The Background That Lead to Still Stanleys

Cleveland Metroparks

How We Met

"He told his friends he was going to marry me."

Brent and I both spent our high school years in the Cleveland area. When Brent moved further west and I coincidentally gypsied my way to the same rural area, life hit us hard. We each found ourselves at a turning point where instead of furthering our paths to destruction, we chose the path to light.

The church where we first caught eyes was a House of Prayer. On one particular Sunday while the preacher preached, I watched Brent. He was illuminated by his love for God. Apparently he was watching me, too because at the end of the sermon he made an intimidating B-line in my direction.

That same day he told his friends he was going to marry me and six months later he did.

Painting by Kathleen Stanley

The Cleveland Itch

"Taking our kids hiking every chance we got, we quickly became thrill seekers."

I grew up camping with my siblings (even learned to drive stick at 13 in Mohican campgrounds!) and my high school years were spent wandering the park down the street before it became "Cuyahoga Valley National Park".

Brent spent his summers exploring the parks, too (although for him "exploring" was synonymous with "partying").

It was a backpacking trip in Kentucky with friends that rekindled our passion for the outdoors. There's something totally logical about being 6 weeks pregnant and climbing crazy elevation through bushwhack that made us fall in love with hiking all over again.

Red River Gorge, Kentucky

While we learned a lot from living in a rural area, there were limited places to go and things to see and Brent and I were itching for more excitement. Six months after Eva was born, we made the decision to grow our family and move back to our hometown.

The Cleveland area is filled with hiking adventures and we couldn't wait to explore together! Taking our kids hiking every chance we got, we quickly became thrill seekers. We lived for summertime when we could take our family rock-hopping in rivers and I even started trail-running (though hip surgery eventually ruined the trail-running party)!

Eventually we began planning trips further and further from home but became limited by the cost of taking a family of 5 to destinations outside of Ohio. That's when our RV idea came in.

White Mini-Semi

"We were added to the list of millennials who bought an RV during COVID."

Choices for RVs were limited as COVID caused motorhome sales to skyrocket. We searched everywhere for the perfect sized buggy. Cleveland weather caused serious water damage in the used category while the newer options came with inflated costs. Knowing our first road trip would take us to Arizona anyway, we decided to explore RV options near Red Rock Country.

We found our mini white-semi in Tucson, Arizona, bought it site-unseen and started planning our hiking roadtrip that night! We drove 2,500 miles in our first week of being RV newbies.

The Real Reason

"...we really want to create a solid recollection of our adventures for our family to look back on over the years."

Months later while posting a picture of an abandoned market in New Mexico, I became curious about the history of the small shopping strip. It was in our research that we realized it wasn't abandoned at all! In fact, it wasn't even in New Mexico! It's funny how 2,500 miles of driving plays with your memories. This is the reason for starting Still Stanleys. Eventually these memories start meshing together and we really want to create a solid recollection of our adventures for our family to look back on over the years.

As for the "abandoned" market- newly updated as of 2021, it's alive and well standing to host art sales for locals. It's located near Tuba City, Arizona on Route 89 right before Route 160. It only took a few hours of scrolling along Route 160 from Colorado, through New Mexico, and all the way back through Arizona near Flagstaff to find it once again. Thank you Google Maps for clearing that up!

We're happy to have you read of our adventures! Our goal, like many others, is to travel through America hitting all the National Parks and hitting some super cool spots along the way before eventually traveling outside of the US.