“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T. S. Eliot
I’m back in Tennessee, one week from being back to Chattanooga and the familiarity of family and friends. I had to cut my trip short by a month from my original plans but what a journey it was. I had plans to visit different friends on the way home but had to cut that part of my trip out. Apologies to you guys but I will see eventually I’m sure.
I have so many places that I have yet to write about, thousands of photos and hours of video that I have not edited nor decided what I’m going to share. Part of me wants to start a YouTube channel even though I have a face and voice made for blogging.
I made kinda of a mad dash across the country back to Tennessee, noticing as I streamed by endless fields of the heartland that there are many things there to see on future trips. As life has settled from the turmoils of last year into this new life of adventure I’m presented with the opportunity to plan better. I missed many cool little side trips on this year’s journey. Next year I plan to hit up these little adventures and oddities.
“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” – John Muir
So what’s on the horizon for this restless soul? It begins in August with a few months “home”. Friends, family and doctor visits await. Yes, I need to do some preventative maintenance on the body and it’s just easier to do at home. I had some experience on the road with dental visits and it’s impossible to schedule some things when you are moving locations every week.
I do plan to winter with my winter family again this year in Foley and then hit the road for Spring/Summer adventures. Next year will be different. I’m going to focus my travels on one state and I’m going park for a longer time at each stop and explore out from home base. I may take the camper on some weekend trips or just book a room. Not sure yet but I am beginning some planning so I can book the best sites this go around.
I had friends traveling in their motorhome in the same areas that I was. I was able to meet them for dinner a few times and even camp beside them for a week in Colorado. I even had some friends from home visit me occasionally while on my journey. This was nice and broke up the solo parts of the journey. But I am looking forward to seeing everyone back in Tennessee and Georgia. Just a reminder to my friends. If I’m somewhere you want to visit you have an open invitation.
The hardest part of the trip was seeing your family have get togethers and your friends doing things you normally would do with them and not being there. There is definitely a trade off for this life of adventure, but you get to come home and immerse yourself in it for a bit before the next journey begins.
The hardest part of coming home? Humidity! I now understand the dry heat thing and I miss it. Looking forward to some lake and river days back home though. Oh and rain. it’s rained most of the time I’ve been back in Tennessee and it’s limited the things I had planned for these stops.
As for the blog, what’s next. I’ve been playing with ideas for a refreshed logo. I had plans to write more about what it’s like to travel solo and I had planned to do some on fitness while full-time in an RV. Nothing ever goes as planned and since I have a few months where I’m not trying to pack an adventure into every day. I intend to get this content out there. I really want to include pictures and video and to be honest. The way that I did this years adventure didn’t leave much energy and time for content creation. Live and learn.
Moving forward I plan to put time for this on the calendar and be a little more structured in my execution. There’s so much content out there already that I struggle with how I want to be different. I have been accumulating the tools needed to do this the right way and I have been practicing some. I’m my own worst critic.
I did learn a few a things on this trip. I don’t have the stability, balance and nerve that I had in my younger years. I definitely need to focus on some of this from a fitness angle. Cardio and stamina have never been an issue for me. However, there are ways to improve certain muscles in your body to make things like hiking or biking safer and more fun.
I will be adding some snow spikes to my gear before hiking at elevation again. Especially for spring. When it’s July and some trails are still off limits unless you have spikes, well that’s just foreign to a southern boy. Maybe a blog and/or video on gear.
Well speaking of fitness. I need to go get a run in while there’s a break in the rain. Happy Sunday everyone!