When someone asks us how things are “really” going, I find it hard to say for sure. 
The kids seem to be rolling with the transitions from place to place pretty well. We encounter the occasional meltdown over fish sticks, wasted water (some of us are becoming very Eco-conscious), or the lack of elephants at a zoo, but overall, I have been genuinely surprised and buoyed by our children’s ability to travel well and with enthusiasm over such a sustained period of time. 
Staying with friends as well as in hotels has meant that the kids have learned what being grateful really feels like. They’ve also learned more about hospitality, how to be the graceful recipients of surprising gifts, good (and bad) manners, hang man, word find, hidden pictures, road food, appropriate behavior at restaurants and other essential skills, than we ever could have taught them at home. 


Traveling has made them more flexible and has stretched Andrew and me, as parents, too. 

It’s made us realize that we were holding on to some things too tightly and others, maybe, not tightly enough. It’s given us the enviable position of watching our young children discover, for the first time, the world beyond their windows. In the process, we get to answer their questions, direct their steps, and take a few new ones of our own. 

As we’ve found ourselves in the midst of our country’s most majestic landscapes, we’ve been given perspective on America’s uniqueness and all its natural splendor. 

Despite the ugly election cycle we are in right now, I’ve never been prouder of the place we call home. I’ve also never felt more grateful for the people in the past who worked against the odds to maintain our national character and protect its natural resources. 

That said, after driving almost 4,000 miles, there are a few things from home we really miss, especially friends, personal space and separate bedrooms. It is hard to live without a routine for such an extended period of time, if you like routine, and at the same time, you feel bad for wishing for routine when you’re in the middle of some beautiful new place, where there is so much to discover and explore.  

We try to seize each day, but sometimes we’re too tired, or one or more of the kids has had enough, or we have to do laundry, or get the oil changed – and we are learning that that’s ok, too. 

When we were in Portland, I made a point to exercise every day. In Nashville, I go to this awesome little studio called Barre3. The workouts are great, but honestly it is the community and its holistic philosophy that I love the most. Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten kind of addicted to it, averaging at least three classes a week. 

Barre3 started in Portland and has a number of studios there, one of which was just a ten minute walk from where we were staying. It was so refreshing for me to get up before anyone else and walk to something that is such a core part of my routine at home. 

The exercise grounds me, helps me remember my strengths and power through my weaknesses, but it also connects me to the person I am and strive to be when we are not on the road. 

We’ve all needed touchstones like that. 

Andrew disappears for a couple of hours every now and then to explore a city on his own or go for a run. 

The kids build forts and tell each other stories. Their imaginations ran especially wild in Portland, where we gave them plenty of downtime, and different aspects of this trip played in to all their narratives. 

Sometimes, I stay up late and listen to everyone else sleep, because I am an introvert in the truest sense, and there’s not much space or alone time available on the road. 

I suspect that when we return to Nashville, we will identify different aspects of this trip as touchstones, too, albeit in a different sense. 

It’s so easy to feel “stuck” in the day-to-day, but visiting these diverse cities and parks has embedded in each of us the notion that nothing need be fixed in a world as wide as ours. 

And while we still have about 3,000 miles left on this journey, we may have already discovered one of its greatest gifts: the freedom to believe that life can have a flip-side, that we are not just nails, hammered fast and made to stay fixed in one place, habit or mentality. 

Don’t worry, Nashville, we’re not planning any big moves once we get back from this trip. I’m just saying that this crazy thing we are doing has made us believe again in adventure, in the wideness of the world. And that may be the most powerful touchstone of all.