Where to now?
 
What an interesting lifestyle we've gotten ourselves into.  We've finished with the Life on Wheels week-long school and now we're looking at maps and saying, "Where should we go next?"
 
Wherever we want.
 
Ok, what do we want?
 
Take a look at this map.  We are currently located where the star is.  If you were here and could go anywhere, where would you go?
 

 
This is what I wanted.  I wanted the complete freedom that I had when I was 20.  I left college with a few friends and we just started driving and camping.  Each new day was a total unknown.  That lasted 2 months till we ran out of money and had to stop and get a job!  My memory of that time is what motivated me to try the RV lifestyle.  What hits us now that we're here is that we're not the same as we were when we were 20 ... duh!  When we were twenty much about life was brand new - that was normal.  Now, at 50 we have 30 years of life experience that has taught us what is 'normal' and how life 'should' be.  And, believe me this isn't it!  Normal is living in a house and having a job.
 
But, this IS what we wanted.  It may be uncomfortable not knowing where we're going or why, but that's the idea.  The way to grow and have an exciting life is to step outside of your comfort zone ... yes, it's uncomfortable.  But, it passes.  Then it's exciting to look at the map and plan.  Here's what we've come up with for our next stretch.
 

 
Whaddaya think?  Doesn't that look great!  The first part is continuing to follow the Lewis and Clark trail.  Purely by accident, we've covered a lot of their route this summer ... at this point it seemed so logical to continue.  We will follow the Columbia river and see the spectacular waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge.  Then the stretch of road down the Oregon coast and the Northern California coast is the stuff that travel magazine covers are made of.  Our goal will be Melinda's driveway near Lake Tahoe.  I think I'd like to stay there for about a month, like we did with Jimmy's driveway in Long Beach Island.   .... sssshhhhhhh - I haven't told her this yet :-)