Sabbatical Road Trip

In 2006, my husband and I were driven—literally!—to seek sustainability success stories from around our country.

Surprised by the 2004 re-election of George W., Jeff and I resolved to venture beyond the comfortably liberal Port Townsend “bubble” to understand what the heck all those other voters were thinking. Sick at heart at the prospect of four more years of W. policy, we knew we also had to determine whether there was any hope left for this country.

So we planned, we saved, we bought a 1989 Volkswagen Westfalia camper-van (in partnership with my parents, to make this big expense more affordable), gave plenty of notice to our employers, and at the end of 2005, we quit our jobs, rented out our brand-new house for one year, and hit the road.

For 10 months in 2006 (with a month of decompression at either end), we drove a 26,000-mile loop counterclockwise around the U.S., with a delightful detour to the Canadian capital and the Maritime provinces. We camped some, but mostly stayed with relatives, with friends, with friends of friends, and with families offering accommodations through GlobalFreeloaders.com (they were some of the most memorable hosts!).

And, yes, I blogged about it. The “Waltzing Matilda” travel blog was followed by 240 subscribers and averaged 350 page views per entry.

The answer to our “hope” question? A qualified YES. We talked with many registered Republicans who regretted voting as they did, and we concluded there were enough well-meaning Americans out there to retain our hope for a political shift—as occurred in 2008, although that experiment is still underway.

In retrospect, the trip planted the seeds for Sustainable Together, as we were attracted to people brewing biodiesel, installing solar panels, growing and preserving their own food, riding their bikes, renewing their historic and walkable downtowns, and volunteering selflessly in Hurricane Katrina’s wake (read more about our visit to Port Townsend’s sister city, Bay St. Louis, Miss.). And an unexpected entree to an Amish community in western New York touched us deeply, as we were reminded how communities used to—and still can—function when the long-term sustainability of all members is a cultural priority.

Our year-long sabbatical was a jumping-off point to new careers: Jeff shifted from city planning to the renewable energy field, talking himself into a sales and outreach job with Power Trip Energy Corp., a local installer of photovoltaic solar systems. He’s in his fifth year with the company and it has grown since 2007 from three employees to seven (six of them graduates of Port Townsend High School—Jeff is the outlier.)

I decided to go into business for myself, expanding the sole proprietorship I had set up in 2005 (for my freelance magazine writing) to include communications services for local small businesses and nonprofits.

Read more revelations of our sabbatical in the newspaper article about our return. (Jan. 31, 2007)

Check out the “Waltzing Matilda” Travel Blog