Trying to Catch Up...Yikes!

“Take good notes; because once you start traveling, you will find time to write is limited.” An acquaintance who wrote about her RV travels from Houston, Texas to the Panama Canal gave me this advice several years ago. Harriett was right. The greatest challenge of traveling and writing is having the time to savor the experience, yet sustain the energy and discipline to write each day.

Until five weeks ago, I managed to balance as much as four-hours of writing each day. Then, I slipped down a slippery slope – sleeping later in the day and allowing the experiences of travel consume me. The result is I am rested and intrigued by our wanderings but I am about five weeks behind on my chronicles of “Did Someone Say RV Road Trip?”

For nearly five weeks, Ed and I have covered a great deal of territory. Our Prevost odometer shows that we’ve traveled 6,707 miles since leaving Pharr, Texas in April. As we continue on our “10,000 Mile Grand Tour”, I sacrificed my writing time for other pleasures like: sightseeing, hiking, ballooning, visiting family, and walks along the beach. These activities tire me out. My old habits of waking at dawn have slipped to waking after 8 AM, and I’m tucked into bed at 9 PM. Then, there are the less pleasurable routine things that eat into my time like meal preparation, trips to the laundromat, and grocery shopping. I have tried to write while Ed is driving but this doesn’t work. I become distracted by the scenery or need to keep my eye on the road map so we don’t end up in places where a big coach has no business going. And lately, because of our remote travels through Canada, access to the Internet has been a slow connection or no Internet connection at all. In desperation one night, I slipped into a Marriott. I used the hotel’s high speed connection to post some photos to my blog without the accompanying stories. That felt good but “yikes” I am still behind!

So, Harriett, if you read this entry please note: I have good notes and I am trying to catch up!

July 25, 2008

Port Angeles, Washington