1.Being able to call a loss a loss, especially if it’s your fault. Last summer when we went backpacking through Shenandoah National Park, on our last day I decided to use prop our camera tripod in on a rock next to a river to take a picture of us. Just as Derek was telling me what a bad idea it was, the camera toppled over into the water, fully submerged. Needless to say, it hasn’t worked the same since, but still manages to take great pictures, so I got out of that one with just some slight eye rolls and “I told you so’s”. Fast forward to us at Ecola State Park in Oregon about a week ago. Right before our hike, the camera fell out of the car as I was getting my stuff out. Since then the lens has been all messed up. In an attempt to fix it, I made it worse and now our camera has officially shit the bed, or at least is in need of a new lens, which can be pricey (keep in mind I gave Derek shit for paying the $22 admission fee to see the Crazy Horse Monument…we’ll never get that 22 bucks back). At first I was getting all defensive and whiney about how it wasn’t my fault (this is my go-to), that it could’ve happened to him too, until I realized that Derek was fine with it, and just said let’s get a new lens so that it works again. The point is we have these little setbacks that can be potentially stress-inducing…something breaks, or doesn’t go as planned (like driving to upstate NY to buy a camper and you come back without a camper and needing to buy a new truck), or you recommend driving the scenic route and end up regretfully winding around a cliff in the dark for hours…but I’ve learned not to dwell on it, and to admit when it’s something I’ve messed up or accept when I made a bad call, and chalk it up as a loss. And find the nearest BestBuy asap so I can stop hearing about how great a picture this could’ve been if only our camera was working.
2. As much as we may want to, we won’t be able to see or do everything on this road trip. This is something Derek pointed out to me within the first week of us being on the road. He said it was like I was having some sort of travel FOMO (fear of missing out, in case you are as bad at acronyms as I am). In my effort to thoroughly research the places we were going next, I kept finding more things we needed to do, places we had to go, because well why not, we’re only a couple hours from there, we might as well? I kept thinking we needed to see it all, because we might not come back to some of these parts of the country. Before I knew it, I had us mapped out to go 6 hours into Canada for what would end up being a week-long detour because someone we met at a campsite recommended it. And the problem was, the more I read other blogs and articles about what other people had done on their trips and all the cool things they had seen, the more I tried to figure out how to make enough time for us to do all of those things instead of having more time to just enjoy the things we were doing, even if it meant doing less. So..that’s what I’m learning to do better, just doing less. Less planning and more just enjoying the here and now. We won’t be able to see everything on this trip alone, but I don’t see our itch to travel going away anytime soon, so there will be more to come.
3. Don’t bring off-white shoes if you are going to be hiking/living in a trailer/peeing in the woods. They won’t stay white. Another “I told you so” courtesy of Derek.
4. When in doubt, I ask myself, “What would Pat Dugan do?” For those of you reading this that don’t know him, Pat, my brother-in-law, loves long car rides, has a serious sweet tooth, is an overspender, treats everyone better than he does himself, rarely if ever loses his temper, thinks it’s acceptable to drink at any time of the day, blasts loud music to get his day going, is the epitome of an optimist and the glass always being half full, and is up for anything, anywhere, anytime. He’s also one of the people that encouraged Derek and I the most to go on this trip and to not give it any second thoughts. In his words, “withoutwhatifsmuthafuckaaas,” which we’ve used more than once on the road, thanks to him coining the phrase. So I try to remind myself to look at things the way Pat does, live life a bit more fully, and make decisions the way he would if he were in my shoes. #wwpdd
withoutwhatifs 