Earthling’s Earth Things
Well hello! Cheers to you!
Thanks for float’n by our lil blog : )
We’re Nessie and Morgan
Our last names, Early + Smith = Earth
Plus we’re big fans of Earth. And we live on Earth. So we’re Earthlings.
We figure this blog has some of our Earth things (in written form)
And so, Earthling’s Earth Things.
Anyways, stick with us (it gets worse from here).
It’s Been a Lucky One From the Get
Our Story
We met outside an Irish bar in College Station, Texas. On the curb, between the bar and a concert. It was St. Patrick’s Day. We were both in green. Basically, a very respectable setting for life-long commitment. And fr fr, ever since, we’ve felt lucky & charmed to skitter through life together.
We both “grew up” in rural spaces, which feels like such a gift, one that grounds our respect for the outdoors, our joy for the open road, and our ability to identify at least six types of questionable smells. We’re scientists by training, which means we’re wrong a lot, but dang it if we aren’t on a quest to learn more: insatiable, perpetually curious, chronically “do you think…” We’re dabblers, explorers, enthusiastic yappers, and very much a work in progress. What we lack in long-term memory storage we make up for (?) with excitability and a “sure, why not?” approach to life. Big you-only-YOLO-once energy.
MORGAN is always schemin’ and dreamin’, he has more ideas per day than any reasonable person should track.
NESSIE enjoys hyping the chaos and brings a snarky flair he’d miss.
We genuinely believe we have the best people in our lives, and we’re endlessly grateful for them. We’re not totally sure what life will bring next, but in any case, we’re (glad to be) here for it.
Yet Another Way to Put Our Weird on Display
Our Blog
We’re not like, super good at sitting still. So hashtag van life suits us…maximum adventure, minimal square footage, heavy on serendipity, light on personal hygiene. Plus we can usually bring the pets (we even flew Angus [our cat] to Europe to van him around)! Though typically on-the-go, this year has been particularly travel heavy. A lil Europe, a lil Australia, a lil Jamaica, and now we’re on one long-ass road trip from Alaska to Patagonia (with a side quest to the Southeastern US).
But, like…how, you ask? Morgan is on a year-long sabbatical, meaning he isn’t teaching classes or doing service, just researching and writing, and Nessie has worked remotely since 2019 and independently since late 2024 (shameless plug if you got business that needs doing). We rented out our home for a year and took this (expletive) show on the road!
Mmmkay, but why? We’re hella lucky (see above), privileged, we prioritize travel, and quite simply, we wanted to.
Since people (Morgan’s dad) are always like, “Where are you? What are you doing? Tell me more,” we figured we’d start a blog and overshare in a way that makes people, especially those Gen X-and-up, confused and just a little uncomfortable. We love that for us. We love that for you. We’ll probably focus (lol, us?) said blog on the places we visit, the lessons we learn, the delights we encounter, and the people we enjoy time with along the way.
Come along if you’d like. We saved you a seat. Do brings snacks.
Opinions
★★★★★
Here’s our 2025 list of what’s in and what’s out.
In
+ critical thinking
+ meeting people where they are
+ leaving places better than we found them
+ mezcal
+ hype (for people, moments, experiences)
+ democracy
+ self-editing and rethinking
+ sunshine (+ sun hoodie & sun gloves)
+ humanity
+ making it werk (PIVOT!)
Out
– doin’ it for the man
– judgment
– tinned fish (Morgan has requested an edit here…it’s pending)
– túmulos (listen…they’re a no from us…and our van)
– scarcity and/or fixed mindsets
– cat puke on the bed
Our first trip together. Nessie broke her back.
You can’t run with a broken back, amiright?
Point is, she knew what she was getting into.
Nessie brought Angus Ferguson to the family.
He’s purfect.
Everyone knows it.
Morgan brought Tally.
She’s *actually* perfect.
We didn’t have to put it in writing.
We crashed a family trip with our wedding!
Acadia National Park will always be special to us.
The whole thing was such a joy.
It’s been the adventure of a lifetime from day one!
Honestly.
Full of twists and turns, and a love we thought we’d only dream of.