It's a very common question. My "Where to start?" centers around a desire to travel seeing America in my own way.
What is my own way? It's with my husband, Dallas and my daughter, Ainsley. I want to see the unusual, the odd and the off the beaten path. I want to see the festivals, the historic, the place that are important, fun and wonderful, but may be unknown out of the area, or even in the area.
When Ainsley was born in January of 2015, Dallas and I started thinking about life differently. I am sure this is the case for lots of first time parents. But, being older in life parents, and having already been married for 10 years, we didn't think that parenthood was something that we would ever get to experience. And, we set our life up as such. Ainsley is a blessing; I am thankful for her everyday, but she was a surprise and unexpected.
Dallas and I have always enjoyed travelling, whether is was a last minute trip out of town, a day trip or an epic 2 weeks across the country road trip. But, we always seemed to hit the well-known tourist locations. It was not until a trip from Texas, where we live, to Ohio and Michigan to see our families that inspiration struck.
We have lived in Texas for 8 years, and neither of us is a huge fan of flying. There are lots of reasons, but the main one for me, is that there are so many other stressed out people at the airport that it is not an enjoyable day for me. So, once a year, we make the 16 hour trek in the car to Michigan to see Dallas's family and then to Ohio to see my dad and friends. There are only so many ways to make this trip fast--lots of highways heading North. But, it drones on as we where always focused on the destination, and not what we were passing.
Well, when it came time to make our annual pilgrimage, we again started heading the same way. We decided to head to Ohio first this time, so the route through Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, and Cincinnati was chosen. We headed out with our 9 month old in tow.
If you have traveled with an infant two thing became apparent. 1- Baby travel requires a lot of baggage. From the pack 'n play to the highchair to the clothes, food, diapers, medicines, creams, bibs, and so on. 2- There is no getting anywhere fast.
Somewhere around Memphis, we noticed that our normal 16 hour trek was turning into a much longer one. We faced two choices based on the above baby traveling truths. 1- We could get irritated, frustrated, fussy and maybe break some speed laws. Or, 2- Go with it. If we weren't going to get there quick, we might as well stop where we wanted, not just were we needed to for diaper changes and feeding.
We decided to obey the speed laws, and change how we traveled. We got off the highway and got on the secondary highways offering a side we had never seen on this trip many times made.
After an interesting trip. I knew this is the America I want to show Ainsley. So, where do I start to make that happen? Please follow our story as we try to leave behind the everyday and hit the road.
