“Kerisa, how the heck are you always finding these random places I’ve never even heard of?!”
I got that a lot.
The truth is, researching, planning, and learning is just what I do. I’m one of those border-line control freaks who pretends she has the capability of having every minute planned for the next month of her life. But for a while there I really had to think ahead. My previous day job used to restrict my travels to only Saturday & Sunday, and living in Southern California that meant also battling the millions of other people who had the same problems as me.
But I get cabin fever quick, so hiding in my overpriced apartment on my two days of freedom was not an option.
I also had to do my homework and find primarily dog friendly adventures. My travel buddy, Butters has severe separation anxiety and the thought of leaving her alone howling in my apartment on a Saturday was just something I couldn’t bring myself to do very often.
So when I had a spare minute, you’d find me scrolling through Instagram & Pinterest, or have my head buried in a travel book from Barnes & Noble, planning my next adventure with Butters.
It didn’t really matter how far of a drive it was, just that it was safe for a solo female traveler and her tiny guard dog. And I got pretty dang good at it.
So much so that my travels became a popular watercooler topic come Monday morning.
“I saw your post from this weekend! It looked beautiful!”
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never even heard of that place!”
“What are you doing here, I thought you were on vacation?!”
“Weren’t you just in Utah yesterday?!”
“Damn girl, how often do you have to change your oil?”
“You know how to find the hidden gems don’t ya?!”
*light bulb*
Hey .. that’d be cool if I could start a blog all about these odds and ends places I find, or how to see as much as possible in just a 8-5er’s weekend…
Yah, anyone can see Yosemite, but how about how to see it in a day? Or did you know there’s an Ostrich Farm only a couple hours north of Los Angeles where you can feed ostriches AND buy their GINORMOUS eggs?! Or how about a Loofa Farm in Nipomo, CA … and yes Google Map that goodness, because it’s inland. Loofas are not grown in the sea .. *mind blown*.
Ok, so let’s make this a goal.
Flash forward a couple years, and I worked my ass off and I got a better day job that allowed for three day weekends … and let me tell ya, you can cover a lot of ground in 3 days. THEN Covid-19 happened and suddenly everyone worked from home which saved me time from commuting and working through lunch breaks. So … I started side hustles, and those side hustles turned into a growing social media management and branding business, which is enough to pay the bills if you get out of your 600 sq. ft. apartment in Southern California.
So, the other day I left my desk jockey life behind. I’m writing this first Gems of the Road blog post in my tiny home that is a 17ft toy hauler currently parked in my parent’s driveway. I’m now joined by wildly supportive fiancé, Anthony, and our tiny fur family, getting ready to live the damn dream. Full-time travel.
We’ll spend the foreseeable future traveling the country and finding all of the hidden gems we can to share with you people of the world wide web and make epic memories for ourselves.
We’re here to inform you. To share our stories with you. But mostly to inspire you.
Someone once asked me what my biggest joy is, and I realized it’s also my life purpose: To travel and to inspire others to travel too, no matter how near or how far. Just get out there every chance you get.
So that’s what we’re doing.
We’re Gems of the Road and I hope you got a Pinterest board or a bucket list notebook ready .. because here we go.
Happy Trails,
Kerisa of Gems of the Road
Traveling Tiongsons 