Juggling THE Trip

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

(This post was inspired ?? from watching other Rvers during our visits to some of America’s most beautiful National Parks. They are in and out of campgrounds in 2 to 3 days, in an area where we stay for a minimum of 7 nights. We barely “see” the area in our allotted time, and we cannot figure out how others manage to “see” these areas in 2 or 3 days. What are we doing differently?? Have no idea, but, after contemplating our way, we are happy to report we wouldn’t change a thing! LOL)

THE Trip has truly become a trip of a lifetime for us, New Mexico, Arizona, California, now Utah. New experiences, new trails to hike (most of which are now measured against Silly Mountain”. Red rock, Sedona Arizona, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Moab area - Arches and Canyonland, Bryce and Zion and Capital Reef. Totally get the “rock” in Rocky Mountains.

Life becomes a juggling act, how much can we do, what will we miss.

We juggle the needs of the fur kids against our travel plans for the day. Lately, that means, if the day is expected to be more than 6 hours away from Tana, the fur kids go with us. That means balancing the weather and temps too, will it be cool enough for them to stay in Big Butt? If, it is going to be much about 65 they cannot stay in Big Butt, so, what else can we do? Maybe another sightseeing opportunity where we won’t be gone more than 6 hours. Some days Gallagher gets to accompany us no matter how long we will be gone, his health situation demands constant monitoring. No, it is not time for the Rainbow Bridge for Gallagher, it might be a tad bit inconvenient having to “baby” him this way, but, it is not time for the Rainbow Bridge. He does not mind that he gets to go, the other day he even got to go on a short hike with us, partly under his own steam, partly in the “yorkie purse”.

We juggle our own health against what we can do for the day. The Demon (diabetes) requires frequent meals for me.  Man has his own issues. We pay attention to these issues. Going out driving around where there are no restaurants?? No problem, picnic lunches, pack the cooler. We have had lunch in some very beautiful places lately, red rocks towering over us, entertaining little creatures scurrying about, even on the tailgate of Big Butt at 6970 feet and 51 degrees (wind speed unknown, lets just say, breezy! LOL) Views amazing, food good, Demon satisfied, and onward we go!

Tail gate lunch at almost 7,000 feet, not a bad view, eh?

Energy levels come into play, after a really long day of sightseeing or brisk hikes, we both feel the need to take a day off, rest, and regroup. Those days we spend working on the computers, managing photos, blogging, laundry, sometimes a grocery run or other errands. We pay the bills, handle correspondence (not all comes via email, snail mail brings stuff that must be managed as well.) Managing time and energy is tricky sometimes, cause lets face it, when we head out of here sightseeing, we never are quite sure what we will find, how much time will be spent, or how much energy will be required.

Then, we have Mother Nature to contend with. Somehow, for us, stomping around in rain and snow squalls just is not the most enjoyable way to experience our national wonders. That said, we did get caught in a snow event recently at Bryce, and I got some interesting photos of the vis dropping from thousands of feet to almost nothing in 3 minutes flat. Very interesting experience, but, once was enough! LOL So, we try to pay close attention to the weather forecasts, that said, the ole gal (Mother Nature) has a mind of her own, and can change that mind pretty quickly. That is what happened in our snow squall event, it was sunny and beautiful when we left camp, about 30 minutes later, no vis!

We seem to have found a system that works fairly well for us, we juggle the weather, the fur kids, our own health issues, sightseeing time, rest time, work time. We do long day trips, pack the lunch, pack the fur kids and their meds and food, leave sorta early for us (9 AM is sorta early, right?? ) and return late, exhausted and totally overwhelmed by the sights, so totally fulfilled! Sometimes we know we can do the “to do list” for the day in just a few hours, like a nice walk up Silly Mountain, that was all we planned for the day, a couple of hour hike. So, the day begins slow, some good German coffee in our pot, have a substantial breakfast, grab Sony, power bars, water, the hiking sticks, hats, sunscreen, several layers of sweaters or jackets, and away we go. Sometimes we have lunch out before the event of the day, a leisurely lunch is a delight not to be taken lightly. Home in Tana by 6ish, we relax in the evening with a little telie and more surfing.

We feel fairly comfortable with our juggling act, it may take us longer to see the sights in any one specific area,  but, I mean, we are retired!  Time we have, as much as our Maker gives us.  So, we juggle and juggle some more.

Sometimes that juggling looks like this:

The morning after a long day trip, Man and the fur kids, juggling - - 

*Juggler graphic courtesy of Clipartheaven.com
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