Sunday Summary #148

2025 Wrapped - Van Life Year One

Hi there,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 148th Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written in Phoenix, Arizona.

Last few months.

In our last Sunday Summary we had just returned from Katmai National Park in Alaska, and we were headed to our final National Park in Alaska, Wrangell St-Elias. Later in this email we’ll get into why we took a break from this email newsletter and YouTube, and what we’ve bee focusing on in the meantime. But first, let’s catch you up on the incredible last half we had in 2025.

Our last National Park in Alaska was the LARGEST National Park in the US - Wrangell-St. Elias. To put it in context, this park is larger than Switzerland. We knocked off two items off our bucket list here, hiking on top of a glacier, and getting up into the air and taking a flight tour of the Bagley Icefield and the largest Glacier in North America.

While we were sad to leave Alaska, in late August it was time to head out of what became one of our favorite states in the country. We will absolutely be back one day. We drove the Top of the World highway out and made our way to the start of the Dempster Highway and our hardest challenge yet, a 4-night, 5-day backpacking trip through the Patagonia of the North - Tombstone Territorial Park.

With all our food in bear safe containers, packs full of camera gear, and Ollie in tow, we hiked 30 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation over 5 days. With snow on the first morning, we felt extremely tested - this was going to be the most challenging effort similar to our 500 mile bike ride across Iowa for the 50th Annual RAGBRAI. All throughout this hike, the fall foliage was incredible and each step forward, persevering, making new friends made this one of our favorite experiences of the year.

Recovering from Tombstone, we decided to drive the challenging Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean. At this point in our trip North we were, honestly, pretty exhausted. Our fear of missing out, was in full force, and knowing we just had a few days of driving to reach an area that few ever get to see, pushed us forward. This long, rough, dirt road is notorious for blowing tires - many drivers plan all year around the trip and have multiple spares. We felt extremely unprepared but figured any issues we ran across, we could figure them out together on the road. Seeing our family and home on wheels on the coast of the Arctic Ocean is a memory that will last forever.

Now, after Labor Day, it was time to begin the long journey south - starting with the Alaska Highway. We were thrilled to visit the areas of the highway we skipped due to fires earlier in the summer. The signpost forest in Watson Lake, Yukon is a cultural icon where travelers bring hand painted signs or license plates and mark their voyage up the Alaska Highway. If you head up to the highway, try and find our sign!

After leaving our mark on the Alaska Highway, we stopped at a place we heard so much about - Liard Hotsprings. Getting the opportunity to relax, in these natural hot springs was the perfect way to unwind after the many mile trip to Alaska.

Leaving Canada, we chose to make the most when heading south. We hiked a few places along the Icefields Parkway, stopped in Glacier National Park, and once we had our first snow of the season - drove the rest of the way to Denver, Colorado to spend the holidays with family! Although we did take the scenic road South, of course.

After ten and a half months on the road, we arrived in Denver, excited to accomplish one of our main van life goals: spend time with family. We caught up on work, enjoyed time with Elliot’s sister, and stayed put for the next six weeks.

After Thanksgiving we headed out of Colorado and made our way to Los Angeles for Christmas but we stopped in Petrified Forest National Park, on the way.

After Christmas in LA, we made our way to Phoenix for our third annual creator meet-up. Adam and Kathryn from @adventuresofaplusk, Chad and Claire from @chadandclaire, Nate and Alicia from @thepassportcouple, Joey and Katie from @katieandjoeonthego, and last but certainly not least - Jordan and Emily from @jordanandemilytravel. Not only did we meet and discuss business strategy, but we also became better friends and family.

Next Year.

2026 is phase two of three in our National Park adventure, and we have some incredible travel plans for the year. We’re still working out our exact content calendar, but our travels will take us to Baja California this Winter, and we’ll make our way up to the Great Lakes for the Summer, New England this Fall, and then Florida and US Virgin Islands at the final part of 2026. Make sure you follow us on Instagram here @schoandjo to keep up with the adventures.

Videos.

It’s been about 5 months since our last youtube video. We last left off with our first National Park adventure in Alaska - Denali. We received many heartfelt messages from y’all, and we wanted to say thank you! We made a facebook post about why we had to deprioritize YouTube, but the TLDR is that our videos costed too much to produce, for what they brought in. We are planning to release videos this year, but just at a longer velocity so if you do enjoy our videos, stay tuned - some great stories are incoming!

Blogs.

While it’s been 5 months since our last YouTube video, we have been releasing multiple blog posts a week without pausing. We’ve mainly focused on releasing our Alaskan travel guides alongside some breakdowns of our favorite gift ideas. Checkout schoandjo.com/blog for the full list, but here are some of our favorites. We’ll be wrapping up our one year of van life expenses very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

From the Eyes of Ollie.

I turned 10 years young this year. Even though I have much more grey around my nose, I can still keep up with my parents… I even helped pull my Dad up Glissade Pass in Tombstone Territorial Park. Fortunately they let me sleep for a whole week afterwards as they drove many many miles! This year I’m excited to go to another country - hopefully I meet a lot of friendly dogs and I get to taste some tacos!

Gratitudes.

2025 was a whirlwind filled with highs and lows. While we visited some of the most incredible places we have seen to date, it was at the same time extremely challenging for our business. Going through 3 content niche pivots (boat life and great loop > van build > van life and traveling to all of the US National Parks) in the past year and a half has taken a toll on the stability of our business. But, through the challenging and stressful moments, we’ve refined what we actually love to do, what we want out of our business, and shed what doesn’t benefit us. This year of growth made us reflect on what we wanted out of life, our business, and our bigger goals in life. Going through these moments is always tough, but coming out of it on the other end is always so rewarding!

As I (Elliot) reflect on this past year, the gratitude for my little family is immense. Jen, Ollie, and I support each other through the challenging nature of life on the road - the highs and lows, the daily routine activities and new experiences, and helping me become the best versions of ourselves. I feel like we’re just hitting our stride in this current chapter of Scho & Jo, and in 2026 I’m thrilled to see what we can not only experience, but also create.

Thank you to everyone who reads this newsletter, no matter how in-frequent we posted last year, here’s to the end of 2025 🍻 and a healthy new year.

Peace and love,

Jen + Elliot

 P.S.

If you are new to our Sunday Summary, you can take a look at previous issues here.