Our friends, Bryan and Jen along with their wonder dog, Karma, AKA The Dangerz, have a philosophy. Each day they wake up and ask themselves “Are we perfectly happy where we are with what we’re doing?” If they don’t like the answer they make changes…immediately. As we have followed their eventful journey these last few years we have been forever inspired by their willingness to completely change up their circumstances in search of happiness. This general outlook on life has served us well.

Many of you expressed surprise when our summer plans changed from Coeur d’Alene to California. After so fully committing our time there we were somewhat surprised ourselves. And yet, when we channeled our friends and asked ourselves if we were perfectly happy the answer was an undeniable no.

Even as we investigated new options we hesitated to make the change. After all, we had a dream job. We worked in a beautiful location with a staff we loved and we’d made friends in town. The location was close enough that many friends and family came to visit during our tenure there. The campground was seasonal but we were paid year-round, continuing to do reservations and marketing from wherever our hearts desired…which meant Baja for the last two winters. This was in no way an easy decision.

And yet. We could not say we were perfectly happy. This isn’t about the “grass is always greener philosophy”. This was about some basic and fundamentals differences in thought and mindset and we weren’t sure we could overcome them.

We spent hours discussing whether or not we would be willing to give it another shot but at the end of the day, we realized compromising our base instinct was not an option. We all compromise in life, of course; in jobs, in relationships, in options. We have as well. But one of the reasons we embarked on our life away from the 9-5 is that we no longer wanted to compromise with the promise of a change “someday”. We want to live our best and happiest life every day.

Decision made, this summer finds us at Clio’s Rivers Edge RV in the stunning northern Sierra Nevada’s of California. We are taking a break from management and are simply workampers here, an enormous 180 from our last two seasons. We do find we miss the management role and will certainly keep moving back to that direction, however, for now, are relishing days off to explore an area of the country that we are unfamiliar with.

We work with a great crew and Aspen continues her role as camp ambassador with days in the office and meeting and greeting around camp. The tiny town of Clio is a 5-minute walk away and offers up the delicious Ricochet Cafe, Blackbird Inn, and a post office. The planned community of Graeagle is adorable but in this spendy tourist region, grocery shopping happens an hour away in Reno.

We are surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the fun town of Truckee, and dozens of lakes and free camping. Yep, the backpacking gear has come out and as soon as the snow melt allows access to the Lake Basin we will finally get up there to check it out.

Our current future holds backpacking trips on our days off, the arrival of friends and family coming to visit, and hours of exploration. Are we perfectly happy in the moment? Why yes. Yes, we are. As we look towards the winter season and wondering where this winding road will deliver us next we smile.