It’s been 10 years since we exchanged I Do’s on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial during DC’s Cherry Blossom Festival before hundreds of global onlookers who were actually just tourists at the Memorial that day but none the less cheered when we were pronounced. The epic event included writing a marriage manifesto, signing a contract and making a music video of our Tour de DC that has gone, what we like to call anti-viral, with less than 700 views on You Tube (LOL)! As we talked about what to do for our 10th anniversary we wondered what pairs with that?
Many people say that your Wedding Day is the most important day of your life. No doubt that when you are young, the concept of an epic wedding day reigns. When you are more in the second half of your life than the first, it feels to us that keeping the growth alive is both more difficult and more important than nostalgia. At this age, we’re finally transitioning from being defined by being an earner and provider to being defined by what we do with ourselves and each other when time and resources are not the most limiting factors. So the manifesto evolves.
After lots of deliberation on both low key and epic possibilities, the Sheri of ‘we’ landed on Flowers. The Eric of ‘we’ was up for anything that involved camping. It started in 2013 with Cherry Blossoms and 10 years later it continues in a Superbloom. If you want to see carpets of wildflowers, you travel to Anza Borrego State Park in Southeastern California in the Spring. 2023 may be a special year because the heavy rains of Fall and winter may spawn a gajillion more blooms than usual. Then again, the longer than normal cold snap in California could doom the bloom. Here’s hoping.
Not far from Anza is Coachella and Palm Springs plus Joshua Tree and Death Valley stickers. If we decided on April in the Desert it was going to be hard to haul Roxie. At 30 feet and 10,000 pounds, she doesn’t want to do 7,000 hard miles. Or maybe she does and it is just us who want to travel fast, light and into hard to get to places. Something in our head concerning camping is shifting. Florida life is so comfortable, it seems absurd to try and duplicate that on the road. Better to head in the exact opposite direction and try to grasp what Florida is not.
After last year’s visit to The Overlanding Expo in Flagstaff, we’ve been talking about tent camping. How would we eat, sleep, adventure for 30 days in the Superduty alone? We’d seen all the gear at the Expo and we had 10 days experience tent camping in the Florida Everglades so knew how hard it could be. How would we outfit the 6 ft bed holding a fifth wheel hitch and the back seat of a crew cab? How would we eat for a week or more without a Walmart five minutes away and food samples at the Costco? What’s the itinerary look like? If we have a small enough footprint, can we camp without any reservations? Anyone who has camped post-pandemic knows that reservation planning and execution is something that begins 6 months to a year in advance and is almost as much fun as tax season.
Secure in our fifth year of adventuring, we know it’s more dicey to ride the flow with a loose plan, but they’ve tended to bring the greatest experiences. In Organ Pipe we discovered that back roads without maps and GPS felt otherworldly. Having the freedom to choose to go forward or go back and the skill to navigate all situations puts the best of our brains and creativity to the test. It is the proverbial risk vs. reward conundrum. How far are we willing to push it for big returns?
