On The Road Again
As I write this, we’re on the road from Vermont down to New Jersey to look at a used RV. This is a big adventure in two ways. First, we’re actually traveling OUT OF STATE! And, secondly, we’re probably going to buy this RV - so that we can travel ALL OVER these United States!
For me, this is a dream realized.
I first gave voice to this dream out loud and in front of actual humans at our very first 3-day retreat in 2019. Friends, I want you to know that every time we host a retreat, a virtual retreat, or any other work with Perfect Avocado Retreats, Amy and I are IN the work too. That being said, you should know that just like most any other person, voicing my dream aloud for the first time was kind of scary, and simultaneously, thrilling.
At the time, I could clearly imagine my sweetheart and I, in the cab of a camper, way out west, breaking camp and heading out on the road, having had our coffee and breakfast. I could even see the fleece I was wearing - beige Kuhl. (I guarantee you, I’m gonna go buy that damn fleece if we buy this RV!) No lie, I wrote that I was in the camper, working on a Perfect Avocado Money Retreat! I wrote that I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, the Everglades, Georgia O’Keefe’s stomping grounds, Graceland, and Glacier Park (again). And I said I wanted that to begin in two years.
I had zero idea how this would happen at the time. And now, two years to the month, we’re test-driving a rig. Whaaaat?!
Right from the beginning, my sweetheart was on board, and it helps that he’s German. Germans seem to have travel in their DNA. I’ve met Germans that have told me more about Alaska than I knew. At any given American tourist destination, if you don’t meet a German contingent, I’ll eat my hat. One of my favorite stories of his, occurred when he and two siblings and a brother-in-law rented an RV and went on a 3-week sojourn through the southern US. They hit Memphis, Savannah, and even had their picture taken with Jimmy Carter. Their rental RV was one of those with the big ad on the side attesting to the fact that it was indeed a rental. They were in Georgia somewhere and a park ranger approached their rig saying, I knew y’all were German, it’s pretty much always Germans in these rental RVs. See what I mean? Case closed.
The other part of this dream is that I finally have work that I can do remotely making this trip possible. It’s hard to manage a restaurant from an RV, no matter how good you are. For years, I’ve been saying that I wanted to work fewer hours and make more money, please oh please. Out of the blue, my good friend who used to live around the corner from me, and now lives thirty-three hours away, started hiring me for ad hoc work at twice my previous hourly rate. In addition, another part-time gig at 4.5x my previous hourly rate came from nowhere via my good friend Amy. I shouldn’t say that it came from nowhere. It came straight from the center of the universe, AKA, my imagination.
Tonight at dinner, seated waterfront alongside the Delaware River, I told my sweetheart how happy, and filled with anticipation I feel. And so very grateful - to him in particular, who is making my dream come true; and to the universe in general for hearing me.
No one is more gobsmacked than me. My new theme song? On the road again. Sing it, Willy!
And really, the very best thing about all of this, in my opinion, is that now my imagination is completely free to go wild - for my patchwork family, my far-flung friends, my community, and my country.