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One of the benefits of driving across the country was that I was able to listen to so many great podcasts. No Meat Athlete, Dave Ramsey, This American Life, Rich Roll, Tim Keller, and On Being, to name some of my favorites. It’s incredible the information we now have at our finger tips. In a 6 hour car ride I could listen to a sermon, learn about plant based diets, hear from experts in money, and leading philosophers of our time.

In Rich Roll’s podcast he interviewed Jennifer Steinman who directed the documentary Desert Runners (it’s on Netflix and worth watching). Desert Runners is a documentary about 4 people who embark on the crazy journey of completing 4 ultra marathons in the 4 harshest deserts of the world in one year. I had watched the documentary last year and I was blown away by all that develops from this peak inside the ultra running world.  Jennifer explained on Rich’s podcast, that the part that she found most intriguing was that the people who finished these epic ultra marathons were not the most athletic people. Instead they were the ones who believed they would finish and broke the race into very small goals.

What does this have to do with moving? Well I think those principles can be applied to all struggle. Luckily driving across the country was easy to break into small steps. Either we focused on the next fuel stop or the next town we were staying in. But when we arrived in Asheville, it felt nearly impossible to break things down and find the next small step. We knew the family house we would be moving into would need work but we had no clue how much work and how overwhelming it would feel after driving across the country. I’ve been keeping that lesson in mind each day and practicing not looking at the mound of work to be done but instead asking, “what’s the next step?”

As things take shape around here I anticipate having some awesome before and after pictures to share! I am loving our neighborhood just north of Asheville. I love that when I get on the freeway I get the best view of downtown Asheville. I also love the lightning bugs, the friendly people, the sunshine, and getting to spend time with my in-laws. And I try to remind myself of those parts that I love as I work through this house project which at times has made me want to drive back to Washington 🙂

We were just settling into our truck camper. The smell of warm sewage washing over the Woodfin hills. It was a buggy evening filled with species so vast no one has bothered to classify them. That is when Abbey took off. Our little hunter husky was running around the camper, through the yard, knocking over pots and going wild. She was hunting not hearing a word we said as we tried to direct her to the camper and away from the road. She turned and looked back at us proud with a opossum dangling from her mouth. “Abbey, put that down,” Michael yelled. She spit out the opossum as if to communicate, “it didn’t taste that great anyway.” We all climbed into the camper and watched the opossum from the window hoping he would wake from playing dead. Suddenly he woke, wandering slowly and shocked at first. We discussed what to do if his injuries were severe. Then we checked out the window once more. He was gone. Vanished into the darkness. Just another tale from the Carolina Camper Times…..

We arrived in Asheville late Wednesday afternoon. The heavy air and thunderstorms greeted us. The house was not in as good of shape as we had hoped. It was built in 1928 after all 🙂 

It is so nice to be back in Asheville. A rebel town filled with yoga, plant based options, beer brewed with fresh Appalachian water, and male nuns on double decker bikes rolling through downtown. Not to mention all the friendly people. Our neighbors have already come over and offered to help in any way they can. Michael’s good friends that live only a mile from us have already had us for dinner and their children even preformed a dance from the Nutcracker. 

We’ve also been taking time to catch up with Michael’s family. It’s hard to not feel at home here. Michael’s 88 year old father told me yesterday he wants me to help with the pool. For those of you who haven’t heard about the Long family pool sagas, that pool is Michael’s dads pride and joy. He will spend hours and days picking leaves out of the pool and talking about the different levels of water clarity. So I guess there is no higher honor to be bestowed to a daughter-in-law than to help learn Michael’s dads second career, pool maintenance. I am so blessed 🙂

Here are some of the cool things going on here: 

   
     

Yesterday was the last of our two planned long days. We drove 546 miles from Lawrence Kansas to Clarksville Tennessee. Today is the final stretch! Only 343 miles to go! 

First, some well deserved awards:

Kansas City- Most Surprisingly Beautiful City

Missouri- Most incredible American Flags  

 

Illinois- The Worst Roads 

Kentucky- The Best Roads
Abbeygale- Most Patient and Loving Dog Ever!  

 Michael Long- Best Sense of Humor   

While I have enjoyed this trip across the US thoroughly, the long days were not as enjoyable. I hope to do this again but keep it at 300-400 miles a day. Plus, our camper is quite a bit of work. We climb up into the camper and up into the cab over, then remember I forgot something and repeat. I was worried I lost all climbing fitness but I think I am working on getting it back. We’ve also hit the camper’s organizational limits. I have no idea where anything is which I think will help us get on the road early. 

Also, in case anyone was wondering, with the expection of Denver, we have eaten only our food. I didn’t know if it would work, but it worked very well! I cooked a bunch of pancakes, veggie scramble, and we cooked pasta a few nights. I love my plant based diet and I am so happy it came along with me.   I feel that by eating our own food on our own schedule has kept us from getting too tired.  Neither one of us has gotten too groggy to drive, and we haven’t even been drinking any coffee.   That’s saying a lot for a lot of long days in the truck.

Thank you all for your support! I wanted to update you all that Colorado ended up being the only time we ran into jerks and had to pay for two spots. The rest of the nights we have either fit in one space or not been charged. And since Kansas, we have gotten a military discount at every site. I so appreciate the souths respect for military. It’s very healing.

Going to hit the road now. The Laughing Seed (our favorite restaurant in the world) awaits us 🙂 

I have so much to say about yesterday but that blog will have to wait. We traveled 590 miles yesterday. Most of the day was sunny and clear but we knew we were driving into some severe storm warnings. The last 200 miles of our drive was sporadic down pours and constant thunder and lightning. It was amazing! I love weather! As a kid, I truly believed I would be a storm chaser. And all those storms yesterday filled me with energy to get through that drive.

Today we will attempt about the same mileage but I am not sure we have got it in us. And I think abbey is growing less and less patient. This morning as Michael and I walked back from the registration office and I said “I’m so worn out I feel drunk.” To which he replied, “that means there is only one thing to do. Hit the road.”  Because we all know… We need more pseudo-drunks I the road.

Can’t wait to see where we end up!

Yesterday was yet another beautiful, mountainous, drive into Colorado. We only did about 293 miles but with some city driving it felt like more. 

We both knew that Colorado would be a challenge for us.  We know so many wonderful people and places here that we initially thought that we could linger here for a while and visit friends.   However, we are already going to be arriving in Asheville a few days later than planned, and the difficulty of finding safe places to park all of our earthly possessions has led us to the decision to keep on traveling.  

We arrived at an rv park that Michael had researched online. It was supposed to be about $30-$35 a night. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. As we looked around though we felt a little out of place. Our uhaul/car trailers/camper combo seemed just a little more rugged than the newer motor coaches. Michael went to check in and the guy at the desk explained the sites were now $60 a night and we would have to pay for two. One for the uhaul and one for the camper. He continued telling Michael he should really go to “these places” because they would “better suit our needs.” Michael and I took a moment in disbelief. We called the other parks and no one answered. The guy at the rv park then offered us private cell phone numbers for the a couple of the other parks. We realized they really didn’t want us staying there. Which really confirmed my earlier feeling that some camper people might be kinda classist.  Michael doesn’t usually get angry very easily, so I was shocked when he reached over the counter, grabbed the guy by the collar and asked him, “When is the last time you had a good ol’ fashioned country ass whoopin’?” (And that sentence is what happens when your husband is your editor haha) Needless to say, we ended up staying somewhere else. 

Today we head into Kansas! We are so excited because there are severe thurnderstorms in the forecast. We may actually get to test out our camper that was designed to withstand an F -3 tornado 🙂 

… And if you don’t hear from us again, you’ll know what happened…

We drove 309 miles of beautiful terrain yesterday from Ogden Utah to Rawlins Wyoming. Our route took us through the Uinta mountains in northern Utah into the plains of Wyoming. I had never realized how much elevation you gain while cruising along I-80.  Many areas were at 7000 feet, but there were no mountaintops… just rolling hills and sprawling desert with an incredible variety of colors and features.  I really want to make it back to Utah sometime. If the northern area is that beautiful I can only imagine what places like Alta Ski Resort and Moab are like. We also encountered some thunder and lightning yesterday afternoon which made for an interesting drive. Even in the brown rolling hills of Wyoming we were entertained by lightening bolts that stretched on for seemingly forever and happy pronghorn antelope grazing the feilds. Our country is spectacular!

One other thing we noticed…

We rejoiced at the prospect of stopping at the Little America Travel stops in Wyoming…  They are some of the coolest stops we’ve seen.  If you know us at all, we love America, so we couldn’t miss little America.  However, as we shopped around the store, we realized that almost all of the products featuring American flags or classic Wyoming scenery were all made in China.  While I’m grateful that there is an opportunity to buy imported low cost goods, I am shocked that there were no American made souvenirs to be found.  I wonder if we are the only weirdos out there who are looking at labels and trying to find more local and domestically-produced products.

Yesterday we drove 331 miles to Ogden Utah. We had a late start so we didn’t make it as far as we wanted to. However, who is in a hurry? We had a blast cooking pasta watching the sunset and discussing our limited knowledge of the church of Latter Day Saints. Woah my iPhone auto corrected that to have capitals.

Anyway, Utah is beautiful! I wish we had time to explore. I’ve always wanted to see Salt Lake City and Moab. I am truly enjoying this time believe it or not. I’ve been listening to great podcasts and taking in the incredible vastness of this beautiful country. 

We will see where we end up today!

Bend to Caldwell Idaho was 295 miles of windy, winding, and bumpy highway 20. I would note how long it took us to travel that distance but that kind of truth seems too confronting for me this morning.

Yesterday was epic. We woke up at 7am to finish loading the moving truck and cars, met with our landlord for a final walk through, and drove to Caldwell, Idaho. Michael and I have promised each other we will never do a day like that again. And we have sworn off driving after dark for the rest of the trip.

I think today we will start to hit our stride. The RV park that Michael found for us it awesome! It was peaceful all night, has a dog park, and internet. It seems there is an awesome RV culture out there in America. I am excited to see what today brings!

“There are two feelings, two languages, and two results. Love or Fear. Fear always confirms what we think we already know. Love always surprises.” Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

The quote above is from our church’s Easter service. It spoke to my heart as I have flip-flopped back and forth between excitement and fear of our up coming move. As this sentence sank in, I began to realize that all the fears I was having were related to things I think I already know. Things like, it’s really far away, it’s so different from where I grew up, what if all this time in Bend was a waste?, we should have, could have, planned this or that, …. etc. When I looked at those things as just things I think I already know they seemed so much less powerful. More than that though, I realized that not one of those fears was a reason not to do it.

I haven’t had time to try it out on much else in life as we have been consumed with moving tasks. But I propose that if one were to look at reluctance and feelings of fear as “things we think we already know,” it could ease decision-making. One can quickly discern what is a real healthy, fear-driven reason not to do something and what are the fearful ideas one thinks they already know. Just a manmade excuse not to engage in the uncomfortable unknown of the changes we are called to make.

It came to me in a dream last night that being driven by love produces survivors to horrific situations. Those heroes that stand up and fight back, or risk their lives to save other people. Of course those same people do not always survive, but it produces conditions in which others can survive. It’s acting out of love, not fear, that writes those stories in human history. The ones where looking at all the facts of the situation we are confronted by a feeling of fear ourselves, yet someone or something surprises everyone. Fear tells us to stay put, that violence always ends in violence, that the others are more powerful, more intelligent. Love reminds us that anything is possible, that life and good are always worth fighting for.

Don’t get me started on American media. Totally fear driven! “Stay young forever,” “Prevent this or that with this pill (despite all of the nasty side-effects),” “vaccines are always worth their risks,” “Protect and insure your belongings because they are bound to be robbed or destroyed,” “Newer is safer,” “Murderers are everywhere and it happens every day,” “The world is filled with only violence.” With these messages flowing toward our society every day all day, no wonder every one is anxious. America as a population is so anxious their dogs are anxious too! When I hear these messages coupled with all the research I have been doing about the effects of psychiatric medications, the current state of our society makes sense to me. According to an article by Citizens Commission on Human Rights, “Internationally, 54 million people are taking antidepressants known to cause addiction, violent and homicidal behavior.” It makes sense to me too then that cops and people trying to defend and protect would be on edge.

But the psychiatric drug problem in our country is driven and fueled by fear. People are afraid of behavior different from theirs. They are afraid that if they don’t intervene with medication they are doomed to a life of continued depression and anxiety. American society has forgotten the power of love and understanding. The power of listening to someone. The power of communicating in person. The field of Marriage and Family Therapy is based on the concept that fear driven future telling gets people no where. And the job of a good MFT is to believe that it can all change over night. That love and understanding can conquer more than we realized and that humans are incredibly resilient. Humans have been overcoming and even thriving after trauma since the beginning of time.

So choose love, choose mystery, and uncertainty. Make room in life for all the unanswered and unsolved mysteries. It is the window to all the love in the world.

For the full article on the devastating effects of psychiatric drugs: http://www.cchr.org/cchr-reports/psychiatry/introduction.html