Here’s what happened and what I learned from our cross-country road trip in August of 2019 Highlights * 6,800 miles in 26 days * Enough time to form some new habits and perspectives in new places which was interesting * Off for the month of August 2019 * Ending “unnecessary suffering” * Trip was inspired by a conversation with my ACS classmate Karen Ahlquist combined with several upcoming trips * Knowing how much it costs us to live and knowing exactly how much we have at any time made it much easier to decide to do this * YNAB (You Need A Budget) software to manage our finances has been a game-changer * Having just enough of a plan * The tension between planning or not planning * We made a big loop and drove through the following states (see maps below) * Oregon * Idaho * Wyoming * Nebraska * Missouri * Tennessee * North Carolina * Kentucky * Ohio * Michigan * Illinois * Wisconsin * Minnesota * South Dakota * The result of simply being for the first week or so–reading and listening to very little * Things that went well or paid off * Prepared a month in advance * Physical/paper maps * Got our van serviced a few weeks before * Long driving days and days of no driving * If there was nothing to do or see that interested us after arriving at a location * we moved on * got us a few days ahead of schedule to do things we wanted to * Stop before it’s too late in the day so there is time to wind down before going to sleep * Making decisions on a full stomach * Seeing a place in person * Stopping at all the information places to find good camping * Leaving early in the day makes it easier to wrack up the miles and cover more distance * Stand-alone GPS unit (always had coverage) highly recommended * Costco * Thule box on the roof to hold camping gear and free up a ton of space in our van * Living in the present vs. the tension of knowing what we would do the next day * Sometimes choosing in advance * Sometimes making it up the next day * Next time * Write a few bullets each day after dinner to capture what you seen and where you’ve been * A better way to pool and manage all of our pictures * Taking a few pictures every day Outbound Route Return Route Credits * Hallon by Christian Bjoerklund * Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod * Photo credit: My odometer All songs licensed under Creative Commons