40 hours of driving

Travel is exciting. Travel is also exhausting. I have no where to be. No timetable per say. Reservations for where my family will rest their head, but other than that, we are free birds. So I should be totally relaxed, right? Then why am I not feeling super relaxed? My goal for this summer of adventure was to stay present. To be mindful of where I am, be grateful for where ever I find myself, and stay flexible. Well three weeks into it and I can’t say I am fully embodying this. So far our road trip has brought us to Joshua Tree. One night in a Yurt and a “Honey Pot” (that is not what I thought I signed up for). Driving through Joshua Tree was cool. I have always wanted to go since the U2 Joshua Tree album landed in my collection 25 year ago. We spent 2 days in Palm Desert, nothing much to say there, except thrilled to see a friend! Phoenix with family. GIANT EXHALE. Even with the heat. My husband spent Father’s Day with 3 of his 4 children, which is really beautiful. Then to Las Vegas, which I love, although way more without a dog. Those lobbies are huge with an old dog that needs TO GO (oops… the hotel crew earned the $100/night pet fee… sorry about that). 7 hours to Yosemite, that place is gigantic. Don’t go in there with a half tank of gas or an empty belly. Did you know people hitchhike through Yosemite? A 3.5 hour drive from Yosemite to the Sacramento which ended up taking 6 hours… flight missed. Long day! But I have no where to go, so in the scheme of things, not a big deal. But when you are tired, it’s the pits!

Since my last update we moved out of our house. 2 days early since our internet provider shut off our service. The company shall remain nameless, but I don’t think I have ever seen so much red!! I was enraged. 12 nights in a very small (although uniquely designed, poorly executed) hotel room in Pleasanton. That was rough… as much as we wanted to stay to have Quinn finish up first grade, it was far from ideal. Packing and moving just stinks! We used all 8 uBoxes; why do we have so much stuff!

The few things have been reinforced for me over these past few weeks. 1) I need to work. I love my clients and it gives me great purpose. 2) I cannot go more than 2 days without working out. I love a good schvitz and am so happy to have access to a Peloton again. 3) I don’t hike… there is nothing about National Parks that I care to experience once I have seen the “awe and wonder”. Drive in, drive out, get back to the pool. 4) The pool is hands down my happy place. 5) Yurts in 108 degrees are stupid and should be illegal! 6) In case you weren’t sure from the millions of studies out there, SLEEP IS REQUIRED! Uninterrupted, no kid kicking, 8-9 hours of sleep. If I don’t get that, I am a bear. PS, you probably are too. 7) Emotions are contagious. When I was grumpy, my husband started to get grumpy. When he was grumpy, I would start to get grumpy. And alongside two people with emotions is a 3 small person picking up and reacting to both of us. YIKES! So again, emotions are contagious.

Best restaurants so far: Sushi Roku Las Vegas Caesars Palace. Amazing food. Fabulous service. Great view of the strip. Olive & Ivy Old Town Scottsdale. Great vibe. Great cocktails.

Best place to stay so far: My mommy’s house. Period.

It’s has been a good time to think about what my non-negotiables are that keep me functioning at my best self. What are yours? Either in your day to day or when you travel?

T-7: It’s Happening!

One week from today helpful movers come to pack up our home in California and put 4 bedrooms of stuff into pods where they will sit for the next six months. The inhabitants of this home are going on an adventure! We are building a house in Central Oregon; but that won’t be ready until November (the wood gods willing). So what will we be up to? After the first few weeks of our exploits my husband and dog are moving up to Oregon to live in a hotel. My very responsible hubby has to work…and he wants the dog for company. Secretly, I think he wants alone time after being with us in the same four walls for the past 15 months. But we can go with “work”. We will be apart for two whole months and I will be “sole” parent to our extraverted, opinionated 7 year old who quite frankly outsmarts me more times I care to admit. My husband and I do things independently, but we have never been apart this long. Even when we started dating it was a 4 week break while he went to Italy to get settled until I met up with him. We have lived together from that point on 15 years ago. We both hate talking on the phone, so this could get interesting… I am sure we will be having massive text messages with lots of miscommunications and eye rolls on either side.

Quinn and I will be setting out for an adventure of our lives. Quinn is 7 and finishing up first grade. Even though this year has been unconventional to say the least, we still wanted her to finish up the school year with her mates to formally say goodbye and have some semblance of closure. For the last week of school the four of us will be moving into a hotel room in our current town. We wanted to end the year with a bang, making our time working from home and hybrid-schooling in even closer quarters (read sarcasm).

The next few months of my blog will be dedicated to weekly(ish) posts about our experiences and travels. I suspect entertainment, as we will be staying with both my parents (divorced household) for extended periods of time; taking planes, trains, and automobiles over the western half of the Continental US, from San Diego to Seattle, and Arizona to Colorado with stops in between. I currently have us scheduled for 14 different cities and a variety of accommodations (my project management skills and love of travel coming in mad handy). All the while I will be doing my best to keep the forward momentum of being in ‘year one’ of my own business working part time. Yes I said it, I am only scheduling from Tuesday noon to Thursday at five. (If I put it out there I will be forced to stick to it, right??) On one hand, totally thrilling to have the “time” people talk about, and not waiting until retirement. On the other, I am completely freaked out about not doing my usual; which is say yes to everything and go, go, go. I am actually going to have to practice what I preach.

This move is a massive lifestyle change for our family. We are moving to the country. Our current city is close to 100K residents, with equally massive neighboring suburbs in the CA Bay Area. Our future city is just under 10K residents being the largest town in the county! Over the past two months as this plan has become a reality, the flurry of emotion has at times caught me off guard. We sold our home without it even being on the market. WOW! A massive high. Packing up and getting rid of baby toys, kid books, clothes never worn… sadness. This time packing has been different from my last eight…stuff goes to storage, so what do I really need. Am I ever going to wear those work clothes again, or those high heels?! Uhmm no… I can tell you I have too many clothes and shoes which has brought me great shame…. Being on my own has definitely changed how I will work and not needed the massive variety (at least until those clothes are out of fashion). We bought a pickup truck, and for the time being are a one car family…. what??!!… I drive a pick up… Even more surprising, I totally dig it! Maybe I do have a little country in me… I liked going to Nashville as a teenager, that counts. Side note, I must find a proper belt buckle. We have spent the past few weeks saying goodbye to friends and ‘getting in that Cali experience’. Bittersweet. When a bout of cold feet rears up, I remind myself, nothing is forever. I have made changes before and have been happy along the way. Granted I have never done it as a parent or homeowner, but I am adaptable and resilient if nothing else. My bestfriend came over last weekend and she gave me one of the greatest compliments of my life… she said “you and Andrew are ‘master manifesters’, I have never know anyone who identifies what they want, and actually makes it a reality as you two do.” Thank you and yes! Yes we (and I) do. The doing and not only talking has brought awesome experiences. What was a retirement conversation, became a ‘what are we waiting for’ reality by identifying barriers (real and self imposed) and knocking them off one by one to create the life we want. A tremendous gift (with planning and hard work, as I don’t want to diminish my active part in it, it’s not luck).

Since this will be mostly a personal journey I will not post my blog to LinkedIn after today. I invite you to follow Quinn and I by subscribing to my blog or following me on my Facebook business page or Twitter. All righty friends talk to you post move as the adventure kicks off. Although, I might argue we are well underway with the adventure….