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Claire and James Young left Kelowna a year ago after doing something that most would find frightening.
They sold their things, packed up the essentials and their cat Millie, and embarked on a journey around the world that they expect could take up to 10 years to complete.
It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the couple, but take one look through their gallery of travel photos from the past year and you’ll see why they maintain that they wouldn’t change a thing about their trip so far.
Yes, their van broke down in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, and they lost their crew member, Millie the cat, to illness. Claire even injured her knee. But, none of that was enough reason to turn around and go home to safety.
This Big Road Trip is a project that Claire and James had been planning for long before they packed a u-haul of travelling equipment and headed down to California to pick up the overland camper they’d spend the next year in.
They started off their trip driving around the U.S., exploring most of the southern states. Right now, they’re finishing off six months in Mexico, moving from town to town while working a few hours every day remotely from their overland vehicle.
“We’ve been exploring this country top to bottom, side to side,” says Claire.
While doing so, they’ve racked up some amazing tales, like when they climbed up a volcano. They’ve also learned some monumental lessons about themselves and the world.
For instance, Claire says she’s learned that her husband is suddenly capable of growing a full beard. James says he’s discovered that he’s actually not such a bad mechanic after all.
Claire and James have also had opportunities to help others on their travels, like a poor stray dog left abandoned on the side of the road in Arizona. Claire says that they were driving through the state, trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. Eventually they found an Indigenous campsite, three hours away from the closet town.
We've been through mountain roads and little villages and places off the beaten path that people wouldn’t normally go, and all we’ve been met with is smiles and happy places all along the way.”
“We pulled in there and there was a dog lying in the middle of the road as we pulled in. As we approached the dog, it got up and kind of hobbled off,” says Claire.
They parked their camper and, because Claire is a huge animal lover, she set off to find the dog. When she did find him she discovered he was quite skinny and had an injured paw, so she coaxed him back to the camper and fed him and fixed his paw up.
“The next day he was outside our camper again so we fed him and took care of his paw, and it was time for us to leave. We debated whether we should take him with us,” Claire says. “Only a month ago we had lost our cat before this happened and we decided that we wouldn’t take him with us and maybe he belonged to someone or someone would adopt him.”
They then drove three hours to the next nearest town, but because she was still worried they asked around about the dog and were told that it was common practice to drop animals off on that road, and it didn’t belong to anyone.
Claire ended up asking a local animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, if they could take the dog in, and they could but were unable to go retrieve it.
“We got back in the car and drove three hours back to see if we could go find the dog, not knowing if he was still going to be there. And he was, we found him. We got him in the car, fed him, turned around and started the drive back.”
A few weeks later, the rescue contacted them to let them know that the dog had been adopted by a couple in Colorado. Eventually the owners contacted them as well and sent photos of him. Claire and James were even able to reunite with the dog and meet his new family in New Mexico.
James explains their experience with stepping outside of the norm, their comfort zone. It’s given them an insight and appreciation for a lifestyle where you can’t escape to the safety of a “bubble,” as James calls it.
Claire and James haven’t been staying in resorts in the well-known and popular tourist areas. Instead, they’ve taken the road less travelled.
“We've been through mountain roads and little villages and places off the beaten path that people wouldn’t normally go, and all we’ve been met with is smiles and happy places all along the way,” James explains.
“Life becomes more real,” says Claire. You’re not just wondering about trying to find a place to buy a fancy pair of shoes, she adds. You’re making sure you have enough water, enough food, enough fuel to make it through the more isolated parts of the journey.
“It’s just little things,” says James. “We’ve got a truck full of dog food even though we don’t have a dog, just because when we go to some places we see the starving dogs and they need food so we make sure that we have some with us.”
They seen and done a lot, but this isn’t where the story ends. They’ll be heading to Cuba for a few months, then they’ll take in South America, and then the rest of the world. You can follow their journey on their website and on their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
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