Face to Face with a Giant Travel Dream

Our trailer leaves its pasture in Oklahoma

When a long planned travel dream becomes a reality it can be simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. Often the line between the two is so blurred, it is hard to pinpoint the difference. This mishmash of feelings was my close companion as I pulled into my driveway, and was met with a 30 foot travel trailer.

But first, I need to go way back. We have been planning and plotting for a multi week trip around the United States for years. Our goal was to couple the trip with the boys’ studies of US history, which began this year and will be completed next year. This gave us a rough timeline for planning the trip, but the reality had always seemed far and unattainable.

But we still created well intentioned pipe dreams, making itineraries and gathering information. Along with this, Gary began to watch the ads for a travel trailer. We had researched and decided what we needed in a trailer, but as this trip (like all of our trips) would be done on the cheap, we were waiting and watching for a really good deal.

I was teaching an art class at co-op one Wednesday morning when my phone rang. It was Gary. “Do you have a minute?” he asked innocently. “Yes, but quickly,”I said,  as I could see my class of active boys begin to take advantage of my divided attention. “I found a trailer in Oklahoma, and I think I am going to drive up there to see it.”

“Okay, sounds great. Whatever you decide,” was my distracted reply, and I went back to try to recoup the attention of my class. My mind was busy teaching Kandinsky and ferrying kids to baseball practice for the rest of the day, so I didn’t give much more thought to the trailer.

That night, I drove home from baseball to find a trailer. A dream begins and with it all the what-ifs and unknowns. Of course, our planned trip is still over a year away, but the behemoth in the driveway provides a definitive amount of tangible certainty. Let the adventure begin!

~This post is a part of Mondays are for Dreaming on The Mother of All Trips  and What’s Your Word: Adventure at Mommy Words~