• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Start Here
  • Our YouTube Channel
  • Mile High FI Podcast
  • About Me
  • I ♥ Longmont
    • Cowork In Longmont
    • Live In Longmont
  • Stuff We Like
    • Tesla In Ten Years
  • Best Credit Card Offers
  • Contact
    • Media
    • Guest Post

1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

1500 Days to Freedom
  • My Investments! (REAL TIME!)
  • Bucket List
    • Anti Bucket List
  • All Posts
  • Best Posts
  • Guest Post Policy
  • 10 Questions
  • Tesla In Ten Years

Inspiration Stagnation/ Road Trip!

July 17, 2022 by Mr. 1500 Days 31 Comments

I’ve been writing here for almost 10 years now. For most of that time, I’m never at a loss for inspiration. My crazy brain is always throwing ideas at me. But lately, I haven’t been feeling it. I ask my brain for ideas and it’s like:

Perhaps it’s the feeling of malaise regarding world events. Inflation is bonkers. So is war.

Or, maybe this experiment/ project/ blog has run its course. All things must end. Am I out of ideas or is my brain just on hiatus?

Forcing creativity is never a good idea. Humans do their best work when they have passion for what they do. If you wake up and jump out of bed to do whatever you do, that’s awesome! If you dread the day, you should move on. If it’s not a Hell Yeah!, it should be no.

But I’m not ready to throw in the keyboard yet…

Mr. Palindrome, Oregon, California

I have a friend and neighbor who I’ll call Mr. Palindrome. Our younger children who are also friends posed an idea to Mr. Palindrome and me a couple of months ago:

  • Children: Let’s take a road trip to Oregon!
  • Mr. Palindrome and me: Ummmm, sure!

So, tomorrow (Sunday) we’ll depart for Sunriver and Bend.

This trip is an experiment for me. My normal road trip mode is to drive many miles in a short period of time. If it was just me, I’d drive the entire 1,100 miles in one day. Mr. Palindrome suggested that we travel at a more relaxed pace. So, we’ll take 3 days to get to Oregon. After our time in Bend is done, we’ll spend another 3 days driving down the coast of California. The other half of my family will fly in and we’ll head to the beach.

Pismo Beach, California

Why haven’t I been traveling slowly all along? How many detours/roadside attractions did I skip just to get to my destination? A lot. Going fast is no way to travel. Same goes for life.

So, I’ll be changing things up on the blog for the next couple of weeks. 1500 Days will temporarily become a travel journal where I regale you tales from the road and show you pretty pictures.

We’re off!

Along the way, we’ll stop and look at random stuff and visit with friends. Perhaps we’ll even meet sometime in a random city or beach? Or, over a $.75 cone.

Little America

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

Mile High FI podcast:

  • Listen on Apple, Google, YouTube, and Spotify

Also here:

  • Facebook: Facebook group and page
  • YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
  • Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
  • Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
  • Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know.

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

Thank you!! Please check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

Filed Under: Something Completely Different, Travel Tagged With: bend, pismo beach, sunriver, travel

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ann says

    July 18, 2022 at 6:06 am

    We are stuck at home this summer, so I’m looking forward to ‘traveling along’ with you!

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 7:24 am

      Oof! I hope it’s all OK on your end!

      Reply
  2. Lisa says

    July 18, 2022 at 6:26 am

    Love it! I’ve always done the power road trip growing up and as an adult, but my husband, who grew up with a teacher parent, would spend summers on long, multi-week road trips across the US to visit family. We did our first family road trip with a toddler last fall, and only driving 4-5 hours/day was so much fun. We saw new cities! We stopped at small National Parks! I look forward to FIRE some day so I have more time to indulge in the luxury of slow travel and not focus solely on the final destination.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 7:23 am

      Right on Lisa!

      And FIRE life is pretty great! When you make it to the other side and pass slowly through Colordao, look us up!

      Reply
  3. Ben says

    July 18, 2022 at 8:05 am

    Is it possible Mr 1500 has recently read “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” ?

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 8:42 am

      No, but now I want to!

      Reply
  4. MindspeaksFi says

    July 18, 2022 at 9:08 am

    Looking eagerly for your Instagram account for pictures. This year summer has been cancelled
    For us because of Covid. Have a great trip.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 6:19 pm

      How are y’all doing? I’m sorry COVID kept us from meeting. Stupid virus.

      Reply
  5. Chris@TTL says

    July 18, 2022 at 10:11 am

    Sounds like you’ve found some time and energy to find a new place to put your time and energy that’s…maybe…a little less focused on money. 🙂

    Nothing wrong with that! I mean, isn’t the point of early retirement to stop worrying about the gyrations of the bank accounts, market, etc. and instead live life as you see fit? At times, that might be to invest in local real estate projects with friends, pickup a collectible car, whatever… and those are interesting things to write about here related to money. But, at other times, maybe it’s just to take a slow road trip with a buddy and your family.

    Lots of us will enjoy the travel tales, no worries. And you can bring along everyone else for the money stories when they strike you again.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 6:24 pm

      Thanks Chris! I’m getting into the slow travel. Life is good.

      Reply
  6. Tech says

    July 18, 2022 at 1:42 pm

    I hope you went to https://www.visitoregon.com/the-oregon-trail-game-online and played “The Oregon Trail Game” with the kids to get them into the mood for your adventure to Oregon. Stopping for ice cream and slow travel sounds much better than dying of dysentery or losing a wagon wheel. 😉

    Have a great road trip.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 6:25 pm

      Haha, we have it soooo easy in our air-conditioned steel wagons.

      I haven’t shown them the game yet, but will!

      Reply
  7. Anirudh says

    July 18, 2022 at 1:44 pm

    Hit me up if you end up going thru the SF Bay Area

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 6:25 pm

      Yes! We will be close! in about 9 days. Email incoming soon.

      Reply
  8. Joe F. says

    July 18, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    Carl,
    First time commenter, long time reader. Speaking for myself, I really enjoy your writing, stories, wacky humor and perspectives on almost any topic, so I am very happy to read about your travels. The worst scenario for me would be you stop posting all together. because you were stressed about keeping up with your ideal frequency of posting or the need to always be on-topic regarding financial independence. My suggestion would be to post only as often as is comfortable and enjoyable for you on whatever topics you want. Your fans will still be here.
    All the Best!

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 18, 2022 at 6:30 pm

      Joe! Thanks so much for the kind words and for reading my silly content! I started this thing to amuse myself and I’m still surprised anyone else pays attention. Please look me up next time you’re in Colorado!

      Reply
      • Joe F. says

        August 7, 2022 at 5:44 am

        Sorry your trip was shortened by COVID. Hope to be in Colorado sometime in the next 12 months and will definitely look you up. Am a fellow ping pong and tennis player, so maybe we can work one of those into the mix. All the best!

        Reply
        • Mr. 1500 Days says

          August 8, 2022 at 7:40 am

          Awesome!

          Reply
  9. MamaMinou says

    July 19, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    You all might enjoy a stop at Crater Lake along the way! Not too far from Bend. I hope it’s a fun trip! What inspired the kids to want to visit Oregon?

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 21, 2022 at 10:45 am

      YES! Crater Lake is in our plans!

      My friend grew up in Oregon, so that’s how we ended up here.

      Reply
      • MamaMinou says

        July 21, 2022 at 6:56 pm

        One more recommendation if you’re heading west on Highway 58: Salt Creek Falls and Diamond Creek Falls. Enjoy and thank you for the vicarious travel adventures. 😊

        Reply
        • Mr. 1500 Days says

          July 23, 2022 at 8:33 am

          Thank you!

          Reply
  10. Elizabeth Blazina says

    July 20, 2022 at 12:35 pm

    Diddos on what Joe said. Your genuine, refreshing and by golly we like you! Enjoy the Pacific Northwest. And where did you get that ,75 ice cream..I want to go to there:)

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 21, 2022 at 10:45 am

      Elizabeth! Thank you for the kind comment! Much appreciated!

      Here are the details on the cheap (and good!) cone: https://sillyamerica.com/blog/little-america-travel-center-wyoming/

      Reply
  11. Sayeret says

    July 20, 2022 at 7:15 pm

    I’m still glad you’re posting and showing what your life is like! I’m on the same path as you so it gives me encouragement to see into the “other side”! 🙂

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 21, 2022 at 10:13 am

      Thanks for the kind comment! Also, life is pretty great on this side! See you here soon! 🙂

      Reply
  12. Jason Johns says

    July 20, 2022 at 7:46 pm

    Hey any chance your coming through Portland it’s a pretty fun town just saying. Let me know if you are up this way would love to buy your a beer or a coffee.

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 21, 2022 at 9:56 am

      Jason! I love Portland, but we won’t make it up that way this time. Do hit me up next time you’re in Colorado.

      Reply
  13. Physician on FIRE says

    July 20, 2022 at 8:50 pm

    Enjoy the slow road trip, and be sure to be home by mid-August!

    Cheers!
    -PoF

    Reply
    • Mr. 1500 Days says

      July 21, 2022 at 9:55 am

      We’ll be back and eagerly await your visit!

      Reply
  14. eknownz says

    November 12, 2022 at 7:57 pm

    These days, every second person is looking for Inspiration Stagnation. You have mentioned all of these very beautifully. Keep sharing.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on Instagram

Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only (primary home excluded)
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**
1/1/22 (9 Yrs Later): $4,762,642
1/1/23 (10 Yrs Later): $3,112,821

2023: Investments only
1/1: $3,112,821

Overall
2023 investment gains: $0
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,526,778
Net worth***: $3,342,821

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental. We have since sold it.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $290,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

Featured in

Smiley face

Disclaimer

Investing is risky business. The information contained on this site is for informational purposes only. As with all matters financial, proceed with caution. Do your research and seek professional advice.

Get my annoying emails!

Join 1500 Days! (now 27% less annoying)

Subscribe to get great good pretty ok content by email.

Thanks so much! Check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Powered by ConvertKit

All Posts

Read all the posts ever published to 1500 Days of Freedom.

© 2023 1500 Days to Freedom · Privacy Policy · Contact