Eight Months Ago I left California searching for something different…..possibly a new place to live….I road tripped all around the country.

The Road trip looked Like this…..Yes some places we visited twice and double backed to.

What I realized when going a trip like this:

• You never quite no what you have until you leave it
• Check out one place for as long as necessary, do everything you want to, once you you get 200 miles down the road you don’t want to have to turn back because you think you missed out on something.
• Accept that you will miss a place after leaving it, enough that you may have to return and revisit it.  This happened to me after I left Durango CO, I got all the way down to Florida and after a couple months realized realized that I really want to go back and think about living there.
• I really miss CA…..I missed it about the whole time I was gone.

After been gone from CA for eight months and visiting (almost) everywhere that I have ever wanted to or thought of living….I now can return to the west coast feeling satisfied with my decision to live there.

So My New Road Trip Plan is the one that gets me to Southern CA the fastest.  Luckily I made all my pits stops around the country last year…..so the new road trip plan looks more like:

Over the last eight months of driving I have picked up some tips to planning a good road trip:

• Plan ahead (knowing where you going and where you going to stop makes things easier, booking hotels in advance online always gets a better rate)
• Don’t get upset when you have to throw your whole plan out the window cause you only made it 200 miles the first day and planned on 400.  Rerouting and reconfiguring your trip is part of the spontaneity of road tripping.
• Do some research, how are you suppose to know where the biggest ball of string is if you don’t look it up before you go.  With out research you are just aimlessly driving (which can be fun too)
• Hotel Coupon books at gas station really do save you money….usually around ten dollars a night.
• Fast food gets old quick.  Load up and grocery snacks before you leave.  Even eating at a gas station is more interesting then fast food after a 1000 miles.
• Plan the trip with someone you can laugh with.
• Comedy CDs will help you get through states like Kansas or Nebraska.

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Winter is a good time of year to contemplate things.  For the the last month I feel like I have been doing a lot of that……Laying around contemplating.  A lot of athletes are lucky because they plan out their whole race season in the winter months and this gives them a good idea of what their year is going to look like.  This is nice but when you do an array of sports like me and not very many competitive ones, this method doesn’t work.  So I really had to think about what I wanted to do with my time this year.  Did I just want to lay in my warm cozy bed and contemplate…….well yes a little bit….but in the long run no!

I need something new; a project, a life, a sport, a hobby….was it one of these things or all of them.  I wasn’t so sure yet.  The only thing I know for sure is I’m ready to get out there and do something.

After this month of contemplating I’m saying see ya later to my favorite city Chicago and with the parting words of….”It’s not you, it’s me.”  Things just do feel right this time around in the city, it doesn’t mean they never will again, but I’m not engaged in the city, I haven’t been feeling very alive.  Warm and cozy….yes, adventurous and motivated…..no.

A few reasons why it is cool to try new things:

May meet interesting people
May learn new things
May challenge yourself in new ways
May wake you up
May make you feel alive
May have a ton of fun

Soooo what does this mean……it means I’m going a new journey…..as soon as the last piece of furniture sells in my house TODAY!

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