Pre-Departure Detour

There are a number of camping afficionados in my connected circle. Some are backcountry, some are self-sufficient off of paved roads, some RV, some use campgrounds with amenities (like showers!). I have experience camping at elevation; mostly in campgrounds. Keeping this in mind, I decided to ask some experts for their tips and tricks.

And then I cried.

You don't know what you don't know, and it turns out that I don't know A LOT about camping as a lifestyle. Reality check: I have never used snow chains on my tires, let alone put them on, by myself, during a blizzard. There are, I now know, places where I cannot even go without showing that I have snow chains with me.

Taking a month worth of brainstorming and a couple weeks worth of route planning and clicking on the "hide sheet" option was depressing. However, it isn't the end of the planet. I rebounded after feeling the sad for awhile and recognizing that being miserably cold and constanly worried about racing west to avoid the worst of the winter weather would not make my trip mindful nor enjoyable. 

Scrapping a lot of pieces of the plan do not make the planning useless. I learned a LOT. And I can try that route another time, or come back that way. Who knows?!? This is just the beginning. Detours are going to happen - and they make (sometimes) good stories. My first ferry ride was because a highway had a closure in Illinois and we got lost in a corn/soybean field when the paved road turned to dirt, and we asked this farmer for directions and eventually crossed the Kentucky River on a boat. I don't remember a lot else from that particular roadtrip, but the details of that detour are still with me 20 years later.

Looking forward to learning more, finding new places to stop and camp, and - theoretically - never having to worry about putting snow chains on my tires. Let the research phase begin. Again.

Keep coming back.