He was middle-aged and had this Indiana Jones like hat and he was very very tan with a mustache and a beard. He was wearing hiking boots and a fleece sweater, and his eyes were strikingly blue. I also noticed that he was missing a finger on one of his hands. This guy seemed like he was right off the pages of a book on exploring. He could have been an extra in “3:10 to Yuma”.

Anyhoo, we got off at our stop and I never even glanced back at the stranger. Once we got on the trail, CM jumped and made a little noise. I realized that he was standing 3 feet away from a deer! We all scrambled to get our cameras out. I got one shot of him and I think CM got some video. The kids were so giddy.

We knew this was the start to a great hike. (Mind you, we didn’t know at that time that we would be out there for 4 hours.) About 10 minutes later we turned a curve and we saw the guy from the bus. He was sitting down in the forest eating something. To my horror, Widget asked him what he was eating. He said he was picking huckleberries and eating them.

Huckleberries. I don’t know about you, but I have never eaten anything that just happened to be growing along side of a trail. I didn’t know what to say when he offered Widget a handful, but I decided to throw caution to the wind. This guy looked like he’d done this before and if he said they were okay to eat, he was probably right. (I mean, I know that huckleberries are edible, but my concern was that he had misidentified the plant.)

So I totally broke Rule #1 in my “Parental Playbook” — Don’t take food from strangers! This entire experience, from the day that I listed all of our stuff for sale on Craigslist, has really changed the way I view strangers. I have met so many new and interesting people. People that I would have never met had I would have stayed in that little box of an apartment. I walked through a forest and I stopped every now and then to eat friggin wild huckleberries! Yeah, “Old KJ” would have been terrified at the idea and that makes me happy and let’s me know that all of this was worth it.

After we left Glacier Park, disaster struck. I’ll tell you about it next time.

Luckily, I have until tomorrow to figure it out.

Diesel is a good example because everyone talks about how diesel is so expensive compared to gas. For me, it is very different. Coming from NYC I am used to paying $4.30 for cheap gas; so to pay $4.70 for diesel (which has been the average down south) is not that bad considering the added fuel economy. Our RV gets 17mpg compared to the 8mpg RVs with regular gas. The only reason I don’t feel it is because of what I am used to.

Bugs are another good example. I never realized how loud they are. Rats, roaches, and ants (which are common to New York) don’t make much noise. Down here there are bugs at night that are really loud. I am not sure if it is locust, crickets, or some unknown, but they are loud. There is plenty of noise in the city, from trains, cars, and pedestrians, but I am used to all that and I don’t pay them much attention. Loud bugs I am not so used to and I notice them much more than I probably should. I am sure over time I will get used to them as well.

So what does this mean to me? Well I wonder how many things I or other people put up with just because they are used to it; some good, some bad. There are so many paths that could be taken in life. How many are taken not because of free will, but are taken because of complacency, or just being used to it?

On a lighter note, all is great and we leave the grandparents tomorrow on our world wind adventure tour. No real plans on where we are stopping first, but I am very excited and can’t wait. I hope this is a great experience for us and our children.

Tomorrow after getting the van an oil change and an inspection, we will be heading off to a campground in New Jersey. We’re hanging out there until the 4th. On the 5th we’re meeting my best friend at Sesame place in Pennsylvania for her son’s birthday party.

The adventure begins!!!! I’m sooooo excited!!!!

I will post again, soon!!!!

I’ve decided to get rid of some of them today. But then I wonder, how many pairs of socks does a person need? Just 7 so they can change them every day? Or should I pack 9 pair to get me through the laundry days? What about sock lengths? Should I get rid of all my ankle socks? Toss the knee-highs?

I know, these are highly intellectual questions I’m asking folks, but these things must be considered. Everything takes up space and with so little space I have to put this much thought into every little thing I decide to keep. This is usually not a concern in a house/apartment.

I was going through my jackets and I realized that I have 9 of them! But they all serve different purposes. I have a heavy winter coat, medium-weight trench coat, a rain coat, a windbreaker, a lightweight jacket, and the list goes on.

CM said that when he was homeless he only had one jacket. That makes me feel a little embarrassed. I take so much for granted. I have way more than I need.

Are there any little things that you have way more of than you need?

You know what little things you can’t have too many of? Q-tips. I buy them in packs of 500 and it burns CM up every time….

I will try to post again this evening. Walking away from everything is not as easy as it sounds…..

Today as I was going through my books — yes, more books — I realized why I do this. Furthermore, I think I might even be a hypocrite.

Some time last week, I wrote a post about conspicuous consumption. I blasted people who bought their Viking ovens, but didn’t use them. Tonight I realized for the first time that I do the exact same thing I’m just at a much lower price point.

I buy sewing stuff because I wish so badly that I enjoyed sewing. The reality of the situation is that I don’t enjoy it because I lack attention to detail. About 10 minutes into it I get frustrated which turns into boredom. However, I keep telling myself that if I just sew more eventually I will grow to love it.

So now I have 2 sewing machines, 4 bins of fabric, 1 bin of zippers and thread, 40 sewing patterns, and 10 yards of red fleece that I just had to have because it was on sale for $20. What makes everything worse is that I still want to hold on to this stuff, but there’s no room in the RV for it all. There’s no way!

The same goes for my books. I buy books not because I plan on reading them that day, or that week, or even that month. I just buy them because I plan on reading them eventually. CM doesn’t get it. He gets frustrated because to him it’s all just a bunch of stuff I don’t use or read. But I look at that sewing machine every day. I look over the titles of all of my books and think about reading them every day.

This stuff is a part of me. Well, it’s a part of who I want to be. The truth is, I’m a freak for computers and everything computer-related, but I don’t want to be. When I’m facing my computer, I’m facing away from my family. I don’t want to be that person.

That’s why it’s so hard for me to part with my books and my sewing equipment and so much other stuff.

Hollywood has made me afraid to visit new places. I’m tired of it and something has got to change.

Now that I think about it, it’s not just small towns, I am generally afraid of the unknown. I think I have Yahoo News and Hollywood to thank for that. And yes, I realize this is not a good quality to have if one is about to embark on a life of traveling, but how will our multicultural family be received? Am I being ridiculous?

I expect for our family to learn some hard lessons on this trip. But I thought the lessons would be about learning to tell the difference between needs and wants, how to conserve, and how to respect others’ from different cultures.

I don’t know if I’m prepared to explain racism, abuse of authority, or other topics like that.

Help me out on this, am I totally out of line here? What do you think about small town America? For our readers who consider themselves to be from small town America, what do you think about big cities? Do you think Hollywood makes you afraid of places like NYC?

Sally, one of the characters said something like, “People used to drive these roads to have a good time, not to make good time.” Honestly, that stuck with me. I want to take a slow ride across the country. I want the whole family to see the sights. Furthermore, I want us to stop at little restaurants that aren’t part of national chains.

Recently, I’ve been thinking that if we see a field of flowers like the ones I’ve seen in the movies, we’re going to pullover and lay in it. I’ve never done that before.

When we reach California, we’re going to fly to Hawaii to see a volcano. It seems like a great symbol of our journey. These feelings of dissatisfaction with the status quo have finally bubbled up to the service and now we are creating a new life. Just like the lava bubbles up creates new islands in the Pacific.