Reflections on a two month road trip.

On April 8th we left Flagstaff on our first road trip as retirees. Seventeen states, almost eight thousand miles and two months later we pulled into our driveway again. We’ve spent the last few days getting resettled and reconnecting with several of our Flagstaff friends. Yesterday morning a friend asked, “So what was your favorite part?” I was actually kind of stumped. I gave a long, rambling, I’m sure unsatisfactory answer! There were so many good parts I hadn’t really thought of any as my favorite. Her question got me thinking. Sharon and I talked about it a bit. So after some consideration I thought I’d share some reflections of our time traveling.

What worked? For a variety of reasons, we put the cargo van conversion idea on hold and decided to hit the road in our trusty eleven year old 4Runner. That turned out to be a good decision. It is comfortable and quiet. Even packing for two months of traveling, kayaking, and mountain biking gear, we had room to spare. Our two wheel drive version easily goes just about anywhere. Even with bike and boats attached it isn’t immediately obvious that we are sleeping in back. With the recent flood of people jumping on the whole “van life” bandwagon, sometimes spending in excess of $100,000 in order to, ironically, “live simply“, there is some smug satisfaction in making do with what we have (and long since paid for). The feeling now is that unless some screaming deal on a van comes our way, we will likely continue to make use of Grandma and Grandpa’s “Bumpy”.

Hands down, the best piece of new gear was the Yakima “Full Swing” bike rack. Crazy expensive, but unbelievably convenient. Without it, we would not have had access to the back unless we removed bikes and rack. Comes with a retractable cable lock. Not a super fan of the bike attachment straps, but they were adequate. Overall, this rack probably did more to make our living arrangement work than anything else we did. One other lifesaving gear was our home made duct tape/magnet bug screens for our windows. Cool air came in, all the little nasties stayed out.

But, back to the question du jour…what was our favorite part of the trip. Turns out no one thing rose to that favored position. The “favorite” part of the trip was having the time to take the trip in the first place, arriving back in Flagstaff with lots of pleasant memories and experiences in tow. In no particular order of importance, some of our favorites include…

• Paddling in cypress swamps in Louisiana with the amazing wildlife (including stone, cold killer gaters).
• Boudin sausage….mmmmmm, so good.
• Karen’s 80th birthday party in Florida with family and friends.
• Chickamauga civil war battlefield museum.
• The Wednesday night paddle on the Tennessee River with the Chattanooga paddlers.
• Amazing single track bike trails all across the country.
• X-Ray tech x-ray tech reunion in Madisonvilled, KY with time for me to take a side trip to Land Between the Lakes
• Several new friends
• Memory lane tour of Milwaukee seeing old familiar faces and places.
• High School Graduation for nephew Andrew
• Spending time up nort’ der in Wisconsin with Mom, Mike, Lori, Candy, Harry, Georgia, Bob, Dana & family, Jennifer, Barry…and the bear!
• Kayaking Cave Point, Rock Island and around Peninsula state park on Lake Michigan.
• Camping on Washington Island and an evening at Fiddlers Green.
• Spring Peepers looking for love
• Spending time with old friends Allen and Lisa, Laura, Phil and Kathy, Tim and Gretchen, Rob and Cailie.
• Finding out that Souix Falls, SD is a pretty cool place – and getting to spend time there with Sandy, Blair, Seth and 12.
• Time with Kevin and Katie in Colorado Springs and getting to meet and play with her very cool family.
• Hiking and biking and camping in the Buffalo Springs area northwest of the Springs…and watching Katie crush her first ultra-marathon!
• The mountains of Colorado.
• Hanging with Aaron and Vanessa in Durango and getting to be full time grand parents with no time constraints.
• Having a “just very good” place to call home at the end of it all.

This list is by no means a complete list…just a few of the more memorable highlights. Like any good trip, the list of people and places we couldn’t visit was even longer than the things we did.

What didn’t work….as well. Looking back, there are a few things that could have gone better. Obviously we had no control over that wicked wench winter. She just wouldn’t leave. We somehow failed to anticipate that as a possibility. As a result we brought more warm weather clothes than necessary, and left too much of our foul/cold weather at home. The other thing that didn’t work as well was our schedule. We purposely planned our trip to be present for some major family milestones and opportunities to visit. We knew that going in, but the result was that because of the distances involved, we rushed through some areas and had to decline invitations that normally we would have accepted. In the future, whenever possible, we would definitely like to leave time to embrace opportunities that arise along the way.

By the end, we were ready to be home to enjoy all that we enjoy about Flagstaff…but we were also quite comfortable being on the road. Apparently our “practice” over the years has paid off. Its been a smooth transition. And even though we’ve only been home for a few days, talk of future adventures has already begun. For now though, we’re grateful to have the time to dream about the future and every day enjoy the things we enjoy! STC