Random Thoughts After One Week on the Road

I’ve been “on the road” for seven days now, and I’ve learned several things about living full-time in an RV, blogging, and in some regards, about myself.  Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been thinking:

I am not camping, I am living full-time in an RV.  I’ve had to remind myself of this a couple times this past week when I was comfortable inside my warm abode while the temperature outside was a bit chilly.  My “camping” mentality told me I should be outside cooking dinner on my griddle, but I asked myself if I were in my “sticks-and-bricks” home would I be grilling outside on a night like this, the answer was no, so I put a roast in the oven and stayed cozy and warm inside.

I have set a goal of visiting at least 10 sites in each of the 48 continental states over the next two years.  My mind says I should be spending all day, each day out site-seeing.  In the last week I spent only one full day out exploring. That day I toured three different sites, and at the end of that day I was exhausted.    To try to keep a schedule like that would kill me, so a more relaxed approach is going to have to be adopted.  I did spend three days where I visited one site each day.  I’ve decided there is nothing wrong with that schedule. There may also have to be days spent just relaxing around home.  I want to enjoy this journey, not make it feel like work.

When I started telling people about this dream of traveling around the country, I kept hearing, “You need to keep us posted on your travels and include photos.”  I have intended to do just this all along.  But, instead of filling Facebook with posts, I made the decision to develop a website.  I found a platform with good reviews, secured a web address, and began learning how to make a website.  I had visions of posting the pictures of each site I visited and telling of my journeys through a daily blog.  In this first week of traveling I’ve found, downloading and editing pictures, writing down my thoughts for the blog, and posting everything on a website is very tedious and time-consuming work.  I’m hoping that as I get more familiar with the website platform that I can speed up the process, until then, I’ll be posting pictures as soon as possible and writing my random thoughts in random posts on an irregular basis. 

I know I have much to learn about photography. For example, taking pictures in a museum without a flash is a challenge, but I think I’m getting better. My big take-away about photography this week has been how much I like taking photos of wildlife. The birds this week were amazing to me, again I have a lot to learn, but that is exciting.

The temperature in Iowa has been below normal.  Highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s does not fit my second goal of experiencing places where the daytime highs are never below 70.  The reason I have not yet headed south to warmer climates is I procrastinated in renewing my driver’s license last month.  I have been waiting for the new license to arrive in the mail, so I have been staying here in Iowa.  Thanks to the Post Office’s “Informed Delivery” I believe there is a D.O.T. letter waiting for me in Des Moines as I type this.  So, I will be heading back to Des Moines this coming weekend to pick it up and then the first of next week I will be heading south to warmer weather.  How far south?  Depends on the temperature.