Conversations with Sondra Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sondra Jones. 

Hi Sondra, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We are Sondra and Steven from @Travel.with.SS! In April of 2021, I (Sondra) was about to finish her first year of graduate school at Michigan State University (Go Green!). Pre-2020, Steven and I loved to travel together, but it had been a while since we had been able to go anywhere. That mixed with paying for graduate school meant there wasn’t a lot of extra money to go around (or time). As an affordable way to travel, I brought up the idea of car camping with Steven. Steven was all for it! So that weekend, we set off on our first car camping adventure. We went to Manistee National Forest, near Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area, and found an area for dispersed camping. Dispersed camping is free camping in the National Forests, there are parameters about how far you need to be from campgrounds or water, but in this area of Manistee National Forest, there were a lot of options. From there, we were hooked and loved disperse camping around Michigan! We were able to go camping almost every weekend, and we were able to see more of Michigan than we had our whole lives living there. 

Fast forward to May of 2022, and I graduated from MSU! At the end of May, we moved to East Tennessee, where we now explore the National Forests nearby. 

We share car camping products and tips, as well as share our adventures! Now that I have graduated from school, we are working to build our platforms and preserve more memories from our adventures. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, this has been such a great experience! We went into it with no expectations, and we have been learning every step of the way. One thing we have struggled with is the limited time we have. When we started, we were working around my school schedule, so we were limited at times. Now I am out of school, but our work schedules fluctuate, so we haven’t been camping as much as we would like. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
For my day job, I work in Federal Grant Administration, and I have a part-time gig doing grant writing for a startup. I just started both of these roles in June of 2022; before these jobs, I worked at a large SE Michigan non-profit doing grant management. As I said before, I just graduated from MSU with my masters; I received a Master in Social Work on the Clinical track. Steven has a background as a certified Ford Technician (which comes in handy when were on the road!). He worked at Ford dealerships for 9 years. 

We also have a small online vintage store (SS.Vintagee) that we dabble in on the side, as well as all the social media for @Travel.with.SS – so we have a very full plate. One thing I love about all the social media work is my ability to be creative. After a day helping businesses with federal grants, it’s nice to be able to do something creative. 

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To slow down. One of the beauties of camping in National Forests is that there isn’t always the best phone service. Being in nature without any devices forces us to just be with one another and be present in the moment. We have had some of our best conversations when we were car camping because we were experiencing new things together with no distractions. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.travelwithss.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travel.with.ss/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoRbNmFeLVciqzkwH_jAOHQ/featured
• Other: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdMkLLpJ/