RV Trip Part Deux

· 4 min read
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We’re two weeks into this trip and I haven’t written a single word. This is for many reasons including starting the trip off very sick (likely COVID finally), lots of driving, having 9 kids around (traveling with another family), and the sheer pleasure of being mostly cutoff from the world. But most of all this trip has been about sensory experiences first with contemplation and the inside life of the mind taking a distant backseat for awhile.

There are so many tropes about living “in the moment” and going out to “touch grass” and the annoying thing about them is that they’re all true. Getting out in the world, constantly moving, and having novel experiences is the finest way to reset. Your personality will become more natural. If you’re a natural optimist, you’ll be optimistic on the road. If you’re a pessimist, you’ll be pessimistic. If you’re anxious, anxiety will rear up at each gas stop. And if you’re excitable, you’ll be excited all the time.

None of these are bad, even though anxiety and pessimism have negative connotations. The point is that these components aren’t driven by an artificial world humans have built up around you, but by the more fundamental sensory inputs of movement and nature and daily rhythms. The natural pessimist allowed to be pessimistic rather than conform will be happier. And out on a trip, anxiety is not a concern to be medicated but a natural reaction to sensory inputs. You may be very nervous about the height and speed of the gondola ride, but you still get on. Downhill mountain biking might be brand new and intimidating, but you still do it. Sometimes out on the trail there’s no choice but to let your 7 year old daughter walk along next to 100 foot high cliffs.

Our senses are more real than the worlds we make with our minds. Traveling is properly lauded as the best way to get out of our own way and reconnect with the world around us. Of the different ways to travel, I’ve found nothing better than taking an RV. In two weeks we’ve stayed at 10 different campgrounds and hit 4 different national parks so far. We’ve had snowstorms in Wyoming and 90 degree scorched earth in South Dakota. Our kids have eaten every day up and gone to bed exhausted. I haven’t had time to write or do much of anything aside from simply reacting to what’s next and taking in whatever is around me. For the second year in a row, I’m again surprised that I think I could do this for much longer.

Some other random thoughts: