They say a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. In our case it began with a single comment one Friday morning when my husband said, “we keep looking at houses in Duncan, Oklahoma. We should go check out the city and see if we’d want to live there.”
So that’s what we did. Planned, packed and headed out less than 3 days later! Crazy? A little. But sometimes you’ve just got to do something a little – well, crazy! For your sanity, as contradictory as that might sound.
It happened to be the perfect time. We had a break, no appointments or commitments for a couple weeks, and – most importantly – the urge to go.
So I put together a trip in record time. Speed of light fast! I generally like to have weeks or even longer, to plan trips. I mull over the selection of destinations, and lodging for days. Once the location is set, I start planning the actual trip – where to eat, places to see, what to pack. I happily make and revise lists of what to pack and things to do, to prepare. For me, that’s one of the fun parts of every trip – the careful planning.
In this case, I had less than 48 hours, since we made our decision late Friday morning, and planned to leave Sunday morning. 48 hours! Could I do it? I was sure going to try! I plotted out the miles between home and Duncan, Oklahoma; 936 miles one way. I wanted to be sure we weren’t trying to drive too far each day, since my husband does the driving and neither one of us enjoys being in the car for long periods of time. I determined that we would need 3 days on the road, arriving at our destination on the 3rd day.
I planned shorter drives for the first and last days. I figured, the first day, we would be tired from getting everything packed in the car and also know that we never get going as early as we plan. So I wanted an easy 1st day. The second day was the longest, since we were packed and just needed to head out from wherever we spent the first night. The third day was also short, since we would need to have time and energy to unpack and get settled at the Air BnB I would book for the few days we’d spend in Duncan.
I booked hotels for the first two nights, and arranged a few nights at the Air BnB. I would arrange lodging for the trip home once we were settled in the home in Duncan. So where to stay and how long it would take to get there was all arranged. That was the first and most important step.
Next, I figured out what to pack. Fortunately, I have a master list I keep on file for trips. It includes things like clothes, electronics, medications and toiletries that we use daily and want to have on every trip. I keep a toiletries bag in the closet, stocked with basics like toothbrushes and travel size toiletries. And I keep a first aid kit for us and the dog. So packing those just required checking the contents.
I plugged in battery chargers and we packed up camera bags and computer cases. I made sure we had fresh laundry to choose from and gave my husband a list of clothing items to pack. I also made a travel folder with some things I printed out – hotel confirmations and basic directions for the route. The directions came in handy when we hit a dead spot and weren’t able to rely on our cell phones for navigation.
We headed out Sunday, on our “journey of 1,000 miles” with a giddy sense of adventure. Did we forget some things we needed? Of course. But nothing we couldn’t do without. And we also packed things we didn’t need. But I think that happens on every trip we take, no matter how long I’ve had to plan. The main question is – did we have fun? And the answer to that would be a resounding “Yes!” we thoroughly enjoyed the journey and our time spent exploring Duncan. As for our crazy decision – “hey-let’s-drive-1,000-miles-just-for-fun”? I’d do it again in a heartbeat! Sometimes, you’ve just Got to do something different – and impetuous – if you want “New Treks.”