LOCATION
On contract in Fort Defiance Arizona (staying in Gallup, NM)
CAIRN Traveler (CT) Week in Review
Like most of you, I am all too ready to say goodbye to 2020. There's been many times this past year that I've thought of that Star Trek Voyager episode, Year of Hell (insert pic) - where they reach the end of the year with the ship and crew in tatters. As you'll recall, the COVID 19 pandemic hit not just the US but the world in earnest in March and we have just ended 2020 with some horrifying statistics (insert pics). Protests began to spread through the county in May (insert George Floyd and Protest pics). This year has been a particularly dramatic and contentious year in politics and the elections (insert Trump pic). And when I left California in late September, we were in the middle of one of the worst fire seasons on record (insert pics).
All of this being said, I personally believe in the power of leading with gratitude. I started this year in California and, the previous RPOD travel trailer having been essentially totaled, my new trailer (an Airstream) was delivered near the first of the year - and a year later, I am still loving it and so happy with my decision. I am blessed to have spent an amazing 9 months of 2020 on the beautiful North Coast of California (insert sunset pic) and making friends with some amazing people that will forever be a part of my life (insert dinner pic). I learned to grill this year and was also able to expand my video equipment with a DJI Mavic and Canon EOS R5 among other things. While what we do (I'm an ER Nurse) is very high risk for COVID, I am constantly reminded that I am SO blessed to be gainfully employed when so many are not. I am so thankful in that through an entire year with COVID, I always had access to appropriate PPE and I never got sick. I am blessed and privileged to be in the first wave of COVID 19 Vaccinations. I was able to pay off the previously quasi-totaled trailer (now repaired after almost the entire year in the shop and ready to be sold). I should be able to pay off the truck this year, the Airstream and house (back in South Carolina) in the next five years and then to be 100% debt free. I am ending the year in the astoundingly beautiful (but admittedly cold) desert of New Mexico-Arizona (insert travel map), working at a wonderful hospital with another group of amazing people. I am constantly reminded that in this year of extreme hardship for so many, I have been given grace upon grace.
I usually do some sort of look back (journaling, a blog post, etc.) over the past year and total up the highlights. This year, I thought I would simply post a video montage of some of the incredible places I have been this year, despite travel and adventure being greatly curtailed. I am curious though (and this will likely be next week's video) but after a year of being constrained, what are your top ten things to do when life gets back to a relative sort of normal - think about it for next week and we'll compare. I'll leave you with the beautiful positives of 2020 - what were yours?
Awesome Events and Beautiful Places of 2020
Bought an Airstream (Delivered First of the Year)
Crater Lake National Park (in winter)
Bought a New Truck
Cycling the Noyo Headlands Coastal Trail in Fort Bragg
Hiking the Rubicon Trail in D.L. Bliss / Emerald Bay State Parks
Hiking at Taylor Mountain Regional Park in Santa Rosa
Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff
Return to and Hiking at Valley of the Gods
Acquired More Camera Equipment to Raise Videography Quality
**Survived COVID
RELATED
PRODUCTION NOTES
Cameras: Canon EOS R5, Apple iPhone Xs Max and the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 Gimbal, GoPro Hero 7 Black, DJI Mavic 2
Audio: RODE Wireless GO and Device Native Mics
Music: Epidemic Sound
Editing: Adobe Premier Pro (Creative Cloud)
**Additionally, I was happy with the quicker cuts (though still much work to go) and thankfully I remembered to use the RODE Wireless GO Mic AND turn off the Airstream furnace fan (on the second take that is 😂).
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