My 12-year-old daughter, Jaelyn (aka: JaeRae), and I hit the road after Thanksgiving 2020 to live the RV life for the first time as a traveling yogi and road-school student.
We knew going into it that it wouldn't be easy; I mean, we had never even camped in an RV before!
We knew there would be many bumps in the road. There's actually a constant level of excitement in not knowing what those bumps will be like each day; we find it adds to the thrill of the journey!
But let me tell you, as a yoga teacher and life coach, living on the road has become my own living teacher of mindfulness and maintaining inner peace.
And like the teacher I am, I'm here to share with you what we learn along the way.
The major theme of our travels so far is that every bump in the road is worth the journey. 💙
Though I might not agree with this statement in the moment of hitting a bump in the road, I certainly do by the time we pull into our next campsite.
Yesterday's experience was a prime example.
After a rough day, we arrived late to this campsite view and I felt the Universe tell me, "This is what you're doing this for!"
Leading up to this serene moment was not so blissful though... and will certainly be a day we won't forget!
Hours before my Divine experience with the sunset, I was actually near tears of frustration. I felt ready to jump out of my skin in impatience as we waited for the right oil to be delivered (twice!) to complete an oil change on our motorhome...
3 hours later, my inner yogi stepped aside as I practically chewed apart the staff for wasting my time and delaying my ambitious plans to drive another 200 miles after!
Oh, the lessons of an RV rookie...
(Note to self: DON'T plan travel on maintenance days!)
Finally back on the road, I felt relief and a surge of ambition to make the drive before sunset...
..until I remembered I also had to get out of Houston's wild maze of freeways and traffic before I could enjoy a relaxing drive on cruise control.
Now... who else has driven through Houston?? In an RV?!?!
HOLY BUCKETS!
With intent to stay safely in the "slower" far right lane, I quickly learned I couldn't stay there more than 60s before 2 more lanes merged to put me in the center of 6 or 7 total lanes. Cars, trucks, and semis were FLYING and weaving around me like nobody's business!
Auto activate inner yogi: Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
(Thank God my practice has finally established this automatic stress reaction!)
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." I literally sang to myself.
(and yes, Dory is one of my inner yogi voices!)
So I'm breathing, I'm swimming, I'm staying in just one lane... though my impatience to get out of the concrete jungle was still dominating.
Ok, just get me out of here, PLEASE! 😩
And then, as 3 or 4 vehicles all changed lanes in a synchronized dance of madness in front of me, a rock the size of a tennis ball came soaring off a semi trailer and...
CRACK!!!
Startled as all hell, I nearly jumped out of my seat, and looked across the windshield...
"OH. MY. GOD!" was all I could say. (Even louder and more pronounced than Janice on a Friends episode.)
I looked back at JaeRae; nothing. She sat silently, happily buckled in and working on homework at the dinette table. With her earbuds in, she didn't hear the crack of our windshield, or me!
Sooo... what do I do?! Do I freak out??
Will that really do me any good right now? I was still navigating through the freaking Houston speedway, I had to keep swimming!
So what could I do? Breathe in. Breathe out.
Surrender to the Moment.
That startling crack had snapped me back into the present moment. Back into surrender. To accept that I have NO real control over anything, and that's OK.
So I surrendered. Back in the Now and out of my ego's reign of expectations and judgements, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Surrender. Wow, it felt good to let go of control of my derailed day.
And with surrender, came gratitude.
"At least it didn't break through the windshield!" I thought to myself. "Thank goodness it didn't damage my view. There's a million other scenarios that could have severely damaged our RV, our bodies, and other vehicles on the road."
Thank goodness it was just a crack. A big one, but still just a crack. And thank goodness for RV insurance. Ok windshield crack, I surrender to you.
Suddenly, I found myself fantasizing about the new and clean windshield ahead in our future. This won't be too bad!
I also took the crack's clear sign to relax and enjoy the moment - To stop rushing to make up time, and enjoy every moment of the drive.
I settled back in my seat and into gratitude for our well-being. I said our prayer of safety for ourselves, other drivers, and animals on the road. I carried on through and out of the Houston traffic, singing along to my favorite songs on the stereo.
And though over 2 hours behind schedule, we managed to pull into our new site right at sunset, where I then stood outside along the ocean bay and lost myself in the beauty and peaceful quiet of the evening.
All time disappeared. What schedule was I on again? What is time, anyway?
I lost all sense of time as we spent our evening marveling the view as the sunset and ocean faded into the darkness and the stars appeared one by one.
Sitting in silence under the night sky, I heard the Universe say,
"Every bump in the road is worth the journey."
Sending love and light to you today and always.
- Krista & Jaelyn
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