Continuing my series about Elsi Dodge, when she shared that she takes off for the summers in her RV, I felt sure there had to be some life lessons there. She told me about her very first trip – it was hard to forget because by the time she got to the campground her shoulders were throbbing. She’d been driving rigidly tense, terrified she was going to squish someone. Within a week however, she was doing the speed limit and having a great time. Her biggest lesson though was learning how to plan a trip. This is what she said.
When I first went out, I planned trips the only way I knew how, which was how my father had done it, even though it had been traumatic. You plan the entire trip in advance. Every day you know where you’ll be camping that night and you make reservations for every night. It was this lock-step schedule. If we didn’t like some place we couldn’t leave because the schedule said we had to be there. If we saw something interesting to do, we couldn’t stop because the schedule did say to do it. If we got a flat tire or engine trouble, it was bad.
My first summer I lived on the schedule and by golly, I went every place I said I was going, on schedule. I hadn’t been real good about gauging distances so sometimes I had to drive late at night to get to where the schedule said because the schedule said that was where I had to be.
The second summer, I went northwest and was living the same way. I hadn’t known there were options for doing it differently. Then, one day I saw a billboard for The Lady Washington, advertising a short two-hour cruise and the picture was a two-masted schooner. I was a mariner girl scout and very into boats. I thought, ‘ooh’ – not as in ‘ooh, there’s a tourist train’ – I do tourist trains all the time. This was different. This was a ship, a real ship with sails.
So I phoned the campground I was supposed to be at and said I wasn’t coming. I went to where the Lady Washington was docked and sailed on her for the afternoon. Afterward, I found a campground. It was then that I realized I had totally messed up the next weeks’ worth of stops because I had traveled in the wrong direction. I also discovered that it didn’t matter.
Other than the 4th of July, County Fair, State Fair and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, you can just drive. You can stop wherever, whenever. And you can see what you want to see. If you want to sleep late, sleep late. If you want to stop early, stop early. If you want to go do something else, do something else. Nobody cares! There aren’t any rules. You can just enjoy.
The Divorce Coach Says
Flexibility – I love it! Yet, it’s hard for me sometimes. Just yesterday, my 16YO daughter messaged me to say that the tire pressure warning light in her car was on and could I help her sort that out when I came home from work. It seems to be a persistent problem so I felt we needed to get the dealer to take a look at it. We’ve also had a fair amount of snow lately so the road conditions are not great. That meant I felt it was important for me to attend to it that afternoon. Yet, that’s the time I spend writing my blog. I felt resentful about it because I would have to be writing in the evening after another appointment. I wish I could say I was flexible with a smile but yesterday, that wasn’t the case.
I am starting to plan our family vacation for the summer though so Elsi’s lesson is playing loud in my head … DO NOT OVER-PLAN!!
Elsi is a published author. In addition to her book, RV Tourist – Tips, Tools and Stories, her devotionals and inspirational non-fiction pieces have appeared in a number of compilation books. For a full listing of publications, visit Elsi Dodge‘s website. You can also follow her musings at her Meandering Moments .
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