Oregon Trail

One week from today my husband and I will embark on a road trip that will exceed the distance of any highway trips in our history as a couple. Our daughter is marrying a wonderful young gentleman and the wedding is being held in Oregon, 1600 miles from our landlocked state of South Dakota. We decided not to fly for a couple of reasons, not the least being that I HATE flying. Medication is required for me to crawl into a metal tube with strangers and turbulence. We also want to see some country along the way. We've been to the Atlantic Ocean but this will be our first trip to the Pacific Ocean and we hope to soak up the scenery through every state on our trail.

As much as I am looking forward to the trip, I am also a bit anxious. I am the world’s worst passenger. I’m quite sure my husband will be nominated for sainthood someday due to his patient long-suffering approach to driving me anywhere that has traffic, slick roads or ominous looking skies. My husband is an excellent driver and I have no reason for excessive opinion sharing. I just get a bad case of the Nervous Nellies when I feel I’m not in complete control of a situation.

 I've developed a few strategies that can be helpful. I cover my hands with a jacket so my husband doesn't have to see my pointings, clutchings and wringing of hands. Sometimes I look at other drivers that are making me nervous and transpose their faces with the faces of people I know so I don’t view them as the enemy. Closing my eyes works if it’s a short term threat like oncoming traffic from a ramp or the passing of an extra long truck. And occasionally I just need to take over the wheel so I can backseat drive myself. For the record, I’m just as hard on myself as I am on my husband (he might disagree with this).

My plan is to blog along the trail. That is the plan. It might not be the reality. So if I’m off-air for the month of July, you’ll know that it is for one of the following reasons.

1) Technical difficulties--managing a computer, camera and wi-fi stopovers falls into the category of making an old lady crazy. The stars will pretty much have to align for me to pull off a road trip blog.

2) Fatigue—long days on the road can give me the grumpies, killing my muse in the process. I’m packing lots of fruit and water to stave off complete exhaustion, but there are no guarantees in the world of love and traveling.

3) Homicide—but for the fact that my sister-in-law was in the back seat at a gas station in Omaha during a long and arduous trip to Colorado a few years ago, there would be one less in our couplehood. We've matured a little since then so we will hope for the best.

4) Vacationitis—sometimes it’s good to step off the grid for awhile. Leaving the city limits behind and watching new views from my window might put a stop to any notions of stringing together any cohesive thoughts.

So, for better or for worse, it’s Oregon or bust for us.

Happy Trails.

Treadmill

Summer can be very dangerous for me. As a teacher, I go from 100 mph to 5 mph in a matter of hours after the last bell rings and another school term has ended. With the advent of more discretionary time, it is easy for me to head to the library, pick up a stack of books and get lost in lands of polar exploration, who-done-its and tantalizing memoirs. Reading, in and of itself is not a waste of time, however, reading as the method of choice for ignoring other responsibilities is a problem. I’m already knee deep into several new books and in need of a plan of attack against the demon of slothfulness.

The author of a book I just finished suggested a possible solution to the problem. The book had nothing to do with summer sluggishness, but it did contain a little gem that I’m adapting to my situation: start a Treadmill Journal. There is nothing inherently new or earth shattering about this idea. It is simply a way to log mundane and tedious tasks that need to be done.

I started by digging up a leftover notebook and setting a goal of 5 in 5--five accomplishments in five days. Mind you, my list of accomplishments would be the average day-to-day business for most industrious folks. For me, I need the extra incentive of recording something in my journal. I also developed a few categories so I wouldn't get stuck on one type of endeavor and call it good enough. Some of my categories include: Health; Learning a New Skill; Caring; and Distasteful Tasks.

My least favorite category, of course, is Distasteful Tasks. I assigned a rating scale to this category in an attempt to force myself to dive into a variety of projects. The scale goes from 1 to 10 on the disgust-o-meter. For instance, cleaning my sock drawer gets a 3. It was a small drawer and the decisions were based on a relatively easy baseline: holes or no holes, elastic or no elastic. Returning a too-small shirt from a catalog order scores a 5. It would score less if it didn't involve a lost receipt and trying to remember a password for the website so I could get the necessary information needed for the transaction. Cleaning the stash-everything-in-it-hall-closet scores a 9. Every inch of shelf space in said closet gets filled with the goo gaws and deedle dads that just don’t have a home anywhere else. This project is best tackled on a day when one is in a toss it out mood.

The other challenging category is Health. My goal is at least 30 minutes of intentional and sustained movement each day. I have a library of DVDs that promises “fun and fitness.” Both words are fibs in my world. I've never had fun jiggling along to a chirpy trainer and fitness is not something my body accepts. I just want to develop enough balance and strength to navigate parking lots and deadly curbs and keep myself from blowing up like a seal.

My favorite category is Learning a New Skill (not counting the recent meltdown with a new photo program on my computer). This category includes everything from trying a new recipe to brushing up on my bird watching techniques. I am currently experimenting with different salad dressings for the abundance of greens being produced in our garden.

I don’t know if my Treadmill Journal will be a successful motivator for me this summer. The lure of lethargy can be a powerful thing.

Maybe my next new skill will be writing a book called Laziness for Dummies.

  

Here is the salad dressing that is my favorite so far.

Honey Mustard Dressing

6 oz. Greek yogurt

1/4 c. mayo

2 Tb. honey

1 1/2 Tbs. whole grain mustard

1 1/2 Tbs. yellow mustard

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. rice vinegar

1/4 tsp. dill weed