Movin’ On Up!

I’ve decided to move my blog to Blogger.com.

You can now find me at http://themanylivesofjames.blogspot.com/

See you there!

Grand American Camping Adventure: A Look Back

The very first picture of our trip. Headed toward Las Vegas

We were gone for roughly 12 days and in some ways it seemed so much longer than that. In other ways it seemed much too short.  On our trip we visited national parks, big cities, small cities, and everything in between. Every moment seemed packed with adventure even when we were just driving across an empty valley with hardly much more than a few barns and windmills. It was amazing. Erinn and I keep wishing we could pick up a little silver bullet trailer and stay on the road indefinitely.

The week that we’ve been back has been full of its own surprises, mostly good, but it has been tough getting used to the daily grind after being so fully swept off our feet by our travels. Someone asked me recently how my trip was and I responded by saying “It was great. Now I’m just getting used to being home again.” As quickly as our trip went by and as short as 12 days really is, it sometimes felt like we had been gone for months. Life at home has a very different rhythm from life on the road.

The truth is that we were pretty tired after our trip. The long days driving do take their toll on you and I was looking forward to having some time to recoup. But as soon as we had unpacked, we both wanted to pack it all up again and head out on the road.

We both started and ended our trip in Las Vegas, mostly because nice hotels are cheap and it was close to where we were headed to/coming from. That first night we were anxious and excited and couldn’t wait to get moving. The last night we were holding on tight to the very last hours of our vacation. Really I don’t think either of us even viewed our trip as a vacation. I saw it as an opportunity to see states I had never seen before and spend time with my best friend.

Home

The truth is, I’m hooked.

In two weeks we’ve driven over 3,700 miles and as tiring as it was sometimes, I didn’t want it to end. I loved everything about being on the road, always moving toward some new destination, seeing new towns, new mountains and valleys, new views.

I’m happy to be able to relax and sleep in my own bed, but I already miss having somewhere new to be.

I can’t wait for the next trip.

Our Grand American Camping Adventure: Erinn and James

We settled on that name a while ago. It was just silly enough for us and it stuck. We’ve been planning our trip around this name for a while now and the day has finally come for us to go!

It’s a pretty big trip, definitely the biggest I’ve ever gone on as an adult. We’ll be starting and ending in Las Vegas, with a whole slew of major cities and National Parks in between. To list them off in order it will be Las Vegas, Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Denver, Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons, Salt Lake City, and then back to Las Vegas. All that in about 12 days. It’s gonna be BIG!

And there’ll be a lot of driving. Whew!

See you guys on the other side.

-James