I really do like having a loose, pre-determined schedule. Our days are usually loosely planned out (school/work, exercise, lunch, tablet/quiet time, adventure, dinner, bed) as well as our general plan for the next few months. If you look at our Travel Schedule you’ll see we have a loose plan through the year 2017. I think I just like to know what our options are both short and long term. Somehow I convince myself I’m more productive if I plan things out rather than just waiting around.
However, there are days where we are still in our pajamas at noon and there is no schedule.
This week had more than a few of those days. Somehow having a set place to be at 5pm has made the rest of my day completely unproductive. Its like a crutch. “We can’t go out and explore because we have pageant practice.” Or, “I probably won’t have time to get any editing done, we have pageant practice.” Its a ridiculous mindset, but something I just can’t seem to get over.
I’ve also found myself checking into Instagram and other social media sites less often. I had these grand plans to come to Manti and we would get all caught up on blogging, Airstream projects, and everything on the “to do” list. So far a week has gone by and I feel like I have gotten next to nothing accomplished. The kids have done well in school (we are finishing up a few pesky subjects from last year still), Sam has gotten work in, but looking back I’m struggling to see what I’ve done. Usually our days our defined by what we go see, which hike we did, or if we earned Jr. Ranger Badge. And now we are just…normal. Which I figure is mostly uninteresting to our social media crowd so therefore there is a severe lack of posting. It also makes me lazy.
I’m not sure I can handle being normal or uninteresting or even lazy. Far from relaxing, I seem to be stressing out.
Perhaps this is the reason most of all I’m scared to STOP traveling full time. That days will blend into weeks, then months and it all becomes a blur of the same, routine activities over and over. That sounds like my own personal version of purgatory. I think we’ve become addicted to new, exciting, and even difficult day to day living. Anything less feels a little empty.
Its also hot. We don’t have air conditioning and I think the heat is zapping all the energy right out of me. But those are just excuses. In my head I know that if we just get out the door everything seems to work itself out. So here’s the deal. This week I’ll be more proactive about getting out with the kids and exploring. There are beautiful mountains not far from us (escape the heat! go hiking!), a fabulous rock climbing canyon, and the cutest, small town of Manti to explore. We’ll go to swimming lessons, play in the splash pad, and get up the canyon for a picnic lunch. I’m going to enjoy the time we have to sit for the next few weeks, not stress about what we aren’t doing an fully live in the moment.
Then we are going to start moving again.
Just west of Amarillo, TX is the famed Cadillac Ranch, where we stopped for a break and some graffiti practice. The kids thought it was pretty cool to spray paint these old cars!
We made quick stop at the grocery store for supplies in Sante Fe, and then arrived mid-day at Cochiti Lake. We picked a dry camping site which totally boggled the mind of our neighbors as there were still hook up sites available. The weather was going to be reasonably cool, we had plenty of sun for our solar panels and we weren’t staying long enough to need a sewer connection. Plus, the dry camping sites were only $10/night! Can’t beat that. Overall the campground was quiet and reasonably spaced, and we enjoyed not moving as we worked and relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon.
Two of our social media get togethers were in Salt Lake. We met up with a family who is living in a small, downtown condo to hike Ensign Peak. It was fun to talk with another minimalist minded family and see how they were making a simpler life work in the city. I also met Alyssa from 
