Turning Chores into Adventures
How a trip to pick up our rig turned into a spring skiing adventure
Dear Friend,
Today I have some advice for you. You may not want it, but that hasn’t stopped me before. That advice is: turn your chores into an adventure. It sounds a bit trite, a little silly, I know. But I promise it’s worth it, I promise.
At the end of April, our family is leaving for our big Summer trip. As we return to seasonal and part-time travel, summer is our shot at a big trip and we’re taking it. But there is much to do to prepare. If you have ever left your home for months at a time, you know there is a seemingly unending list of chores and tedious things to do before you can finally get out of the door.
Our biggest chore ahead of this trip is to make another, very out of the way, trip to pick up our Airstream, which is currently stored in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a 17-hour drive from our current spot. That’s a lot of driving to even get to where it is, then we have to load it up, hitch up, make sure everything is working okay, and bring it back.
It’s a ton of driving and not necessarily a ton of fun, especially since we have exactly a week to accomplish all of this between other plans for a kid’s birthday and Clay’s work travel. But we have Epic ski passes and wondered if we might fit in some spring skiing somewhere new. And Tahoe is kind of sort of on the way back (and has three Epic resorts), so here we are. Packing for a picking up the Airstream and spring skiing trip.
When I planned our stops for the way to Las Vegas, I realized that we were stopping near Shoshone Falls in Idaho and Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Two places we have not been before, so we will likely work in some quick visits as well. It can be easy to say “we’re already driving so much,” but we nearly are always glad that we went a little further to see something new, to add a little adventure to the trip.
You can add this approach to any trip or any chore. I know you’re tired. We are all tired, but go a little further to do something cool if you can. Make it fun, make it interesting. Drive a little out of the way if it will take you somewhere you’re interested in. Or might be. Stop at the cheesy roadside attraction. Spend a night at a cool Harvest Host. Pull over to take in the view. It might be your favorite memory of the trip.
When I think about our Summer of 2022 road trip in the Northeast, one of my favorite memories is stopping at Ben and Jerry’s, which we did with our rig along the way. Last Spring, we stopped at Tilamook Creamery and also had a fantastic time. We stopped at beaches and roadside pull offs with better views than any campsites we’ve had. Slowing down and stopping to take it all in makes the drives more fun than work. It’s part of how we happily stayed on the road for so long.
How do you find the things? Keep your eyes and ears open as you travel. Don’t get in too much of a hurry. Zoom out from your destination or route on Google Maps. You don’t have to get too fancy or do too much, but adding something fun to most days, especially on a long trip can change the feeling of the whole trip.
Turn the chores into adventure. Do what you need to, and add in something fun! Have the best time out there.
See you down the road,
Jamie