Well we have officially been on the road for 100 days! Well a couple more than that by now. Our 100th day fell on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and we spent the day sea kayaking around San Juan Island in very windy seas but beautiful sunny weather, searching the horizon for signs of Orcas or other whales or dolphins. We didn’t see any whales unfortunately, but spotted a number of Bald Eagles, including some mating activity, and had a lovely time exploring the western coast of San Juan Island, and getting a workout in to boot.
So, as we celebrate this milestone of 100 days into this grand adventure, here are some random thoughts from me.
1. It is so lovely to have the time to actually take in your surroundings.
Hanging with a marmot on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park
Mostly I float through life flitting from one task to another, busy busy busy as a bumblebee, not really taking the time to really be in the moment. It is one of my biggest frustrations and probably a real weakness of mine (and many other people – it’s just how we live these days). And so one of my favorite phenomena of this trip is that I actually have time to be in the moment, to think about and consider and really absorb what it is that I’m doing. Whether that’s going for a hike in the woods, reading a book, chatting about the future with Ryan, or just daydreaming on the beach – I’m really able to be consumed with what I’m doing rather than thinking about whatever is next on my ever extended To Do list. The beauty of this sabbatical is that there are very few things on my To Do list, and I find myself feeling very hostile to those few things that do accumulate on the list. And so while only time will tell how this grand adventure will change me over the long run, this I know for sure: I absolutely must continue to be in the moment as much as I can – to stop multitasking, half-assing my current task because my brain has already moved on to figuring out how I’m going to accomplish the next 5 things that day, wandering through life only half engaged and half paying attention because I’ve overextended my attention span. I hope so much that I can keep this concentration and focus, and figure out how to morph it back into a busy (though not as busy) life when we return to the “real world.”
2. There is so much wilderness to explore.
Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, Washington
We have covered thousands and thousands of miles so far on the trip. We have seen the southwest, the Pacific coast, the beautiful forests of the Sierras, the Olympics and the Cascades. We have paddled around the Pacific Northwest, scrambled up and down the canyons in red rock country, climbed carefully through the cacti in the desert. And I feel so strongly that we have barely scratched the surface. In every place that we have explored, we have left so many rocks unturned, paths untraversed, spots unexplored. We simply don’t have time for it all (what a problem to have on a several month roadtrip, I know). And so we are making lists of places to come back to, adventures to seek out in the future. This country of ours is so vast, so beautiful and in many places, so wild, and it makes me sad to think about how many millions of Americans never bother to get out and see it. And while it pains me when people don’t even bother to get out of the car to wander down a path to take a photo, but rather stick their cell phones out the window to capture an imperfect but utterly convenient snap, I have to remind myself: at least they have bothered to get in the car to see it – that is more than most people go through the effort to do.
3. Living out of a tiny camper is easier than you might think.
Gelly taking in the beautiful west coast sunset
This is probably the most surprising aspect of our adventure so far. We get asked all the time, what’s the most surprising or unexpected thing you’ve encountered? And for me it is just how easy this trip has been. Of course we have our challenging days, our bored days, our exhausted days, our days where we simply cannot sit in the car or camper another minute. And of course we have had to adjust our daily routines and our comfort zones – not having a shower and/or running water everyday, for example. But overall it has been far easier than expected to get adjusted to this life. And perhaps it is that I love this exploring, adventurous, mostly carefree existence so much that I am willing to overlook the [in my opinion, minor] inconveniences that come with it.
4. Yes, we get testy with each other from time to time!
Another question that we are asked often is, Aren’t you tired of each other by now?! Well, Ryan and I are going on 12 years together, so if we were going to get tired of each other, it probably would have happened before we decided to embark on an extended road trip together in a tiny camper. But yes, we are human, and we certainly get frustrated with each other sometimes. Mostly if I had to guess, he gets testy with me over organization – I simply refuse to succumb to whatever organizational scheme he has decided is the best. I’ll put my things in the spaces that I want to put them, I’ll promptly lose them and wander around saying Where’s my water bottle?; Now what did I do with my Crocs?; I can’t find my [fill in the blank – you name it, I’ve lost it!!]. But that is just how I exist, always has been and always will be. I’ll find it eventually or I’ll learn to live without it or I’ll replace it the next time I see it (whatever it is) on sale. And that drives him bonkers. And what probably makes me the most testy is when Ryan gets testy with me. Which is of course caused by my own disorganization. But hey, nobody is perfect, right? Usually when this happens, we sit in silence for a bit or take some time to ourselves, take a walk around the campground or in the woods, wherever we happen to be, and then we are fine. Sometimes you just need some time to yourself and we not only recognize this but practice it not infrequently.
5. We love to have visitors.
As much as we are loving this adventure together as a couple, we also really love to have our friends join us along the way. Some of my favorite memories so far have been spent around a campfire with friends or family, exploring a new place together and making memories that we will surely reminisce about for years to come.
6. We do not have campfires every night.
Contrary to popular belief, and much to the disappointment to many of you I’m sure, we are not sitting around kumbaya-ing and roasting marshmallows for s’mores every night around the campfire. Here is a confession: I don’t really like campfires. {GASP} I know, I know – that means perhaps I am not really a real camper if I don’t like campfires. But they are really quite a pain in the neck – often hard to start (if you don’t douse it in lighter fluid), a pain to maintain, and the biggest downfall for me is the smoke. It permeates everything and you smell it for days. And the smell makes me nauseous – always has. I don’t like smoked meats for the same reason, they make me a little nauseous. I sometimes wonder what kind of damage I have and will continue to do to my lungs by breathing in campfire smoke, but in the grand scheme of things probably not enough damage to really worry about it, you just can’t worry about everything; that’s no life to live. So we will make campfires when friends join us, clamoring for a s’more or two and some flame-licked hot dogs or burgers, but most days when it’s just Ryan and me, we cook our meals on the camp stove in the back of Gelly and opt not to light up a fire.
7. We have much less downtime than we thought we would.
Bullet Canyon, Grand Gulch Primitive Area, Utah
We are always on the move. Ryan actually thought he was going to be bored on this trip sometimes, especially since he doesn’t love to read as I do. And I brought along so many hobby supplies to fill what I thought would be hours of free time each day. Boy were we wrong. I’ve only managed to pull out my paintbrushes and watercolors, because I was surely going to teach myself to be a masterful watercolor painter, maybe 3 times. Ryan has picked up the guitar only twice, but don’t worry we have been lugging it around for thousands of miles now. I haven’t listened once to the Spanish language CDs that are in the glove box, and I still haven’t mastered the manual functions on my DSLR camera. We simply have much less free time than we thought we would – we’re pretty much busy from sun up to sun down, and exhausted by the time we climb into the camper for some rest, reading and from time to time blogging. This is by no means a complaint, we are filling our days with exploring, physical activities, and a lot of driving because we are covering so much ground, and I am loving it all. But it is something that we hadn’t expected, to have so few hours to ourselves without anything to do.
Here’s to the next 100 days! Whether on the road trip or back to our “real lives”.
BY Jackie
BLOGGED FROM Anacortes, Washington, USA
