Preparations

I am just two days away from setting off on my great Western Adventure, and I'm ready... I think!

I've never been on a road trip to this proportion.  Sure, in middle school and high school road trips with the school choir or church youth trip were frequent, and road trips to the beach, Atlanta, Savannah and New Orleans still happen fairly often, but none of those seem to be quite the same.  Those trips always involved traveling with big groups of people, or just enjoying the road on our way to a destination.  It was never as much about the trip, as it was the destination.

This trip is my own, one where the road will be my traveling companion and while the destinations and the friends I get to see along the way are a huge incentive for the trip, the focus of the trip seems to remain on the traveling along the way.

I've also never really been on such a massive trip where the dates of my departure and return were not etched into a flight schedule.  Sure, I have to be back for work in early August, but the glorious part about being in my own car is that I can take my own time sight-seeing, or rushing back if need be.  Sure, I'm a bit anxious about driving that far with merely my thoughts, audiobooks and music to accompany me, but I also know that there are breathtaking spots in this country that I have yet to see, nor do I know how many opportunities I may have to see them, so why not take advantage of them now?  And if something happens, and I realize my own thoughts are not nearly as entertaining as I had planned, well, I'll just take the quickest route home.  But I'm hoping instead that I find my own way meeting new people and seeing some of the many wonders this country has to offer.

What have I packed?  Well, I think just about everything but the kitchen sink.  Which actually, would come in handy if I knew a way to pack it...  You would think I'd be better at this packing thing since I do it so frequently, but I seem to suffer from the "What-if" syndrome.  You know, "what if... the temperature changes drastically and there is a blizzard?"  "What if I fall in a lake and ruin all the clothes I'm wearing?"  "What if I get invited to go to a fancy ball?"  Yes, and I know you're waiting for "What if aliens come down from the sky and... "  But, come on, that would be ridiculous!

My packing skills, nonetheless have never been minimalistic.  Perhaps it was my Girl Scout upbringing, "to always be prepared."  However, when you are going on a road trip in your own car, by yourself, the size of your suitcase doesn't seem to matter as much.  Which is a good thing since I'm planning on camping out both in the desert where temperatures are near 100 and in Glacier National Park where the temperature still reaches freezing at night time not to mention Seattle and Portland where the cool damp air feels more like my beloved England.  So, perhaps I can just blame my overpacking this time on the fact that I will seemingly see all four seasons within the next month.  And of course I've got everything else from duct tape to toilet paper to bug spray to a solar-powered charger.

Since most of my packing is complete, I think I'll move on to more important "what-ifs."  What if this becomes one of my greatest adventures of all times?  What if all other trips seem too small after this one?  I guess, I'll just have to see!