Ok, so it’s not exactly RVworking today but thought today was a great day to post some thoughts and updates!
I needed to visit a customer in Alabama this week and it was for a short meet and greet visit which unfortunately previous attempts weren’t successful due to schedule conflicts. But we are set for meeting this week! Now I needed to find a flight in between packing the rest of the house and ridding my garage of the motorcycle, riding mower, etc. Flight found finally with one exception – getting there was no problem, returning was limited in options. I would have to leave within minutes of our meeting, no possibilities of a run over meeting. And no dinner or drinks. Or the next option was to fly out the following day but that meant small town, no car, hanging around town with a bag and being checked out of the hotel. Then it dawned on me – it’s a six hour drive and I would have a car and flexibility. Mind made up!
Fast forward and I’m packed up and hitting the road after making a quick drop off to storage. Nothing but a few hours of windshield time between me now. I have a few conference calls which I take on the road while driving. I’ve made the first half of this trip (to Atlanta) hubdreds of times. It was the then northwest from Atlanta trip I hadn’t taken before. And wow. Just a few hours into the trip, just on the outskirts of Atlanta do I realize the true beauty that is out there. I have said time and time again how lucky we are living in North Carolina that every time I drive to the beach we have just tons of farm land, green grass and woodlands. It’s beautiful. But I can’t describe the beauty on my current trip. So much that it’s hard to not just oogle at the RVs I see and analyze them! Think of where they are headed. Become jealous. But, I look up and around and say what the hell, I’m doing it now! I don’t have to be in a RV to enjoy the beauty of our country I’m doing it. Just from a car. And it works, it works beautifully. I’m joining conference calls, I’m able to stop when I need to.
I see a sign along the highway and I say to myself (and yes out loud!) wow! I’m in Tennessee where they make lodge cast iron cookware. I have fond memories of cooking with this cookware when I was in Boy Scouts and a few years ago I bought some new Dutch ovens to take on a camping trip with some friends. I may be biased but I definitely made the best pineapple upside down cake in the lodge Dutch oven that I’ve ever tasted on that trip.
I see the sign again, this time it says “bear left and right at first light”. Turn signal goes on as my gps is yelling at me to go right. It’s just after 5pm so I thought I’d take the chance and see if it was open. Surely I don’t need to buy anything but when am I going to have another chance to see where it is made? I’m here now, I have until tomorrow to be at my customer who is 87 miles away according to the gps. I’m doing this!
I turn down a dirt road and see the building. I can spot it by the unique yellow and black. I pull around to the parking lot and what am I greeted with? An awesome cast iron man!
I spent about half an hour browsing and watching how it’s made videos. I didn’t get to actually watch anything being made but I did see every possible type of cookware and accessory. I, as hard as it was, didn’t buy anything. I was tempted though to buy a few things including a Boy Scouts cast iron skillet! How cool.
It just brought joy to myself knowing all the cool sights and places that we don’t normally get to go to. Especially on a random trip. As I continued driving it was hard to resist the urge to take the phone out and film the sights – it was truly breathtaking to see the mountains and towns and lakes and rivers and all the beauty. I passed by several tourist/attraction signs and a few caves. Had it not already been after 5 I would likely have stopped. I added a few more ideas to my bucket list.
I’m getting near the town and know I will be at my hotel soon. I’m in a pretty rural area but am excited to see how much of a city or civilization is around.
I’m still soaking in the reality and excitement that I’m soon going to be on the road in a RV one way or another. This trip has helped re-ignite that for me. But it dawned that I don’t have to wait and don’t have to wait to share the experience after I get a RV, because when I do get my RV I will be parking it and spending lots of time exploring via my car. Excitement. I can, no scratch tha, I am and I will be doing this.
Ok, I’m seeing some rush hour traffic mixed with some congestion due to a wreck on the other side of the highway. I’m less than 10 mins from my hotel. All of the moving and packing this last week means I’m easy for a nice comfy (non-air mattress) bed! But before my eyes I see this massively beautiful structure just ahead. What is it. This can’t be possible. Do you really mean to tell me, three weeks ago I found a place I want to go explore and it is where I will be staying without me knowing it?
Yes, apparently it’s true. It’s the NASA space camp and musem. And it is just one exit from my hotel!
Well mark this off the list now because I will be spending an extra day exploring this! (More on that adventure will be posted Friday!). This is EXACTLY the reason I want to be in a RV – the freedom to see something and be able to explore without being rushed and under the cost and time constraints of an airline. Don’t get me wrong, airlines are fantastic when you need to get from point A to B. But today is not that day! I need to head to the hotel and figure out more about this NASA musem!
GPS decides to yell some more and route me around a shopping center to get to my hotel. This is nice, and convenient for dinner and such. And it’s of course now a complete change of mindset from the last three hours on the road when I kept thinking how awesome it would be to just have a RV and stop anywhere. Nope, I’m looking for my hotel and hoping the heavenly bed is going to be amazing. Turning into the parking lot I cannot help but to burst out loud and say how ironic. How ironic that in the parking lot just a few spots down from me is, are you ready to be shocked? Yep! This amazing beauty.
This is definitely a sign to me it needs to happen. I need to really put my mind to it and keep pushing forward. Keep the reality alive. So here’s to that!
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