I have reasonably complicated plans for the summer. In less than two weeks, I’m heading west to Ohio, for my stepmom’s birthday party. Then I’ll go north to Michigan, where I’ll visit at least one friend, maybe more, and perhaps explore the upper peninsula, which I hear is beautiful.
After that, I’ll head to Toronto, to deliver some of R’s miscellaneous possessions to him. (It is incredibly nice of a person with storage space as limited as mine to offer to transport belongings: I am never, ever, ever going to do it again.)
From Toronto, I’d like to head east to Vermont and spend some more time there, then swing down the east coast to visit friends and family in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
But honestly, right now, I’m writing all that and really thinking that I am in a perfect place, and I’d like to spend my whole summer here. I’m parked at my brother’s garden, the blueberries are getting ripe, the grass is green and lush, the weather is perfect, the company is great, and the writing is going well. Why do I keep moving again?
Oh, right, because that’s what people who live in vans do. But it is seriously, seriously lovely here right now.
It looks so green there!
None of your summer plans seem to involve New Mexico…
Nope, but I am looking forward to coming and seeing your new house sometime next winter! Between helping R move to Toronto and taking care of a friend’s dog in FL in the fall, I decided I didn’t have enough time to make it out west this year. (A thing which is not literally true, of course, but it just would have entailed more driving time, less writing time, than I felt I wanted.) But next winter I’m planning on heading west and doing a slow giant loop around the US, winter in the south, spring working my way up the coast, summer enjoying the northwest.
By the winter, we might actually be settled in and organized!
I definitely think traveling slow is the way to do it. Seeing more pavement does not seem like a good goal.
An excellent way to put it! Less pavement, more trails. It’s almost ironic that I most like living in a van on the days I don’t go anywhere, but I really do.
I think that would be hard for me – leaving a spot where I am content. Sounds like you have good reason for most of where you are going, though.
I don’t think I would ever want to leave your brother’s place–even though I’m not a true fan of blueberries. It just sounds like a very comfortable, cozy and relaxed place to be.