Cold Feet?

Brrrrrr!  I’m thinking about how cold it is out there and how nice and toasty it is in here by the fire.  Record low temperatures across the southern U.S. but, we won’t let it stop us. . . maybe delay us for a day or two. . . but not stop us!  We’ve all been feeling a little melancholy about leaving all of our friends, family and pets behind.  It’s been hard to say goodbye even though we know it’s just for a short while.  Friends and family have been so generous with gifts, visits, and hugs (not to mention, taking care of all of our pets while we’re gone).  We’ve gotten a great send-off.

The Christmas decorations are all put away.  The pets have all been delivered to their temporary homes.  We blasted off a few rockets at the Walsh's annual New Years Day Rocket Launch.  We’re mostly packed up at this point with only a few last minute items to be added.  It’s been an interesting exercise —figuring out what we “really need.”  Of course Kerby “needs” his Star Wars figures, Joelle “needs” her fingernail polish and 3,000 markers, Scott “needs” every electronic gadget we own and I “need” my 6 pairs of shoes and 4 knitting projects.  It’s amazing what we think we can’t live without.  I dare say we may not have room for food or people on this trip. Though I'll admit, it ain't easy to squeeze 4 month's worth of clothing into a 20"x15"x10" bin.  What's the old addage. . . 10 lbs. of ---- in a 5 lb. bag. If you want to challenge yourselves this New Years take a few minutes to create your own list.  What would you “really need” to feel secure when away from home for four months?  You might be surprised by the things that make the cut.  Of course, the things I thought I’d want to take 6 months ago are not at all the same things I find myself packing now that the moment is here. I hope I find that I didn’t need nearly as much “stuff” as I thought I did.  When did I become so attached to material things and comfort?  The funniest part of it is that we’re packing as if we were taking off to some remote and deserted corner of the earth when the truth is we’ll probably never be more than an hour away from a WalMart (sad but true). 

Another challenging task has been deciding what we’ll eat on this trip.  On top of limited space, we have a very limited budget and we’ve all agreed that we’d rather spend our money on fun instead of food (aren’t they really just one and the same?)  However, this of course excludes things like beignets at Café du Monde, fried peach pies in GA and authentic Mexican food in San Antonio (all worth-the-splurge according to my friend Kristi) but, beyond that, how does a family of four eat healthy while camping for 4 months?  To date, our camping menus have consisted mostly of hot dogs, hobo packs and s’mores – not exactly health food!  But I’m convinced it’s not impossible to produce healthy, and even tasty, food from a pop up.  The crock pot, Dutch oven, microwave and toaster oven should help a bit (smile). Who says you can’t have it all?

No cold feet here (not yet anyway).  We’re ready to go!   See ya on the road.