It’s our fourth day in Flagstaff, and here’s the current view from the bedroom window:
It’s pouring, sometimes so hard that the rain sends pinecones toppling onto our roof. The Weather Channel indicates that it’ll be like this on and off for the next 24 hours.
So we’re going to lay low: get our homeschooling assignments done (Sam’s got reading, math, and grammar on the docket), read, update the blogs, pay bills slash adult, maybe bake some fall treats in the toaster oven, maybe head over to the camp playground later if we get a break in the weather. Downshifting for a day sounds refreshing to me. We’ve been on the go lately, and I’m feeling a bit exhausted. On Saturday I ran 16 miles, followed by a family field trip to the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque. Sunday was the six-hour journey to Flagstaff. On Monday, we spent the entire day at the Grand Canyon, and yesterday, both Trent and I and our unacclimatized lungs went adventuring on the Fatmans Loop Trail.
Seasoned full-time RVers are always trying to warn the newbies: Slow down. You’re in absolutely no rush. Don’t exhaust yourself. This isn’t a monthlong vacation. You have all the time in the world to do all the stuff you want to do. If you don’t see everything you want to see at a particular location, you can always come back. If you push yourself too hard, you’ll burn out before a year is up.
I am not good about following this advice. I’m afflicted with what I’ve diagnosed as Traveler’s FOMO: Traveler’s Fear Of Missing Out. When I’m in a new place, I have a deep-seated need to see and do it all so that I can really know the place I’m in. It’s a well-meaning obsessiveness.
But I remind myself that’s just mental self-trickery. Nobody is grading us on How Many Things We Checked Off Our List While Living In Our RV. Nobody is docking points for staying in.
A rest day it is, then. Biscuit, for one, seems fine with this plan:
Whether you live in an RV or not, what are your favorite rainy day activities? How do you force yourself to slow down?
PlantBased RunnerGirl 