It was a little after 5:00pm when we drove off into the sunset. It was the start of our car camping journey and we had zero ideas of what to expect.
Would we love it?
Would we hate it?
Would we come back traumatized after only a day or would we fall head over heels and be on the road for years?
Everything was open-ended and unplanned. We had no idea where we would be parking, showering, or traveling next.
It was our first real adventure together and we could. not. wait.
The day started off smooth with just the right dose of hectic. I mean, we were packing up our entire lives into a midsize SUV and venturing off into the unknown.
Aside from some googling sessions and scanning several Pinterest posts, we didn’t know much of what to expect. All we knew was that we were excited. And, a little nervous.
Who really likes packing?
I’ve never been a light packer. I could manage to turn any overnight trip into a trunk load of stuff with little to no effort.
I could say it’s because I’m super organized, compulsive and absolutely need my ten pre-arranged outfits that I’ve already picked out with all matching ten pairs of shoes.
But actually, it’s just because I’m really lazy.
And, a champion level procrastinator.
I hated packing.
So, when it was time to take off for a trip, I would just throw everything I could think of into some embarrassing version of luggage and be on my way.
Well, now I had to do that for an uncertain amount of time, for any season, and for any occasion.
Let me tell you, it was tough.
Boris is a lot simpler than me.
When we first started moving towards a minimalistic lifestyle, the transition was far easier for him. I’ve never been materialistic, but my need to prepare for the worst case scenario and sentimentality led me to collect a lot of crap.
Now, it was time to come to terms with my issues.
It was the true test.
“Are we seriously taking all of this crap?!”
This time around, Boris was definitely not amused with my little packing ritual.
He took a look at our fully stuffed car and gave a hard sigh.
“How are we ever going to move everything to sleep?”
“There’s no way I’ll be able to see while driving. This is insane.”
In retrospect, he was completely right. It was insanity.
We ended up using not even 80% of what we hauled and could’ve gotten by with even less.
But, hey packing wasn’t my strong suit.
We all have our things.