Give your head a shake, Diane.

Seriously. I was doing some sorting of things for my kitchen box and the first aid box and that led to errands to pick some stuff up and that led to washing out a duffle bag and then that led to packing the duffle bag. In other words, I was deep in trip mindset and tasks. Then I went out for dinner with a friend. There was a lovely patio outside at the restaurant and we were offered a spot there. My immediate reaction? Nah, I don't really like eating outside...

What is wrong with me? I am leaving in a few weeks to BASICALLY LIVE OUTSIDE for TWO MONTHS. This has happened before. Most of you know that originally I was supposed to be in Spain this summer, walking across the country, but an unexpected health issue ruled that out for me. The point is, back when I was planning to WALK ACROSS A COUNTRY, I was also complaining one day about having to park a whole extra row away from the entrance of the mall.  Oy.

Why do I do this to myself? I come up with these crazy ideas and they always sound so exciting and adventurous and I get all immersed in planning and the details and it's like I forget who I am! And do you know what I tell myself? Eating outside on the trip is different. Well ya, it's different all right. Here it is civilized with a table and chairs and service and plates and food that is complex and yummy. On the trip it is likely one pot something or other, eaten out of said pot with whatever utensil I made it with because, hello! I have to conserve my water so I can't just be washing all the dishes. Oh and did I mention bears? Or bugs? Or weather? Or forest fires?

Take a breath everyone - it's going to be ok. (At least that's what I keep telling myself.) One time I'm going to plan a grand adventure that takes place in 5 star hotels with a concierge service.

Before I sign off, someone asked me the WHY question about my car conversion the other day. They wanted to know how it all came to be. It's not a very exciting story really. I am heading north and I will be in bear country (grizzly and black) for a lot of my trip. I was doing some reading and one of the things I came across was that if you are traveling solo and in a tent there will likely be places that the officials will move you on from for safety reasons (ie not getting eaten by a bear). Well that led me down a road about how to best sleep in my car if necessary. That led me to YouTube and believe it or not, there are quite a few videos out there from people who have converted their cars in to little campers. Most of them are homeless, but I digress. (Funny story... when I showed son1 pictures of my car while we were working on it and had finished the framing, he said "wow. Were you going for the homeless look? Because you nailed it.") Anyways, after watching a few different videos, I came up with my ideas and took them to my friend Andrew and between the two of us, we came up with what we have done to my car. At first I was thinking of my car as kind of like a shark cage (you know, when they put you in the cage and drop you in the sea so you can be near the sharks, but the sharks can't eat you?), but after all the videos people have sent to me of bears breaking in to cars, now I'm thinking of it more like a bear kitchen... Again, everyone take a breath - it's all going to be ok.

Tomorrow I go to bear school part 2 (or how to try to not die if a bear is actually wanting to eat you - as I like to call it).