Home Away From the Road

Coming home for the holidays was something we all looked forward to. We had very little planned outside of spending Christmas with our families, but our schedule quickly filled in on its own.
The great part about our stop home has been the amount of time people have found to spend with us.
From the moment we pulled into the driveway, until today we have been surrounded by people we have anticipated seeing.
Some have stopped by only briefly, others have been able to stay for an extended chat. We have maintained contact with most of them all along our trip. For those we have lost touch with it has been great to reconnect. For those that we talk to regularly, nothing replaces the casual conversation and connection of an evening around the diner table.
The holidays can cause a lot of stress, with gifts to buy and food to prepare, but I find that the time I get to spend with people I care about makes that tension fade and positive feelings flow.
Thanks to all our friends and family for their thoughtful gifts, generous helpings of holiday snacks and most of all their time.
I hope everyone had a great holiday and we wish you all a Happy New Year.

Top 5

Well we finally have it. We have the map on the side of the RV with the little stickers for each state. It seems like something we should have had before we left, but for whatever reason it took until now to put it up.
The kids took turns putting the states on in the order we had visited them. I was allowed to put on a few and Becky placed Ohio where it belonged. It reminded me of a question that comes up often when we talk to people about our trip. What is your favorite place so far?
We have visited every state east of the Mississippi except one, sorry Mississippi, and a few west of it too. In total we have travel through 26 states.
So for the sake of argument I posed myself the question, "If I had to pick another state to live in for the next 15 years, and I could not leave it's borders, which state would it be?" In making my list, I took Ohio out, because I have lived there, and probably will return there when the trip is over. So below is my list from 5 to 1. I hope that if you don't agree, that you will email me and let me know why you think I'm wrong. danhirn@ourtriptakesus.com

#5 Massachusetts - I think any state I pick has to have a major city in it, and Boston is pretty amazing. We didn't spend enough time in Boston, but being there on the 4th of July was a great experience. I still don't understand the Neil Diamond obsession, but I liked the city. Then there is the Cape. We debated driving all the way to the tip, but enjoyed every mile. Massachusetts has coast, big city clout and some great interior natural beauty as well.

#4 Maine - This is something about Maine that separates it. It is green, and bold and rugged. The people of Maine respect the wilderness, and they work within it. The city of Bangor seemed quiet for a town of it's size, but still had a lot to offer. Although the summer is short, the coast of Maine isn't. I think I liked the pure toughness of Maine from the lumberjacks, to the fisherman to the moose.

#3 Florida - If we had stayed strictly in beach towns, Florida might not have made the list. I can only look at brightly colored t-shirt shops for so long. I think what really made me connect with the state was a visit to Everglades National Park. Standing next to alligators, and watching 10 different kinds of birds feeding all around you is remarkable. Sitting on the beach drinking margaritas in November doesn't hurt either.

#2 Minnesota - Spending a week in Minnesota is not nearly enough. We feel that way about most states we visit, but our time in Ely near the boundary waters was truly eye-opening. Just the drive north up the coast of Lake Superior was worth the trip. One majestic tree lined cliff after another, and then we turned left into a national forest that consumed us. I will never forget the sunset that we happened upon while driving past a lake in the middle of the forest. The colors of that sky and purity of the setting were like nothing I've ever encountered. I didn't even mention the Twine Ball.

#1 New York - Aside from a desert, this state has everything. Niagara Falls in one corner, New York City in another and every type of landscape in between. Mountains, lake fronts (Erie and Ontario), a city that contains more than you can explore in a lifetime, and plenty of area to escape the city when it gets too loud. For me it was surprising the variety of natural surroundings contained in this state. I hadn't thought much about what I would see after we left Niagara Falls, and I was really impressed.

I know that there will be a lot of people that don't agree. I hope that you take a minute to tell me why. I'm sure my list will change after we visit the next 22 states on our tour.

What's the big idea?

There is a point in the evolution of an idea when it passes from a funny preoccupation into larger than life reality. In the case of our road side stop today that point passed many years ago.

Over 50 years ago Alan Schafer had a beer stand just south of North Carolina on I-95. Today when you near this exit at night you are greeted by an unusual glow in the sky. Part of that blaze emits from the 200-foot tall Sombrero Tower and from a 100-foot tall neon clad Pedro who welcomes guests to the South of the Border Motor Hotel. Mr. Schafer created a destination where there was no destination before.

South of the Border is somewhere between unique and tacky, and at some point was just a crazy idea. It's exactly the kind of offbeat attraction that makes my wife light up. If not for her I would have marveled at the glowing collection of t-shirt shops, arcades, rides and hotels (yes, more than one) from the highway and kept driving. Instead, we stayed at Pedro's campground, walked passed his car wash, walked through his many souvenir stores and mailed out postcards at his post office. All the while laughing at the sheer improbability of the whole place.

The short stop makes me appreciate people like Alan Schafer who follow through on ideas no matter how bizarre. It also makes me thankful for a wife who expands my horizons, even if that means paying a dollar to ride an elevator to the top of a hat.

Not What You Know...

In high school I was told it's not what you know, but who you know. When I heard it I understood what was meant, but it was one of those phrases that I couldn't completely understand until I had more life experience. At the time I didn't know that many people, and I wasn't sure what I knew.

After a few years in college and few more in the work force I understand more clearly what I was told. What wasn't clear after that time has become obvious in the four months that we have been on the road.

Since the first mention to the first person about this journey, we have been given so much by the people that we know. Neighboring campers have helped with firewood or offered us a seat at their fire. Friends old and new have opened up their homes to us.

We could spend the year after we get back doing favors, running errands, making phone calls and performing other tasks for the people we know that have helped us out with our trip and still be in debt to them. Perhaps that's the greatest thing about the people we know, they don't look at it as a debt to be repaid.

From parents who forward mail, and paint apartments, to friends and family who look after our house and sponsor our trip, and the many giving individuals along the road, we are truly blessed by the people who surround us.

In planning Our Trip, we spent months trying to anticipate all the things that might arise as we went along. Looking back we were pretty successful in our planning. One thing that we were not prepared for was the selfless outpouring of generosity we have given by so many people.

So now, what I know is that I know some phenomenal people. Thanks to you all.

Hindsight

When we test drove the "Cruiser" in January of this year I distinctly remember the uncomfortable feeling of looking into the rear view mirror mounted on the windshield and not being able to see what was behind me. I thought to myself as I looked into the mirror and saw the reflection of the RV kitchen, "Why did they bother putting this mirror in here. I can't see anything." As Becky, the salesman and I drove up and down I-75, I continually looked in that mirror, each time seeing the same thing and each time wishing I could see the road behind me. I have since learned to use the side mirrors much more effectively. I've also discovered that the mirror on the middle of the windshield is my favorite one to use. Now, when I look in that mirror, I see that Abby is working on her math homework, or Carter is just about to fall asleep, and most enjoyable of all, is watching the two of them giggle when Carter says "Poop."
I know that by the time the trip is over, I'm going to have to adjust the mirror to see the top of Carter's head, and that the little girl that we left with will be more grown up. I'm sure that some of my favorite memories from our time on the road will be framed by that mirror.
So I'm glad they decided to leave that mirror hanging there, although I'm not sure it will be there when the next guy drives the Cruiser.

New Places, Great Old Friends

We've had the chance to see so many amazing sights in the few months we've been on the road and met a lot of great people. We have also made a real effort to stay connected to the family and friends we left back home. Sharing our experience through our photos, blog, facebook, twitter and email has been enjoyable too. However, it's hard to beat having someone show us Chicago's best pizza or talking baseball with a friend at the Louisville Slugger Museum. In the past few weeks we have made rendezvous with relatives and friends at a few of our stops, and we have plans for more such meetings. It brings an entirely new dimension to our journey and a welcome addition to our daily routine.

At our stationary home, we loved to host parties, round tables, gatherings and dinners. It was one of the things we've missed the most while on the road. Though the venue for those meetings is much smaller, it is still very exciting for us to host visitors.

The other aspect of these on the road connections that is not lost on us, is the effort and sacrifice these people have decided to make to visit us. Not everyone has 12 months of vacation time, and for someone to carve out some of their free time and spend it with us, we understand the value of that and appreciate it.

Experiencing this country with our children was our intention from the start, but having our family and friends experience parts of our journey with us is an added bonus we hadn't counted on.

Strange

It's taken quite a while, up until the last week or so, but I have finally stopped comparing life in our house to life on the road. I'm more used to the way the plumbing works in our RV than I am in our house. I'm sure by the time we get home it will take a few days before I stop looking for a dump station, or forget about filling up with water.
The differences are many and they are also great.
Obviously there is a huge difference in space. I can sit at the table in the RV and reach just about anything in the kitchen. That is convenient and confining at the same time. In Abby's bed you had better not jump up, because the ceiling is only two feet from the mattress. Showers are short or you run out of water, and the bathroom isn't exactly cavernous. You give up the space inside, because you gain so much outside.
When we hit one hundred days on the road, it meant that in total, we had spent 104 days living in the RV. Our pre-trip test run was a short one. Even though it answered a lot of questions for us about whether we could handle it, it was too short to answer everything.
Can I say that the tight space never gets to me? No. Can I say that it is completely worth the sacrifice in square footage? Yes.
The thing about this trip that will be the hardest to adjust to when we return home, will be waking up to the same scenery everyday. Granted many of the days we wake up there is nothing to see but pavement and parked cars, but I know that I'm just a few miles away from something I've never seen before.
I've become enamored with being a stranger. I enjoy not being a local. Sometimes the only difference between something exotic and something mundane is familiarity. Right now, in this moment of my life I'm enjoying the unfamiliar, the foreign and the strange. The World's Largest Ball of Twine comes to mind.
For the people of Darwin the ball is no longer the show, it's the parade of goofs like me that drag their families there to see it. They don't sit at Jack Tavern, across the street from the Twine Ball Inn, and talk about the ball. They talk about the guy in the Ohio State hat driving a campa pullin a campa that made his disinterested kids stand in front of the ball too long and take pictures. It's the foreign or strange that attracts your attention.

So now that I'm used to living in a smaller space and spending more time looking out a windshield than at a TV screen, it might be difficult to go back. Then again, maybe after 48 states my wanderlust will be satisfied. When the trip ends, I can bring back all the foreign things to my familiar space.

New View

In my boss's office at my last job, he had taped to the wall an old sheet of paper with the title "Attitude is Everything". It was a lengthy note and it's been quite a while since I've read it, but I remember that it suggested we control much about our day with our attitude. If we decide that we will have a positive attitude about our work and commit to that, we can maintain a positive outlook despite the problems that arise.

I can also remember thinking that following through on keeping a positive attitude is much more difficult when the number of problems increase. I was more likely to fall into a poor frame of mind and have it pervade all of my day.

I've often thought of that note since we left for our trip. Mostly because it has been much easier to maintain a positive outlook these days. What I have found is that while attitude is important, it is built on perspective.

My perspective on how things are going feeds my attitude. What has struck me the most about the first part of our journey is how many times I have stopped to really observe the situation. To look at what I am doing at that moment and put it into the scope of my life.

Sometimes it's easy, other times not so much. Quiet talks on the beach, easy. Hours in Washington D.C. traffic, more difficult. However, I have found that the more often I take the time to do it, the easier it gets.

You don't have to be on an epic journey to see it. It can be as simple as the new perspective you have watching "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first time as a father. I think that movie can give you a new vision every time you watch it.

My daughter will occasionally stop me in a moment and toss me into a different line of sight. The most dramatic, when I get a chance to look at myself from her vantage point. I learn something profound each time.

Sitting with her each day now and doing the job of teacher has made me want to send out letters of apology to all of my former teachers. She is a model student by comparison. It gives me a new perspective.

Waking up in a parking lot is much better in an RV. A new perspective.

Going to places I went when I was a kid with my children, and seeing them enjoy it or not. A new perspective.

I've told Becky a few times since we left that I look at somethings differently now. I'm glad I'm able to recognize it.

If I ever go back to my old office and see that note on the wall, I know that it will mean something different to me, because I have a completely new perspective.

What are you so worried about?

Worries can control your life if you let them. No matter what your situation, if you focus on your worries they can consume you.

Before we left on this trip we spent a lot of time trying to address as many worries as we could. Months and months of planning and re-planning to account for all the difficulties that we might encounter along the way. Of course you can't plan for everything. There are always unexpected expenses and situations that arise along the journey.

When I was working at my last job, I worried about how effectively I was doing my job. Was I getting enough done each day or putting in enough time at the office? I had simultaneous personal worries. Was I spending enough time with my kids? Why can't I get all my work done at home that I want to finish? These were the things that filled my head as I went through my everyday life.

I had hoped that when we left for the trip I could leave many of my worries behind. It would be difficult to work on a house that was thousands of miles away. My concerns at the office would obviously be left at my old desk. So I should have little to worry about, my mind should be at rest. Funny thing about my mind though, it just replaced my old worries with different ones. Now instead of worrying about what items I was out of at work, I spent my time thinking about the tires, and the oil and the transmission. I listened to every sound my new home made as we drove. Every squeak and knock and bump made my mental list until I was able to discern the cause.

I spent weeks obsessing about the transmission. Was it strong enough to handle the load of the RV and the trailer? How much would it cost to repair if it did fail? Over and over I rolled it around in my brain as I drove.

So when the RV did break down on a quiet road in the NY state park all my worries were validated. Right?

It took this major engine failure to convince me that I could worry all day long about a hundred things and it wouldn't change the outcome.

My new plan is to be as prepared as possible. Check the oil, the transmission fluid and have regular checks preformed and accept that that is all I can do. Even with regular maintenance there will be breakdowns. It applies to RVs, marriages, work and life. Besides, filling the time between with worry and angst is no way to travel.

Dirty Laundry

There's nothing quite like fresh sheets. I've always felt that way, even before life on the road limited our opportunities for doing laundry to every couple of weeks. Laundry day always feels so fresh, so productive. But the last time I visited laundromats on a regular basis was in college. And judging from the last 13 states we've visited not much has changed in 10 years.

I've found quite a variety of laundromat arrangements in my travels. There are the strip mall facilities, the stand alone buildings or the campground laundry rooms. I've even made a mini photo project of it. "Laundromats Across America" or something like that. Maybe I'll get around to posting those photos on the website one of these days.

The big thing I've noticed about laundromats is this: I go there to get some pretty personal items (i.e. underwear and sheets) clean. So why are the facilities usually so dirty. I apologize right now to the handful of laundromat owners in America I'm offending with this comment. But this is a widespread problem. I frequently find gunk left in the washers. If something drops to the floor from the dryer, it's probably going to need re-washed or at least brushed off vigorously. And forget about using the bathroom.

The one great thing about laundromats though is that despite the paradox of trying to extract "clean from dirty" I can get this chore done in about two hours. Which means, maybe I've saved enough time to catch a midday nap on those fresh sheets.

~Becky

Campa

In my old office I used to keep a notebook on my desk to record interesting or funny quotes. My friends Tim and Kelly we major contributors and when I left my office for the road, I gave them each a copy of my quote book.
My habit of writing down quotes stayed with me on our trip. My favorite so far came a few weeks ago when we stopped to fill up on propane. The gentleman topped off the tanks and while putting away his equipment said, "I been doin' this a lotta years, and I ain't neva seen a campa pullin' a campa."
It wasn't the first time we had been asked about our two campers, but it was the most expressive. It also made me think that I should explain our reasoning behind our "campas".
Reason one is simple, our driving vehicle had to have a bathroom. A four year-old's bladder only allows you to drive so far before a bathroom break. This ruled out pulling a travel trailer with our pick up, or using a 5th wheel.
Reason two, there are several hours between the time that the kids go to bed and the time Becky and I fall asleep. As all parents know, this is extremely valuable time. Most of that time is spent talking, planning, updating the website, writing, relaxing and listening to music. We wanted to be able to do all of those things each night without disturbing the kids.
To resolve these two issues, we looked at a lot of RVs and then we looked at more. We finally found the trailer we wanted on a lot in Findlay, Ohio. On the day we went to check it out I noticed the Cruiser tucked away in a far corner of the lot. We test drove it, were assured that she had the power to pull the trailer and made one salesman very happy.
Since our purchase and in the first couple months of the trip, we have found even more advantages to our travel train. Having two refrigerators, two bathrooms, extra storage, and the ability to chop 17 feet off our overall length are all things that have been useful at one time or another. Pulling the trailer also gave us an area to entertain my brother when he met us near New York City. If it weren't for the trailer, we would have been sleeping in the RV at the transmission shop, rather than spending the week at a beautiful state park. Now that Abby has started on-line school it's really beneficial to be able to take a four year-old distraction to another room.
It may not look conventional, but our "campa pullin' a campa" has served us well on the first leg of the journey.

Watch Your Kids

On our visit to Ocean City, NJ a week or so ago, I sat on my chair looking out at the Atlantic and day dreaming. My dreams were interrupted by life guard whistles and my attention was drawn to the back of the lifeguard chair and a sign that read "Watch Your Children". My first reaction was "Hey I just paid ten bucks to be down here on the beach with life guards, maybe you could keep an eye on them.", it was a gut reaction made without thought and fueled by laziness. I knew where Abby and Carter were, they were digging in the sand a few feet away, and with the help of some other children had formed a hole large enough to bury a Honda.
Still, I took the advice of the sign and instead of staring at the water I stared at Carter. I tried to really focus on what he was doing, to figure out what he might be thinking. He was working really hard at digging, in a matter of a few minutes the kids had met and established distinct working roles in the construction of this hole. He was clearing sand from the front and placing it in a pile behind him, where another child would pack it down. He took his "job" very seriously, he made sure to place the sand exactly where the other child needed it. I imagined that he must have felt that his job was very important, because he was very intent on doing it right. I enjoyed his facial expressions and even his occasional frustration when the wall caved in. We talked about it later and he told me about the plan that the group had for the hole and how they were building it.
I spent some time watching Abby as well. She was a water gatherer. Her "job" was to take a bucket down to the ocean and bring back water to fill in the mote. It was clear that Abby's mind works differently than Carter, just based on their movements. Abby works hard too, but when she goes from the job site to the sea it's a dance. I can tell there is a song playing in her mind and I'm not sure if she notices anyone else is around her. She has a wonderful capacity for losing touch with the real world. It's a skill that can be very frustrating if you are trying to get her to focus on homework, but one that will probably allow her to imagine and create things that other people can't envision.
So in the end I was glad that I took the time to really watch my kids. I think I will do it more often in the future.

Picture Perfect?

Here's another item for the list of things Our Trip has made me grateful for: Photography. Some days it doesn't even seem fair how many great pictures I get to take of my family and of this great country. Sunsets, smiles, mountains, beaches, historical buildings, animals. And I still can't capture it all.

We'll be driving down the road and there's this great mountain view and I'll go for the camera. Dan knows by now that I won't be satisfied with the photo because it's not 3-D or it's not panoramic. I just can't get it all in the same picture. It's just another example of "You just had to be there." It's okay though, because I still try for that perfect picture. And I think I'm lucky to get a lot of good ones.

I've always loved being behind the camera. I took classes in college and tested my skills in a couple newspapers. I even take plenty of pictures of the kids. But as with any hobby, I've just never been very good at keeping up with it. Sometimes I'll go months without picking up the camera. Or I'll take a day trip and forget the camera altogether. I even bragged a few times about my ability to pack so light that I could travel by plane without having to check any bags. But then I'd always leave my bulky camera behind. It was ridiculous because now I really wish I had more photos of San Francisco with Dan and Las Vegas with my girlfriends.

The other problem I have with pictures is keeping them all organized. Especially once everything went digital. Now instead of rolls of film in need of development, I have stacks of disks dating back to 2004, all needing to be printed or organized in some manner.

Having our own website has really helped these problems. It has actually forced me to document Our Trip in photos and organize them regularly. It's pretty easy for me and it's great for family and friends who like to keep up with our travels. Just days after we do something, they get to see it.

The very best part is that Abby and Carter will have all these photos when they're older. They may not remember everything we do. Hopefully, our photos will bring some of it back for them.

No RVs Over 30 feet!

When a sign says "No RVs over 30 feet" it's a good idea to continue on and look for another place to park. The experience we had a few days ago in a Newport, RI parking lot could have ended some marriages, possibly even lives. Sitting at the gate and seeing other RVs in the lot, I decided to ignore the sign and maneuver our ship through this mangled parking lot.
The lot was the site of some kind of gas line repair and as a result half of the lot was partitioned by some kind of drive-over plumbing. Pipes ran into one side then under the driving surface and out the other side. It created a type of channel to drive through, 10 feet wide with 1 foot tall curbs on either side. An ingenious design, that works perfectly, unless you are trying to pull a trailer over it at an odd angle.
The device, the lane of utility work, became my personal hell for the next half hour. With my patient wife on one end of our two-way radios and a women on a cell phone looking on, I drove onto the ramp. Once the RV made it all the way into the lane, it was time for the trailer to follow it through. This is exactly the point when things became interesting for the women on the phone and difficult for me.
On my first pass, the leveling jack on the trailer would not clear the corner of the curb, and looking back I should have backed all the way out and tried another approach. Instead, I made a small adjustment and tried to pull through again. This led to a series of back and forth adjustments, that would eventually end with a fresh dent on the front of the trailer where I pinched it with the rear of the RV. It matches the one on the other side perfectly. We also now have steps on the trailer that slant slightly toward the rear of the trailer after having collided with end of the ramp. That collision however turned out to be the spring board to finally freeing us this trap. After I bent the steps, I backed up in an attempt to just get out completely. Becky told me she thought the steps would now clear if we went forward, and we did. We managed to get into another part of the parking lot, a portion that we soon realized would probably trap us if a few more cars parked near us. It was then we decided it would be best if we just left.
There were times when we were on that orange utility torture device, that I thought we might never get off. I thought I might have to unhitch the trailer and leave it there. I had thoughts of putting out the awning and starting a campfire. We had already spent more time in that lot then we had in some of our campsites. I thought that it was slightly unfair that they charged me for an hour of parking, because we really never stopped moving.
Having made it out of the parking lot, I wish I had a photo of that pathway to share with everyone, but it really wasn't one of those moments when you think of grabbing the camera, unless that is of course you are the women standing there with your cell phone.

Better than TV

Okay, so it's been more than three weeks now and I haven't watched a television show. That sounds kind of weird. Back at home, Dan and I had a couple shows we watched each week, in the evenings. That's how we'd wind down after work. I guess most people do that.

I caught a little bit of the Office when I was in the electronics section of a store the other day. That's really the only time I've thought about TV lately.

Now that we don't have a TV, we write after the kids go to bed. I'd say this is a great replacement. Sure I wonder sometimes how the characters on our shows are doing. I wonder where the stories are taking them. But it's a lot cooler to sit with Dan and read over our travel journals to see where our trip is taking us.

When I talked to Mom the other day, she said one thing we should be glad we're missing is all the Michael Jackson coverage. She said you can't even turn on the TV without hearing his name. Great entertainer, but I'm not concerned with the details of his life.
I am concerned about the details of my husband's life and my kids' lives. I guess that's how I got where I am today - on a beach, in an RV in Cape Cod.

Enjoy the road you're on!
~Becky

First Road Friends

We've met a lot of great people on the road, very nice reporters, friendly campground owners, other happy tourists. But it was in New Hampshire where we met our first real "Road Friends." We'd been traveling for about 10 days when we arrived. It was to be the longest overnight stop since we started out. When we pulled into the Gunstock RV and Ski Resort near Laconia, NH it was like our navigation device always says, "You have reached your destination." Up to that point in the trip we were pushing forward each day, logging more and more miles.

We got registered and prepared to set up camp on Fir Lane for three whole nights. One of the first things we noticed about this campground was the number of NASCAR fans there seemed to be camping there. Dan and I don't follow racing so we started to wonder if we would have anything in common with our fellow campers. We don't have anything against NASCAR, it's just not our thing. We wondered if the other campers would question why we weren't waving our driver's flag and we wondered if anyone would talk to us. Our questions were immediately answered by our new camping neighbor Joe, a car-loving mechanic, who had come to Gunstock for a long weekend with his family. He quickly informed us that everyone was here to go to a race on Sunday at the nearby New Hampshire Motor Speedway. We had no idea.

Over the course of the next three evenings, Joe, his girlfriend Linda, her mother Barbara and Linda's grown children Roxanne and Craig shared their campfire with us late into the evening. We laughed and told stories. We sought out our common interests in hobbies and jobs. And poked fun at our differences in language and dialect. Dan and I never should have doubted that we'd fit in with this group. They are people just like us.

When we came back from a daytrip on Saturday afternoon, even our camper fit right in with the rest of them on the row. That's because our new road friends bought us a racing flag and hung it on our camper. They signed it too and asked us to have the other people we meet along the way sign our flag.

People told me before I left on this trip that I'd get to see a lot of really inspirational things. This was one of them.

Skipping Stones

Life on the road is not one big vacation. I don't mean that in a negative way. I just mean that I can tell the difference between a vacation and real life. After just a week on the road, I can see that already.

We don't eat out everyday. We still have to stop and pay the bills. We still correct our kids. Before we left Dan and I talked about Our Trip and it was all very exciting. We talked about the great things we'd see, the attractions we'd visit, the places we'd want to eat. And while that is really happening some days, there's something else going on too.

Here's the difference: A month ago, or a year ago, I didn't have the time to skip stones with the kids. Not like I did today. We skipped stones at the beach until my arm was sore. We all made a contest out of it. Who could skip the most times, who could skip the highest, the farthest? We had an endless supply of smooth black skipping stones too, because that's what this Vermont beach was made up of. Dan said the kids would have stayed until the entire beach-ful of rocks were in the lake.

The day we skipped stones was Father's Day. It was also the day I tried to teach the kids the difference between presents and presence. Dan didn't unwrap a gift that day. But like vacations, presents can be really special, but life and the gift of our presence is even better.

Over the past 15 months or so, Dan and I have been dreaming, planning, talking, reviewing, revising, researching, figuring, budgeting and sharing our fears. For many months, he and I were the only people on earth who knew about Our Trip, it was our secret dream. We needed each other so much in those early months to work through all these emotions that kept sprouting up.

A couple of weeks ago Dan and I were talking about the great changes we've seen in other people after revealing the news of Our Trip. We are constantly amazed by the support and the number of people who say they wish they could do what we're doing. Deep down we really want them to do whatever it is they dream of too because it feels great!

As we continued to talk about the changes Our Trip will bring to us personally, and in our marriage and with our children, we agreed to welcome that change. Then a light came on for Dan and after reflecting on our months of planning, he said:

"You know, Becky, we haven't even left the driveway and Our Trip has already started."

It's All Relative

Today Becky had a great conversation with a group of people. It seems they understood exactly what we are doing and how we feel about it. They told stories about their families and lives, and felt the enthusiasm that Becky and I have about Our Trip. A friend of mine, let's call him Tom, related Our Trip to a graduation. I think that analogy works on many levels. If you remember your high school or college graduation party, you were surrounded by many people. A lot of them you didn't know very well, but they all had wonderfully encouraging things to say to you. They told you stories of the dreams they had, the things they did, and places they visited. They related to you, and that is exactly the kind of interactions Becky and I have been experiencing since we starting telling people about Our Trip. Not since my own graduation party have so many people made an effort to come up to me or call me and say something positive, inspiring or appreciative. It makes me feel very excited and encouraged to go out and see this country, not just for us, but because there will be so many people that follow along with us. To everyone that stopped what they were doing to say something to us about Our Trip, Thank you.

Dan

Family and friends get us where we're going

Our children are one of the biggest reasons behind taking a trip of this magnitude. When I reflect on that it brings me real gratitude for the people in my life who have taught me the value of family. From parents and siblings, to nephews and nieces, even my own children have opened my eyes to the unselfish, unconditional love of family.

A good friend told me recently "I'm convinced now more than ever that family is the most important thing." How perfectly simple.

There are a lot of problems in the world and we can dwell on them and try to help solve them but ultimately we have the most impact on the people closest to us - our family and friends. These are the people who get us where we're going in life.

So while it's true that Our Trip is just the four of us, it's taken generations of family members and countless friends to get us where we're going. Thank you!