Planning for Spontaneity

It was a pretty stressful few hours anticipating the arrival of Hurricane Henri yesterday.

But I woke up this morning in a new state.

Of both mind and place.

We tossed everything in the truck and spontaneously hit the road about 9:00 last night in the hopes of getting away from what looked like an intensely dangerous hurricane about to hit head-on in my town of Huntington. The pounding rain was relentless getting out of New York and it seemed like half of Long Island had the same idea, all of us crawling along the Triboro, Throgs Neck, or Whitestone to safety. But as soon as we got out of New Jersey, the weather and traffic miraculously cleared and we swept over I-80 with ease, arriving at our rig at 2am, exhausted but joyful to see our tiny mobile home there ready and waiting for us.

This trip will take us back to our favorite mountaintop in rural Pennsylvania for a while, then to Chicago, then further west to who knows where, and back to New York around Halloween. In between and around, I'll be flying to Utah for a family reunion, and to Florida to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday. See you back on Long Island in November, my friends.

I learned years ago, from several trips to India, that traveling with a loose outline and seeing where the wind takes me is way better than having a rigid schedule. Who knows what might turn up, who you may meet, what opportunities could happen along the way? That being said, I've also learned to be prepared with some well-informed allies: these days I cross-reference Campendium with The Dyrt, Highway Weather with Accuweather, and Google Maps with AllTrails, to name a few. Backup plans often have backup plans: Boondockers Welcome is our go-to, HipCamp is on standby, and our WeBoost with the ten-foot antenna is at the ready. This traveling life is a blessing, a gift, a joy, game on! But it doesn't come without work.

What does?

So back to the beginning: I woke up this morning in a new state - peaceful, tickled pink, and pretty damn pleased in Pennsylvania.