Rewriting 2020

It’s 6:30 p.m. on Monday, December 14, 2020, and I’m compiling mailing addresses for my fiancée so she can send out Christmas cards in time for the holidays. This whole process is a first for me, which under normal circumstances might represent the fact that I’m finally growing up. The only caveat is that most grown men I know aren’t working from a van parked off-grid in the Cherokee Foothills of South Carolina.

I came to South Carolina to hike Sassafras Mountain, the state’s high point. Assuming all goes according to plan tomorrow, I will have visited three new states in the past four days and hiked approximately 30 miles through the Appalachians en route to claiming my 21st, 22nd and 23rd high points. These pursuits have come at a price, though, and the cracked lips, blistered feet, twisted ankles, and scraped knees serve as good reminders of the perseverance required when climbing mountains.

I picked up hiking back in college at the University of Colorado. For exercise, I often ran up the Chautauqua Trail that leads into the Flatirons, the iconic sandstone rock formations synonymous with Boulder. My recent quest to hike the high points is simply an extension of my passion for being outdoors. The ever-changing landscapes also allow me to immerse myself in nature for the sake of my writing and gives me the chance to visit parts of the country I would have otherwise missed.

My most recent trip, for example, took me from the Northeast across middle America to places like Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Bucknell, Nebraska. Along the way, I stopped to walk the campus at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana; waded through head-high stalks of corn at the Field of Dreams baseball field outside of Dyersville, Iowa; and stood in amazement at the visages of the four great American presidents chiseled into the side of Mount Rushmore.

I can’t help but count my blessings for the amazing adventures I have experienced this past year. Converting a van into a home has proven to be one of the best decisions of my life. It has given me unprecedented mobility to travel the country and, more importantly, removed the geographic constraints that would have otherwise hindered my relationship with my fiancée during the pandemic.

I first met Celine while camping at a state park in central Texas in June of 2019. After attending a work conference in Dallas, she rented a car and headed south for some rest and relaxation by the Pedernales River, that is, until the handsome neighbor camping next to her—yours truly— threw a proverbial wrench in her plans. Turns out we had a lot in common, and we spent the weekend hiking, swimming and exploring.

Our conversations continued long after she flew back east, and she shared stories about her family vacations growing up in France and how she and her parents traveled the countryside in their own RV. This early experience coupled with her knack for interior design went a long way in helping me to maximize every inch of livable space in my own van.

She even flew out to meet me in Boulder, Colorado—the place where my love affair with the outdoors first began—when the van was ready for pickup. Though we enjoyed spending time with one another, my plans to travel full time and write meant that anything more than a plutonic relationship was out of the question…or was it?

My initial plan was to head west in 2020 and then venture east in 2021. By the time I left Texas in January 2020, however, I had swapped itineraries so Celine would have more opportunities to visit me on the road. We toured the music-city of Nashville in February and were enjoying a weekend in Atlanta over spring break when President Trump declared Covid-19 a national emergency. Celine would later cancel her return flight, and together we drove up the Atlantic coast to her home in New Jersey, where we spent the following weeks riding out the governor’s stay-at-home orders.

Like many others, the pandemic forced us into a set of circumstances we didn’t see coming. But it also gave us an amazing opportunity to grow our relationship and provided us an important glimpse into what day-to-day life would look like with the other person. All the while we continued to travel regionally, and she even came along on a trip out west to visit some of the country’s most impressive national parks.

It was outside of Yellowstone National Park at a little ranch next to the Gallatin River where I dropped to one knee. If you would have told me way back in January that I would be engaged eight months later, I would have thought you were crazy. There’s no doubt that I will continue to climb mountains in the years to come, but in my opinion I reached the ultimate high point this year when I asked Celine to be my wife. It’s a story I couldn’t have written even if I had tried, and it’s one that continues to inspire me to trust God’s plan because what he authored this past year in my life is almost too good to be true.

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