Guess what... we’re actually doing it. We’re on a year-long adventure, and I still kinda can’t believe it! For basically my whole life, my mom has been talking about “The Trip.” You know, with capital letters and everything. She’d say stuff like, “One day, we’re going to hit the road for a whole year!” And I’d just be like, “Okay, Mom…” I didn’t think it would ever really happen. I mean, adults say all kinds of things and then nothing actually changes.
But you don’t know my mom (actually you probably do)! The next thing I knew, we got this giant truck. Like, huge. I thought that was pretty weird. Who just randomly buys a truck that big? Next came the travel trailer, and that’s when I started thinking, “Hmmm… maybe this really is actually happening?”
Then someone came to our house with a super fancy camera and started taking professional photos of all our rooms. That’s when Mom explained we were renting our house out while we were gone. I remember standing in the kitchen thinking, “Whoa. This is serious.”
But even with all that, it didn’t totally feel real. Not until the day we left the Charlottesville KOA. I was hugging my besties goodbye, and I was trying not to cry, and we were climbing into the truck, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. We were really leaving. Like, for a whole year.
Now that we’re on the road, it actually feels kind of… normal? But also weird? Every now and then, I get this tingly feeling inside, like butterflies and excitement and a little bit of nervous all mixed together. That’s when I remember, this is it. This is “The Trip.”
And even though I still miss my friends (like a lot), I’m also super excited to see what’s next.