I'm baaaaaack!
I survived my two-week trip in a motorhome!
Two weeks, two time zones,eleven states and five thousand miles.
Wow.
It was an amazing trip, despite the whole "living-with-your-family-in-a-space-too-small-for-lab-rats" feeling I got every couple hundred miles. Actually, that's not being fair. The motorhome we rented had plenty of space, even if riding in it did feel, at times, like being on a plane in really bad turbulence. Did I mention two of the four of us experience motion sickness? And yet we escaped without any vomiting!
That's what makes a good trip, y'all.
No car sickness.
I had thought, though, that I'd have some time to either read or get some major editing done on a project I've been working on for awhile. It's a science fiction trilogy, futuristic, and yep, takes place across most of the states we drove through. So this was a research trip, NOT just a vacation. I took notes, and lots of pictures so my story could be accurate, even though I didn't get much time to actually write or even read (remember, turbulence and motion sickness!)
And I came away with a spanking new batch of ideas that are busy brewing in my head right now.
One of them came from this place:
Have you ever gone to a mystery spot or area?
Let me tell you, it's a strange, strange feeling. Yes, I *know* it's probably an optical illusion based on gravity and incline and blah blah blah. Let me have my sense of wonder, will ya? Like Mulder, I WANT TO BELIEVE!
And let me tell you, when you step into the cabin supposedly discovered by two college boys in 1956 (this is from the Cosmos Mystery Area in South Dakota) you FEEL it. It doesn't matter if it's just your eyes and your equilibrium fighting a battle. You feel it. You're off-kilter. It's hard to walk.
'member that motion sickness I mentioned?
Fortunately, I didn't get sick, but I did drop my purse and money flew out! THAT was the mystery, we joked - all your money flew down the hill. But the other tricks were pretty cool. People walking and standing on a tilt, changing heights, balancing when you're sure they'll fall.
Sort of reminds me of writing a book. You stand on a tilt, go up and down when you least expect it and you're sure you'll fall, but you don't. Or mostly don't.
So that was just one place we went on our trip and I came away with a full-blown novel out of it. I'm hoping I can write it, hoping it will work for one of my already contracted books, and hoping even more I can write the thing without losing the sense of mystery I felt when I went inside that cabin.
And now my kids went back to school and that man I live with is back to work...so *I* get to stay home all day ALOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY FOR ME!
:)
M
How Cool!
We've talked about doing a long RV trip many times and haven't done it yet. I think it's cool that you did! And survived without ending up like Robin Williams in that movie ;-) Glad to see you are back and in your house A-L-O-N-E again. I TOTALLY LOVE those back to school days ;-)
Shirley
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Available Now: BOARDROOM BRIDE AND GROOM, Harlequin Romance
A little magic brought them together once...or was it all an illusion?
Still in stores: REALLY SOMETHING
www.shirleyjump.com
Hi, Shirley! I did survive.
Hi, Shirley! I did survive. :) Ours wasn't as schwanky as the Big Rolling Turd, but we did have a laugh at that movie when we watched it!
M
Yay for you!
Megan, welcome back, and congrats on the free days! Love it that you are stretching into new territory both with writing and geography -- I think that always pays off, in one way or another.
Funny on the tilty house... I feel like that some days just walking flat... I don't think I have ever been to a mystery spot...
Yay for me, too, I love this vacation schedule, and may try to drag it out as long as possible, but I'm not in an RV, just here at home, and enjoying it. I don't know if I could do the RV thing... alone with Mike, yes, but in a small space with family for that long, probably not. The idea makes my shoulders cringe a little... LOL
Back to it,
Sam
Hey, Sam. I thought the same
Hey, Sam. I thought the same thing, but it was okay. Not that we didn't have our moments, mostly with me yelling "STOP BICKERING" but overall, it was a great trip. Saw a LOT of country, took great notes for my books and had a good time too.
M
WOW!
That sounds amazing, Megan, the trip and the places you saw, but especially the no motion sickness! Truly?? Could you read, and everything? (That's what I'd love to be able to do in a car again--my kids still do, and I envy them, but these days, I seem to get motion-sick on a swing!)
Welcome back, and glad you're enjoying a bit of alone time now! ;)
Hey, fedora, no, I couldn't
Hey, fedora, no, I couldn't read or write or do anything but look out the windows. The kids watched movies on their dvd players, mostly. I did come close to full-blown motion sickness a couple times, because I was up and about in the back of the RV while moving, and once was so bad my husband had to pull over and put some acupuncture needles in me.
I don't usually get car sick unless I try to read and NEVER so bad I feel like I'm going to puke or pass out, but man oh man. This time...he said he was scared I was going to pass out, I'd gone so pale.
Those damn windy Colorado roads!
M
LOL
Yes, I've done something similar. The summer I was 8 my parents drove us across Canada and back, except we didn't have a motorhome. We rode in the CAR with a pop-up camper behind, and my parents confiscated my knitting needles somewhere around Newfoundland (we lived in Nova Scotia, so this was maybe 200 miles into the 3000+ mile trip) because I kept jabbing my sisters. 3 kids under age 8, small car, pop-up camper with the oddest little plastic potty thing for nighttime, 2 months of driving.
More recently, my husband and I both worked as consultants, but rather than flying in and out of a location each week we stayed in hotels with kitchenettes and lived where we worked - a year in Boston and a year in San Francisco. We worked 4 10 hour days and traveled on our long weekends. We had one major fight in 2 years of living in about 300 square feet of space. An apartment in Manhattan seemed HUGE after 2 years in an Extended Stay America!
I'm just back from va-ca myself and so thrilled to be alone again. Anti-social, yes, but I am who I am!
Welcome back!
Margaret
haha, we considered doing it
haha, we considered doing it in a car but I was all "NO F-ing WAY." Someone would have been seriously hurt, and not me. LOL
One fight in all that time? You rock! I was ready to put a hurt on my husband more than once in the two weeks we were gone.
M
House of Mystery
Welcome back, Megan!
I went to one of these in Gold Hill, Oregon one time. It was out in the middle of nowhere and I did believe. It's been written up and you might enjoy reading about it. I hope this works: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/SCIspots.html
I've mentioned it to my husband several times and he just scoffs. Whenever something goes missing, he always tells me it must be in the vortex. Jerk!
ani
Ani, I believe too! You can
Ani, I believe too! You can just feel something weird. I dunno if it's a vortex, but it's certainly something interesting. The next thing I want to do is visit a gravity hill, you know, where your car goes up backwards without being driven?
And then there's the ringing rocks park here in PA, got to hit that...
M
Welcome Back!
Glad you survived your trip and came back inspired! I've always wanted to visit the National Parks in an RV. I thought we could fly out to Utah or Colorado and rent an RV and spend 2-3 weeks visiting the parks. This one website had a beautiful photo of an all-American family with mom, dad, kids and their pooch, but when I called for more info, they told me dogs aren't allowed!! False advertising, I say! I really wanted to bring our dog since he's a great travel companion and loves hiking.
I had never before heard of mystery areas, and am totally intrigued, although I believe the only real Black Hole or vortex exists right in my house, LOL.
haha, Karen...I have a
haha, Karen...I have a vortex in my house that makes it impossible for anyone who lives here besides me to find anything.
M
Me, too.
Why is it I'm the only person in this house who knows where the keys/glasses/badge/Lightning McQueen WITHOUT the tongue hanging out/stuffed Steggie is? Although at the moment I can't find my kitchen scissors. It's official. I've turned into my mother. Nothing sent her over the edge like not finding the kitchen scissors in the butcher block.
Margaret, that is so funny,
Margaret, that is so funny, because I am constantly hunting for my kitchen shears! I almost always find them in the family room, where the kids do their craft projects (forget about the craft bins with the dozen or more pairs of scissors) or in the basement, where DH does his projects, LOL.
I just used mine and I bet
I just used mine and I bet my son didn't put them back. I'd better go check.
M
sometimes I go ballistic
sometimes I go ballistic even as I know it's stupid, but goshdarn, it, leave my stuff alone! When I can't find something that's mine because it's been taken away and used and not put back...GAHHHH!
m