After some much needed time hanging out with friends and family in our small hometown within the San Joaquin Valley, we figured it was time to start our travels out of the familiar and into something new. Kinda…

We set off from our friend Jerry’s house late one evening, headed north toward Merced, CA. Lupi is an alumni of the University of California – Merced, and has been wanting to go back to the campus to see the new additions they’ve made since she graduated. It had been almost 8 years since she last stepped foot in Merced, and she was quite excited to see her old stomping grounds.

We drove through the evening to arrive in Merced just in time to pick up a late dinner at a pizza joint we’ve placed on a nostalgic pedestal. We ate the delicious pizza in the van while I took a video call to help a friend troubleshoot a robotic litter box I let him have since I obviously would not be needing it during this period of my life. We finished eating and headed toward our spot for the night, a riverside pullout a bit outside of town.

The Merced River is a pretty calm little river which offers some fishing spots along this stretch of road, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a fishing rod just yet. I’ll need to pick up a rod at some point, as I’ve been meaning to do a catch and cook thing for dinner at some point. We spent the evening there under a bit of pitter-patter from the light rain and enjoyed the river-side view the next morning before we would head to see the campus.

Visiting the Campus

The next morning after making a quick breakfast in the van, we headed over the UCM campus. We decided to park about 3 miles away and bike up the nice path leading up to the main entrance, which was a great way to start the day after a lazy morning sleeping in. There was more rain on the horizon, so we went with our rain coats and were at the campus after passing a few cows and Lupi telling me some stories about her time on campus.

We rode through the empty campus (it was still winter break, so we had most of the campus to ourselves), through the halls, and explored all the new additions that Lupi was ecstatic to see. A couple new lakes/ponds, loads of new classroom buildings, dorms, and that amazing mountain view. Lupi acted as my own personal tour guide as we stopped by her favorite spots and she would spout out stories and relevant information about most of the buildings we rode past. It was a trip down memory lane for the both of us, but she obviously had a much more nostalgic connection with the campus that I had. I could feel the energy from her while on campus, and it made its way onto me as well. We used this new enthusiasm to bike up to the local lake, less than a mile from campus.

Yosemite Lake is a small lake near the UC Merced campus, and although I’ve only been there once before, it was somewhat familiar. The lake water was quite low, something most Californians are quite familiar with when they head out for a camping trip and see that the lake they visited last summer is lower than before. But it was still a beautiful place. The view of the snow packed Sierra Nevadas in combination with the lush green grass surrounding the area thanks to the recent downpour and the gusts of wind made the visit well worth it. We sat by the lakeside, in one of the mooring spots that was no longer used since the shoreline was so low and Lupi read out loud from a book we bought from one of our favorite outdoor explorers, Ryan Van Duzer. He recently wrote a book about his first extreme adventure where he biked from Honduras all the way to his home of Boulder, CO. It’s been amazing to hear his story, and I always enjoy Lupi’s voice as she reads, especially since we seem to only read from this book when we’re in nature. In a way, it’s probably one of the best ways to read about such adventures, when you yourself are on an adventure.

Eventually, the wind picked up and we decided to bike back to the van and grab some lunch before heading out of town again. There was an amazing burger joint (Five Star Burgers) that we loved. It really hit the spot after a breezy 6 mile headwind. We left town that night, heading up the Sierra Nevada mountains toward our next campsite.

Sometimes it’s the small things, like visiting your old college campus, that makes a regular day seem like an adventure. While we’re still in familiar territory, I feel like we are sort of on an extended vacation rather than living our new way of life. Perhaps that’s what this type of life is supposed to feel like? I’m not sure…

I don’t think this way of living would evoke this feeling of joy for most, but at least for me, this feels exactly like what life is supposed to be.