Baby Steps....One at a Time....

Well, Liz here, November 12th, filling you in on a few things. We launched our Kickstarter 12 days ago and we have made some great progress! In the first 5 days, we reached 20% of our goal, which was so exciting! Things have slowed down a bit, I think elections really drained everyone's energy and that was one thing with timing we were worried about. But, with that mid-month paycheck just around the corner, I'm confident we are going to get another nice bump and I have no doubt that our awesome network of people will help us reach our goal!

Other developments with getting ready to leave involve the purchasing of our phone. I am the world's biggest sell out, since if you know me, I've preached nothing but hate speech about smart phones, and iPhones, in particular. While I didn't get an iPhone, I did get a smart phone. Trust me, I'm having all kinds of self-loathing and guilt from this purchase. It is necessary though in one regard, we want to stay in touch with people and the cheapest and easiest way to do so throughout Central America was to get a phone through a non-contract provider, so that we won't have a monthly bill or roaming fees like with AT&T or Verison, but when there is Wifi access, we will be able to Skype with folks! So, I bit the bullet and bought a smart phone. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do in life, so that you can do things that you do want to do. Balance. Or whatever.

Also, we are pretty sure our two friends, Kat and Kelly, will be taking over mine and Jahsiah's apartment and inheriting most of our furniture and belongings. This news is very exciting as this way we don't have to worry about what to do with our stuff, we save time on donation runs and avoid the stress of completely moving out, and we know that this awesome spot we have inhabited for three years will stay in the family! We put a lot of energy into our vegetable garden, built a fence, turned the empty dirt plot that did exist into a nice hang out space with lots of food to eat and I would have hated to see it all fall into disarray. I'm happy to think that whatever the future holds, I can come back and visit this space to see it continue to transform. Too many wonderful cooking nights have taken place here, so the fact that I don't have to completely say goodbye warms my heart! Thank you Kat and Kelly!

Jahsiah and Timmy have been continuing to work construction with our friend Brandon, getting jobs done, making sure to tie up lose ends and leave things in a state of completion. I have been training my replacement at the Altarena Playhouse. Elaine is the new Box Office Manager and I couldn't be happier to have her taking over. All three of us are getting really excited about our approaching departure date. It looks like we are just about at the one month mark, December 10th is the date that pops up in my mind as when we will be ready!

We still have a lot of things to do to be ready to go. We also still have our wish list of items that are either needed, or desired, for the trip. Here is a combination list because my mind is too cluttered and stimulated from coffee to separate them out:

• Make curtains for the Yuka Frida (This is the name of our Yukon now). At points, one of us will be sleeping in the Yuka Frida, with the dogs. If you have ever slept in your car, you will know you sleep much better if you can hang curtains so that others are not so aware of the fact that you are sleeping in your car.
• Create screens for the windows of the Yuka Frida. For the purpose of the dogs being the car at night, or people, we need screens to allow cool air in but keep bugs out. I am having trouble invisioning how to attach these, crafty friends, any thoughts?
•  Get new tires. Our tires are in good shape but for the conditions we are likely to encounter, we need something brand new and tough. This is a big wish list item.
• Get a Platypus Water Filter, or some other type of filtration system. I hate buying plastic water bottles all throughout Central America as recycle programs are not readily available. We had a Platypus before and it was amazing!  I would love to have another, but they cost about $100, so come on Kickstarter!
• More SD cards. We have the cameras, although we are also looking into getting a GoPro, because they seem pretty bad ass. Either way, we want to have plenty of ways to record and document.
• Tie up lose ends. This is board, I realize, but it includes things like handling mail, informing banks of whereabouts, compiling an address book so that we can send mail along the way, all those little tasks of organizing life. This is my strong suit, but of course I won't do it till about three days prior to us leaving. I work well under pressure.

So, we are taking baby steps at getting ready. I suppose it is the calm before the storm. With good bye dinners and parties coming up, family visits and drinks with friends before we leave, time is flying by! It has been so much fun already, making our Kickstarter, sharing the news, researching places to stop, I'm already having a great time and we haven't even left yet!

Stay tuned for more updates as we prepare, and remember to bookmark this page so you can read our posts from the road!

The Gatos Out of the Bolsa!

Jahsiah, Timmy, Liz Costa Rica 2009

Well ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for the formal announcement: Liz, Jahsiah and Timmy are leaving in December to drive to Costa Rica. For some of you, this comes as old news. You've heard me or Jahsiah or both of us talking about this for years and you're thinking "Finally, they're going to stop talking about it and just do it!" For others, you may be shocked to find out that no, Costa Rica is not an island, yes, you can drive to it, and yes we are planning on doing just that.

We'll be leaving in December. We don't have an exact date yet but somehow, that's just the time it ended up being. I'll be finishing my job at the theater, ending my 3rd season with The Altarena Playhouse in November. Jahsiah will be finishing up with some construction work that he has been involved with. We are taking the dogs, which may seem crazy, but there is no way I would go without them, not after six years of being roommates and friends. We will be driving down in our 1999 GMC Yukon, packed to the brim with what we think we will need along the way.

This website will serve as our outlet to communicate with our friends and family along the way. Bookmark it, share it on Facebook or Twitter, put it on your smartphone (I'm not sure how that works since I don't have one), but find a way to keep this site handy so that we can stay connected. We plan on keeping it as up to date as possible, taking into consideration wifi accessibility along the way.

We will be camping and staying in hostels. We are eager and excited to link up with any contacts you might have along the way. Part of this journey is to create a network of family and friends throughout the U.S. and Central America. This journey is also about better understanding ourselves, creating art, and experiencing the land, and the culture.


Please feel free to give advice and travel tips. Ask us any questions you might have about what exactly we're doing and where we are going. And please, check out our Kickstarter Page and share it with anyone you know who would like to support us.

"The world is a book, those who do not travel, read only a page." --St. Augustine