There’s a change of scenery around here: my little girl, after spending nearly every day together for the past two years, is starting daycare this week. So at the moment I have 2 hours to myself, which means I can sit and write this blog with only the dog for company and the dishwasher for noise. It feels strange to say the least. But good. I think about writing every day, as this blog is also a change for me. I have always written privately in a journal but now we’re going public, people!
The big reason behind this blog is to document a huge change we’re planning for our little family – we’re packing up the Forester this spring and heading out into the big wide world! (Or at least the big wide country of America!) The seed of this idea was planted what seems like a long time ago, but now that seed is sprouting and consuming our thoughts on a daily basis. Trying to plan for such an ambitious endeavor has been scary and stressful, but exciting.
The PLAN: a 3-month long road trip of the National Parks, integrated with this blog and a mini-web series of travels with a toddler.
Just why do we want to do this? I’ve been trying to be nonchalant about the why part, as in why can’t we just do it because we want to? Although well yes, that is a reason, there is more to it than that. We want to be inspired – me, to write a children’s book of the Parks, and Tyler to create a documentary of our travels. We want our child to be in nature, exploring new things every day, sleeping under the stars. We want our dog to have excitement too!
But before we pack up and go, there’s prep work to be done. This is where I’m glad my significant other is a sane, logical person. I’m the type of person that once the idea is in my mind, I just want to do it now! But Tyler is more organized and thinks ahead, particularly since we do have a young child and dog to think about here too.
There’s so much to think about: where to go, when to leave, which vehicle to use, what kind of shelter do we use, how to finance such a trip, should we take the dog (we were so discouraged to find that most National Parks don’t allow dogs on the trails. Boo!). Meanwhile I’m thinking about ways to entertain a 2-year-old in the car and reading family travel blogs every day. It seems every day we think of something new, which is great brainstorming but mentally taxing.
But all in all, Wonder Drive is something we truly want to do, and if there’s a will, there’s a way. Things may not be falling into place at the moment, but I’m convinced the more real we make it, the more they will.
“After making an extreme effort, after pulling out all the stops, one is still unable to score Tibetan peach pie, take it as a signal to relax, grin, pick up a fork, and go for a slice of the apple.”
– Tom Robbins, Tibetan Peach Pie
Wonder Drive 