Sunrise Over Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
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Mission San Xavier del Bac
We rounded a corner and, at first, the gleaming white building looked to us like the Taj Mahal. An instant later we recognized the Moorish-inspired structure looming over a sea of green as Mission San Xavier del Bac.
A short drive from downtown Tucson, Arizona, San Xavier stands as one of the most impressive missions we’ve visited in our tour of the Southwest. Its seemingly spotless white façade is a distinct contrast to the more ancient look of the San Antonio Missions. And its ornate architecture sets it apart from the simpler structures we found on El Paso’s Mission Trail.
What the ObamaCare Decision Means for Perpetual Travelers Like Us
Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
EverywhereOnce isn’t a political blog, and this isn’t a political post. Health insurance, for us, isn’t a political matter but a practical one.
Of all the things we had to consider when preparing to hit the road full-time, how to manage health care costs was not only the most significant but also the most unpredictable.
In 2010, when we left behind our Mega Corp provided health insurance coverage and surrendered ourselves to the tender mercies of the individual insurance market, we couldn’t guarantee we’d even be sold an individual policy. Now that we have one, we can’t be sure it will actually be honored if ever we get expensively sick—despite paying hefty premiums each and every month.
We’ve written before about the special challenges we faced in trying to obtain health insurance without a physical address. We worried, and still worry, about our insurance company’s ability to declare our application fraudulent because we don’t actually live in our state of declared residency – or any state for that matter. Being citizens of the U.S. should be sufficient to buy a U.S. health insurance policy, but alas, it is not.
Another Grand Canyon First
How do we celebrate the four-year anniversary of our favorite trip ever; one that had us locked in to seven days of tent-camping and whitewater rafting when we’d never done either before? We revisit that destination with a new first-time experience.
And how do we follow up rafting through the entire 280 miles of the glorious Grand Canyon and rectify never seeing any of it from the rim? We view it from the air, of course.
That is how we found ourselves aboard a three-million dollar EC-130 helicopter, flying a mile over the Canyon floor on our very first helicopter ride.
Go Big or Go Home: Our Grand Canyon Rafting Adventure Continues
(This is the second part of a two-part series. Click the following link to read Part I of our Grand Canyon Rafting Adventure)
Bedding down in the Grand Canyon meant finding a spot along the surprisingly beach-like banks of the Colorado and pitching a tent; although our tent went mostly unused. After the first night, we found we preferred sleeping directly under the stars.
Without the overwhelming light pollution of our native Manhattan, the night sky lit up like a Christmas tree. Even though I was exhausted by sundown most days, I’d still spend a couple of hours each night watching satellites drift past billions of stars before drifting off to sleep.
Morning came with a rising sun that painted the canyon in hues of red light and bluish shadow. One of the things we found most rewarding about our trip was seeing how the canyon changed throughout the day and with each passing mile. From striated red sandstone cliffs illuminated by soft evening light to towering black schist shining beneath a mid-day glare, we didn’t just experience one Grand Canyon, but dozens. Every day and every hour offered something remarkable and new.
Meet Brian and Shannon
Fulltime wanderers since 2010, Brian & Shannon are traveling the world on a quest to see everything there is to see . . . at least once.
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