The Traveling Slacks

We need a detox.

That simple fact is where the idea of a cross country road trip was born. We were planning for what life would look like on the “other side,” (aka normal society) and we decided we’d go crazy if we tried to jump right back into life before the Corps. We decided the perfect transition would be to just get out there, hit the open road, and drive. We were already doing online school, and with the help of the handy dandy Post 911 GI Bill we can continue to advance our education, and mark American destinations off our bucket list. We both love road tripping and exploring new cities, so it seemed like a practical goal.  At our wedding ceremonies, (yes two, whew talk about a headache! Two ceremonies is an ambitious way to go, and while ours were beautiful, I don’t know if I would ever recommend that to anyone) we tried something a little non-traditional. Since we already had a home and we knew that we’d be moving at the end of the year, we decided to ask for donations to our road trip as wedding gifts. It was really great to have all our wedding guests be a part of our trip and their contributions are going to be a huge help. It has been really fulfilling to follow through with a dream, and watch our road trip come to life. 

Anyways, back to the dream. God willing, we plan to visit all 50 states, spend a couple months living with just the supplies in our car, and traveling where the road takes us. Don’t worry we haven’t gone total hippies. (Actually, one of the main reasons we created a blog and instagram is to mitigate the temptation of going totally off the grid) We do have some sort of rough plan of a route we plan to take. But, we tried to make it really broad (on purpose) so that we could save PLENTY of room for the unexpected. The rough draft of our plan is to hit New England and as many Northern states as we can (without feeling rushed) before the big snows come in. As beautiful as snow is, it’s hard to truly get an original feel for a town when it’s completely drenched in snow. Plus we don’t want to get snowed in. So in hopes of keeping the journey moving we will hit the freezing states before Thanksgiving. Which works out perfectly so our Thanksgiving (and Daniel’s birthday) can be spent with Daniel’s side of the family. Post Thanksgiving we plan to venture the middle states and make it back to the East Coast to spend Christmas (and McKayla’s birthday) with McKayla’s side of the family. Post Chirstmas, it’s hopefully smooth sailing hitting all the southern states and completely our quest. Simply put, there’s our little plan!

Now for our trip goals. Both being sergeants in the Marine Corps, puts a certain wear and tear on your body, mind, and soul. The Marine Corps transforms you. No matter how much you try to fight it, refuse to accept it, or do not notice it, it changes a person. Some ways bad, but honestly, when you get past the rough edges, the Corps taught us a multitude of very valuable qualities. Time management, work ethic, adaptability, endurance, loyalty, and leadership are skills that get extremely amplified by serving. But, you do run on timelines, tight schedules, always being 15 minutes prior to 15 minutes, formations, and standing by to stand by. This type of organized living almost brain washes you and mutes your spontaneous spirit. Breaking this military mindset and back into normal society is going to be a hecking journey. Learning to relax, growing closer to God, be patient with each other, trying to filter our words, and minimize pointless stress are some of our main goals of this detox journey. In the true detox spirit, 
we are trying to live as minimally as possible. So we sold almost all of our belongings, and got rid of 75% of our clothes (that was the hardest part!)  The idea is the less crap we haul around with us the less distractions we will have from experiencing life and the beauty around us. Both being nostalgic people it was hard to let go of some of our prize possessions, but there definitely is freedom in letting go of crap you don’t need. Trust me, it’s bitter-sweet, but there is growth in change. 

So what’s next? Yes, eventually we plan on settling down somewhere. But the nice thing about downsizing our belongings is we can continue to keep up a minimalist lifestyle. In today’s world, it seems like you need so much stuff to survive and live comfortably. We are hoping to learn a lot about ourselves, as well as, what our true necessities are. I heard it said once, “I would rather own very little and see the world, than own the world and see very little.” Basically our journey (goals, plans, and dreams) can all be summarized as being present. Just being fully present wherever that might be. A verse we have been studying, in order to really focus on living each day to its fullest is: Matthew 6:34. “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.”

I know what you’re thinking… Why, out of all the characters on The Office, would you pick Meredith to name your home for the next few months? Well, to be honest, picking a name was hard at first, but once we started the transformation, it stuck out like a sore thumb. We came across Meredith on the good ol’ classifieds on Facebook. She was within our budget and within in the area, so we decided to drive out and test her. She seemed like a diamond in the rough at first. She had a clean running engine, tires with life left, leather seats with some commodities that weren’t necessary, but nice to have (bun warmers). Her AC blew cold, and her heater blew hot and it warmed up quick. No warnings, good on gas, exactly what we were looking for! The only things we wanted to upgrade was the radio, that had a burnt out display. After negotiating the price down, we decided to purchase her and bring her back to scenic Beaufort, South Carolina to begin creating a home on wheels.

Now, one thing we both noticed off the bat pretty quickly, was her smell. Meredith smelled like old people. No, not like a clean assisted living home, but that musty, mildewy, haven’t gotten a good cleaning behind the ears since there was one Virginia, old smell. No big deal, a little elbow grease and some Febreze will take care of that, no problem. Oh how wrong we were. We began to remove the mats and spray disinfectant down into the carpet of the interior of this dirty old hag, and the most disgusting, unspeakable, SPOOKY(Happy Halloween everyone) horror scene unfolded before our very eyes. I noticed it first, and groaned in disgust and disbelief as I called McKayla over to lay eyes on my discovery.

Maggots.

Yes, those maggots.

Droves of them.

I was sick to my stomach, and a wave of anger, disappointment, and anxiety washed over me. We had been bamboozled! Dooped! We’d been smeckledorfed and it was too late to turn back time and send this demon back to the Hell in which it came from. It felt as if our trip had ended before it started. Then McKayla and I decided to go on the assault, I mean we really went all out to destroy those little turds. We first ripped up all the carpet inside that old hag and separated every layer of fabric so we could see every dark, dirty crevice in our ‘home’. Next, we sprayed a chemical concoction reminiscent of something from Walter White’s lab deep into the carpet, the leather, the roof interior, everything we could, before vacuuming up the small families of disgusting creatures out of every corner we could find. Were we done? Oh no, far from it my friends. We then got an industrial strength debugging fog bomb and nuked the insides of our crusty caravan. After the bodies hit the floor and the smoke cleared, we vacuumed up the war scene and re-methed the carpets before soaking, lathering and repeating the process 3 times until we were satisfied with the results. We used a steam vacuum and more deep cleaner before finally declaring the war over, and that old Meredith was bug free. Nothing like that new car smell amirite? With the car finally clean, we released a collective sigh of relief, knowing that a daunting nightmare had been conquered. Does it now make sense why we named her Meredith?

Now that the hard part was over, we could now focus on the fun stuff: Building the bed. A high priority for us before we started this project was to act frugally and resourcefully to keep the cost of everything we put into our vehicle as efficient as possible. McKayla had this great idea to use wood pallets as the base of the frame for the bed. The Walmart down the street had free pallets in abundance, so we loaded up the old pick up and began to plan. The design worked wonderfully! After measuring the dimensions of the back of Meredith, We removed the back row of seats and saved the bolts so that we could use them to bolt the bed frame down to the vehicle and keep it secure. We modified the pallets by adding more columns and rows to them so that it would take up the entirety of the space behind the driver and passenger side seats. It took about 5 pallets in all, but two whole pallets to make the basis of the frame. We went to a local thrift store and found some old wood bottoms to a twin sized bunk bed, and broke them down to use as support beams for the bed frame. Underneath the frame we were able to create a large open space directly behind the two front seats, where we would store our cooler, cooking utensils, water jug and filter, propane cooker, and various other items we planned on using during the trip. In the back of Meredith are two large compartments built into the floor near the back hatch. We did not want to build on top of these two compartments and lose out all on this space. We decided to connect the two major components of the bed frame with gate hinges. This way we could lift up the back end of the frame and easily access anything below it. To store our clothes, we constructed three drawers that go down the length of the back pallet; two large, and one small. The small one we share to store socks, gloves, etc., and we each have a large drawer to put our own individual clothes.

While we had used up all the space in Meredith rather efficiently, one question still remained: How will we stay warm in the winter-or even during the fall of the northern states such as Wisconsin or Minnesota? Our solution was one that we executed in multiple steps. McKayla fabricated privacy/insulation screens fashioned out of Reflectix, foam composites, and vinyl fabrics. These screens were custom fitted to sit snug in every window of Meredith. With these installed, no light and minimal heat would escape the inside of our car even with the engine off. We also purchased a couples sleeping bag that is rated for -30 Degrees fahrenheit. We tested it out in our apartment a few weeks before we left Beaufort and trust us, it works! With these precautions we plan to brave any storm headed our way.

A week before we headed out on our trip, I was mindlessly browsing the Facebook classifieds and I found a Thule Cargo Box the perfect size for our Santa Fe, and it was a fraction of the price! We bought it and immediately it doubled the storage of our home. Now, ‘upstairs’ we have a pop up table, pop up chairs, yoga mats, gym gear, and extra coats and jackets for the winter stored and easily accessible to us. For food, we plan on making meals on the road to keep the cost of living cheap and reasonable. We plan on staying in shape and showering at Planet Fitness, which has various locations spread out across the United States and are conveniently open 24 Hours.  As I write this, we have been on the road for a few days now. The frame is holding up great, and the mattress we fashioned out of mattress pads is rather comfy when coupled with our massively thick sleeping bag. We are as snug as bugs in a rug (oh the irony) with the insulation screens McKayla made. Life on the road is as exciting as it is relaxing. I am so thankful to be blessed with such an incredible opportunity and I am eagerly looking forward to the road ahead.

-Daniel-

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Our BIO

If we are gonna do this, we better do this right. Who the heck are the Slacks, and why do they have these weird wanderlust dreams? Well here’s a little bio from both of us, so you know who you’re dealing with!

McKayla Slack (ladies first…)  

Hey yall! I’ll try to keep this short and sweet (my hopeless romantic of a husband, can go into all the nauseating details for you later). My name is McKayla Slack, more formally known as “Plummer.” I am originally from Chesapeake, Virginia and grew up at Triple R Ranch. I grew up living a somewhat adventurous lifestyle with a lot of sports, camping, hiking, and exploring what nature has to offer (mostly credit to my father, who is basically Davy Crockett). It wasn’t before too long, that I realized I had a love for traveling and meeting new people. In my teenage years, I traveled to Tanzania and Kenya to work with orphanages and visit schools. Then, junior year I participated in a foreign exchange program and studied abroad at an art school in Germany, right outside of Munich. After high school, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and was assigned to work as an avionics maintainer on the F-18 Hornet fighter jet (the jet they use for the Blue Angles). Immediately upon completing school, I was stationed overseas for two year in Iwakuni, Japan. My squadron traveled every couple of months, and I got the opportunity to see some incredible places like: Thailand, Singapore, Korea, China, Guam, Alaska, and Iwa Jima. Japan also holds a special place in my heart because it is really where I got to know the love of my life, Daniel. We have been married since April 2017, and it has been a dream (a wild, crazy, exciting, border-line nightmare) ever since. I recently finished my 5 years of service, and decided it was time to move onto new challenges. Upon leaving the military, I have opened the door to new freedoms and the opportunity to visit places on my bucket list. My husband and I decided during this transition time would be the perfect time to tackle the task of a cross country road trip. We have converted a little SUV Santa Fe, and now we are hitting the open roads. I hope we can inspire, educate, or at least entertain a few of you throughout the process. I think everyone should travel, get out of their comfort zones, and grow as an individual. God Bless!

Daniel Slack  

Hello everybody! My name is Daniel Slack, I’m 23 years old and I am happily married to the lovely McKayla Slack- who you just finished learning about. I was born In Ventura, California where I lived for 8 years, before I packed up with the family and headed up north to the Pacific Northwest. We moved to The City by The Falls: Oregon City, OR. Growing up I enjoyed playing sports, camping, skiing, and reading. Although I enjoyed to read, I wasn’t the best student at times, as I was a brat-which can be confirmed by literally anybody who knew me between the ages 1-present day(oof). Oregon is an incredibly unique and awesome area, and I made many friendships during my upbringing there that I still hold close to my heart today. I devoted my life to Jesus Christ at an early age, however my path and my devotion was not always clear. I constantly found myself questioning Christianity and struggling with my faith, and through that I saw myself grow-either by listening to God, or by learning the hard way (usually the latter). I went on mission trips throughout the Northwest, aiding small towns anyway we could, and I was even fortunate enough to be sent to Jacmel, Haiti, to aid in the earthquake relief effort in 2012. My youth was a constant wrestle with what I thought was right, and what God knew was right. All in all, I’m thankful to have had patient mentors to repeatedly guide me in the right direction despite my best efforts.

After graduating high school and attempting to give college ‘the old college try’, I decided to enlist into the Marine Corps. After completing basic training, aboard MCRD San Diego (I was guide in bootcamp… nbd), I began my training to become an Aviation Ordnanceman. In January of 2015, Uncle Sam and the Green Weenie had a meeting and decided it was best to send me overseas, so they shipped me to the Far East to Iwakuni, Japan for my first duty station. While I was stationed there, I was fortunate enough to travel all over the Asian Pacific region for detachments to countries such as Thailand, Guam, the Philippines, and Singapore, to name a few. I quickly fell in love with the high tempo traveling that the Marine Corps ran on, and I could not travel enough. While I was in Japan, I also fell in love with somethin-or should I say someONE else. I met McKayla briefly in our time together in school before we both got stationed in Japan together. I am not sure if she mentioned in her post above (I haven’t read it yet, sue me), but we both worked on the F-18 Legacy Series Hornet together. She was a nerd, or as she would say, a Communication/Navigation Technician, which is basically a fancy title for being someone who works on radios and radars/other nerdy things. My job was to mind numbingly slam up anything that went BOOM onto the jet to include BUT not limited to: bombs, rockets, missiles, larger bombs, larger missiles, mines, Semi-armor-piercing-high-explosive-incendiary rounds (they’re as badass as they sound), and many more lovely loud freedom delivery systems.

I know it’s hard to imagine, but my mouth breathing kin would work alongside McKayla’s D&D playing kin from time to time, and I began to develop a crush on her. During 2 years of being friends and getting to know each other during our time in Japan, somewhere along the way the line blurred between friends and dating each other and by the time our 2 years together overseas was up, we were dating seriously with the intent to marry someday. We tied the knot on April 10th 2017, right before McKayla deployed to Bahrain, and the rest is history. I am so glad to have found someone who is madly in love with Jesus, serving others, and traveling. She is always so optimistic and her viewpoint on life is a refreshing take in a world full of skepticism and hate, desperate for Jesus. She truly is my better half, and she makes me a better man by making me whole (I know its gross, but it’s true). We are so glad you have decided to join us on this journey with us and I can’t wait to see what the road has in store for us in the future. I don’t know where we will end up in the next few months, but one thing I do know, is that it is going to be a hell of a trip there. God Bless!

Contact Info

We’d Love To Hear From You! Please feel free to reach out to us at either of our emails listed below. We will get back to you as soon as we can! If you’d like to follow along on the gram our instagram name is @thetravelingslacks.

McKayla’s Email: mckayla.plummer@gmail.com or facebook “mckayla slack”

Daniel’s Email: daniel.jacob.slack@gmail.com or facebook “daniel slack”

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