The Best Trip of My Life

I mentioned it before - the best trip of my life.  I have a whole blog about this trip.  It's been almost three years since this trip ended, and I still talk about it monthly, if not weekly.

It started as a distant, foggy dream.  It started when I read books like "Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck and "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins.  These authors explored America - it's cities, it's small towns, and most of all, it's people.  Their writing made me hungry to do the same.

First, I wanted it to be a walk across America.  I wanted the leisurely pace to really explore and soak it all in.  Then, I realized that I would never have the time to walk all the places I wanted to explore in America.  Plus, it might not be too safe to walk across America as a young single woman.  My next plan was to bike across America.  I got farther on this plan.  I did the research on the kind of bike, the saddle bags, the packing list, how to train, where to stay, even routes.  That was my plan: one day I would bike across America until that day in 2011.

I had graduated with my major in English in 2008.  I had immediately enrolled in an alternative teacher certification program at about the time Texas began making budget cuts in the department of education.  As an alternative certification teacher looking for an internship, I was at the bottom of the totem pole.  Meaning, I was the last person they looked to hire.  Everyone else on the playing field would get hired before me.

I spent every year from 2008 to 2011 looking for a teaching job.  By the time the summer of 2011 rolled around, I was about to give up on my dream and I knew I needed a change of pace.  I decided since life was handing me lemons, I would make lemonade out of them.  I looked at my bucket list and saw the trip across America.  I knew that was the lemonade I would make out of these lemons!

I spent six months working two jobs.  One paycheck went to my living expenses; the other paycheck went into the savings account for the trip.  I set the leaving date for March 2012.

There was one change, though.  I knew I didn't have the luxury of enough time and money to bike across the U.S.  I knew it would take too long.  Instead I sold my truck and bought an aging, but still in good condition, Toyota Corolla.  My mechanic brother looked it over, I made a few repairs, and she was ready to go.

My apartment lease expired on February 29 of that year, and I resigned from both of my jobs a day or two before that.  I put everything in storage, and then I loaded the absolute necessities in the little Corolla and took off.

I traveled until the middle of October - nearly eight months.  I made a big loop up through the midwest and then turned east until I hit Florida and drove across the south back home to Texas.  I took a week break at my parents to earn a little more money before taking off for the second loop - up through  the midwest again, then turning west.

I spent nights in my car and at campgrounds.  I spent too many nights to count at homes of generous friends and family, who not only put me up for the night, but fed me and often took me sightseeing.  In the entire eight months, I only spent one night at a hotel - a rainy night in Lancaster county, when I was too tired to try to fight the rain camping and I had a coupon for a discounted hotel room.

Those are the logistics, but I can hear you asking, "Why was it the best trip of your life?"

Perhaps it was the freedom and independence.  Every day was a new adventure without a lot of structure.  I could stop at Gettysburg National Park and tour it for five hours if I wanted.  I didn't have a lot of time constraints.  I could stop at a random roadside seafood restaurant in Maine to enjoy crab cakes if I wanted.  I could stay up late sharing heart-to-heart talks with old friends.

Perhaps it was all the time to think on my own.  I kept a blog, which helped me record a lot of my personal growth during that time.  I spent many hours on the road or on my own sightseeing and camping.  There was a lot of time to think during that time - time I used to think about my future, where I was going, what my goals were going to be when I returned home, if I wanted to change my career direction, etc.

I think it was all of the above.  I know I came home with a renewed vision, purpose, and goals.  I know I came home feeling refreshed and ready for the fray of life once again.  I know I miss those days in the little Toyota Corolla - just me and the car and the road.  I look back on them very fondly.  This is how I know it was the best trip of my life.

My Proudest Moment

By nature, I am a goal setter and a goal achiever.  If I achieve a particularly monumental or large goal, I am usually proud of myself.  While achieving the goal of landing my dream job a few years ago was definitely a proud moment, I would have to say my proudest moment thus far in my life would be when I purchased my own house.

You see, I didn't really ever expect to own a house.  Girls aren't supposed to own houses, right?  Girls are supposed to get married and their husband buys the house, or if the girl has a job, they buy the house together.  But a girl buy a house all on her own?

Sometime in my early 20's, when I was still single with no prospects, I started mulling over this idea of owning my own house.  I was paying rent on a tiny apartment, all by myself, and I couldn't believe how much was going monthly into that black hole called "rent."  I started realizing that I could have a house payment for only a little more than I was paying in rent, and then, my money would actually be going somewhere!

Of course, there were a few small problems...

First, I wasn't sure where I wanted to buy a home.  The first thought was that I wanted to own some property and renovate whatever house was on that property.  I always have wanted to (and still want to) renovate an old farmhouse.  There is something I've loved about old farmhouses since my dad and I took a trip through his home state of Iowa when I was twelve years old.

Secondly, I didn't have any money for a down payment.  I'm talking about literally nothing.

Thirdly, I had no credit.  I had never gone into debt to purchase anything, so as a result, I had no credit.

In my early 20's, I had a bigger and more immediate problem of getting my career of the ground.  When I finally accomplished that the year I was thirty, I decided it was time to make home ownership a reality.

First, I had to start saving for the down payment.  With a regular salary, this was accomplished fairly quickly.  I was used to living on about $10k a year, so my expenses were low and my savings grew fast.

Secondly, I had to decide on a location.  I liked where I was teaching, and I knew that even if I didn't stay at that school, I would stay in that general area.  I decided on a place slightly southwest of my current school, but when I began looking at houses, I decided it was too far south of Dallas, so at my boyfriend's recommendation, I settled on a place that was just west of the school and closer to DFW.

Thirdly, I had to build credit.  This probably should have come first or second, but somehow it was an afterthought.  I was actually all ready to buy my house when I realized I didn't have enough credit (read: NONE) to qualify for a loan.  I got a credit card that required a security deposit and started using it and paying it off as fast as I could.  It took about six months for a credit score to come through.

That is when I started the whole process...getting pre-approved for a loan, finding a realtor, searching online sites for house listings, and being willing to make a decision at the snap of a finger (the housing market was very hot).

After another six months, a contract that was turned down, and most of my summer, I found the house.

You see, being the half country girl that I am, the location had to be just perfect and/or the house had to appeal to my particular eccentric style of being fascinated with older houses.  The first house I put a contract on had an amazing lot, huge backyard, and an old-fashioned style.  The second house, the house that became my house, had the perfect location - next to a lake in a somewhat secluded development.  As we left the house, I told the realtor, "Call and put a contract on it."

It was a nerve-wracking few days as the homeowners decided between me and a few other bidders.  Finally, I got the word - the owners had decided on me!  For the next month, it was paperwork, and faxes, and signatures, and more signatures.  Then, there was that one final day when I went to the title office, signed the final paperwork, and was handed a set of keys.  The house was mine!

It didn't sink in until the next day, though, when I drove down to begin cleaning the house with my mother and sister in preparation for moving.  My key unlocked the front door, and I walked around barefoot, exploring every nook and cranny and dreaming of what it would look like furnished.

It's been a journey of almost a year since then.  Slowly, little-by-little, I am getting areas furnished and decorated.  The latest accomplishment was to complete the front hall/entryway.  Home ownership requires time and money, but I am still loving home ownership!

My Bucket List

That's my bucket list.  In all it's glory.

You see, I've always been one to dream big.  Since I was in my late teens, I've had lists scrawled in the back of my journals of all the things I wanted to accomplish.  So one day, when I was desperately trying to make it on my own - single, paying for my first apartment and all it's bills without a roommate, and making less than $1,000 a month - I typed out this list on my laptop.

It was dreaming big, that's for sure.  By the time I paid my bills each month and bought the cheapest, most frugal groceries I could find, I didn't have any extra in my checking account.  If I was hit with unexpected maintenance on my truck, I knew I would founder.

Having goals helped, though.  That first year, despite constantly being broke, I managed to check off two small things on the list.  My sister took me to the drive-in theater in her college town, and when I was coming back from a road trip with friends, I took a train back.  (It was actually cheaper than any other mode of transportation for that destination!)

The list was on my refrigerator in that tiny apartment for a year before I set off on the first real adventure on my bucket list - numbers three and four - which read:

• "Travel across the United States.  Stop and visit all my friends as I go across the States."
• "Visit the East Coast and see the historical places: Plymouth Rock, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Washington, D.C., etc."

I closed up the little apartment and let go of the lease, packed my clothes, toiletries, and a few good books in my car, put the rest of my stuff in storage, and set off across the United States for eight months.  That trip has a whole blog to itself, and it will also show up later in this thirty day challenge as the best trip of my life.

When I got back from that trip, I finally got my dream job as an inner city high school English teacher, and I got to check one more thing off my list.  While that enabled me to have a regular salary that paid a little more, it also took up more of my time.  Therefore, I've still only managed to accomplish one or two things on my list each year.

I've told you about the first things I accomplished on that list; let me tell you about the last thing I accomplished on that list and about the current things I am working towards.

I actually accomplished two things, almost at the same time, last summer.  The first was to take my mother to Australia.  Going to Australia is not cheap, but it was worth it!  We had two wonderful weeks of mother/daughter time while road-tripping up and down part of the east coast of Australia and exploring the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney.  Right before we left on that trip, I had put an offer on a house.  I came back to finish paperwork and close on the house two weeks later.  I will detail more on the house in my blog post on my proudest moment, but buying my own house is the very latest thing I have accomplished on that bucket list.

Currently?  Well, currently I am working on training for a sprint triathalon which is one of the steps towards my long-term goal of competing in an Ironman.  The other two goals that I plan to work on soon is a book to be published and starting up TaeKwonDo classes again.  

There are people who say bucket lists are cliche, and I am actually inclined to agree.  If you know me personally, you know I will refuse to do something because it is popular.  I will argue, though, on the bucket list.  First, I don't believe it was popular when I first made mine.  If it was, I did not know it was.  Secondly, it does help keep me focused.  I am a person who thrives on challenges and goals, so whenever I get bored, I go back to the bucket list and choose a new goal to work towards.  Every year, I've managed to accomplish one or two things on that list.

The list also charts my journey as a person.  You can see there are items crossed off and items added on.  As I've grown and matured, my values and goals change.  The list reflects this.  

Maybe one day, when I am a gray old lady, I can show off a tattered list with a date and a check mark beside each item.  But maybe (and this is what I'd prefer), I'll be a gray haired lady going sky-diving and driving an old John Deere tractor.