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Girl you know we belong together. I don't have no time for you to be playing with my heart like this. You'll be mine forever baby. You just wait. We belong together. And you know that I am right. Why do you play with my heart? Why do you play with my mind? Said we'd be forever. Said it'd never die. How could you love me and leave me, and never say goodbye? When I can't sleep at night, without holding you tight. Girl, each time I try I just break down and cry. Pain in my head. Oh, I'd rather be dead. Spinning around and around. Although we've come, to the end of the road, still I can't let go. It's unnatural. You belong to me. I belong to you. ➳♥ Willie Rose threw a rod through the block of her 22RE, essentially throwing a knife through my heart. Might be the end of the road for my girl, unless we can get her a new heart. Please send prayers, good vibes, mechanic suggestions, links to new compatible engines, offers on a fixer upper Bandit and well, since some of y’all have already asked, here’s my venmo @ladyadventures Not sure where we’ll go from here. It’s tough times in “I’m unhealthily attached to my rig” land. #sheisnotlost #sheexplores #ladyadventures #womenontheroad #forceofnature #dirtbagdarling #wonderfulwildwomen #dirtbarbieadventures #wildernessbabes #solofemaletraveler #andshesdopetoo #digitalnomad #tinyhousetinyfootprint #homeiswhereyouparkit #overland #toyotabandit #toyotamotorhome #toyotacamper #toyota #toyotarv #toymo #mobilemag #vanlifemovement #vanlifemagazine #vanlifers #vanlifediaries #vanlife #22re (at End Of Road) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7YrukMFiOq/?igshid=1jjxfuuqvim35

I realized that I’ve only made about twelve actual posts in the last year. I mean, if you watch my stories, then you know I’m all about posting a lot of those, like I might have a problem, but instagram has turned into a real weird place to put snapshots of your life out there, that last longer than 24 hours. Anyway, here’s a typical photo of my typical face, taken by @ajcmedia , to hold y’all over for the next month or so. Or, idk, maybe I’ll post more photos on here. We’ll see... (at What have you done with your tongue today?) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv2vq3KlNu5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ef3rh1pi6cdg

The Journey by Mary Oliver One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice-- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do-- determined to save the only life you could save. self portrait on 35mm film https://www.instagram.com/p/BszpvJolO6h/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ugqnc6uw6w9i

Because I can’t do short form, this is PART I of III: “New year, new you.” The people that say that are full of shit. You don’t magically become a new person when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. Heck, you probably won’t even be all that different of a person, come next New Year. Being a professional dancer & working in the nightlife/service industry most of my early life, I often worked on New Year’s Eve, even when in relationships. I made myself some good holiday pay, I saw lots of people getting drunk, leading to couples fighting, and every year I learned that I didn’t want to spend my last moments of a year partying, like the people I was being paid to be part of a party for. Since then, I’ve always made a point to be in a chill happy place, surrounded by chill happy people (& animals) when ringing in the new year. I’ve also felt a tickle of a yearning for the feeling of starting a new year, staring hopefully into the eyes of a partner, sharing hopes for the future year (& many more) to come, together. Last year’s New Year’s Eve was the “last New Year’s Eve”, I swore, I’d spend around a campfire awkwardly (but still lovingly) hugging my other single friends, while all the lovers in love loved each other. While there was no awkward campfire this year, and try as I might’ve in 2018 to open myself up completely to the opportunities this year presented in possibly finding a partner in life (aka dating), I was still without a mate to look towards towards the start of a new year shared together (aka alone). But I’m becoming more & more okay with that, being solo, maybe even teetering on the edge of preferring it. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsVmIp0lPM_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u2qb6lnb79ae

PART II of III: We look towards others to complete us, to make us happy. When quite often, handing over the reigns of your personal happiness to another person, leads to a world of hurt, in the end. There might be glimpses of a happy life together, better times with your better half, but letting so much of your joy ride on time with a partner in crime, slowly depletes your confidence in your own abilities to providing joy in your life. This is why we often feel most alone after someone we loved is no longer part of our lives in the same intense way. Now, this is all based in my experience in multiple relationships, life itself & constantly contemplating the way we interact with each other, as humans, usually in solitude, but I’ve grown to believe that happiness is not hinged on others, it comes from letting yourself believe that you can be happy with yourself & that you deserve to find other happy people to share life with. My journey on the road has been a long journey to discovering my own personal happiness, learning to love myself & finding a community of conscious happy people that also love themselves. After three plus years on the road, I’ve found several happy places, one in particular that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with (I mean, who needs a man when you’ve got mountains? Am I right?), I’ve grown to love myself & most every moment I allow to unfold and boy did I find myself a widespread but tight knit community of loving & enlightened nomads. Yet, finding a partner, after working so hard on allowing myself to accept that I wanted to share my life with someone else (us independent women have a hard time with admitting that), has been proving more difficult than tearing down the walls I had built around my heart. See, the thing is, most humans build walls to protect themselves from others, when all that does is keep others out. I learned that a while ago and it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time working on in myself. Makes for some really big fireworks when a girl like me meets a guy that seems exceptional & open on the surface, but has closed off part(s) of himself as a coping defense mechanism. Three of those guys in one year... 💥 https://www.instagram.com/p/BsVl8y9lZBt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o50xw47jttoh

PART III of III: So I’ve had a sparkly year, and when the sparkle fades, I’ve been left to face the hard fact that the reason I keep finding myself alone, is that I keep finding potential partners that are running to escape their “problems” & deepest fears, instead of challenging themselves to look inside & face them head on. Guys that literally tell me “you’re so sure of yourself & what you want, you make me feel like I don’t have it together as much as I thought.” Now, in case you forgot, I live in a 34 year old vehicle, work a fraction of the year, live below the poverty line because of it and quite often question my future involvement in society. I never thought I’d be the one in a dating scenario with their shit together. I always felt like I was the problem. However, the “problem”, leading me to consistently attract people that aren’t ready to open themselves to a partner like me, is that part of me still feels like I do have a problem to sort out, deep within myself. Even after learning to love myself, there’s still a part of me that feels like I have earn the love of others, that I can’t be loved for who I am or without some sort of struggle. Working on those deeply ingrained ways of feeling will certainly take more than one year. So, this wasn’t the year I met my #soulmate, but 2018 will forever be the year I learned about the patterns in my life that were leading to unhappiness, even though I had started to live a much happier lifestyle (#vanlife) for me and began to believe that I truly deserve to find someone that’s grown to know themselves enough to open themselves up to the opportunity of growing to know & love someone else. The year that I decided I truly deserve to love & be loved, despite being a single solo wild woman & dirty girl. Happy New Year, ya filthy animals! Oh, 2018 was also the year I decided to start writing a book. So, sorry, not sorry, about not writing instagram posts much this year. Clearly I write a lot. I mean, this was my attempt at making a single instagram post, and it ended up being 3. Photos of me, in my happiest of places, taken by femme fatale photographer powerhouse, magic maker & fantastic friend @brookpifer https://www.instagram.com/p/BsVlAt3lG0V/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1exbv14ajipe5

#soulmate #vanlife

My rig, she’s a 1985 Toyota Bandit, that I named Willie Rose, after my big-hearted storytelling grandmother. I’ve lived in this little camper for nearly three years and it’s gotten to a point where I feel my rig is part of my identity. I don’t even like to drive other vehicles, because I feel like part of me is missing. I mean, I have her tattooed on my arm, for goodness sake. She’s my home, when I’ve always felt like I’ve had no home, and she’s been my mostly trusty, deeply discounted ticket to freedom. So, when my new friend @joelstmariephotography wanted to take photos of me just doing my thing, without my rig, I acted real awkward, trying to figure out what my “thing” is. Which, quite obviously, is showing off my Willie Rose tattoo. 💪🏽 (at Eastern Sierra)

My birthday was a few days ago and it was a darn good day, filled with friends & a “love yo self” vibe. I’d been trying to find the words to do that whole annual “hey world, I’m one year older” post but, as of late, I’ve been suffering from a little writer’s block and a lot of depression. In the 38 years I’ve had on this planet, I’ve learned a lot about myself, but the introspective journey I’ve been on the last 3 years, has been a rude awakening to learning how much I put the needs & wants of others before my own, how shitty I am at setting personal boundaries and how much I stifle my voice to appease others. So this 38th journey around the sun, is the year I find my true voice, speak it as brash & boldly as @uproxxtravel says I am (hey thanks for the #vanlife love you guys) and love my self! I keep saying this over and over to myself but I think maybe putting it on the internet helps me stick to it. Don’t forget to love yo self too. Cause lord knows there’s enough insecure people taking out their lack of self love on other people on social media. So here’s another naked photo of me taken by @pyro4lif, for all you haters out there to hate on. For the record, I’mma keep posting nudes until there’s enough self love & respect for women in this world that everyone feels comfortable enough in their own skin to be naked or at least not be internet bullies to any woman who is. (at Mono Lake Scenic Viewpoint)

#vanlife

Hello friends! Today’s hippie #vanlife PSA for #EarthWeek is in regards to fire safety! So, you may be asking yourself what the heck this “quintessential Alabama Hills photo” (as coined by @ajcmedia, who snapped it) has to do with fire safety. Well, this spot, in Lone Pine, California, is frequented by many a vanlifer and currently in very close proximity to a 1,265 acre wildfire that started just days ago, shut down both directions of 395, and is threatening Native American archeological sites. 🔥 This is the 2nd wildfire for Inyo Co. in 2018. The Pleasant Fire, which burned over 2k acres along the Owens River in February, when winter snow & runoff usually make wildfire less of a threat, was started by people camping in a developed campground, when they failed to properly drown out their campfire (in a designated fire ring) the night before 30mph wind gusts sparked & carried away smoldering embers. NOTE: Do not have campfires when it’s windy out people!! 🔥 The point being, campfires & vehicle camping can be real wildfire threats in many parts of the world, especially California, where the 2017 wildfire season was “the most destructive season on record,” with a total of 9,133 fires burning 1,381,405 acres. 🔥 It’s important to know the fire restrictions & safety hazards of each location you camp in. For instance, in the state of California, if you are having a campfire, using a barbecue, gas stove or lantern outdoors, and you don’t have a free California Campfire Permit, that’s an illegal fire you got there, regardless of what Smokey Bear says the wildfire threat level is. Chances are, if you don’t have a permit, you’re unaware of California’s Campfire Safety Rules, your campfire is most likely a threat to causing a destructive wildfire and/or pissing off locals & eco-conscious nomads (like me) who will most definitely call the local fire sheriff on your illegal campfire having ass! 🔥 There’s lots more fire safety tips to be told but now you know why it’s important to research, learn & know about the fire safety hazards & rules of the places you vanlife it. And... #themoreyouknow #onlyyoucanpreventwildfires (at Alabama Hills)

#earthweek #themoreyouknow #onlyyoucanpreventwildfires #vanlife

Sorry, not sorry, about all the #LeaveNoTrash spam in my insta-story yesterday. I actually stopped filming the garbage I was picking up because there was so much & it became redundant. The sad truth is, that everyday, whether I post about it or not, I clean garbage up at the places I park & camp at, the places I live. These are primarily National Forests, BLM & occasionally National Parks, the public lands only a few months ago Americans were blaming government officials from “stealing” from us. It boggles my mind that people can call this land their own and trash it. 🌎 I searched long & hard for just one photo in my media portfolio that had garbage in it & even though I’m picking up trash every day, I couldn’t find photographic evidence of this. Trash left by humans is not instagram worthy so it’s been unintentionally omitted from the photographic documenting of my #vanlife travels. While trying to be more honest about the ecological impact of my chosen lifestyle, I’ve fallen into feeding our feeds with the attention grabbing beauty of colorful & romantic images of life on the road over capturing images that reflect a real snapshot of the state of North America’s public lands. 🌍 As per usual, I’m falling back on written word to uphold the truth of this life. This photo taken by @pyro4lif last summer in an area that is wild, rough, dirty and hard to get to. Even John Muir’s famous quote “nothing truly wild is unclean” was said about the uncleanliness of the Paiute women he came across on the shores of Mono Lake. This place hasn’t had as much human traffic since then, as Muir’s preferred Sierra Nevada stomping ground, Yosemite, but the human impact is all the more visible because for generations, very little of it has been picked up. Just before Brian snapped this photo of me & @sailortheroaddog, I filled two quart sized bags with bullet shells littering the ground around us. You can’t see the trash in this photo but you can only imagine what would draw people to such a remote place, full of natural beauty, to trash it. I mean, I’ll never get it but I will always pick up all the human garbage I see & #LeaveNoTrace even when it’s not #EarthWeek (at Sierra Nevada)

#leavenotrash #vanlife #leavenotrace #earthweek

Hi friends, my name is Genevieve, I live in a 1985 Toyota Bandit with my rescued husky @Sailortheroaddog, I’m almost 38 years old, spent 35 of those years in Florida, where I was born & raised, walked away from two successful careers as a professional dancer and in marketing & development to live free, I’m a lot of Italian so I talk with my hands a lot, wear dirt colored sweaters and dark jeans almost every day, shower once a week (if I’m lucky), pick up garbage everywhere I go, sometimes dive into dumpsters and I live close to the land because I freaking love this planet! I’ve also made a life decision, to rebuild the interior of my 1985 #ToyotaBandit using all salvaged and/or recycled materials, including some items left by humans on the public lands I live in, including bag fulls of bullet shells, a really big American flag, buckets, fixtures, jars, cans, crates, bottles, scrap metal, etc. I’m also looking for suggestions and advice on low impact camper builds & construction. 🌎 My friend, @ajcmedia, who took this photo, and I both ran into some recent writers block and were talking about overcoming that by writing about what we were most passionate about. For me, I’ve always had a love affair with places & nature. I can’t think of anything I’m more passionate about, right now, than preserving the beauty of these places that have touched my heart and changed my life forever. So, as we kick off #EarthWeek, I’m committing myself to get back into the insta-game by posting on real #vanlife topics that will help spread the good word about what we can do, while spending time outdoors, to minimize our impact. 🌍 What can you do now? Well, the fine folk over at @LeaveNoTraceCenter are having a contest that challenges us to #LeaveNoTrash and pick up the trash we come across when spending time outdoors. Go see their most recent posts to see how you can responsibly enjoy our world, clean up our public lands and possibly win some gear from @outdoorresearch. So go pick up some trash and live our #MotherEarth! (at Mother Earth)

#toyotabandit #vanlife #earthweek #leavenotrash #motherearth

Let’s talk about the shitty side of #vanlife for a minute. Like the fact that so many people that travel in vehicles have no clue how to properly dispose of their own waste. I mean, I could go into disgusting detail with stories of coming across human feces, used toilet paper, feminine hygiene products & even condoms, while living on our naturally beautiful public lands, but I know that instagram is for short attention spans, so I’ll skip straight to the point. Poop has got to be one of the biggest issues we deal with, living in our vans, and according to the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (lnt.org), “is one of the most critical issues that recreationalist, agency personal and wildlife face today.” This is super important for living that #vanlife because the improper disposal of human waste will not only ruin the beauty of all those insta-van worthy photo spots, but can contaminate water sources and can transmit disease between humans & animals. 💩 Here’s a photo of me peeing on a rock, by my lovely lady friend @brookpifer. It’s best to urinate on rocks or roads & gravel because it is less likely to attract wildlife that defoliate plants and dig up soil. Primarily in the desert, your piss can take a while to dilute and can stink up a frequently used van camp real quick. Note the crumpled up recycled paper napkin, I likely stole from McDonald’s, in my hand. I used that as tp and packed that shit (not literal in this instance) out, via the garbage receptacle in my rig. Toilet paper should either be properly buried in a cathole or packed out. 💦 See my comments below for quick Leave No Trace pointers for handling your human waste while recreating (this includes vanlife boondocking) outdoors. Definitely go to 👉🏽 LNT.ORG @leavenotracecenter for the down and dirty on keeping our lands beautifully free of human waste & impact, including online courses, training opportunities and even local events put on by traveling trainers. I’m even adding comments below about upcoming #EarthDay #LNT events here in Bishop. #leavenotrace (at Our Public Lands)

#vanlife #earthday #lnt #leavenotrace

Hey you guys, now you know I’m not the kind of lady that normally does this but... I’m in love! And it’s with this magical irreplaceable creation called the Mono Basin. Yep, I’ve fallen hard, not for a person but a place. I get around a lot and have definitely roamed wild through the west, blazing a trail of magical places that just couldn’t hold me down, heartbroken in my absence (okay, so maybe they pulled through the breakup just fine). But there’s this one spot, just east of Yosemite, on the west border of the Ansel Adams Wilderness, flanked on all sides by 10k+ mountains of three majestic mountain ranges, where fresh water creeks starting up in 13,000’ perennial snowfields tumble down deep wooded canyons & glacial moraines into an ice-age saline lake, spotted with one white & one black volcanic island, where underwater fossilized springs have been exposed creating mushroomy knobby spires that delicately dance out of the alkaline & mineral rich water, dotted with young volcano craters sparkle black with obsidian & peppered in pumice, where the smell is that of sage year round, cottonwoods & pinyon pine oases provide creekside shade on warm days, while the creeks provide a soundtrack to each night, is a refuge to many feathered friends, where the sun is called to rise by coyotes & gulls, and the sunsets make the mountains burn bright like a hot pink flame. This place, wild, rare and beautiful, has captured my heart and even though I had to fly to Florida a few days, I’ve committed to getting to know more about it’s history during this brief long distance relationship. And it’s that same old distance making the heart grow fonder story, where it takes losing something to realize how much you love this dang wild thing. East Sierra Nevadas, I think I loooooooooove you! Me & Mono are taking that next step in our relationship and shacking up for the next six months. It’ll be hard to dedicate myself to just one place for so long but this ain’t just any place... this is the place I love 4-ever! So come meet my new main squeeze this summer y’all. xoxo photo: @pyro4lif (at Mono Basin Fire Station)

My bathroom... rarely has running water, but would you look at those teeth brushing views?!? - Real talk people... during this last month, I’ve been the most broke financially, that I’ve been in my entire adult life. It’s not fun being broke, but when you live a dialed back life, close to nature and in places that shine golden with natural beauty, it’s hard to feel poor. - Side Note: if you’ve always wanted a real life answer to “how do #vanlifers fund their full time #vanlife travels?” and you’ve not read my blog, you should hit up ladyadventures.com [link in my profile] and read up on what me, and many of the full time nomads I’ve met, do in order to have the freedom to travel, living in a vehicle. - photo by: @philippe_leblond, a guy that can make a girl feel fancy for a photo while brushing her teeth (at Eastern Sierra)

#vanlife #vanlifers

Projecting your warm up routes since 2016. - I just realized that I hadn’t posted a picture of me climbing since I first started climbing. So here’s one of me showing how much I’ve improved since then by struggling my way halfway up a classic v0 in the Milks. Boy is climbing fun. - photo by: @philippe_leblond (at The Buttermilks)

I often start my mornings with a cup of coffee. Not always with a camera this close to my face while drinking it though. Thanks for the photos @philippe_leblond and for furthering the faith in the folk I get to meet on instagram. ✨ (at Eastern Sierra)

“I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners.” #thedudetteabides photo: @ajcmedia (at Lone Pine, California)

#thedudetteabides

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