San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
NEW DIRECTIONS
A RESET IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL
It’s hard to break routines. Life can feel like a treadmill. You get on and you go, in the same direction, every day. But there are those among us who are able to break free, chart a new course, do something different, whether that’s taking a cross-country excursion, living on a boat or moving to a home outside the bustle. Below, three writers describe what it’s like to boldly go in ...
I live out of a car with my wife and two young kids, and highly recommend it.
We left San Diego almost a year ago with a few weeks worth of campsite reservations, a general clockwise route around the country and only the vaguest idea where the road would lead. Our goal was to see every state and gather stories about what we learned along the way.
That was 44 states and more than 27,000 miles ago. And we’ve found some great stories, like the artist who built a wave out of 20,000 golf balls pulled out of the ocean. We met the one guy who decides which trees become Major League Baseball bats, visited a retirement home for race horses and talked to the photographer who followed George Floyd’s family for a year. And we keep finding stories.
For our family, everything about this year has been a disruption of routine. For starters, we gave up routines. There are no longer set hours for school, work or meals. We pack up and move every few days. Most of the time, we know our next stop, but not always. We’ve been hot, cold, wet, hungry, lost and uncomfortable. We’ve also stayed with family, with friends and at a few nice hotels along the way. (We’ve slept in some pretty shady ones, too.) Our kids will thank us someday for forcing them to be so adaptable — I hope.
Being uncomfortable was the point. I spent nearly two decades in TV news. I loved my job, but it had been awhile since my wife and I had stretched beyond our comfort zone.
Both of us remember setting out into the real world 20 years ago, uncertain if we were good enough to make it. Here we are again, and it’s wonderfully scary. We have no idea what happens when this is over. We gave away our furniture minus a couch and a favorite rocking chair. Hitting reset has been good for the soul.
There are plenty of challenges. Things get lost. They break. We’re on our fourth tent. (The first one broke on the first night.) Eating healthy and affordably with a cooler and a camp stove is a mission we fail often. My wife and I are regularly up until 2 a.m. I’m writ
ing and editing stories while Jess plans our route and activities. The kids are usually sleeping a few steps away. There are no babysitters. There’s no daycare. We’ve managed three date nights in the past 11 months. Surprisingly, the pandemic is not one of the bigger challenges. This lifestyle actually makes it easier for us to social distance and be outside.
It’s also not a year off of school. My wife is our son’s first-grade teacher, which means we’re all first-graders this year, something else I highly recommend. The curriculum includes lobster fishing, a cattle drive, a manatee release, making maple syrup and visiting more than 20 national parks. We’ve stopped at nearly every site connected to the Revolutionary War, Civil War and civil rights movement. Our 3year-old will be shocked someday to find out school is not one big field trip.
What have we learned? We only really need what fits in our car.
What have we seen? Sunrise over the Atlantic, sunset over the Pacific, full moon over Old Faithful, wild orcas off Seattle, fall colors in New England and hundreds of miles of beautiful backroads.
I’ll never again say “flyover state.” Everywhere we go, we meet people who love where they live and want to share what makes it special. Everywhere we go, people are kind, curious about where we’re from, and proud of where they’re from, too. And believe it or not, politics almost never comes up — seriously.
The political division in this country is not part of our first-grade curriculum, but I hope we’re laying a foundation with our kids to think beyond their own comfort zone. And I hope that lesson sticks. The geographic, economic and cultural diversity in this country is astounding. I’m glad they’re seeing it firsthand. I hope they remember that and embrace it.
Is it worth it? I could’ve answered that the first week. We woke up our kids to watch sunrise over the Grand Canyon. It was freezing. They were pretty miserable. It wasn’t perfect, but it was beautiful. And I’ll never forget it. We may never be together there again. It was a snapshot of the year to come, and absolutely worth it.