Ups and Downs

By Wendy

Wow! I have to say this has been a wild ride, both physically and mentally for sure. We have been on the road for almost 9 months and on some days the end seems too close and on others too far! I think I can speak for my whole family in that we all share in the ups and downs. We have great days, many of them, but the not-so-great days can seem right around the corner. 

For example, one of our most recent National Parks blew us all away. We spent a day at White Sands National Park near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The weather was beautiful…blue skies, no wind, and about 60 degrees! We hiked for over 4 miles on their most strenuous path and trudged up and slid down their pristine white sand dunes. My kids didn’t want it to end. We finished up our day with a charcuterie dinner out of our cooler watching the sunset in the dunes. It was one of the most spectacular sunsets yet. Then the temperature dropped quickly, but that is probably good or we might have not left before the park closed.

Throughout the day, our kids were all running and laughing and yelling, “Best Day Ever!”. There were painful wipeouts, but everyone bounced back up and headed right back to try again. I really hadn’t seen them all enjoying themselves and each other so much in a long time. 

Back at camp, we enjoyed a nice site with full hook-ups (a luxury for us!) and a sprawling view of the mountains and the city below. The stars were bright and we watched as the moon waxed toward full over our time there. The night air was cool, but the kind where you wanted to nap in the sun. We spent hours reading in the bright, dry air and all the kids enjoyed several device free days (except for pictures at the park) where they played endlessly with other kids who were also camping. It is always a treat when we find others for them to play with. This time, they met two other girls who gave them some perspective on how good they have it with chores! They drove the camp staff crazy as they hung out by the community room and went in and out of the camp store- maybe overstaying their welcome just a bit. I might have been annoyed too, but they were outside, not on phones and playing with others.

You might be thinking that since we live in a camper surely we get a TON of outside time, and right now you would be right. However, during December and January we spent far too long indoors due to rain, mosquitoes, and terrible thunderstorms. We had to cook inside a lot in December and it was making us all a little stir crazy. The weather is treating us much better than it has in a few months.

So, we have days when we have cabin (or camper) fever, and days when we run wild through the dunes. We have days when we are all on each others’ last nerve and days when they are giddy with laughter. Sometimes I think we would have these same ups and downs if we were living our regular life in a house with school and work, but for some reason the emotions and tensions are intensified in our tight quarters. The highs are higher and those are the days we don’t want it to end. However, the lows can take their toll and we find ourselves exhausted, irritable, and depressed, thinking about how good we had it before we took this trip. Maybe one of the things we have learned is that  you have to ride them out and enjoy the ride- both ups and downs. 

We have learned to give each other space and since we all have the same feelings, at times it seems our empathy has increased for each other. We seem better about not just wanting to head home, but more determined to find the silver linings, the magical experiences and celebrations. 

Someone recently asked me if we were “loving it” and if we would recommend to others to do the same thing we did this year. We are loving it if you ask on the right day and I do think I would choose to do it again given the chance to re-do our big choices. However, I am not sure if we would recommend it. It certainly isn’t for everyone and if you took advice from us to go, you would certainly be cursing us on many days. However, it may be for some so I also wouldn’t discourage someone from taking it on. You will want to be sure you are resilient enough to weather the tough times and smart enough to relish the good times when they are there. They don’t last forever. 

We leave tomorrow and head toward Tucson where we are hoping and praying for good weather, low winds and more fun. Time will only tell. One of the girls we met, when asked what she liked about traveling for almost 2 years said, “I hope that one day we look back, like everyone says we will, and think about what a wonderful time it was”. I can’t agree with her more.