AND OTHER THINGS I LEARNED ALONG THE TRAIL
It's been nearly six weeks now since I landed in Arizona to officially start my adventure and I am absolutely loving it! So far, the trip has been everything I hoped it would be and honestly, my only ping of regret is that I didn't do this earlier.
On a hike the other day, I started thinking about the questions I get asked most often and about other things I've learned along the trail. I decided to write it all down. Not sure you'll find it interesting. Mostly, I'm documenting it for myself. But maybe it will be useful to someone who decides to embark on a similar journey themselves.
And hopefully you'll find a nugget of humor in some of these questions asked and lessons learned, the same way I have.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the questions/comments I hear most often from friends, family, and people I meet along the way:
Where are you?
The answer changes every 1-2 weeks. And is often followed up with: Where is that?
Where do you stay?
It's a mix of Airbnb's and hotels, depending on the location, availability, and price.
Ohhh! You should have bought a camper!
That sounds great in theory, except I can't back up a trailer.
I'd have pulled into that first parking spot and said, "Well, I guess this is where I live now." 🤷
Ohhh!! Then you should get a van instead!
A house without a bathroom? Might as well camp.
Ohhh! You should camp!
No. No, I shouldn't. I don't carry my house on my back. And in the words of my wise friend, Jason Sundberg: sleeping on the ground is for poor people and hippies. LOL!
Who are you traveling with?
Solo! I did spend the first five nights of homelessness with my family in Virginia. Then shared an Airbnb with a friend in Tucson for ten nights. A couple other friends plan to join me for a few nights along the way and I'll see my family again in June. But otherwise, solo.
Isn't that scary?
Nope.
Isn't that lonely?
Nope.
I genuinely love this time on my own. I've never been more disciplined with my time, my diet, my workouts, my sleep, and my prayer. I absolutely love being around my friends and my family, but I also love the opportunity to explore this little corner of the world and getting to do exactly what I want and when and at my own pace. I absolutely love it and don't feel lonely at all.
I know, it's surprising to hear an extravert to say that. It even surprises me. But what I learned about myself during COVID and again during this adventure, is that I might be an introvert.
You're right. I'm not. :)
Maybe it's because every day is jampacked with work, hiking, planning, and occasionally blogging, that I'm too busy to be lonely ... ?
Maybe it's because I don't eat out much, a time I generally associate with socializing ... ?
Most likely, it's because of all the calls, texts, emails, Instagram messages, and Facebook messages from friends and family -- from both the usual suspects and also from folks I haven't heard from in years. It absolutely warms my heart!
I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually and I'll realize just how much I miss my friends and family. And when that happens ... I'll just go home!
Are you safe?
Yes. People are good. Hikers are great. And if a bad guy is gonna drag some woman off a trail, it's not gonna be a 5'9" middle-aged woman of hardy midwestern stock. :)
Ohhh ... I just realized yesterday on a rock scramble at 400+ feet off the ground, you mean: are you going to get hurt?
I really, really hope not. It is my mantra every time I do something that requires focus: whatever you do, just don't get hurt. There are a lot of things I wanted to do, like climb further at Deidre Peak or climb down into The Vortex, but I was very much alone on those trails and common sense prevailed.
I'm convinced that if I do get hurt, it won't be on some backwoods wilderness hike, but instead will be some mundane moment of walking down a sidewalk back in Northern Virginia with a group of friends, where I won't be paying attention to the ground, and will trip over a curb and break a toe or something. And my friends will never let me forget the irony of that moment. :)
Are you still working?
YES! Someone has to pay for this trip.
How are you working AND hiking?
I am working east coast hours, which is working out GREAT! I am up each day at 5:00 am and work until 3:00. (That's 7:00 am - 5:00 pm east coast time.) Limiting my hours each day helps me stay laser focused on my most critical priorities. And I keep a suit jacket and necklace handy to throw on when I have video calls with clients.
After work, I can get in a good 2-3 hours of hiking (four if I push dusk), plus driving time. The sun sets around 8:00 (which is 10:00 pm back home), so I get home, shower, check work emails, plan for the next day, and start all over again.
I think a lot on the trail about how I can replicate this lifestyle back home, but truly the secret to this balance is the fact that I am working early in the day and have my afternoons and evenings free. It has worked out better than I imagined!
What about travel for work?
I have clients in the DC area and the St. Louis area. They aren't really doing in-person meetings yet. Once they do, I can fly to St. Louis from anywhere since I have to fly there anyway. And for my DC clients, I can fly to DC for a week, see them, catch up with friends and family, and then fly back west to resume hiking. Or I'll make my base in VA again. TBD.
My Biggest Surprises Along the Way
I'm tired.
I work. I hike. I plan. I sleep. I repeat.
I joke that all this working full-time and vacationing full-time thing is exhausting, but it actually is! Work is mentally taxing, but rests the body. Hiking is physically taxing, but rests the mind. So that part is perfect equilibrium. Yin and yang.
The one thing I didn't take into account is how much time and mental energy planning takes -- researching the hike I'll do tomorrow, where I'll sleep three weeks from now, but first researching what to do in the next town to know how long to stay there, but the airbnbs are super expensive so what are the hotel options, and I found a place to stay but it's only available these nights, so that means I need to extend my hotel from the next destination an extra night. Oh, and I need to respond to these work emails that came in during my hike and what are the things I need to complete at work tomorrow, and don't forget about that presentation next week, and how is it already 9:00 pm? I have to go to bed! It's not difficult, just time-consuming.
So remember when people asked if I was lonely? Don't have time!
My body talks to me.
I know food is fuel and sleep is important and working out is good. But until now, I've never consistently done all three well at the same time. And once you do, it's like going from an economy car to a luxury ride - you can't quite describe it, but you can feel the difference.
For the first time in my life, I have experienced that "food is fuel." The day after my 17-mile hike through the Grand Canyon, I did what should have been a relatively easy hike at Spencer Trail Lookout. Halfway up the hill, I just ran out of gas. That's the only way to describe it. I was suddenly a little nauseous and just had no energy.
I couldn't explain it. I drank plenty of water the day before. I drank plenty of water that morning and during the hike. I later realized that I hadn't eaten enough calories the day before and was probably lower on electrolytes than I realized. Trust me, there are few times in my life I can say I didn't eat enough. :)
I learned to pay better attention to what I'm eating before, during, and after big hikes. I make sure I hydrate the day before and not just the day of. I eat what I crave because it's my body saying it needs it - apples, salads, burgers, and yes, microwave popcorn. (That's my answer to my body's request for carbs, haha.) I indulge in the occasional sweet treat, but try extra hard to say no to those subsequent cravings.
I have to say, my diet has been pretty calorie dense. I snack on nuts and raisins on the trails. Which means I snack on nuts and raisins at home. I eat cheese on my eggs and my salads. I eat a burger if I want a burger. Those are some high-fat, calorie rich foods I will need to limit (eliminate) when I go home.
One thing I haven't craved at all on this trip is alcohol. In fact, I haven't had a single drink since I left Virginia. It's not that I'm NOT drinking, I just honestly haven't thought about it. Maybe it's because I associate drinking with socializing and eating out? And I've done very little of either on this trip. Or maybe it's because I'm so tired at the end of each day that a drink sounds like the worst possible idea. Regardless of the reason, I don't miss alcohol at all.
And my SLEEP! I've been religious about staying on my east coast schedule. I try very hard to get 8 hours of sleep each night, no less than 7, sometimes way more. The night after I hiked the Grand Canyon, I slept for ELEVEN HOURS straight! If that wasn't my body telling me I was tired, I don't know what was. And I've never slept better than I have these last few months - it's been great!
I am at the point now where I can tell how hard I've been pushing myself. I recently did three big hikes with a lot of elevation gain in four days. The next day I couldn't even imagine going for a hike. So I didn't. (That's probably a day you saw a blast of blog updates finally getting published!) But other times, I can do a 3-mile no-joke climb without stopping - and I can usually trace that to a couple days of rest, eating well, getting good sleep, and being hydrated.
My body gives two thumbs up to no humidity!
Speaking of my body talking to me ... it LOVES the lack of humidity! From what I can tell, the humidity on this trip has ranged from 10% to 25% and everything about me is loving it.
I barely sweat while I'm hiking. Meanwhile, in Virginia, my clothes and even my hair are soaked after a workout. My hair is less frizzy than usual. In Virginia, I dry it and straighten it, then walk out the door and it frizzes right up. Here I just dry it and even without straightening it, it's less frizzy than on a humid day in Virginia. And because my hair doesn't get sweaty or frizzy, I hardly ever wash it! Dry shampoo has elevated itself to best friend status on this trip.
My body says "nah" to weight loss.
I've had a lot of friends ask whether I've lost weight on this trip. The honest answer is: I don't know. I haven't weighed myself in months ... well, except for the scales at Olympic Park where one scale said I lost 15 lbs (woot woot!) and another said I gained 5 lbs (womp womp).
My clothes all fit the same. No articles of clothing are at risk of falling off. So I must weigh about the same. But I can tell my legs are stronger. That's about it.
There is power in habit and routine.
I've been thinking a lot about the power of habit and routine. I certainly have a routine on this trip, but what I do during that routine is different every day. Even figuring out how I will make my morning coffee changes every 1 to 2 weeks.
I never realized how much time and mental energy routine saves you. You don't have to think about where to change your oil. You always stop at the same grocery store on your way home from work. Even IN the grocery store, you know where all your staples are located.
There is a great deal of benefit to habit and routine.
There is power in breaking habit and routine.
On the flip side, there is a TON to be said for disrupting your routine completely. It forces you to think about how you will spend your day. I very consciously decided in advance that I would get up at 5:00 am every day. That I would work smart to be done working each day by 5:00 eastern time.
I decided I would spend my free time hiking and exploring. I gave myself the benefit of a deadline in each location to incent me to do that, while at home it's easy to procrastinate because you can always do that hike another weekend.
I decided to give myself one night a week to catch up and rest. I would do easy hikes during the week and big hikes on the weekend. I would switch locations on Saturdays or Sundays to avoid disrupting my work day during the week.
I think a lot about how I can replicate this routine at home. Will my friends be game to meet for a walk or a hike or a run, instead of a drink or a calorie-expensive dinner? Will I continue to read as much as I have on this trip? Will I be disciplined enough to continue devoting time to the side projects I've been working on and thinking about on this trip?
I love the lifestyle change I've created here by majorly disrupting my routine and I keep thinking about how I will replicate it when I get back to Virginia.
Maybe I DO need a long commute?
Speaking of major changes to routine ... I haven't had to commute now for ten years. TEN YEARS! I've either walked one block to work or worked from home. For three of those years, I would drive to see clients in the DC area, but I would use that drive time to call friends and family or clients or my boss.
Now, I suddenly spend a TON of time in the car! As of 5/31, I've put nearly 8,000 miles on my car. Normally I would scoff at such a waste of time, but the benefit is that I've listened to five books in two months. I don't think I read that many books in the past two years! Now I can't wait to get in the car and drive.
I Am Constantly Fueling My Car
Speaking of all those miles ... up until now, I average 8,000 miles a year on my car back home and that car gets great mileage - 24 in town, 31 on the highway.
Now I'm driving this Highlander and filling the tank 2-3 times a week and it has already clocked nearly 8,000 miles in 11 weeks, so clearly someone is driving it around at night and NOT fueling it up. I have no idea what mileage this car is actually getting because I can't just be doing math all week.
Other fun fact: my car already needs an oil change because of all the miles I've put on it. My brother said, at this rate, I'll probably need new tires soon as well.
I may need to hire a housekeeper.
One great thing about staying in hotels and Airbnb's is that I don't have to clean anymore. No bathrooms. No floors. Definitely no windows. I know, some of you figured this out a long time ago and have had your own cleaners for years. But wow, it sure is nice! Not sure what will happen when I get back to Virginia and have to do this myself again.
Getting Mail is Difficult
When I order stuff online, I need to ensure I'm staying in that location long enough to take delivery of my package. I learned that FedEx and UPS deliver goods to the delivery address. But the USPS forwards that package to wherever the Airbnb owner gets his/her mail.
Because of this, you don't know when you order women's shorts from Target if they are being delivered to your Airbnb house via FedEx, or whether they are going via USPS to Jason in Las Vegas who owns the Airbnb property. Spoiler alert: they go to Jason.
Hotels have been great! They accept deliveries from FedEx, UPS, and USPS on your behalf and will even bring them to your room when you keep forgetting to stop by the front desk to pick them up. But knowing how long it will take a letter to arrive via USPS is always a gamble.
Airbnb properties under management, on the other hand, get 2 stars for customer service. I asked if Jason could forward my Target shorts to their office (I'm staying two weeks in a house that is managed by a company, and I assume the home owner has his mail forwarded) and they said no, suggesting that I instead get a PO box. Boo to them.
NOT Getting Mail is Difficult
Every time I login to my bank or my credit card or my insurance company, I am bombarded with "suggestions" to go paperless. I am asked to consider the environment. My cooperation is requested in keeping costs down. Please. Go. Paperless.
Now I can't figure out how to STOP getting paper! I updated nearly all my accounts to paperless before I left and yet my poor parents are still fielding mail for me almost every day from brokerage accounts, my car insurance company, my health insurance company, my bank. It's crazy!
Even when you change your settings, the company sends you a letter to tell you they won't send you a letter.
Do you see the irony here? Can't get mail on the road. Can't stop getting mail back home. And Jason in Nevada still has my shorts.
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