Packed and ready to go.....another trip begins!

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There are various phases in getting ready for a long trip. It starts with a vague geographic idea and a general time of some point in the future. Then it gradually takes shape but it is still very pliable. The boundaries of the trip expand and contract as information is gathered and people share the “must see” places they visited in the past. The time of the trip starts getting narrowed down and finally settled on, due to other commitments and even the weather. This trip was originally expected to be last year, but we needed a break after our west coast trip. We did not feel our normal enthusiasm in planning the trip, so it was postponed until this year. Now we are excited and ready to go. We’ve learned a lot about what we want to see and where we want to go. People, who know us, know that this is still a very loose plan and will evolve throughout the trip. On past trips we’ve discovered some local gems from talking to people at campgrounds in our travels. This required us to either change our route, schedule or both to incorporate it into our trip. Sometimes we have arrived somewhere and it is so awesome that we just have to spend more time exploring the area or drinking in the beauty of the area.

Preparing for a trip usually doesn’t go as smoothly as anticipated. Sometimes there are more problems than other times. We have had more last minute unexpected tasks than usual. Lizzie needed to visit the vet, my car needed an extra trip to the mechanic and the roof needed a repair. Both Lizzie and my car had appointments within the past couple of weeks, so the additional appointments were even more of a surprise. The roof revealed its problem this past weekend, so there has been some hustling to get that fixed before departure. I admit I did feel discouraged with all these unexpected tasks and wondered “What next?” Then I changed my outlook, with effort, so that I would tell myself “At least these things happened while we were still home.” Yes, more things will probably happen during our travels, but we will deal with them. Things will happen if we are at home or away. When we are home we know who to call, when we’re away then it is more of a challenge.

Today we are heading to Port Huron and will cross over the Blue Water Bridge to enter into Canada. We’ve already exchanged our money, as the kiosk at the border is hard to use from the RV. We have our French phrase book, as our first destination is Quebec City. Every day, when we start down the road in our RV, George says “Laissez le bon temps rouler,” which means “Let the good times roll.” Today it seems even more appropriate.

My next blog entry will be back to the normal format of describing our travels. Wishing you safe travels for whatever your current journey is and may you have the strength to meet the challenges.

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Comments

[Judy H olmberg]

Thanks again for letting me vicariously experience the sights and impressions of your current trip! Gerry and I are planning to travel to Italy this Sept. and already things are going wrong...like him getting such bad knee pain that he's using crutches. This Fri, he sees his doc. So your words , Lin, were helpful that it's happening now and not in Dubrovnik or some remote, cobblestoned village...... J. H.