We just finished traveling the USA for just over 2months (68 days) in our new car. We left Austin on August 23 and returned on October 29. We spent time with most of LW's family and some of my family. We have been to 21 states ( 3 of which we had never been to before) and also Canada on this trip. Our new car started with 6 miles when we bought it in April and upon our return it now has about 14,000 miles on it. Gas prices ranged from the cheapest in Council Bluffs IA and Little Rock AR at $1.97/gallon to the highest in Atlanta GA at $2.59/gallon. We had to have 2 oil changes while on the road and one stop for auto repairs ( see post about Des Moines). We received no traffic tickets. Yea!
This will be my last post for a bit while we are home in Austin. We have rented a condo up near the Domain to be near the kids. We are planning to depart again around the first of the year.
So until then...
Here are some life lessons (in no particular order) I have gained from our travel time. I hope you don't mind if I share them with you. Maybe they will give you a slight advantage or some helpful information if you ever decide to take on such an adventure.
1. Less is more. We have traveled with one suitcase for each of us, a bag with electronics in it, a small carry on size bag for bathroom stuff and a bag that has some food items in it. We have had 4 pillows and two small throw blankets in the car. LW took his golf clubs and one bowling ball in a bag. He used the bowling ball once and and the golf clubs once. As we travelled we ended up sending some clothes home that we didn't need. Even though that doesn't seem like much, we need to cut back. So as we think about our next leg of travel, rethinking the stuff we had with us will be a major part of planning.
2. Michigan's dead raccoons = Texas' armadillos. Not really a life lesson but interesting. Driving all around Michigan, the roadkill (and there was quite a bit) was always a raccoon. I knew we wouldn't see armadillos like we do in Texas. I guess I was surprised by the number of unfortunate raccoons though.
3. MVP of the trip...my rain boots. I almost didn't take my rain boots. I was thinking about how much space they would take up. Good thing I did! From about the time we left, we had some amount of rain ALMOST everyday until we got to about Pittsburgh around mid October. They will continue on to the next leg of our trip.
4. Donut stores are difficult to find. Ok maybe this is not all that important but just another "noticing." When we lived in Arlington, it seemed like there were little donut shops on every corner. Not Dunkin Donuts or Shipleys. Little private owned, delicious donuts. In Austin there are a few that we frequent. On the road, in other cities, these were very difficult to find. Mostly we found big name brand places like Krispy Kreme. (I like Krispy Kreme, don't get me wrong.)
5. Diet Coke vs Diet Pepsi. What is with the rest of the country? Almost everywhere we ate, served Diet Pepsi. In the beginning, I would tell the server diet coke please. The server would then say,"Diet Pepsi ok?" No! Of course it's not ok. But in the end I would always say yes. Eventually I didn't even ask for Diet Coke. Glad to be back in a state that offers Diet Coke as an option. (Even though I am trying to cut down.)
6. Hate LA traffic! The traffic in LA and our little fender bender has left me with a little trauma, especially if I am not driving. LW keeps telling me to relax but my reaction in congested traffic has become almost involuntary.
7. Can ship things home..buying things.. Our rule as we started was something comes in, something goes out. But I soon realized that I could just as easily ship things home to Michael to store for us. Unfortunately once I discovered this idea, shopping opportunities increased.
8. Missed having a home to decorate for holidays. Seeing all the Halloween decorations out in the stores, made me miss the opportunity to decorate for one of my favorite holidays. Yesterday I went to our storage and got my box of Thanksgiving decorations out and took them to the condo we are renting. By the time LW got home from golf, I had decorated for Thanksgiving. It makes it feel a little bit more like "home."
9. Eating out every meal. We used to eat out a lot. Mostly because I hate to cook. But being on the road for 2 months, eating almost every meal out in a restaurant has gotten me to where I am craving home cooked meals. We got to a point where LW would ask what I wanted for dinner and nothing specific stuck out. No specific cravings. He would ask, "Italian, steak, chicken." But it always felt like we had just had that to eat. Now in the condo, we are trying to eat in. However, I burned the first meal....could have been my cooking skills but I think the oven temperature was way off. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
10. We can do this! After asking if we had fun, the next thing people seem to ask us is if we are still getting along after being together 24/7 in a small car for the past 2 months. Actually, yes we are doing great! Some days are better than others but it has not been too much different than living in a house. Just a little closer quarters. We have had a great time, seen some amazing things and are both looking forward to the next part of our travels. But we were both ready to come home to Austin and see the kids.
So not all of those 10 things are life lessons. Some are just thoughts.
Until January....Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
