We just returned from a family road trip filled with adventures seeing national parks, exploring towns, and playing in a bunch of bodies of water. We camped, we Air B&B’ed, and we stayed in hotels. We love getting out and exploring but one thing that really stood out on this trip was the people we met along the way and how much better the trip was because we took the time to talk to people.

In Bend, where we stayed a couple nights in a hotel, we ate a meal at food truck in the parking lot, South yo Mouth. One of the owners handed us a pager after we ordered but instead of walking off we stayed and chatted while they prepared our food. She told us about owning a food truck and we told her about the trip we were on. We mentioned we would be in Crescent City, and she told us we had to check out SeaQuake Brewery. In the same parking lot, I meat a guy who had just begun living in his Xterra with a rooftop tent after traveling much of the globe on his bicycle before Covid stopped the trip in its tracks and trapped him Asia for fourteen months. He walked over to check out our pop-up camper on the back of our truck and we realized that we both enjoyed adventuring and camping. We are now following each other’s travels on Instagram and who knows when we may connect in the future.

Down the road and a campground or two later while swimming in the Smith River in Northern California we met a man named Michael who was swimming with his grandson. Michael was a correctional officer for thirty years before retiring and not only was he interesting to talk to he had great tips for our trip. With his advice we took a gravel road that led us to groves of Giant Redwoods we would have otherwise missed going down the main road.

Making it to Crescent City we took the advice we were given and ate at SeaQuake Brewing and boy were we happy we did so. Not only is the food and beer fantastic but as we were sitting there, we saw a Project M Camper, the same as ours, pull into the parking lot. These campers are pretty new so spotting one is rare at this time. We saw who he was so we walked outside and chatted him up. Turns out this high school teach was on an annual surf trip with his brother who lives in Bend. We chatted about campers for a bit sharing some tips and then he asked if we had a You Tube channel. Turns out he had seen our videos.

The trip was filled with other nice little chats like the local couple on a walk at William M. Tugman State Park while we were pumping up the paddle board or the guy fishing on the lake that thought it was hilarious that there were three of us on the board. In all likelihood I will never see any of these people again, but it added to the trip both in learning about where we were and where to go but also just to get to know the people living life in their area or out traveling like we were. It reminded me that places are as much about the people as the sights, so whether you are somewhere new or in your normal routine take the time talk to people.

To see more of our adventure you can check it out on YouTube or on Instagram @adventruewithinreach.