Home / United States / Pacific Coast 2025

A Drive Up the Coast

The weather dictates everything right now. It is too hot to stay here in the Sacramento Valley the rest of the summer. But it is too cold and rainy to head to the other hemisphere yet. The area of Chile where I would like to spend significant time has highs in the 50s right now and rain about 7 days out of 10. It sounds absolutely miserable. So I can’t go there now. I am waiting for spring in the Chilean Lake District.

And after making changes and improvements to the van since I brought it home from the East Coast in 2023, it is ready for another adventure. I have chosen to hug the Pacific Coast at least as far as Vancouver Island.

And I have a very special new addition to my version of VanLife: a Starlink Mini. I have tested it in the forest near Tahoe, where I had zero cell reception, and the speed was good enough for a video call. So I intend to continue teaching English online.

At least, this is the current plan. It could all change at a moment’s notice!

Something like this (see how much is left to chance?!):