Let the planning begin!
Like everyone else, 2020 has me antsy, suffocated, and all around tired. It feels like this year has taken the wind out of our sails without any gusts on the horizon. No promises for future wind and THAT gets heavy. As if we are sitting ducks.
I don't know about you but I don't like anything stagnant. I'm a mover and a shaker, if you will. Just ask my kids about me dancing around the kitchen or bursting into their rooms and yelling "hurry, grab socks and get dressed, we are going on an adventure!"
Being spontaneous is the way I prefer to live my life. 2020 doesn't really subscribe to that philosophy so in turn I am unfriending 2020, STAT!
About a week ago I had a brainstorm. A somewhat crazy idea came into my mind and my bored existence grabbed ahold of it with both hands. I'm homeschooling our 2 kids and we keep reading about all of these cool places and events in the USA.
The idea was "why not go see all of this?"
Obviously my next thought was "we can't do that."
Then..."wait, why not? I don't work outside of the home, the kids are homeschooled which can be mobile. I have a drivers license and what more do we really need?"
Let's just say the wheels in my brain did a burnout and haven't slowed down since.
Another thing about me is that I'm an all or nothing person. When I'm in, I'm IN!!!!!! I started researching (and by researching I mean searching on Pinterest) road trips and sights to see. Pretty soon I stumbled on a route to see all 48 states. Yes, you read that correctly. FORTY-EIGHT states!!!
Again, I hesitated and then realized, WHY NOT?!
Why just see a fraction of the US and not the entire thing? We will have to do Alaska and Hawaii later but that won't be too hard.
My hubby looked at me like I had actually lost my marbles, when I brought it up, but here's the thing...
- Our kids fight 23/7 (usually they cooperate with each other about 1 hr/day) regardless of where we are, and sometimes they behave better in public and with other people.
- I'm with them ALL THE TIME and this wouldn't be any different.
- I'm not a huge fan of driving but I'm also not a huge fan of being stuck at home, either. I'd rather be having an adventure than sitting here going nuts.
- I hate only reading about things. I want to SEE them. FEEL them. Get a real sense of the landscape and imagine the battle while standing on the battlefield rather than watching youtube about it.
- One thing that I've always wished is that our kids could meet some of the people I love who live far away. They know some of them already but lots of them are scattered around and it's hard to visit them all if you only fly. Driving opens up so many more options and for WAY less $$.
- As far as learning goes...I traveled a TON as a kid. What I remember isn't what my teacher read to us about in History class, but the bullet hole that I could see out of when I was IN the actual church that was shot at during a battle. Seriously I'll NEVER forget that. It made the whole thing feel REAL to me. I want history to be REAL to my kids. What better way to do it than take them to see it?
So...This is where my head is at these days. A road trip this huge takes a TON of planning, mapping and budgeting for. I have multiple lists started to keep track of WHAT we want to see. WHO we want to see. PLACES we need to have time to explore. What we can do for free and where we need to save up to have the $$ to spend to see something super cool!
All in all it is a solution. It gives my 2020 brain something to look forward to. Plan for. Get lost in. THAT is exactly what I need right now.
Many of you are on our list to visit. I'd love feedback on places that are MUST SEE's etc. Since we are just beginning we have lots of wiggle room in the path we are taking, still. That will change as we continue.
I plan to blog my way through this journey and share photos and stories. I KNOW it will be quite the adventure. It's never dull with us! haha. I hope you enjoy following along with us. Maybe this trip can get us ALL out of the house!
Love you all,
Life with Becky
ps. We are cooking up ideas of how to earn $$ for this trip. The kids have a few ideas. More on that later! For now...Here's a tentative map of what this trip could look like! How exciting is this?!?!?!
