By: Sharon Aron Baron
Taking the road trip of a lifetime, one local couple traveled to 32 states in 71 days.
Coral Springs residents Juli Anna California, 52, and David Brody, 30, have been together for over five years and decided last summer to hit the road and see the United States while camping or visiting friends along the way.
“We love to travel and love to camp, and because I’m in network marketing, I have the freedom because I don’t have a boss.”
Because both Juli Anna manages her own multilevel network marketing business with Isagenix International, and David works as both a subcontractor as well as with network marketing, they had the flexibility to take time off. They even attended a business conference in Las Vegas that they were able to write off as an expense during the trip.
Starting on June 1, 2013, they set out in Juli Anna’s 2009 Honda Civic to see the United States, including National Parks and monuments.
Juli Anna estimates they spent $1,500-$2,000 gas during the entire trip as well as spending $20-$30 more per day over and above living at home.
“We learned to do a lot of free things like going to museums and parks. We also ate cheap and grilled, or stayed with family or friends.”
Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Juli Anna has lived in South Florida for 30 years and Coral Springs for 22 years. She has two grown children. Her third child, who was 16 at the time, spent the summer with his father. David is from Coral Springs and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2002.
In their video below which Juli Anna produced, they are seen spending time at parks and towns all over the western part of the United States including Washington, Oregon, California, South Dakota, Idaho, and Colorado.
“Without a doubt Montana was our favorite,” said Juli Anna. “We camped and drove through Glacier National Park, as well as hiked. It was just amazingly beautiful and it blew away the other parks. The other parks were beautiful, but this park was outstanding.”
Sometimes the campsites didn’t have showers and the two of them would go up to four days without one. They would take a shower at a nearby truck stop which Juli Anna says were actually very nice.
Fortunately, the two of them agreed on the type of music to listen to on the radio. “We liked a lot of country music,” said Juli Anna.
Laughter seemed to keep things on the lighter side on their long road trip. “David is good at voice impersonations and he would go into character,” she said. He is a funny guy, naturally hysterical.”
One of the traditions that they have when visiting a new state is to drink a beer when they visit. So far they have visited 46 states together, or have had a beer for each milestone. The only states they haven’t visited are Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.
It’s been a year since they made their 13,700 miles cross-country trip and Juli Anna said she’d do it again.
“When you’re with someone you love, camping is not a chore, it’s an adventure.”
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