon	Led Trailblazer Gathering. Tahoe escape. NBTSC.
Fall 2013	Maine and Asheville	Personal writing retreat for third book. UA Writing Retreat happened without me (sweet!).
Winter 2013–14	Amsterdam and Madrid	Breakup with B. Departed Asheville despite lease. Amsterdam adventure with M. Lonely in Madrid.
Spring 2014	Argentina and U.S. (all over)	Led UA Buenos Aires tango trip. Cross-country relocation road trip. Finished third book.
Summer 2014	San Francisco	Lived in downtown SF. Dated R. Recorded audiobook. NBTSC.
Fall 2014	Nepal and Santa Cruz	Self-published third book. Led UA Nepal trip. Met S. at monastery; broke up with R. Co-living in Santa Cruz.
Winter 2014–15	Boulder and Tahoe	Ran marathon. Debacle with S. Met Z. Housesitting in Tahoe. Podcasting.
Spring 2015	Boulder	Boulder living and then breakup with Z.
Summer 2015	Tahoe	A place to call my own in Tahoe. NBTSC. High Sierra Route backpacking. Epic trail runs.
Fall 2015	Colorado and East Coast	Led UA Adventure Semester. East coast road trip.
Winter 2015–6	Mexico, Guatemala, and New Zealand	Began writing the blog that would become this book. Adventures with D. Led UA Simply New Zealand.
Spring 2016	New Zealand, Australia, Argentina	Personal adventures in NZ + Aus. Running NZ’s Great Walks. Research and tango in Buenos Aires.
The	Journey	Continues