Roadtrip "Preppers"

Day 1: Saturday, June 1, 2013

If anyone has seen the TV show about the “prepper” people who prepare their houses and families for the apocalypse, you’ll know how crazy they all are. More than likely we’ll all look back at them one day and be like the people who made fun of Noah when he was building the ark, but for now, they really are just crazy. However, I feel like after preparing for this massive California trip, I might have something to bring to the table for the “preppers.”

For those of you who don’t know the story, Derek and I are on a 45-day road trip. The genesis of this idea was the fact that we have to go to California for 1.5 weeks for my final summer of my Masters program. Since we bought a new, reliable car in November 2012, we figured we’d take advantage of being teachers without children yet and see a bit of the country. In addition to my Masters program, a very close family friend (more like another family member than just a friend) is getting married in Key West on July 11^th. Rissa Sloan is like a little sister to me because I lived with her and her family when I was in Mexico, and Derek taught her and her brother, Alan, in MXC. Derek and I met each other when having dinner with this family, and they’ve been such an influence on our lives ever since! So after California, we’ll be traveling all the way down to Key West before returning to GA. So after about 45 days and roughly 6,750 miles, we’ll be ready to go back. But for now, we’re just beginning…

So how does one go about preparing for a 45-day trip in a tiny Toyota Corolla? Derek’s answer to this question was (and I quote), “You stop being so anal and don’t pack so much.” He and I clearly don’t see eye to eye on what constitutes the “essentials” on a trip of this magnitude. J But really, it has been quite an undertaking that has taken months of planning. I figured I would first document what we did to prepare for this trip so that I can remember everything and so someone else might be able to get some experience advice from us if you ever decide to do something similar.

So here’s our version of planning a cross-country roadtrip, “Prepper Style…”

Step 1: Become best friends with all the people you know.

Once we decided to do this trip, we got advice from a lot of people about where to visit, where to stay, and what to do and see. That helped us figure out what we wanted to see, and it ended up giving us really good “off the beaten path” adventures. This also allowed us to find people who know people in other cities who will let us stay with them along the way. Additionally, we found one of our college-aged friends from church who would watch our house and cats while we’re gone. And finally, it’s of utmost important to have people praying for you on a trip like this!

Step 2: Become best friends with Excel.

I love me a good Excel spreadsheet. I’m not an accountant, but if I were, the Excel spreadsheet would be my favorite part of that job. I created a large spreadsheet to keep track of all the places we want to go. We started by inputting the main places we wanted to visit, particularly starting with the dates we knew we had to be at the wedding and in California for my classes. Then I worked backwards from California to figure out where we wanted to go along our path out there and how much time we wanted to spend in each place to determine when we needed to begin. After getting that settled, I worked out the path from California to Key West and back to Georgia. This spreadsheet has undergone countless edits, and even while we’re now on our way, it will assuredly see more. (Which reminds me to continue praying for flexibility and patience!) 

Our current route goes like this:

Dacula, GA à Dallas, TX à Albuquerque, NM (by way of Oklahoma City) à Pagosa Springs/Durango, CO à Phoenix, AZ à Grand Canyon, AZ à Zion National Park, UT à Las Vegas, NV à Pasadena, CA à La Mirada, CA à Tucson, AZ à Carlsbad, NM à Balmorhea, TX à San Antonio, TX à Houston, TX à New Orleans, LA à Titusville, FL à Miami, FL à Key West, FL à Jacksonville, FL à Dacula, GA

Step 3: Become best friends with strangers.

Since we neither wanted to rent an RV (which is super expensive with gas) nor pay for hotels for the entire 45 days, we had to try to find people with whom we could stay for a few days in different cities. First we tried to find as many people in different cities where we actually know friends and family with whom we could stay. (By the way, posting our needs on Facebook was one of the best ideas I had! I couldn’t believe the number of people who were willing to help me find places to stay in different cities where they had friends/family. It was fantastic, so thanks everyone!) That took care of Dallas, Pagosa Springs, Pasadena, New Orleans, Titusville, and Miami. We’re camping in Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Balmorhea, and we’re staying in hotels in Phoenix, La Mirada, Tucson, Houston, and Key West for various reasons. But that left us with trying to find places to stay in Albuquerque, Durango, Carlsbad, San Antonio, and Jacksonville. And that’s when we turned to Couchsurfing.

Yes, Couchsurfing.org is a real, legitimate thing that people do. You should check out the website! (And after you check that out, please go check out this guy’s HILARIOUS blog where he freaks people out on Couchsurfing.) Couchsurfing is an international online community full of people who allow travelers to stay with them if their schedule allows. So I created a profile (check it out here) and started searching for people in the cities where we still needed lodging. We currently found places to stay in Durango and San Antonio with two fantastic-looking couples. We’re so excited to meet new people! (I’ll post more on our decision to do Couchsurfing later, for those of you who think we’re nuts and are asking “WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD ANYONE WANT TO STAY WITH STRANGERS?” It’s a legitimate question, and one for which I have an answer. But that will have to wait because this post is way too long already…)

Planning this part of the trip has reminded me to pray for those with whom we’ll fellowship along the way and that we would be good witnesses to the Lord’s work in our lives as we meet new friends.

Step 4: Break some friendships with your stuff.

Figuring out what to pack was probably the hardest part of this trip preparation. I know I’m a girl, and let’s be honest, ladies are not usually stereotyped as the gender who would win a “packing light” contest. But I think I’m even worse than a lot of ladies. (I kind of don’t want to admit that to my husband, but I know it’s true. He’s learned to not get so worked up about it, and I’ve learned to do with less. Though I think out of the two of us, Derek has had to learn his lesson more than I’ve learned mine. I’m a work in progress…)  I whipped out another Excel spreadsheet to help me get organized.

I decided that we should each pack our own plastic tub and then just take out what we need for each of our stops in a small bag so that we weren’t lugging huge pieces of luggage into different peoples’ homes. Plus, the plastic tubs don’t have as much wasted space as luggage. This was by far one of the smartest things we’ve done because I was able to pack so much more! Plus, I think it will help us stay more organized along the way. I would highly recommend this technique to others.

Finally, I had to come to terms that it’s really okay to re-wear clothes. I know that many people are going to laugh at me and/or roll their eyes at me about this one. It’s definitely one of those “first-world” problems that makes me feel bad to even admit. But here’s my attempt at justification… I haven’t grown since I was 12 years old. That means I’ve been able to accumulate 13 years of clothing! I recognize I have a ton of clothes because I rarely throw things away and wear them for YEARS until they’re totally worn out.  But that also means that I’m used to being able to put together at least 250 totally different outfits a year, hints why I’m neither used to nor fond of the idea of re-wearing clothes very much.  But after lots of coaching from Derek (which really just consisted of making fun of me and calling me a baby all the time – all in good fun, of course – until I’ve become stubborn enough to attempt to prove myself to not be one), I managed to cut down on a lot and come to grips with it. He also told his own stories of “doing with less,” such as when he only washed his dorm room sheets once per year and encouraged me to simply use Febreeze to cut down on the odor of my dirty clothes. This is going to take some work. Granted, my plastic tub still had to be smooshed shut, whereas Derek’s easily shuts with room to spare, but nevertheless, it’s still a lot less than I originally wanted to bring. (And I’m hoping that the little extra room Derek has in his tub can be used for any of the clothes/souveniers we buy along the way – shhh! Don’t sell me out!). So be prepared to see me wearing the same outfit in the pictures we’ll post later. J

Step 5: Become even better best friends with your spouse.

More than any other comment, we’ve both heard others make comments somehow implying (or just blatantly stating) that Derek and I will basically kill each other – or at the very least hate each other – by the end of this trip. To be quite honest, this makes me quite sad that so many other people wouldn’t want to take an opportunity to do something like this with their spouse! Maybe we’re just being naïve, but I think Derek and I stand a pretty good chance of growing closer through this trip rather than wanting a divorce afterward. But even so, we thought that it was good to heed the implicit warning from others.

So with that in mind, we’ve tried to intentionally talk ahead of time about what we each see as the potentially most annoying thing the other person would do to cause trouble along the way. These conversations were paramount in helping me with Step #4. J And we’ve both agreed to be flexible in our schedule, as I was most worried that Derek would be rigid in sticking to the schedule rather than spontaneously deviating like I may want to do. And we’ve prayed about it. A lot. While we don’t expect to be totally free of arguments/disagreements/fights/annoyances along the way, we’re just REALLY PUMPED to get to spend this much one-on-one time together away from all the other regular distractions of life. So we’d love to have others pray for us in this regard, too! 

So what do I have to offer the “prepper” world? I think I can be mad-crazy organized in planning things, and I’m good at researching what to do. I’ve learned to make relationships with others and be flexible with staying with strangers. I have figured out how to pack a compact car for six weeks with room to spare. And I would definitely offer prayers for the prepping community. And with that in mind…

We’d love to have you join us in praying for us throughout this trip for the following things.

1.       Pray that we would have safe travels, especially when we’re camping/hiking in the wilderness.

2.       Pray that we would provide positive testimony of the Lord’s love and care for us as we meet different people along the way, and that we would be receptive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we speak to others.

3.       Pray that we would take time to stop along the way and recognize the Lord in all the beauty that we will see rather than getting too wrapped up in running from activity to activity.

4.       Pray that we would have fun together and really grow closer together in our marriage as we make new memories!

So with that, I’m getting ready to take my driving turn as we head into Texas for our first stop with the Churchward family. We’ll try to keep you updated as much as possible along the way.

Love,

Catalina & Derek