{"id":34,"date":"2007-07-13T16:04:40","date_gmt":"2007-07-13T23:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromthefrontporch.com\/WPBlog\/?p=34"},"modified":"2014-07-13T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T19:11:12","slug":"journey-or-destination-aka-how-i-got-into-rving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/2007\/07\/journey-or-destination-aka-how-i-got-into-rving\/","title":{"rendered":"“Journey or Destination” or “How I got into RVing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend, Carolyn, who I credit for some marvelous health improvements (see bioflavanoids in previous post this morning\u2026) made the following comment about travel after having perused my recent travels on this blog:<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me travelling is simply a way to get from A to B. I LOVE to go places but the getting there is not that fun.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The classic \u201cJourney or Destination\u201d paradox\u2026\u00a0 <\/span>It really made me think \u2013 which I LOVE by the way!\u00a0 <\/span>And as a side note, if you want to read about some young women who are living \u2013 and I mean LIVING life and being thoughtful, world-caring, world-changing people \u2013 visit Carolyn\u2019s blog <\/a>and then her blogging friends (links from her site) \u2013 and their friends\u2026.\u00a0 <\/span>These are\u00a0people that give me hope \u2013 they have committed to God, marriage, family, people in need, the environment \u2013 and they have committed in LOVE \u2013 not necessairly huge \u201cin the news\u201d things \u2013 but\u00a0simple daily acts of thoughtfulness, random acts of kindness, \u201cdoing unto others as we would have done unto us\u201d lives…\u00a0 <\/span>Sharp contrast to the \u201cme-me-me-ness\u201d that seems to make the news.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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So, back to topic… Before I had the motorhome, I would have said that the same was true for me – “the getting there is not that much fun.”\u00a0 Somewhere\/somewhen after much business travel and a few cross country car trips my travel philosophy changed a bit.\u00a0 It was so gradual and sneaky that I didn’t consciously see it happening.\u00a0 The last car trip in 2000 – Montana to Maine to Nova Scotia and back – that was the first conscious thought of RVing.\u00a0 I spent 7 weeks “on the road” and except for one week in a Maine cottage, I was in a different hotel every night – with a dog and cat and their respective beds, food, dishes, litter box…plus my computer and my stuff.<\/font><\/p>\n

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There were many times that trip when I fantasized about being in a little rv… and that’s where I started – looking at camper vans – mini-motorhomes.\u00a0 It wasn’t just the in and out of motel thing, it was also that I realized that I really LOVED “road” travel – wandering around the country on the highway, listening to local radio and at night, tv – talking to people – What’s important to people here vs there?\u00a0 What’s life like in this place?\u00a0 It was realizing that I loved the journey.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Fast forward to summer, 2005.\u00a0 I had off and on looked at vans, travel trailers, truck campers, motorhomes – everything!\u00a0 They each have their plusses and minuses and I dithered.\u00a0 But in early summer ’05 a number of things happened – I had sold a house I loved and did not find another, a relationship ended, I had a 1-2 year work committment with a long-standing client, i.e. didn’t matter where I worked from – short story, I was “footloose and fancy free” and somewhat in need of a distraction… oh, and I turned 50…<\/font><\/p>\n

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In true mid-life crisis fashion, I went to an RV dealer and bought the Winnebago.\u00a0 <\/span>As it turned out, it was perfect for me and the boys (Karl and Bob).\u00a0 <\/span>At the time, buying the RV was a \u201cmeans to an end\u201d \u2013 a way to look around the country and see if there was somewhere else I\u2019d rather live \u2013 while having the comforts of home and ability to take my pets easily.\u00a0 <\/span>I never expected to like the \u201crv lifestyle\u201d\u2026I thought \u2013 I\u2019ll look around, decide where I want to live and then sell this thing and get back to \u201creal life\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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Ha!\u00a0 <\/span>Turns out that I love travelling in my \u201c300 square foot 1 bedroom\/1 bath home on wheels\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>The pets adapted beautifully and now I can\u2019t envision traveling any other way and additionally the whole rv thing has become a hobby and the travel an addiction of sorts.\u00a0 <\/span>I haven\u2019t really had a hobby before \u2013 it is incredible to me that I have become so enamored of all things RV and in the process, I hardly care WHERE I go, I just enjoy the going \u2013 with the paradox of loving Montana, my little house and the beautiful forest I live in.<\/font><\/p>\n

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So, maybe it is more than the RV journey \u2013 the journey of life and of discovering my place in it \u2013 on wheels or on ground.\u00a0 <\/span>Either way, now, for me, it is the journey.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend, Carolyn, who I credit for some marvelous health improvements (see bioflavanoids in previous post this morning\u2026) made the following comment about travel after having perused my recent travels on this blog: \u201cFor me travelling is simply a way to get from A to B. I LOVE to go places but the getting there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front-porch-musings"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14800,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/14800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beardogco.com\/theroadhome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}