Nomadic Hardships

Friends and acquaintences of mine and Scott's have expressed admiration and envy regarding our insanely hatched plan to live in an old motorhome for a month and meander about the country to our final destination of Gainesville, Florida.

While we're both managing fine in the grand scheme of things, I am going on record here admitting that Scott and I have begun to ask ourselves privately, and each other out loud, "What the f*ck were we thinking??"

Starting graduate school and teaching in a new state is plenty stimulating on its own. When I manage to banish the distractions of the trip itself, I realize that I'm tremendously excited about the new chapters that await me in Gainesville.

It's the trip that's so stressful. There are some big hitches, including these:

-The questionable soundness of a used motorhome that's old enough to buy beer.
-The insane price of gasoline across 3,000+ miles in perhaps the least fuel efficient vehicle ever made.
-The guilt and nervousness regarding our two beloved pets habitating for several weeks in a cramped, shifting, creaking vessel.
-Mine and Scott's unfamiliarity with using the working amenities of our RV like like the range top, sinks, refrigerator and bathroom.

On the bright side, my head is swimming with poems. I'm in the middle of a dry & quirky 'RV Living' series which is great fun, and I think that the landscape of middle America, which I have never seen, will inspire interesting writing for a long time. Plus it's probably good for me to rough it for a little while, gain some perspective and learn to appreciate having a real home. I keep telling my friends that I'm waiting for this lifestyle to pass me through to the other side, to sun-kissed, beautiful and liberated instead of sweaty, stringy-haired and vaguely sickened by the french fries at some nameless East County pancake house.

Ultimately, I know that when the next big transition comes along, I'm going to hire a moving company, hoist up my howling, caged cats and board an airplane, like a normal person.

But since I'm here now, I'm finishing what I started. I've still got Scott, and my future, and my peppercorn grinder in my bag for a taste of home wherever I happen to be eating salad greens off a plastic plate. I can make do with that for a little while, at least.

Onward!