Change is terrifying

Today I started looking at the most terrifying thing in the world: Changing the schedule of the Ultimate US Road Trip.

Well, not the schedule, but one of the attractions. Doing that changed the timing on whole thing. I really didn't expect that. Let me explain.

I'm really not interested in going to Graceland, the book I just read for my book group notwithstanding (Killing the Legends by Bill O'Reilly, if anyone is interested). Instead of going to Memphis, I thought I'd go to Nashville, see the Grand Ole Opry, and visit S's brother, who lives not that far from Nashville. Honestly, I thought it'd just mean going a little further, extending that leg of the trip.

It turns out that one of the KOAs I'd looked at for Mammoth Cave National Park, KY is within 50 miles of Nashville. I took a look around, figured out that I could cut down on some serious trip time if I moved the Tennessee visit to the end of the trip instead of the beginning. And it doesn't add too much time there - where it added about 5 hours of travel if I kept it where it's originally scheduled. Not to mention, it's about $140 cheaper. That’s just for the entry fees; I don’t know about gas or anything like that.

So that's what's going on with me at the moment, as well as researching ideas and doing things like that. It means I need to change the legs and how they're counted. I'll have to change my walking path, too. I'll admit, it's frightening. I've done all this original work, and now... now there's more to do. I don't know what to think about any of this, actually. It's a little weird.

Okay, that's not true. I do know what to think about it. As I said above, it's terrifying. What if I do it wrong?

This is a common theme for me, honestly, and has been for a long time. I wonder if I can trace it back to school, to when I was graded on things? That's not important, though. This idea that someone is going to look at what I'm doing and say "That's not right!" has been one I've faced and tried to get over for a long time. I can't say when I realized that thought was getting in my way; I can, however, point to a couple of things that helped me realize that there isn't a "right" way. Especially for something like this.

The reason I asked about the school (in my head) was because my thought as I wrote this post was "no one is going to grade me on this." That surprised me. Because the person (Randy Olson, https://www.randalolson.com/) who wrote this trip, who organized it and decided to do it, isn't ever (probably) going to know I'm going on it. Like, why would he? So one little change isn't going to do anything. and it's a personal thing anyway. Like i said, my dh has a brother near Nashville, and I want to visit.

So if you need it, here it is: You have permission to do things “wrong” when it doesn't really matter. Don't fix your car wrong, or your computer, or whatever. But when you're figuring out how to write a book (I use this because it's what I do), or where to go on a trip and following someone else's map? There's no wrong or right, only what works for you. Take pieces of it and make it into what works for you. No, it won't be easy, but that's okay, too. It's not always meant to be.

The reason for the Blog: The trip around the United States

I want to explain why I even started this blog. Some time ago - I'm not even sure when, I ran across an article about The Ultimate US Road Trip. It was probably on my Google page, I don't know. Anyway, I looked it up, and it looked so amazing, that I decided I wanted to do it. It's a trip through the lower 48 states, with 50 attractions to visit.

I started by charting where to go, and where I might be able to stay, and then realized it wouldn't help if I did it on paper. I had a notebook devoted to ideas that I put it in originally, but this... needed more research. More flexibility. So I started by putting it into Notion. It has a sort of rudimentary database set up, and I was able to connect everything together, which is what I wanted. I started collecting data on some of the costs, like what it would take to visit the attractions. I checked into AAA, and AARP, and a few other things, just to give me a look at how much it would be to do this with the most comfort.

I know there's going to be more to costs because of gas, and groceries, and all of that. But I got as much as I could figure out. I'm currently working through the schedule, to see how long it will take.

This blog is about my journey toward getting prepped for this trip and then going on the trip, I hope. There are a lot of things I have to think about, things I need to change about me in order to make this work better, to make sure I can enjoy it. Some of it will be that I want to rent a couple of different RV/trailers in order to see how it will work, to see what happens.

I'm not only using Notion, but also the Dayzero Project, a site that allows one to make to-do lists. I found it because of something I ran across over 10 years ago, the 101 goals in 1001 days. I can't remember at all where I found it. I wish I could. I haven't done that particular goal list in a long time - the last time I tried, I realized it wasn't something I was interested in doing. I might try again another time, but for now, it's off. Still, I have a couple of lists focused on this trip: one is on the things I think I need to do to get ready for it, and the other is the list of things I want to see around each attraction. Options, anyway. I still have a lot to work on.