Trip day 1:
The day we left.
Chaotic, emotional, and BUSY.
About a week before our designated departure date for Moab, Seth had “moved in” to my beloved Zuma house to save some moolah (a last minute decision to help our budgeting.)
I have to let you guys in on some extra background info;
Zuma house was, and is, a place where I had finally felt apart of a ‘real’ family. That’s not to say that I had a neglective immediate family, or that we have issues, I love them unconditionally! I won’t bore you with the idiotic details as to how I coincidently managed to squeeze my tiny self into the welcoming log cabin, I’ll merely leave it to remaining positive during a rough summer.
I often look back on some shared words from a former manager in Colorado from that same summer, prior to moving into Zuma house;
“You know you’re headed in the right direction when you give to the world, and at the same time, it gives right back.”
That for me was a game changer for my mindset.
Even in what felt my most sensitive, chaotic, ‘lost for all hope’ moments- it’s was about trying not to give into the taunting misery and the unbearable outcomes. It was making oneself feel the wrath of the inevitable, and survive the daily negatives, where one would ultimately appreciate life on a higher degree. However, that’s only because I promised myself to KEEP PROGRESSING! From experience, growth is not easy, it’s not subtle, and it’s hardly ever glamorous. Nevertheless, once I moved into Zuma house, life started to make a little more sense again.
It was a pulsing source of positivity in my small world.
The development of what I’ve now accomplished, was due because I made myself withstand the fiery flames of negativity.
Moving onward……
April 18th, waking at the crack of dawn, we frantically packed all of our belongings into a sick amount of clear bins, garbage bags, and cardboard boxes. There were many tears, with an abundance of analyzing what would go where… also coffee. Pots and pots of coffee.
Preparing for Moab alone would have been a simpler task; pack for all kinds of weather, bring plenty of sunscreen, ankle-rolling proof hiking boots, food/water, your tent/sleeping pad/pillow, and you’re well on your way! We obviously needed all of those things, but we also had to be prepared to live on the road, out of a tent or the car, no matter the circumstances. Let me try to explain this a bit.
Living out of our badass tent, or the vibe, for what we imagined would be at least two or three weeks, gave us an extraordinary challenge. It helped us understand our limits; how long we could go without showering, what worked best for keeping hair “presentable” for 5-7 days, how many times we could destroy a shirt with sweat before doing laundry, how we could make groceries last at least a week and a half, ect!
However- none of that had come to us at this point yet. We were on #tripday one- the first of many travel days, packing the car efficiently days, and filling up with fuel days. Although we knew we’d be trying to make time stretch with our supplies beforehand, we also understood we wouldn’t completely understand it, until we were living within the madness. With that said, we embraced research with a familiar hug and planned off of what we already knew.
Now, I’ll give you guys a good run-down of how that hectic morning continued.
I have to say, it was a pathetic struggle leaving Zuma house.
Okay, okay, so it was me, I had the pathetic struggle of leaving Zuma.
What can I say! I resented packing away my belongings until the final second. And my dear… WHAT A BAD DECISION.
Although I’ve previously undergone this same issue, my explanation is the same; I become “too attached”. What can I say? I can’t blame myself for being too sentimental- I’m a 20yr old women gosh darnit! My heart is full of happiness and out of control emotions. It’s a total love-hate kinda quirk I possess, whether I (or Seth) enjoy it much or not, but hey- that’s how I keep life interesting, hehe.
Leaving us with no time to spare, this was our morning:
7:00 am - ate a hearty breakfast (like the ones I post on my instagram & snapchat stories! Which you can follow at the bottom of this page :) )
8:00 - packing
8:15 - played with the puppies
8:45 - Seth told me to get back to packing
9:30 - went between packing & laying on the floor, utterly distraught
9:31 - Seth gave me the death look
9:32 - went downstairs to inhale another pot of coffee
10:00 - suppose to be nearly done packing, we were.. ¼ of the way there
11:00 Seth had gone full-bore (wasn’t so thrilled about dragging everything under the house for us… THANK YOU LOVE)
11:15 - still packing
11:30 - Seth pacing outside, packing the car, unable to withstand my sloth-like movements
11:45 - ¾ packed up
11:46 - played with the puppies
11:47 - another death glare (he seemed to show up right as I took another break….hmm)
12:00 - PACKED! Victory high fives
12:03 - I speedily wrote letters to the boys, and said my last “see ya laters” to the lovely puppies
12:32 - The Vibe was loaded roof-box down, Zenna in her place, a few tears rolling down my cheeks, yet filled to the brim with nothing but pure appreciation and caffeine.
12:35 - Goodbye, my Zuma house.
And that was the beginning of our first summer together.