[See post 15.1 for an explanation of our series of "My take"]
When we talk to family and friends about how this trip has been so far we get many of the same questions- How is it? Where have you been? Are you having fun/are you still enjoying it? How’s the weather been? Do you two still like each other?
I’m going to be honest, the close proximity to each other in a very small space all day everyday was a little intimidating before we left. Typically when we’re eating dinner or writing in the journal or blog we’re usually in different places- one of us is sitting in the passenger seat that’s spun around and the other is on one of the benches. There’s been a few times that we’ll jokingly ask “why are you so far away?” The first month has gone really well. We have pretty seamlessly fallen into a routine that wasn’t planned or discussed, it developed pretty organically. Depending on the overall plan for the day we’ll set an alarm, although we’ve rarely needed it. Eric is usually out of bed first. He’ll climb down from the bed first and I’ll hand him the pillows, blankets so they can be put into the stuff sack. I’ll open the curtains if necessary/close the plastic windows and then climb down. If we’re traveling we’ll get dressed and one of us will walk Rooney around while the other eats breakfast. We’ll then switch and eat/get the van ready to travel. Days that we’re not moving the van, we’ll hang the bed and pillows so we’re not hunched over or hitting or heads. When we arrive to a new place we’ll park the van, pop the roof/put in the wood dowel supports and get the van situated for hanging out- turn the passenger seat, hang pillows up.
Cooking has been a team effort. We will plan out meals 2 or 3 days in advance and have to go food shopping accordingly. The fridge holds a lot, but there is definitely a difference in thought and food planning from being in a house with a large fridge and freezer. While food shopping isn’t the most fun thing to be doing every few days, everything we buy is eaten and there is no food waste. I’ve also noticed I look forward to the meals we’ve planned out. Pasta or rice sides are in solid dinner rotation. At home I’d cook enough for leftovers, but there isn’t enough room to have leftovers, so the packaged sides have been working out really well. Our meals are pretty normal with pretty minimal repeating of what we’ve eaten.
The places we’ve seen have left me in awe. Old towns in New England, the swamps of the south, little towns in the ‘backwoods’, coastal towns, beaches, New Orleans, areas that were once the Mississippi River that is now a natural lake. We’ve started a list in the handwritten journal of things that we want to learn more about. I find that I am very interested in the history of the areas we are in or drive through. What happened there? What influences have shaped the culture there? What has influenced the architecture? What natural phenomena are in the area? I don’t know that I have a favorite place that we’ve been to. Being in Florida, especially the Keys felt like we were going on vacation. (Yes, I know that all of this is vacation) New Orleans, the Outer Banks, Fort Pickens really piqued my interest. They are places with so much history- shipping ports, pirates, posts in the Civil War. I want to learn more about everywhere we’ve been.
I don’t know that I can express how happy I am that we took the chance to leave everything that we know and love in Colorado to explore our country. We live in a pretty diverse, beautiful place. It’s refreshing to completely unplug from the negativity in the world and not have a clue what’s happening. Life is a lot less stressful. When we do check the news it’s a pretty quick check and I think creates anxiety in both of us knowing that life as we know it can very quickly change in one hasty decision.
Weather has been incredible! We’ve only had one washout of a day in Meredith, New Hampshire, which worked out well. We worked on getting the blog up and running without feeling the pull to do something else. New England was cold, the south east was warm and humid. Mississippi and Arkansas had beautiful weather while we were there. There have been a few times that it is obvious that we aren’t locals because people either in the store or campground offices are in sweaters and we are in shorts and t-shirts. 60 and sunny is definitely warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt. It makes more sense to those in sweaters when they find out we’re from Colorado.
Finally and most importantly, yes, I still like Eric very much. We’ve had some epic adventures together over the past 17 years. This is clearly near the top of that list. I hope that we can continue to have epic adventures together until we’re old and crotchety