“The sun won’t set if we keep heading West, I bet…”

I’ve caught the bug.

The travel bug that is. 

In the past 4(ish) years, I’ve done some regular traveling. I’ve gone with my boyfriend each year to Indianapolis to see the MotoGP races. And I’ve gone with a friend or two to Florida (also annually) to see another friend who was living there. This past year, the annual Florida trip turned into a road trip. We still had Florida as our final destination, but we did some sightseeing along the way (our main stop: The Walking Dead filming locations throughout Georgia). It was an amazing trip. Of course things didn’t go exactly as planned the entire way, but I look back on that trip and want to replay every bit of it. By far one of the best trips I’ve ever taken.

This year, the MotoGP race is not in Indianapolis, nor is it in August. It’s in Austin in April. Paul and I decided to go anyway. Another road trip, so we can bring our little Beagle along. 

In the midst of all this, I have started reading Jack Kerouac’s On The Road. While it isn’t at all what I had thought it to be (in my mind, it was much more like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild), it definitely has me itching to travel. 

Texas will be the furthest I’ve ever been from home. I’m psyched. 

Since we decided to hop on the road for Texas, I’ve been feeling restless. I feel the urge to break out. It’s going to take a lot of planning and saving, but Paul and I have discussed taking a multiple month hiatus and driving around America. There is a load of planing (and some serious saving) to be done, but I feel that this is something I now need to do. Not simply an itch to be scratched, but more of a once in a lifetime experience I need to accomplish. I mean, when else will I get the chance? 

There are a few points in Kerouac’s book where he describes his experience of the outdoors that I simply can’t get out of my mind… He sees “the great snowy tops of the Rocky Mountains”, and the Mississippi River: “dry in the summer haze, low water, with its big rank smell that smells like the raw body of America itself…” Not to mention the plains, the stars, even just the names of certain areas – Nebraska, Montana… At those moments, I am awed. It stops me in my tracks and evokes a feeling of desire to see and smell and experience the exact scenarios he describes. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t see any reason to simply read about such things.

So once we return from our trip to Texas, the planning for this 3/4 month-long road trip will be underway. Until then I will be reading books and blogs and soaking up every ounce of knowledge on budgeting and life on the open road. I just can’t wait. 

The only thing I really have uneasiness about for this trip is coming home to no job. And also, not earning any money while on the road. Savings will help the latter issue. But I’ve never left a job without having another one waiting for me. It’s going to be a scary and strange situation, but I’m hoping along the way, things will fall into place. I know this trip will cause me to open my mind, to grow – and that alone will be worth the fear. 

(Song quote: Betty Who – Runaways)