Let's WRAP it Up
Since being home (~3 weeks now), the last thing I have really felt like doing is blogging. #sorry fam
I think that can be what happens when going through a transition period as we were and still are. Life is different & we are learning to move with the new waves that are coming at us and in some sense, the waves we are creating (hello house renovations!!!) But it’s good because I’m jobless & it’s definitely keeping me busy and breaking up the job search time with tasks that feel productive anyways and keep me out of the kitchen #guilty
The 1st day home: We first pulled up to our driveway to find it covered in a layer of ice, one that Ruby couldn’t even get up, so immediately we transitioned into the role of being a true MN home owner - SHOVEL & SALT time!! We then walked into our house which was in shambles, as we were aware. No working kitchen, no filtered water, and really no living room area upstairs. So we moved into the basement, filled up our 6-gallon jug with water, and bought a single burner stove :D
The 1st 2 weeks: Jake still had 2 PT work weeks which was amazing since we got home a little bit earlier than planned, so we got to work on the house. We primed all new sheetrock, painted the kitchen, painted the sunroom, painted the stairwell, painted, Painted, PAINTED, and installed the cabinets & countertops (with the help of a couple more). SO.MUCH.PAINTING. We also brought Ruby into storage up north and were attempting to see at least our family, all the while MN going back to essentially a stay-at-home order for crazy COVID numbers. I also couldn’t resist baking a few loaves of banana bread once the oven was working :) Oh, how I’ve missed banana bread!
& that’s basically how it’s been every day since: with some breaks of course because we still had leaves littered through the yard & have access to the devils work of a TV again! BUT I wanted to do a “trip in review” before it all passes from my memory (not Jen’s strength)!
Here are some Ruby road trip 2020 Summary Stats:
__113__ days on the road
__9,318__ miles driven
__13__ different states visited (not counting drive through states of Nebraska & Iowa)
__18__ National Parks
__87__ different “homes” (aka camp/park sites)
__0*__ Ruby breakdowns
*Technically - we were stalled in Cedar City, UT for a couple days awaiting a part, but it was elective surgery, that I must say was WELL worth it - see post here for more details! :P
__64__ gas station stops (stat would not hold up in an audit)
__16__ nights camping below freezing (also would not hold up in an audit)
__266__ miles of hiking
__12__ summits (all to a “peak” of some sort)
And here’s a summary in words, instead of numbers:
We wanted adventure & adventure we got. Sometimes too much, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, sometimes too cold. We had a timeline in mind - and by the end, we really wanted to be home. We ran across some detours along the way (Cali wildfires, strict COVID areas) - but nothing we couldn’t plan around to still keep our trip great. We did this all during a pandemic (see post for how that affected our trip!). We have some things to go back and do in Cali though (HALF DOME, dang it!!) We hiked, a lot. Consistent overheating sometimes got the best of our mental health, which is why our stop in Cedar City was SO worth the 4-day stall, janky-ass motel, multitude of pizza, and $1,000 “fix”. Our only crash was to my bike which got plowed into a parking meter. We saw bears and lots of other wildlife. I felt connected to the Earth more than ever in my life (aside from my escapes to the Boundary Waters). I got to wake up and see the sun rise in a new place almost every morning.
Living in a bus wasn’t really “tough” for us & felt very normal after not too long.
It wasn’t tough sharing a small space. It wasn’t really tough always being in earshot of each other. We like each other. We played a lot of games. We got used to driving at 58 mph. We spent a TON of time with nature. We had amazing weather until the last couple weeks when we hit cold winter weather, but that was a small chunk of the trip however did teach me that winters in the bus would drive me mental.
I already miss the simplicity of life on the road.
However, I don’t miss researching where to park the bus every night (our typical “stay” in each place averaged 1.3 nights). I don’t miss searching for cell signal to ensure Jake could effectively work. But being back home has made us realize how easy it is to get sucked into the day-to-day grind of home ownership. Partially because we are remodeling our house right now, but also just all of the other things - raking the leaves, doing loads of dishes (idk why I feel like we have more dishes at home), bringing the car in for an oil change, misc. runs to the hardware store, impulse to turn the TV on, vacuuming, cleaning the toilets, etc.
Being home makes it more difficult to stay present.
The distractions seem endless. I got into a habit of reading, like a lot, the last half of the trip. I’ve always felt like reading is something I only give myself permission to do when there is absolutely NOTHING else to be done. And with living in a bus, there was often nothing else to be done. But being at home, the TDL seems endless. The garage is never really clean enough, the dog has never been walked enough, the walls never painted enough, re-runs of the Office never watched enough…I have just found it takes a LOT more intention. All possible, but all requires awareness & extra effort to be mindful of how you are using your time. At the end of the day, 24 hrs is sill 24 hrs & it’s up to you as to what makes the cut!
But I can say this with certainty, hot choco tastes better in Ruby.
And you best bet this is NOT Ruby’s last debut!
Peace, love, & home, sweet, home (the stationary one),
yo’ girl Jen (w/sidekick Lo, together = JLo - obvi)
