Birdy Goes West: Leaving the Roost

A couple of years ago, I began jogging. For me, this was a huge step in a new direction since I’ve never been a runner. Each time I go out for a jog, I feel wobbly and awkward at first. Thoughts run through my mind about whether I should be doing this: This is silly, perhaps I should have just stayed home. But then, somewhere along the way, I catch my rhythm. My mind no longer thinks much about my body, and away I go.

This makes for an excellent metaphor for our family road trips. At first, we are too aware of the trailer and worried about whether we should be doing this. Maybe this is silly, maybe we should have stayed home.

This morning, we began our 6000-mile journey across the country. Last night, pouring rain had caused flash flooding in the area, so I was a little worried about the roads. Then, as soon as we got on the highway, we heard a strange new noise. Could it be a tire rubbing? Could the bikes have shifted? Off the highway we pulled, and we got out to inspect the elements…in the rain.

Luckily, we had stopped at the school where we worked, and our district maintenance director happened to be there on a Saturday. He came over and helped us problem solve. We decided it was the wind blowing through the spare tire. Though my husband and I would have figured this out on our own, it was nice to have another person there to calm our nerves and assure us that we could, indeed, leave the roost.

It took us 30 minutes to get more than 10 minutes away from home. A little further down the road, we missed a turn, and lost some more time. A little bickering ensued.

But soon after that, we hit our stride and caught the wind…down the road we traveled, listening to some “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” as our theme song. Off we went, excited to be on our first big road trip.

Whenever I am done with a run, I am always surprised to find out how energized I feel. I always expect to feel tired and worn out. But, I’ve finally learned that running is worth all those moments of feeling I’m awkward and thinking I can’t do it because in the end, it renews my soul. That is why we travel, as well. My son created the picture below and put it on Instagram, and I thought it really captures what we want him to get from these long family road trips. Adventure truly is worthwhile.

The Whole Journey

To read all of the blog posts related to this journey, check out my Birdy Goes West page.

Our trip will take us across Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. We will spend 25 days on the road and cover almost 6000 miles. Our extended stops include Santa Fe, NM; Sedona, AZ; and San Francisco. Along the way we will see several national parks, with Yosemite being our big destination.  Our national parks/monuments include:

1. Petroglyph National Monument
2. Painted Desert & Petrified Forest National Parks
3. Sequoia National Park
4. Yosemite National Park
5. Golden Gate National Recreation Area
6. Muir Woods National Monument
7. Grand Canyon National Park

It’s an ambitious schedule for our first big trip in our travel trailer, Birdy.  But, we hope the adventure is worthwhile.

Birdy has left the roost!