Reflections on a Road Trip

Wow. Where to start. I know I disappeared on y’all for a while. I needed to get away from everything. Life got to be too stressful, too overwhelming. I needed the break. While I’m not sure I’m 100% better, I’m in a better spot than where I was. That I know for certain.

The Road Trip

I took a 10-day road trip with my 7-year-old son. He and I drove out to Michigan. We camped, saw the Great Lakes freighters, went on a bunch of boats, and had a great time. I learned, though, that camping with my son and not having another adult around is a different experience than what I am used to. Every time we’d gone before, someone else had been with me. It wasn’t like I needed someone else with; it was more just how it worked. Like how things fell in place this time to make it me and my son.

Lessons Learned

Here are a few things I learned along the way. First, I loved the time with my son. We laughed and played, explored and enjoyed the time together. It let us just have fun without tons of rules and distractions and demands on us. He had to follow some rules, but the normal day-today stuff got thrown out the window and it was nice.

Second, I learned I need to plan meals a little different from what I’m used to. We had way too much food. I upheld our family tradition with gusto this time. I brought back about three times as much food as I should have packed for us to begin with. No joke. I’ve taken a few notes for future excursions. But I’m betting they won’t be too much help because my son will be older. Which means things will be different enough I still won’t get ahead of the curve.

I also learned I can’t play the planning quite so fast and loose. Though I remember doing things this way as a kid, they didn’t work as well this time. A lot of campgrounds are now aimed at RVs and such, not tents. It got hard to find places to camp sometimes. Plus, being the only one capable of the research necessary to find said locations, it changed how we traveled a lot from what I remember doing as a kid.

Finally, I learned I need to make some changes in my life, starting with how I look at things. I need to keep my job in better perspective and hold better boundaries there. It gets too easy to allow it to consume too much of me. I also need to hold better boundaries about taking care of me without feeling guilty. I’m no good to my son, to my family, to my work, to anyone when I am not in a good place myself. It’s something I need to keep that in mind when I feel bad for taking time away from all these other things to do something for myself.

More to Come

There’ll be more things I’ve learned as I reflect on this trip over the coming weeks, I’m sure. Maybe a few more tidbits of what I discovered will make their way here. We’ll see. At any rate, thanks for reading through this rambling. Until next time!