Circling back to Anaconda, MT

We’ve officially been on the road for 2 years now! It’s fun looking back at our posts and seeing what we have all accomplished in 2 years. If you want to go back to the beginning of our journey, there’s a Before Departure tab at the top of the page, or you can go to All Posts or the other category headers and scroll to your heart’s content.

We have stayed overnight in 21 state so far, so…29 to go? It’s a goal, anyway. It would be fun to say we’ve been to all 50 states. Hawaii will require some creativity. Maybe we can bring something FROM the RV to one of the islands and “count” it that way?!? We’ve also heard that driving in Alaska is hard on your RV, so that one may require some creativity, as well.

We thought circling back to one of our original stays would be fun. Literally, we booked a week at the same RV park we stayed in almost 2 years ago. Anaconda was our first stop outside of Utah when we started our RV adventure in the summer of 2023. Our motivation for going into Montana then and now was the same….try to find some cooler weather!

One of our favorite watering holes in Anaconda is Smelter City Brewing. The building was originally a bank. You can still see a lot of the general architecture, and now it is home to a brewery and bar. They even have a bar cat named Taps that makes its rounds and likes to nap behind their cash register. We tried some local brews and discovered that we like their Scotch Ale. We tend to shy away from IPA varieties due to their higher IBU count, aka “hoppy” or “bitter” taste to us, but I have tried a few Hazy IPAs now and am kind of a fan every once in awhile.

The bar does not serve food, but there is a taco truck (Anaconda Taco Co) conveniently located in the alley that also has some cool outdoor seating. Overall it’s a pretty cool vibe.

Anaconda Taco Co.

I was able to meet up with my friend, Nicole, who lives in the area. She and I worked together at South Jordan Middle School in Utah for a couple of years. It was great to catch up, talk about our kids and life and what we want to do when we grow up. All good things. Visiting friends and family while we are out on the road is one of the highlights of our nomad lifestyle.

I feel like hitting the 2 year mark begs the question we are asked pretty often of, “How long do you plan to do this?” Our canned response is “Until we can’t.” That’s our vague answer to basically cover all our bases.

There is so much life can throw at you, that you never know how your path may change. As the saying goes, life is short. Chad and I have been reflecting on the past couple years and are go glad to be doing this. Insert whatever word makes sense to you...happy, lucky, fortunate, grateful. It may seem crazy to some that we sold our house, bought an RV and decided to travel while working on the road. Our attitude from the beginning was, if it doesn't work out, we can always buy a house again. What's the harm? What's the risk?

What's holding you back from saying, "Let's just do it!"? If there is something you want to try and it may seem far-fetched to some, I suggest going for it! Standing still waiting for something different to happen in your life is the definition of insanity. You have to make the change for change to happen. Don't put off something because it seems scary. Growth is what happens when you are scared about doing something, but you do it anyway. Take one little move in the direction of your goal/dream/big idea. Keep making those little moves and all of a sudden you'll be a whole lot closer to that dream you've been holding onto. Sometimes they aren't glamorous or exciting moves to be making, but they are all necessary steps to make forward progress. Celebrate them! Celebrate every little move. Give yourself credit for all you are accomplishing.

Right now we are still having fun and enjoying the adventure, so we will keep trucking along.

Next up: Northern Montana and a visit to Glacier National Park!