Sunshine in April

Hmmm. Where to begin? I guess a little backstory may help. I have lived in western Washington for 28 years. I have a beautiful and amazing family who I love dearly and a spouse who I not only love, but I still like after a quarter of a century together. Our children are all in the adulting phase of their lives with the youngest just beginning this journey. We even have grandchildren – pretty sure that makes us old!  

So, why did I need to go on a health journey?

I love / hate the Pacific Northwest. It is beautiful country with majestic mountains, lots of greenery, where my children and grandchildren live, and I have great friends who I think of as family. It’s also cold and rainy most of the year from October through June. There will be some gorgeous days sprinkled in where you hear people say, ‘The mountain is out’ and can see Mt. Rainier standing in the distance like a painting in the sky. There may even be short stretches of beautiful days (i.e., sunny to mostly sunny), usually not starting until April. However, those stretches don’t last for long, at least not long enough for this warm weather sun loving woman.

Not only is the lack of sunlight and the shorter than ‘normal’ days of the year challenging; I do not like being cold – it is painful not only physically, but mentally as well. I mean, I even moved to Florida from NC at age 19 because I didn’t like the cold NC winters. Cold to me is pretty much anything below 60! I know that is beyond understandable for some, especially my winter and snow loving friends. But others totally get it – you are my people (LOL).

Year after year, the cold and overcast days have worn me down. I have dealt with depression since age 11, so that’s just part of my being. But, add Seasonal Affective Disorder on top of that sort of baseline while living in a weather environment that taxed me mentally and physically for those 28 years have worn me down to a tired middle-aged woman who had no drive or zest for life and disliked the mental and physical place I was in. I needed to make a change hence, the HEALTH portion of the journey. Maybe this is my mid-life crisis, where I had to do something or risk remaining stuck in the complacent numbness I found myself in. Or risk something worse!

So begins my RV Health Journey Day 1, where Irv (my Winnie’s new nickname) and I take to the road. The first main destination was a convention in Houston, 2 weeks away. Then on to see friends and family on the east coast. The actual time frame is undetermined after Houston with plans to return to the PNW late spring /early summer.

Travel info:

Start: My home in Lacey, Washington, 4:40 pm – ish

Finish: Springtime Farms in Salem, Oregon, 8:35pm-ish

Distance (using Mapquest after the fact for this calculation): 171 miles

Very rough travel time frame using 45 miles / hour: 3.8 hours (solo driver, frequent pee breaks – I drink a LOT of water, big vehicle, and sometimes GPS directions are a bit off). Some days I tracked time, other days I did not. The 45mph travel time is more for planning the day’s journey and how far you want to travel and how long you are okay being on the road. I highly recommend getting to your next destination in daylight as it is easier to set up camp.

Gas: $99.26 *I did not track MPH and sometimes forgot to write down actual mileage when getting fuel.

Food: You are on your own here figuring out what it would cost you in meals. For those going on a journey, I highly recommend planning 3 days of meals at a time (depending on next stops and length of stay) and keeping a physical or electronic list of what you have on hand and what is needed for the next grocery stop. I like the 3-day plan because that often leaves some leftovers and extends to 4-6 days depending on how many people you are feeding and how many servings you make per meal. My high quality gas station dinner cost $4.22!

Essentials: You can check different websites for checklists on what you’ll need to pack and have on hand for your personal items and for emergencies. Things most definitely happen on the road, so be prepared to change plans in an instant.

I left my house on February 8 in the afternoon, a later start than planned, which made it quite a bit more stressful than I would have preferred. I was already stressed about the solo cross-country journey, and this late start did not help that mood. (See note above about it being easier getting to your destination in daylight because it’s so much easier to get settled in when you can see where you are parking and what’s around you.) Thankfully, my first destination was only about 3 hours away: Springtime Farms in Salem, Oregon. Still, I became part of the I5 raceway aiming to reach my destination ASAP as I barely held my stress in check.

And talk about planning ahead… My plan was to stop for gas and groceries along this first stretch because it’s easier to directly load the rv instead of packing groceries from the car to the rv. This stressed out, no time to spare travel day had me eating a quick, easy, unhealthy gas station dinner of a cheese & jalapeno corn dog and flaming hot sour cream ruffles. This is not the typical dinner of a health coach, but it was something to fill my belly and my stress tendencies include eating chips. A family size bag of chips means family of one! Right?!

 On a more positive note, I had fun using my Harvest Hosts (HH) app and finding interesting places to stay on my first solo cross-country trek the previous summer, so it became my primary trip planning source. Harvest Hosts is an app for ‘boondocking’ (no power, water, sewer hookups) rv’rs with a few having hookups available for a fee. HH includes farms, wineries, breweries, ranches, churches, historical buildings, and any business that is willing to allow you to pull your rv in for the night. The app does have a yearly fee and the idea is that you spend at least $20 at the place you stay or donate $20 (some are nonprofits). HH does have a separate section, for an additional fee, which includes people’s homes where they share their space with travelers.

First overnight stop was and HH space called Springtime Farms. They have alpacas, ducks, chickens, goats, and a horse. It was a great little property close to a busy street and area, so there was a little road noise overnight. I had pulled in around 8:30 in the dark, hoping I was in the right space! Fingers crossed because I’m tired and ready to settle in!!! The host texted me about ½ hour after I got in to let me know all was good and that I could see the space and their little store in the morning before they left for their day jobs. The next morning, I bought a couple of things (not sure what they’re called – yarn rolls?) of alpaca wool for my daughter who had just recently started crocheting. I still need to send that to her…

See my Facebook page for pics: https://www.facebook.com/april.kindrick.5