Part 2: Year 1 As A Digital Nomad – Lessons From the Great U.S. National Parks Road Trip

This Is A Series About My First Full Year As A Full-Time Digital Nomad

If you want to read from the beginning or need to catch up, follow the links below! Thanks for following along. I hope you get some tips and inspiration if you’re looking to travel more or even go full-on location independent travel nomad. Please share the articles with a friend and join the conversation. Cheers!

Previous Article- Life Lessons Learned During My First Year As A Digital Nomad

Part 1: The Backstory & Getting Up To Speed

Part 2: 2 Months Solo Overlanding Across The U.S. On A National Parks Road Trip

Next, I hit the road in the U.S., destination west coast, with about 2500 miles and a handful of National Parks in between. I camped and slept in my Jeep most of the trip. 

Often I had to learn how to find free “boondocking” spots to overnight in National Forests, or less lavishly, Cabella’s parking lots. I published nearly a dozen videos and a few written pieces and visited 8 National Parks over that span.

Boondocking is a term used by RVers or other overland travelers to describe RVing or camping without being connected to water, electricity, or sewer, legally for free on public lands or other sites. 

Because you’re not connected to any services it’s also called dry camping. Other terms you might see that all refer to boondocking are legal free camping and wild camping, often in National Forests or Bureau of Land Management Lands in the western U.S.

The highs included my first night truly boondocking in Bighorn National Forest, to which was directed there by a kind National Forest Ranger.
The next morning I woke up to about a dozen elk grazing in the snow-covered field in front of me.

The lows included sometimes driving 2-3 extra hours to try to find a spot where I actually felt safe parking and sleeping. I also stayed at 3 hostels and housesat in Marin County, California along the way. 

My total spend for about 70 days on the road, all-inclusive, was about $3950, or about $57 a day. (Note that all-inclusive includes all accommodations, food, gas, entertainment, etc. spent on the trip.)

4 Biggest Takeaways From Overlanding 2 Months On A U.S. National Parks Road Trip

4. The U.S. Is Really, Really Diverse

Again, another statement that feels pretty ignorant to put into words. But I’m OK calling a spade a spade; I never realized it until I saw it with my own eyes. 

Driving across the US and back allowed me to see and meet people of so many different backgrounds. And I barely scratched the surface.

3. Our U.S. National Parks Are Overwhelmingly Unique

While I knew that the basis for the U.S. National Parks was that each of them was designated because they were unique, I truly didn’t start to understand this until I was able to string a few of them together in succession. 

Even the ones that are only an hour or two from another are so unique in comparison.

I got total new respect for our landscape in the U.S. And spending only a day in each of these? Just not enough! I needed at least a couple of days, and some, like Yellowstone, really deserve at least a week of your life minimum to even scratch the surface!

2. We Aren’t Taking Good Enough Care Of Mama Nature

I saw so much abuse of our national lands and even our U.S. National Parks during this road trip. Heightened by the fact that my road trip was over the summer—the busiest time for the parks. We’re adding massive amounts of destruction and pollution while utilizing these places.

Please, stay on the trails and be an example (read: speak up!) to family and friends if you’re in high traffic areas like National Parks congregation areas or near the touristy spots. 

Going off-trail is usually fine if you’re in the backcountry if you’re not “creating” a new trail. Other than continually trying to be a better steward to the environment on a personal level, I hope we can all push for better political and commercial practices with this regard.

1. The U.S. Is Big. No Really, Really Big

It’s extremely hard to understand quite how big it is until you drive it. I feel like the ability for us to fly coast-to-coast- in less than 5-6 hours has created a pretty jaded idea of the size of the U.S. This in turn gives most people a skewed understanding of the size of the entire world. 

It’s about 3,000 miles —about 50 hours at 65mph—from New York, NY to San Francisco, and that’s without looking around or stopping to pee!

As a solo overlander trying to balance being a digital nomad, the amount of time spent with my hands on the wheel was daunting. That’s the time when the only way to be productive is to listen to audiobooks. Need to plan? Pull over. Need to grab something from the cooler? Pull over. Luckily I always have the voices in my head to keep me occupied!

Cheers!
— Jason

Check out Part 3: Life Lessons Learned While Bedside as My Grandpa Passed On