As I was planning for this Grand Adventure Road Trip (GART) I made a spreadsheet detailing the duration of the adventure. Each row on the spreadsheet represented one night. The columns keep track of where we spent the night, how many miles we drive, and how much money we spent on food, gas, and lodging. It’s meant to be informative, but flexible to match the mindset of this adventure.
There are a few stops though that have been preplanned and around which we must bend and shape the adventure. The biggest one is the cruise to Alaska. Another is the night we’re going to spend in Great Falls, Montana on the day before we plan to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
As I was planning this trip, I started my spreadsheet on August 28 which is the day we leave the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri with Lynn and Dave for the trip west. What’s weird is that we left our home in Florida on Aug 22. It didn’t occur to me to start the spreadsheet on that day. I never even thought about that, and when I realized I’d completely glossed over those first 6 days, which really were the beginning of the Grand Adventure, I was flabbergasted. Why would I discount the entire start of the Grand Adventure from when we left our house in Florida to the time we left Lynn & Dave’s house in Missouri?
The only answer I have to that question that makes any sense to me is that the drive to Missouri from Florida feels like something we’ve done over and over and is more of a chore than an adventure. And once we get here to Lynn and Dave’s, their house and the Lake of the Ozarks, after living here for 23 years, feels more like “home” than part of a grand adventure. Especially now that my mom moved from her apartment to a senior living community.
Being born and raised in Wisconsin, that state has always been “home” to me and Randy. I wrote a year ago about that very topic. Here’s the link to that post. I’ll still say I’m from Wisconsin, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore these days without a place where a parent lives where you can move back in with them, even if only for a few days.
The drive from Florida to Missouri is long, familiar, and tedious. We spend 2 nights in hotels along the way because at our age 7 hours a day sitting immobile in a car is plenty. On Friday, our first day on the road this trip, every time we stopped at a rest stop or gas station, I was so stiff from sitting I could barely unfold and hobble around the car. It’s gotten marginally better every day. But to be really comfortable on this road trip, I need to find a way to stay pliant while sitting for some long stretches. One thing we decided to do to make sure our bodies don’t seize up is to try to walk for a few minutes every time we stop. Sometimes it’s easier than others, depending on whether we’re at a highway rest stop, gas station (or Bucees!), a roadside attraction, or a place we couldn’t pass without seeing or doing something we find appealing.
We arrived at Mammoth Springs State Park, where we often stop on this route anyway. It’s a beautiful setting, has clean bathrooms, and is a simple right turn into their parking lot from the road we’re on. I never noticed before (or I’d forgotten) there is a walking trail around a small lake on the property. It presented a great opportunity to get a walk in, commune with nature, and take a break from sitting in the car for a short time. And, of course, use the restroom.
I love living in Florida, but as I walked around that lake, breathing deeply of the fresh, cool air scented a bit of pine, I was struck by how much I missed the topography of the Midwest. I do love Florida, especially the coastal areas, but there are no woods you can walk through there without sweating through your T-shirt and getting attacked by bugs, no matter what time of the year it is.
I specifically felt like I was “home” walking around that small lake, not in a way of where I grew up, but in a way where I just felt comfortable, like this place was a deeply ingrained part of my being. It took me by surprise. I felt wrapped in a warm cocoon of contentment being surrounded by nature and knowing that this…this feeling of contentment and communing with nature, is what this grand adventure is truly all about.
When we got to Linn Creek, Lynn and I were sitting on the deck in their park-like yard, enjoying just BEING (as opposed to doing). I felt that overwhelming peaceful feeling of home. It came from both the place and the people there, so I’m officially adopting Lynn and Dave’s house as our new official “home.”
This grand adventure road trip isn’t just about doing. In fact, I honestly don’t care to “do” anything. We booked no excursions for the cruise, bought no tickets to see shows in Vegas, haven’t looked up or anticipated anything we want to DO on this adventure. The objective of this trip is to BE in difference places, to see people we love associated with them, to experience the people and places themselves, to soak in the ambiance, energy, feelings, and sensations of places where we don’t live, so different from our day-to-day life, and to carry all of that back in our memory.
Our minds are powerful! I hope this blog will help you BE with us, even if just a little, on the journey.
P.S. I’m loving that BEING in Missouri is 20 degrees cooler than being in Florida right now. I hope I brought enough warm clothes!
Leave a Reply