Departure day is tomorrow. For the first two days I'll be doing more driving than anything else. But I have a brand new car to do it in.
More updates from the road when I have an internet signal.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Sunday, June 7, 2015
On the road again, and other stuff
It's time for me to start planning ( and I use the term "planning" very loosely) my summer road trip. I have three consecutive weeks of vacation this year from the end of June to the middle of July. I plan on something similar to the trip from last year. I've started looking at maps, and ros and places. SO far the plan is this...
Drive from home and head toward Phoenix. Stop somewhere the first night. I have a campground in mind, but they DON'T take reservations, it's first come first serve, and I may be kind of late getting to that area. Ultimately I may end up sleeping in my car. I've done this plenty, and can actually make myself pretty comfortable in the back seat. ( I usually sleep curled up in a fetal position for part of the night anyway, and I'm not that tall.) I DO have a reservation the next night at a campsite in the mountains of Arizona, about 4 hours outside of Phoenix. I have plenty of time to get there, and can get set up in a leisurely fashion, and have time to take in some of the sights, either that evening or early the next day before the trek into the city. Have a hotel for the weekend, while I hang out with the Bestie and her GF. Possibly doing lunch with an acquaintance that has transplanted there from NY as well, if she happens to be back in time.
From Phoenix, my plans become looser and looser as I travel toward (likely) New Orleans. No real particular reason to go there, except I've never been, and it seems like there should be a cool thing or two to see or do while I'm there. I may stay the night, or I may stay 3. Who knows. It all depends on camping availability, or cheap hotel. (I AM on a sort of budget) I may stop in Galveston Island On my way to Louisania.
From there I think I'm headed toward Memphis. Again, solely because I've never been, and there's plenty to do and see there. Can you say "Graceland?" From there I'll start the journey home. I may be gone 9 days, or maybe 2 1/2 weeks. Depends on my mood, the weather, my aging car (over 100,000 miles these days) and whatever my whim of the day is.
I'll probably be posting pictures here, or to my Facebook most of the way.
I'm really looking forward to this trip for a few reasons.
1) I miss my Bestie, and I don't get to see her nearly enough.
2) I really enjoyed my trip last year, and I think it contributed to some personal growth for me. It provided me with a sense of Self, and with a really big needed boost to my sense of independence.
3) Sometimes you just need to "Get Away" and take a deep breath or two. I need this.
4) Seeing new places and doing strange things is fun.
Regarding #4.. see roadsideamerica.com. It's an online guide to offbeat tourist attractions. They also have an app for that. I used it last year, and some of the stuff it led me to was truly ridiculous. But I didn't really go out of my way to see things. If it was along my route, I stopped and checked it out, sometimes for 5 minutes, just to take a picture so I could say "Yep, I was there", and sometimes for an hour or two because it was really fun. I plan on using the app again this year, and am counting on a bunch of unique stuff.
In relation to my aging car, I have been seriously debating replacing it. But theres really nothing wrong with her (fingers crossed) and I'm finding it hard to justify spending the money. I HAVE the money, but I'm not sure I want to spend it now on something I don't need. Keep in mind that if my car craps the proverbial bed on this road trip, I wouldn't have any second thoughts or feelings of guilt replacing her at the first car dealership I come across!
Probably looking at some sort of small SUV or Crossover. Leaning toward a Mazda CX-5. Gets good performance reviews, apparently drives like a dream, with albeit sometimes sluggish acceleration, which I can totally deal with especially if I get it in a manual transmission. And it's within my price range. or can be if I can talk the dealer down a bit, and get some good incentives along with my trade. I haven't talked myself into it yet, but haven't talked myself out of it either!
At home right now, The Hubs and I are working on finishing the basement, while the Wif is working on getting some stone under the back deck, so it's not mud-slop, and starting to work on garden boxes out back. The fence guys should be here soon as well. I'm afraid they're probably going to be here while I'm gone, so I'll probably have to pass that responsibility off to someone else. (sad face). Hoping the Hubs and I can make good progress in the basement, so we're to the point where he can deal with running the electrical, which really doesn't seem like a 2 person job. I'll gladly help him if I'm home and he needs/wants the help, but I think for that I'd be more likely to be in his way. I just don't want to leave him in the lurch while I'm gone. Also I actually Enjoy working with him. We seem to get things done pretty well, and over the course of the project so far, we don't hate each other.
This is a new experience for me. In a previous relationship, The Ex and I never could've done this. Any more than an hour and I'd have been upstairs either crying or so mad I wanted to break things, or both. I always thought (or was led to believe) that this outcome was my fault. That I was in some way to blame. I could never question a method, or ask "Why are you doing it this way?" and heaven forbid I made a suggestion on how I thought It might work better. Today, I live in a whole different world. I like this world.
Drive from home and head toward Phoenix. Stop somewhere the first night. I have a campground in mind, but they DON'T take reservations, it's first come first serve, and I may be kind of late getting to that area. Ultimately I may end up sleeping in my car. I've done this plenty, and can actually make myself pretty comfortable in the back seat. ( I usually sleep curled up in a fetal position for part of the night anyway, and I'm not that tall.) I DO have a reservation the next night at a campsite in the mountains of Arizona, about 4 hours outside of Phoenix. I have plenty of time to get there, and can get set up in a leisurely fashion, and have time to take in some of the sights, either that evening or early the next day before the trek into the city. Have a hotel for the weekend, while I hang out with the Bestie and her GF. Possibly doing lunch with an acquaintance that has transplanted there from NY as well, if she happens to be back in time.
From Phoenix, my plans become looser and looser as I travel toward (likely) New Orleans. No real particular reason to go there, except I've never been, and it seems like there should be a cool thing or two to see or do while I'm there. I may stay the night, or I may stay 3. Who knows. It all depends on camping availability, or cheap hotel. (I AM on a sort of budget) I may stop in Galveston Island On my way to Louisania.
From there I think I'm headed toward Memphis. Again, solely because I've never been, and there's plenty to do and see there. Can you say "Graceland?" From there I'll start the journey home. I may be gone 9 days, or maybe 2 1/2 weeks. Depends on my mood, the weather, my aging car (over 100,000 miles these days) and whatever my whim of the day is.
I'll probably be posting pictures here, or to my Facebook most of the way.
I'm really looking forward to this trip for a few reasons.
1) I miss my Bestie, and I don't get to see her nearly enough.
2) I really enjoyed my trip last year, and I think it contributed to some personal growth for me. It provided me with a sense of Self, and with a really big needed boost to my sense of independence.
3) Sometimes you just need to "Get Away" and take a deep breath or two. I need this.
4) Seeing new places and doing strange things is fun.
Regarding #4.. see roadsideamerica.com. It's an online guide to offbeat tourist attractions. They also have an app for that. I used it last year, and some of the stuff it led me to was truly ridiculous. But I didn't really go out of my way to see things. If it was along my route, I stopped and checked it out, sometimes for 5 minutes, just to take a picture so I could say "Yep, I was there", and sometimes for an hour or two because it was really fun. I plan on using the app again this year, and am counting on a bunch of unique stuff.
In relation to my aging car, I have been seriously debating replacing it. But theres really nothing wrong with her (fingers crossed) and I'm finding it hard to justify spending the money. I HAVE the money, but I'm not sure I want to spend it now on something I don't need. Keep in mind that if my car craps the proverbial bed on this road trip, I wouldn't have any second thoughts or feelings of guilt replacing her at the first car dealership I come across!
Probably looking at some sort of small SUV or Crossover. Leaning toward a Mazda CX-5. Gets good performance reviews, apparently drives like a dream, with albeit sometimes sluggish acceleration, which I can totally deal with especially if I get it in a manual transmission. And it's within my price range. or can be if I can talk the dealer down a bit, and get some good incentives along with my trade. I haven't talked myself into it yet, but haven't talked myself out of it either!
At home right now, The Hubs and I are working on finishing the basement, while the Wif is working on getting some stone under the back deck, so it's not mud-slop, and starting to work on garden boxes out back. The fence guys should be here soon as well. I'm afraid they're probably going to be here while I'm gone, so I'll probably have to pass that responsibility off to someone else. (sad face). Hoping the Hubs and I can make good progress in the basement, so we're to the point where he can deal with running the electrical, which really doesn't seem like a 2 person job. I'll gladly help him if I'm home and he needs/wants the help, but I think for that I'd be more likely to be in his way. I just don't want to leave him in the lurch while I'm gone. Also I actually Enjoy working with him. We seem to get things done pretty well, and over the course of the project so far, we don't hate each other.
This is a new experience for me. In a previous relationship, The Ex and I never could've done this. Any more than an hour and I'd have been upstairs either crying or so mad I wanted to break things, or both. I always thought (or was led to believe) that this outcome was my fault. That I was in some way to blame. I could never question a method, or ask "Why are you doing it this way?" and heaven forbid I made a suggestion on how I thought It might work better. Today, I live in a whole different world. I like this world.
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