Mary Hollendoner - Monkeys on the Road: One familys vanlife adventure south in search of a simpler life

Copyright 2021 by Mary Hollendoner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Mary Hollendoner asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

First edition

Dedicated to the hundreds of people who helped us along the way.

And to everyone who dreams of doing something crazy like this just do it!

All events in this book are true and happened to the author between 2017 and 2021. Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of those depicted. Dialogue has been re-created from memory.

To see photos of our adventures along the way, and for an interactive map of our route, go to www.monkeysontheroad.com

I climb up into the passenger seat of our big white van and click my seat belt with trembling hands. My heart is pounding like a drum in my chest. I take a deep breath and turn to look at my husband, John, in the drivers seat. His grin is enormous, with just a touch of nervousness around his eyes, as he turns the key in the ignition. I dont know whether to laugh or cry I think I do both.

Are we really going to drive thirty thousand miles across 20 countries? Will we make it? What will we do next?

Our six-year-old daughter, Lilly, simply looks out the window and says, Okay, lets drive to Mexico. Like its just another day!

On top of the excitement and nerves, I also feel relief. Relief to finally be on our way, after years of intense planning and preparation. Its like Ive been standing at the top of a cliff, anxiously waiting to jump into a beautiful pool below me, and am finally free to just do it and stop worrying. But then again, the free-fall is the most terrifying part of the jump.

Only two weeks ago I was getting cold feet. John and I had already quit our jobs, rented out our house, and missed enrollment for the next year of Lillys public school. But I was obsessively reading the news from Mexico, getting more and more concerned.

Highest number of homicides in 20 years! Mass graves discovered next to the road! Decapitated heads found in a cooler! Tourists poisoned at resorts! Are we completely insane to drive into this country with our little girl? I marked the dangerous areas on a large map of Mexico, assuring myself that we could weave a path around them.

But then, along came an abnormally strong set of hurricanes, hitting Mexico on both sides of the country. I dont want to imagine hunkering down in our little van, arms wrapped around Lilly in futile protection, while a hurricane bats us around. So I convinced myself hurricanes could be avoided by keeping a close eye on the forecasts.

And finally, only one week before we planned to cross the border, there was an 8.2 magnitude earthquake with epicenter in southern Mexico! It was the largest earthquake to hit Mexico in a century. Is someone trying to tell us something?

What if Lilly gets seriously hurt, or kidnapped by Mexican drug lords? Or we have a car crash, or the van is stolen? Or what if we survive the trip but then we cant find jobs when we return to the US? Or, one of us gets cancer and we cant get US health insurance? There are 101 reasons not to do this trip, and I started thinking about all of them.

Ultimately, I turned to logic and probabilities yes, it is possible that any of those things happen to us, but its more likely they wont. The most likely outcome is that well grow old and hope to have lived the lives we wanted. So we made the uncomfortably exciting choice to leave our safe path and venture into the unknown.

I remind myself of this as I turn around to check Lilly is buckled correctly into her car seat. For the third time.

We finally bump down the driveway away from our home, memories flooding past our windows, as the neighbors wave and cheer us on. My head is swimming with the to-do lists from the past few months, but at this point, it no longer matters what we forgot to do or pack or research. We are driving to South America! No turning back!

One mile down the road, I sheepishly turn to John, I left all of our food in the fridge back at the house.

And thus begins our journey of thirty thousand miles. With a U-turn.

I t seemed like I had it all. A loving husband and healthy, happy daughter. A fancy job at a hot tech company. A big house in a friendly neighborhood. How could I possibly complain?

But there was a nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me this was not how I wanted to spend another decade of my life. Impressive jobs come with a lot of stress, and mine was no exception. My day was spent running from problem to problem, barely finding the time to eat and often returning home headachey and short-tempered. In the evenings, I tried to focus on my daughter but always had one eye on my work phone, my brain still processing the days unresolved issues. Heartburn often kept me from sleeping at night, and eventually my body protested with an allergic reaction of red hives, which my doctor couldnt attribute to anything besides stress.

Ive always had a strong relationship with John, but we didnt get enough quality time together, usually discussing child care logistics or other life admin in our rare moments alone. I desperately craved more time with him and our daughter Lilly, but it felt like life was flying by at top speed. Its already Christmas again? Lilly is turning five already?! If we didnt change our lifestyle, it seemed like I would blink and Lilly would be 18! We only have one child, and after three miscarriages weve decided not to have any more, so our time with her feels precious.

So John and I started to brainstorm how to make a significant change in our lives. We first considered moving to a smaller town in the mountains to make outdoor adventures more accessible and live in a community of like-minded people. Year after year we discussed this option, but the timing was always wrong for one of us to leave our career behind... I was ready but John had just gotten his start-up funded, then John was ready but I had just accepted a promotion at work, then I was ready but John had just sold his start-up and was contract-bound.

Finally, the stars aligned for both of us to leave our jobs at the same time. By this point, we felt so burned-out that we wanted a significant break before settling down in a new location. Simply moving our life to a new town didnt feel like enough same life, different backdrop. So, we spent countless hours discussing ideas for a mega-adventure. I read dozens of books by people whod pulled the trigger on a big life change from the NY exec who quit her job to start an organic farm in Vermont to the young couple who sailed around the world after a weekend sailing class I felt inspired by these real people who werent famous or wealthy but had done such unique and risky things.