Eating on the road...

So I've been giving a lot of thought as to what kind of "diet" or foodies Whitney and I will be dedicating to for our trip. As we are not going to be getting a fancy ZOMG trailer, our cooking means will be modest and there will be a definite simplification in our culinary journeys (at least inside our trailer.)

I have become very interested in something called the "Primal Blueprint" which is an diet based upon the "hunter/gatherer" lifestyle that many of our ancestors lived. At first glimpse the website looked like a hella gimmicky "melt fat away TODAY!" kind of thing but upon reading, I became very interested in the philosophy. Plus, tons of the info is available for free and his e-book AND user-compiled recipe book being free is a big plus. The thing I like most about it is it embraces a more holistic approach to diet, exercise, and life in general. Talks a lot about how busting your ass in the gym is not the way to health. Plus he wears vibrams in his how-to videos and has a whole section on sprinting bare foot! When someone tells me that running across grass barefoot is part of excellent health, that makes me happy. Anyway, I won't wax eternal here but if you're interested check it out. (www.marksdailyapple.com) The food choices would also be really good for on-the-road living and incorporates all my favorite foods.

The year I lost my mind....

So I have used the phrase "the year I lost my mind" but what does that really mean? It has been a very difficult, challenging, and trying year for me even though it has been filled with some good things. I have had to grapple with what my life means now that I am out of school. It was a sad realization that I had no other real concrete goals for myself, that I really didn't even know myself. The five years I spent pursuing my Undergraduate education had given me tools, experiences, and exposure to many amazing things but I had really never taken the time to piece it all together -- to figure out who I really was and what kind of person I wanted to be. More often than not I found myself diving into one project and then another, stuffing my brain with as much activity as possible so I would never be forced to think about the more difficult questions at hand. And in between, if I DID somehow end up with some down time, I drank. I drank a lot and I smoked a lot of cigarettes and I partied. Anything to distract myself from the hollow emptiness I felt growing the closer I got to graduating.

Post graduation and life took a huge "reality crap" on me. I met the person my best friend REALLY was and in essence lost her, struggled with finances, and dealt with the declining mental health of my mother and being a sole caregiver. This all in the midst of the most crippling depression I have felt in a really long time. I smiled at my graduation because I knew I was supposed to -- but I have never felt LESS accomplished than I did in that moment. My life was now a blur shadowed with feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness. I had reached the peak of ultimate burn out.

But I have managed to do some productive things this year in spite of all the challenges.
- I quit smoking, for good this time
- I quit drinking
- I started going to a therapist
- I got a job with good benefits
- I'm working on improving my physical health
- I'm making plans and setting goals
- I'm planning our wedding and future travels

All the positive and negative things that have happened in this year I feel are stepping stones in the direction of self-improvement and the development of the person I ultimately want to be. All my life I have lived in the shadow of my own turbulent emotions and this year and the next are the times I learn to face my demons and best of all, overcome them.

GREENing the RV Industry!

Great article from the NY Times on how people are tackling the challenge of "green"ing the RV industry -- an industry that is notorious for 8 mpg rigs and wasteful practices.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/travel/escapes/07RV.html

A look at "Green RV of the Year"! I love this thing! How svelte is THAT? Of course -- I do have some questions about how sustainable replacing wood products with plastic is. Maybe if all the plastic was recycled composites and the like... Hmm. More research is clearly required. But it does look preety spiffy!

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/09/roaming-times-names-earthbound-rv-the-green-rv-of-the-year/

Leave it to eHow to tell you how you can green up your existing RV!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2269205_green-rv.html

Full time traveling articles

Great little article on preparing to travel full-time and some of the more heavy hitting mental preparations one has to make (or should make) before the transition.

http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/how-to/how-to-bag-your-9-to-5-and-write-travel-full-time/

This is an awesome list by Transitions Abroad or profiles of real people really traveling and living the full time life. I love looking through and reading about people who have actually done it. It's inspiring and also reassuring to know that it can be done!!

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/articles/motivation-for-long-term-travel.shtml

I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME WEBSITES EVAR! She lists some great resources including something called WhichBudget, a website that plots airline tickets through budget airlines that don't always contract with "major" search engines. I found a ticket from Seattle to New York for less than $250!

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/cheap-travel/

ZOMG! Our route map for across the US travels!

So I discovered Google Maps! We will begin mapping out our adventures so that everyone can have an interactive look at our plans. I'm super excited to be able to share this with everyone! We'll be updating as we do more research in different regions.



View Travel Across the USA in a larger map

My 43 Things

I drafted my 43 Things based upon a goal-drafting concept (see: book) that outlines an approach to creating 43 life goals. These are my 43 Things:

1. Listen to my inner child
2. Learn a 3rd language
3. Take an African Safari
4. Start a non-profit organization
5. Repair my bad credit
6. Practice mindfulness every day
7. Take a yoga class
8. Can my own fruits and vegetables
9. Overcome my high blood pressure
10. Write love letters for my love
11. Learn to play the piano
12. Take singing lessons
13. Lower my BMI by 25%
14. Love myself no matter what my mother says
15. Respect myself even when others don't
16. Never work a job I hate
17. Stop worrying about the things I cannot control
18. Reconnect with my Higher Power
19. Trust more people
20. Hug at least one tree per week
21. Develop the ability to say "NO"
22. Attend more community events
23. Read at least 10 books a year
24. Write at least 5 stories a year
25. Practice "passing it forward" with all creatures
26. Own a collection of Dr. Seuss books
27. Pick up and fold my clothes every day
28. Spend at least two quality vacations a year with Whitney -- just us
29. Submit my writing for publishing at places I think would never publish me
30. Vacation in Europe, Australia, and Central America
31. Cut my hair super short
32. Buy at least 5 acres of property
33. Have an "off-the-grid" self sustaining house
34. Take a belly dancing class
35. Have a best selling novel
36. Adopt a Deaf child
37. Finish my memoirs
38. Hitchhike across the state with only a backpack of my belongings
39. Build a straw bale house
40. Get a Master's Degree
41. Go para gliding
42. Live and grow a family farm
43. Learn and practice radical acceptance

Timing

So I'm throwing it out there to the universe that we need a trailer. A trailer that will meet our needs at the right price and in the right condition. I'm going to think positive and just go with the flow for now -- stop trying so hard to force situations and just let it be, see what will come my way. Happy thoughts for happy trailers!

Third prospective trailer

This one I am really excited about. It's pretty vintage-y and with some work it'd be hawt. Plus it has new tires plus a spare included. Pretty much solid bones and foundation so all the "pretty" stuff can be worked on over the next year. I've got $300 cash I can throw down to hold it until Friday -- PAY DAY! This one is $700 but if its in the condition it states, would be well worth it.

Second prospective trailer

So, that first trailer is gone like a fart in the wind. And by fart I mean the squishy, wet, did-I-really-just-crap-myself, farts and by wind I mean "HOLD ON AUNTIE EM, IT'S A TWISTA!"

Right. I never promised GOOD analogies.

So the first one fell through but I have two good prospects I'm looking at tomorrow. Granted, they are a bit more expensive but at least they are local so I won't have to drive almost 2 hours just to look at them. Some pictures.

Prospective Trailer #1

So the hunt BEGINS! Prospect one was located on craigslist and we might be making the trek up to Marysville on Wednesday to see it. Price is DEFINITELY right at $350 and with a little polish I think it is a good possibility. Thoughts?

The Plan

So, as I was driving down the road I saw a cool vintage trailer and commented on its coolness. My brother agreed and we mentioned how my mother had always wanted to get a trailer and travel the country with it. Then I thought to myself -- why not? All this time I've spent doing school, doing work, doing all the things that I'm -supposed- to be doing and frankly, I'm friggin' miserable. I can't get a grip on my family problems, me problems, and as a result I'm not doing ANY of the things I love (ie, writing, traveling, etc) I think I might have gone about things ass backwards. Luckily, my lovely, amazing, vivacious fiancée is crazy enough to take a chance with me and so we're going to do it.

June 26th, 2011: Wedding

June 27th, 2011: The adventure begins.

We are going to buy a trailer or a modest motor home and take off for a while. We're going to go see all the places we've never seen and never been. Whitney has a stable source of income that if we're frugal and if we save enough money over the next year we can definitely stretch out for a span of time. I don't know how long but we've agreed we'll do it as long as we're still having fun. Because as much as we want the farm, the house, the anchor in our lives, we both acknowledge that once all those things happen, we're not going to get the opportunity to do crazy, ill-conceived things such as this. Yes, it will be hard and yes, there's some concessions and sacrifices we will have to make to live such a life but I think that after its all said and done, it will be quite the experience and we'll both learn a lot about ourselves and each other. And what more could you ask of a honeymoon??? :-D

"Pre-Life Burnout" you say???

Today might be the day I will look back on and realize it is the day I decided to save my own life.

As I've thought back over the past year and it's many frustrations, challenges, and disappointments, I am developing an increasing awareness that a great many of these things have happened because I have allowed them -- inadvertently perhaps, indirectly sure -- but permissive stance has led to this spiraling black hole of internal oppression. And the buck stops here.

I have chosen "pre-life burnout" as the phrase to describe what I believe to be the transition between my "for others" phase of life to my "for myself" phase of life. And I would hate to give the impression that I am implying that I have been a give-all person with no bouts of selfishness or callousness towards the needs of others. No -- rather, most of my life has been fueled by a desire to "fix" the things around me and feeling that all my efforts are not enough. For all the things I have tried to fix, there is an equal portion of self-death that has occured. Trying to fix my mother's life led to the death of my own, trying to fix friendships led to my inability to have them, trying to fix my financial situation led to continued accrual of debt, and so on.

And where does the "pre-life" bit come in? Because I really haven't even begun to live my life! I just finished up my degree at The Evergreen State College and landed a full-time "careery" type of job and am now at the beginning of my adult living. And I'm already burnt out, fried to a crisp, roadkill on a July afternoon in Death Valley. I'm done.

A therapist once referred to this as "over-achiever syndrome" in that I spent so much of my adolescence fucking up all over the map that I've become obsessed in my young adult life with trying to rectify and in essence, make up, for all the bad things I've done. With little success. And it's only getting worse the more and more I seem to achieve, the more I feel I haven't done enough.

So I have a plan.