Looking For The Most Cars - Day 76

The pictures are from my excellent scenic drive today. I went from Denver to Breckenridge to multiple mountain towns to Durango to the Aztec Ruins National Monument to a great steak dinner here in Farmington, NM. I skipped AuntBarb’s suggestion of Mesa Verde because it would have taken too long, but I’ll be back!

UncleDave asked an interesting question last night. We were talking about being on the road,

and how I have been attacking this trip, and in his Denver twang asked, "Shouldn't you be spending more time at some of these places?" There’s an easy answer to the query, but let me give the long version first.

One answer is yes, I should be spending more time at some of these places. But, that’s not all there is to it. The parameters I have set for this trip, while being extremely liberal and general, do have some specific factors that influence, along with my own personality, what I am doing.

Recently, I was flexible on my lifestyle when I stayed over at the Idaho State Walleye Championship, camping out for the first time. But for the 75 other nights of this trip, I have slept in a home or hotel. I have always woken up and taken a shower. Only when it is worth it (and in the walleye case it was) will I give up this daily pleasure. Bathing is one of the things that I don’t want to dispose of. Additionally, I plan to wake up early, be productive, be flexible, be happy, see new things, learn, dare to do things, be open to anything, and be ready to be surprised and awed. In general.

I also want to see everything. But, and I am flexible in this too, I have set in stone that there will be an end to this journey. I will stop. Right now, I know I am doing this through the end of August, and I will probably need to extend it through September…perhaps a little longer. But it will end. I will need to work again; I will need a home again; I will need to not live with my parents again. (Jobless, homeless, live with parents = George Costanza.)

Given that this will end, and end before I am anywhere near broke, I have just a few more months to do this. With most of August already mapped out, and July quickly approaching, I find that in the two and a half months that I have been doing this, I remain with too much to see and do. I know I need to raft down the Colorado, I know I need to spend time at Yosemite, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Montana, Canada, Mexico. I know I have to ride in a glider plane, and I’d like to rappel something. I should see more waterfalls and wild animals. I should eat things in places I will never be able to get to again.

When it comes to staying in one place for more than a day, I generally have to weigh all the options and usually, I feel I can accomplish more by moving on to the next park, the next waterfall, the next adventure.

It’s the low hanging fruit that I am grabbing right now. I want to take in as much diversity, breadth, and adventure as I can. Quantity over quality.

Yet, I am paying close attention to what I am skipping. Every day, I end it regretting that I didn’t get a stab at, bite of, sight of or deep connection with a something that is vanishing in my rear view mirror. So I am doing the math on what I missed, and also what I need to make time for. I won’t get to them all before this Road Trip ends, but I am being shown what is possible, and I will get to the best of them while I can. The rest, I make a promise to myself to come back to.

In short, the answer to UncleDave’s question is: before I’ll commit to the big stuff, I am just looking for the most cars.

(That being said, I will be arriving at my Phoenix hub tomorrow for a short layover, and I expect to take a three day weekend with them, then take to the road for a short, or long, trip.)