This week threw us a curveball we truly didn’t expect.

While scouting hunting camps deep in the Idaho forest, our truck suddenly refused to shift into gear — leaving us stranded on a narrow service road with no cell service, three dogs, wildfire smoke drifting overhead, and a drop-off just a few feet away. What followed was equal parts stressful, hilarious, and oddly synchronistic.

In this episode we share:

• The moment the truck broke down — and why we’re lucky it happened the way it did

• The zip-tie solution that saved the day

• The surprising discovery of a potential property with a creek running right through it

• Our favorite riverside camp yet (dogs included)

• How wildfire closures are changing hunting season plans

• Why the hardest moments on the road often lead to the clarity we needed

🎥 Watch this episode on YouTube: @KerouacsCruising

📸 Blog & travel stories: KerouacsCruising.com

💬 Instagram & Facebook: @KerouacCruising

📧 Email: Join@KerouacsCruising.com

✨ Support our journey on Ko-fi: Every little bit helps us keep creating from the road!

If this episode moved you, the kindest thing you can do is like, subscribe, and leave a review. It’s a small action that makes a huge difference in helping us keep the journey going.

💚🩷💚🩷 Thank you for being here — your presence means everything.

Let us know: have you ever had a road-life crisis turn into a blessing?

We are grateful for all of our friends, family supporters and everyone joining our journey, as we figure out this thing called life together! We hope you have a wonderful weekend, see you next week for our next adventure episode 💚🩷

What if the real magic of travel isn’t the views, but the people you meet along the way? In this episode, we sit down with traveler and memoirist Melissa Rodway to talk about backpacking Southeast Asia, travel fatigue, leech-filled jungle treks, and why some of our most authentic selves show up far from home.

Canadian traveler, writer, and podcast host Melissa Rodway joins us to share the real story behind her travel memoir The People You Meet: Luxury, Leeches, Love & Lao-Lao with a Host of Interesting Characters in Southeast Asia.

Her love of adventure started early—moving from small-town Canada to a bush community outside Perth, Australia as a kid. Years later, a four-month trip through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China became the backbone of her book and completely changed her relationship with travel, writing, and herself.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How a “once in a lifetime” trip turned into a raw, funny, and honest travel memoir
• The jungle trek in Laos that went very, very differently than expected
• What travel fatigue actually feels like—and how to know when it’s time to go home
• Why the people you meet matter more than the places you see
• The strange freedom of being more yourself when you’re far from home
• Why it’s never too late to start traveling (or to finally write the book that’s been tugging at you)

If you’ve ever dreamed about backpacking Asia, traveling solo, or simply reconnecting with your authentic self, this episode will give you both permission and a gentle nudge out the door.

All Things Melissa:

The People You Meet

Instagram: @fly_travel_media

Website: https://flyrodway.com

Facebook: FLYTravelMedia

💻 Watch this episode on YouTube: @KerouacsCruising

📸 Blog & travel stories: KerouacsCruising.com

💬 Instagram & Facebook: @KerouacCruising

📧 Email: Join@KerouacsCruising.com

✨ Support our journey on Ko-fi: Every little bit helps us keep creating from the road!

If this episode moved you, the kindest thing you can do is like, subscribe, and leave a review. It’s a small action that makes a huge difference in helping us keep the journey going. 💚💗

We finally made it to North Idaho — and this week, we’re taking you with us as we tour a remote one-acre property deep in the mountains. The road is wild, the views are unreal, and the reality check hits hard. Is this the spot where our new life takes root… or not?

After weeks on the road, we’re back in North Idaho, the place that already feels like home even though our roots aren’t in the ground yet. In this adventure episode, we take you along as we check out a remote one-acre lot tucked deep into the mountains near Lake Pend Oreille.

From rough forest roads to steep terrain, from big hopes to big reality checks — we walk through what it’s really like to try to build a home base while living full-time on the road.

Along the way, we talk about:

• what we’re looking for in our future homestead
• challenges of off-grid access in winter (hello, snowmobile-only roads)
• the pros + cons of remote land
• how our three pups (including sweet Jewels in this video) shape every decision
• the behind-the-scenes chaos of travel days, Starlink glitches, laundry hunts, and keeping the camper functioning
• surrendering to the unknown and trusting the right place will reveal itself

We also share updates on:

• the Arizona homestead sale
• the next property we plan to tour
• how we’re navigating decision-making while still living on the move
• our setup, our workflow, and the truth about what this lifestyle really takes

If you’ve ever dreamed of relocating to the mountains, buying remote land, or building a simple life on your own terms, this episode offers a real, unfiltered look into the early stages of that journey.

📍 Watch the full episode for the views, the honesty, and a few laughs.

📍 Visit the blog at KerouacsCruising.com for detailed notes & resources.

📍 Join the conversation on Instagram & Facebook @kerouaccruising.

If you enjoy the episode, please consider liking, commenting, subscribing, and leaving a review — your support helps us reach more people walking the same path.

What if trash could build schools, students could fight poverty, and real democracy began in 7th grade? In this profoundly moving interview, we sit down with Matt Paneitz, founder of Long Way Home, a nonprofit turning 550+ tons of waste into a sustainable Hero School campus in rural Guatemala.

In this powerful and uplifting conversation, we talk with Matt Paneitz — paramedic, Peace Corps volunteer, educator, builder, and founder of A Long Way Home, a nonprofit in Comalapa, Guatemala, transforming trash into resilient classrooms and turning students into community problem-solvers.

Matt spent two decades proving that purpose can truly be built from the ground up. His Hero School model, recognized by UNESCO, blends green building, indigenous Kachikal traditions, democratic education, and community empowerment. The result? Students who don’t just learn about change — they create it.

We talk about:

✨ How 550+ tons of trash became a sustainable K–12 campus

✨ Students solving poverty using what they learn in school

✨ Bamboo trusses, earthbag domes, eco-brick walls & tire foundations

✨ Matt’s intense origin story — from a small Texas town to the Peace Corps to hitchhiking through Guatemala

✨ The unseen realities of poverty and resilience

✨ How one volunteer idea grew into a movement

✨ Why democratic education could change the future of entire countries

✨ What Matt hopes to bring to the Secretary of Education

✨ The power of purpose, passion, and “la lucha” — the shared struggle

✨ Our own reflections afterward about chasing purpose even when it looks “crazy” from the outside

If you’ve ever questioned your path, your purpose, or the impact one person can make — this episode will move you.

Support Long Way Home

Volunteer, donate, or learn more:

🔗 lwhome.org

📞 Matt’s direct number (he insisted!): 978-992-2333

Follow Us & Join the Journey

Blog & photos: kerouacscruising.com

Instagram & Facebook: @kerouacscruising

Email: join@kerouacscruising.com

Support our work on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/kerouacscruising

If “networking” makes you want to run for the hills, this episode will feel like a deep breath. We’re joined by Nick Shelton—veteran, strategist, stand-up comic, and author of An Introvert’s Guide to World Domination—to talk about navigating the world as an introvert without wearing a mask. We dig into authenticity vs. performance, simple step-by-step social systems (yes, including where to stand and what to hold), re-finding yourself after retirement or a major life change, and why saying “I don’t know” is secretly a superpower. Nick also shares his “Reset Button” framework for auditing your life, releasing old identities, and building purpose through aligned habits.

Highlights:

• The low-pressure way to enter any room and meet one person
• Authenticity > confidence: stop faking it, start systemizing it
• The “reset letter” + burn ritual (honoring past you)
• Cooking/dance/language classes as identity-building cheat codes
• Treating everyone like a VIP (and why it opens real doors)

Links & resources:

• Nick’s site: resettheman.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicholasleonshelton/
• An Introvert’s Guide to World Domination: geni.us/anintrovertsguide
• Our blog & photos: kerouacscruising.com

Callouts:

If this helped, share it with the introvert in your life and leave a review—it truly keeps us rolling.

After our short pause, we're back on the road—and Yosemite greeted us with rain, hail, fog, and a full-on August snowstorm. In today’s adventure episode, we recap our wild entrance into Yosemite Valley, the unprepared tourists scrambling for ponchos, James trying (and failing) to get a tetanus shot, and the breathtaking moment the storm lifted and revealed the valley walls and waterfalls in all their beauty.

This is an honest look at what travel really feels like—messy, unpredictable, hilarious, and healing. And a reminder that sometimes the storm gives you a better gift than the sunshine ever could.

• Rain, hail & 38° August snow 🤯

• Crowds scrambling for overpriced umbrellas

• Why rainy national park days are usually the best

• The chaos of Yosemite Valley traffic

• Lower & Upper Yosemite Falls roaring from fresh storms

• Why the outside areas (Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Pass) might be even better

• James’s foot injury update

• RV challenges, triumphs & the art of rolling with what is

🎥 Watch the YouTube adventure: https://youtu.be/QsfwPpUffJk

📝 Blog with campsite details & photos: https://kerouacscruising.com/when-the-storm-doesnt-scare-off-the-crowd-our-rain-soaked-and-hilarious-yosemite-valley-day/

IG/FB: @KerouacsCruising

Email: Join@KerouacsCruising.com