The Trip So Far: After Week 1

I'm on Day 9, and a lot has happened so far, and I've learned a lot.

When I started the draft for this post it was on Day 4, and I was in a lot worse mood than I'm in today. I was tired. Really tired. I needed actual sleep. I had only slept in my car or camped, and my sleep quality (and length) was pretty poor. It was wearing me down. I had a night that I went to sleep in a horrible mood, but thankfully got some decent sleep, and things have improved since then. I've now had two successful couch surfs and am starting to figure out how to go about it setting them up smarter. Hopefully from here on it will go a little better. If I ended up having to sleep in my car every night, I think I would have probably gotten more and more miserable and maybe ended up calling it quits. Thankfully, it's changing.

The problem I was having in the beginning was not planning far enough ahead. And unfortunately, that's kind of the nature of this trip. Lots of things are going to be last-minute. But I was getting only "declined," or no response at all. Now that I'll have a few references, and I decided to go ahead with the verification payment, that should help. I'm also going to try to "plan" 3-4 days in advance. 

Which, is confusing, because I'm still planning where I'm going and what I'm doing in each area either the day of, or a day before. I think I have to; I'm covering too much ground to plan every little thing long in advance. I could have before I took off, I suppose, but that alone might have taken weeks, and then the whole spontaneity aspect of the trip is gone. So I'm going to plan which areas I'm in a few days in advance, but then make actual plans for each area while I'm there (or shortly before).

So that was a big part of my earlier stress. I was too unorganized and was making bad planning decisions. I spent longer than I intended in Thunder Bay, ON, and it was largely because I hadn't really thought of where I wanted to go in the area. The first night was basically a waste. I spent too much time looking for WiFi, criss-crossing the town, I backtracked a long way to camp, etc. So I did learn some lessons there. Plan sights in a way that makes sense so I can do it with a route that doesn't overlap and add a lot of extra mileage. Keep going roughly in the "right" direction with minimal backtracking. 

Plan enough in advance so I have an idea of what I'm doing, at least, and work out the finer details as needed. 

(It does feel weird the way I'm sight-seeing, though. It's basic tourist stuff, mostly, but being alone feels strange. I go into a place, take some pictures, and leave. I don't feel like I'm fully appreciating each place -- but I am? I don't know. It's weird. I think a lot of what makes any experience what it is is who you share it with. If I was with family or friends, I would be sharing each experience with them. But I'm alone. Yeah, I'm posting much of what I see on social media, so I'm sharing that way -- but it's pretty artificial. I'm sure I'll continue to struggle with this.)

Spending too much time in Thunder Bay also made me realize that I kind of need to keep moving. Yes, obviously I can stick around in an area for a few days and see what I want to see, but I also need keep moving. So early in the trip, if I'm ever going to get anywhere I need to keep going. I need to do some driving most days.

But on the flip-side, I might have moved through Minnesota too fast, and not explored as much as I would have liked. But I guess a bad mood and poor sleep and way too much happening in my head contributed to that.

So there is also an element of quality versus quantity I have to work out. I can spend a lot of time in every area and see each and every little spot -- or, I can spend less time, though get some time in each area while still heading in the planned direction. It's a little confusing, but I'm starting to figure it out.

Canada was especially bad for this, since I had no native cell service at all, but the trip is going to be one WiFi hotspot to the next, to an extent. I have been picking up paper maps as I enter each new state (or province), but Google maps and other websites are kind of my lifeline. And also for communication.

Something is always charging. My phone has been dying so fast. It's plugged in while I'm in the car pretty much constantly. My old phone, which I use for music, also needs charging every few days. My laptop keeps a charge for a long time, so I have been able to use it sitting in my car connected to wifi or something, but in libraries and at my surfs I've been making sure it stays charged. And I also bought, last minute, an external battery pack which is great. If I know I'm going to be away from my car for a while, I can throw the battery pack in my bag and I'll be able to charge my phone off of it.

After a few kind of dark days, when it felt like I wasn't enjoying myself, things are getting brighter. The clouds are parting. The reality of being away from home, alone, has set in and I think I've come to terms with it. I might not see every little bit of each area I go through, but I will be able to see lots and lots. It's definitely a learning experience, but I think I might be having fun.