Lessons Learned

In Progress - I'll update this one as we go

Update: 10/29/02

Caveat: These are Betsy's opinions.

Glenn suggested that I write about lessons learned so far. In order to do that, I need to sort of explain the different phases we have had on this trip because each phase has had its own lessons.

Phase 1: The West - Nature

Description: Nature, national parks, hiking, being outside. Canada was the best part - Pluto was allowed on the trails, the parks were incredibly nice and dirt cheap, and it was light until late. We started one hike at 7:30 at night. We could sleep as late as we wanted and still have a full day ahead of us. The other RV-ers tended to be families and young German couples, with just a few old-timers thrown in for color. Fruit and vegetable farm stands were plentiful.

Lessons Learned: RV-ing is easy in the West, and it was a great place to learn how. It is easy to RV as the roads are wide, there is lots of time between navigating decisions, and a wrong turn is not a big deal. The West makes it easy to go from one incredibly beautiful spot to the next. You feel healthy when you hike and the long daylight hours make you feel not-so-guilty about sleeping late. We didn't feel odd as there were many people doing what we were doing. Canada rocks.

Phase 2: The Midwest - Family

Description: Spent many hours with family and friends with no agenda. Was able to be a part of others lives even though we don't live in the area. Ate, but didn't hike. I gained weight quickly. David saw many baseball games and played some golf. I learned how to build a web page.

Lessons Learned: Time is the most amazing part of this trip. If you do nothing but eat, you gain weight. Family is precious.

Phase 3: New England - Transitions

Description: Oddities. We are the youngest people on the road now as the kids have gone back to school. Things didn't feel quite right. Gets dark earlier and the temperatures are colder. Driving is much harder, the roads weren't built for RVs, and things are much closer together. Navigating has to be precise. The fact that I had gained weight sunk in.

Lessons Learned: We are still learning these lessons, but basically, we realized that we are now "full-timing" and not vacationing. This is what we do; we travel from place to place. Now that we are oddities, it sort of forced us to look at the rest of the trip and see what we wanted to get out of it. For me, I want to learn to cook more, read more, exercise more, and see more movies. David wants to read, play some more golf, and stay in touch with people - basically, live life more and tourist less. We are still talking about these decisions and what they should look like, and I'm not sure New York is where we test them out as New York breaks all the rules for this trip to begin with.

Phase 4: Heading South - Settling in

Description: Newport and New York are our only destinations so far. Therefore, this is still a settling into the new routine place. So far, I'm walking every morning with Pluto and I'm trying out at least one new recipe every week (tonight was vegetarian vegetable soup and an apple crisp). We haven't been rushing to the city every day, but we are still being good tourists.

Lessons Learned: None yet, I'll get back to you on that.