Two good things….running and Idaho.
How simple is that?
I’ve got to get ready to drive the mail around again.
Did you know that sitting kills you?
Man.
Idaho and running….save the world.
I wish I was out there watching this.
I wish I was out there riding in that big machine…..digging up miles of Idaho potatoes.
I think that most people would find a potato harvest kind of boring….but I think it’s pretty darn cool.
Look at these Idaho fields of potatoes.
Pretty cool.
How’d we figure out how to build all these machines to keep us IN POTATOES?
That’s amazing, too.
People are pretty darn clever.
Here’s a video put out by people promoting traveling with your family.
That’s a dangerous thing for me to put up here.
Jenny will tell me not to “just blog” about it.
You really do have to do it.
My job ….saves us financially….and tethers me at the same time.
How do you travel and pay all the bills at home and….travel and pay all the bills out on the road….and….travel….and….stay employed when you aren’t at the job?
How do you do all of that?
Idaho….selling us on how great it is to travel to Idaho.
Idaho, don’t do that.
I already know, Idaho.
I already know.
OK.
A van is cool….but LOOK AT THIS!!
Flying around in an AREOPLANE!!
How cool would that be?
I’ll work towards a fun mobile that stays on the ground.
We know about staying on the ground….I don’t know how to fly a plane.
And….how do you fit 6 people into a plane like this?
I don’t believe that you could do it.
And, if you could, I think that spilled juice boxes would short out the electronics.
You can’t fly if you fry your rig.
This is pretty intense to be able to see all of this trip from the sky.
Again….the constant….Idaho.
How hard could it be to travel and keep my job?
Pretty hard, I think.
I can’t even easily take the time off to get my Jeep in to get it serviced.
I better push for that before my rig gets fried.
Even on the ground, it’s a drag to fry your rig.
You have to be kind to the donkey that bears you.
Here’s something funny about this video and then I’ll go.
He stops in Atlanta….Idaho about 13 minutes in.
How funny would it be to be able to say that we were moving to Atlanta….and then explain why we couldn’t meet anyone at the mall or Ikea?
That would be HILARIOUS!!
We talk about traveling.
We drive around….but it doesn’t always feel like traveling.
If we aren’t on the cusp of getting lost, we don’t feel like we’re traveling.
I think that it’s the “unfamiliar” that makes it feel like we’re traveling.
Again….it’s Idaho.
That helps fuel my wanderlust….watching videos of Idaho adventures.
These guys have a nice van and a nice Airstream.
We could do that.
Right?
Here’s a website for free camping locations….. https://freecampsites.net/ ….
Man….it’s easy to look active when you’re just clicking a mouse and pressing plastic….but….finding out that it might be easy to locate a free campsite is kind of cool.
Wanting to do this is the only place to start.
ACTION PACKED!!
Ahhhhhhhh…..the dude can cook.
Check out the opening sequence of this video….and let your mouth water a bit.
That’s a cool thing….to be able to cook something like that when you’re on the road.
Traveling around in a van looks like it might be fun…but anything looks like it might be fun when you’re traveling around looking for fun.
Fun is fun.
We travel around in a van with a couple of tired kids all the time…..we go where we can, maintaining a sense of cool everywhere we stop to PARTY (!!)….with those tired little kids.
You would think that having more “adults” (the quotation marks are for ME) in the car would make wrangling little ones easier….and it does…4 watching 2 is a good ratio…..but a Grand Caravan is never going to be a tricked out fun-mobile.
And….it’s hard to party when you’re tired.
But….the little guys are pretty resilient….and we are sensitive to their needs….so it all works out.
We don’t cook in our car.
Nate and I went up to camp on Sunday to see some old friends of mine…..and, when we got back, Jenny asked him if he wanted to go to camp, too.
He said, “I want to go camping….with my family.”
I better get on that.
I better get on board that adventure train.
And….we better cook something darn good like this guy does.
If this hipster can cook something that looks that good, why can’t I?
You bloom where you’re planted.
That’s rule number uno….numero one….for a happy life….
You have to bloom.
Bloom.
BE.
Here’s a guy out in Idaho….cleaning campsites before he leaves them, enjoying hot springs, driving his van….riding his bike….eating sausage and potato and onion tacos…..and….more driving around in his van.
“Who would have thought that Idaho would be like heaven?”
Me, for one.
I love to travel.
I have a lot of iron in the fire.
I need to stoke the flame….get a move on….finish what I start.
And….bloom.
Idaho?
Why not go?
How much can these people really know about anything?
THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TALK AMERICAN!!
(I’m kidding, of course.)
Lots of folks travelling around in vans.
We drove up to Asheville yesterday….in the old minivan….went to the pinball museum up there….went to Farm Burger for the first time….walked around.
I wonder if going to a place unfamiliar feels more like travelling than going to a place just “up the road”?
Probably.
How far do you have to go before it starts to feel like taking a trip?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrmN7iaRggM
What a delicate thing our thoughts are.
We absorb what we surround ourselves with.
We carry the attitudes and comments we grow up around.
But…too..what a malleable thing our thoughts are.
If we have any control over anything, it’s the choice to gradually change how we see the world and how we understand our place in it.
We hold onto things that have hurt us….keep picking at the scab of injury like it’s a sick entertainment to keep old wounds fresh….but…really, we only have so much room in our worldview to support a single distinct philosophy at a time.
We don’t live very well in a house divided.
If you can’t support more than one really strong idea at a time, does that mean that we can crowd out the old script with new and strong positive thoughts?
I think that it does.
And I think that it takes work to keep the positivity consistent.
I’m trying to work through all this.
I have a couple of things figured out….but, I’m still trying to work though most of this stuff.
My thoughts are powerful.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
(Wasn’t that in a Spiderman movie?)
I am responsible for my life….and have a lot of control over my thoughts and my life’s outcomes….no matter how much I think that my circumstances run my “situation”.
It’s kind of exciting to have a choice about all of this!
Who knows what could happen next?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhi1mQN7l2o
We live in a house that’s “in progress”.
There’s always something to do….something more that needs attention.
Last night, after work, we went over to the other property we bought a couple of years ago to clean up a tree that had fallen over the road at the entrance to the land.
That land is a bigger project…bigger than the one we live in now.
The tree is just a small part of the process….and it finally falling over after years of being held up by the ivy that killed it just meant that it commanded some attention that was more immediate than when it was still standing.
We learn a lot with all the “overextending” we do….but it’s hard.
Someone once told us that “we got lucky” when we found the house we live in.
The (almost) finished project might make it look like that….but all the hard word that was inbetween derelict and “lucky”….is what makes that end product look like something that was only the result of good fortune.
Sometimes lucky takes a lot of hard work.
I love motivational speeches.
I don’t know that I take them all to heart….but if I internalize even a little bit of positivity, I’m better off than I was before I heard them.
We keep going.
Where else would we go?
Why would we want to tread water forever?
Running on a treadmill doesn’t let me see a new view.
I need to push on more.