Hello! Long time no see. It certainly has been a while, hasn't it. If you've wondered why there haven't been any new recipes here in the past six weeks, I'm about to tell you a story that should explain my absence. It's an epic tale of one family's odyssey across America during the pandemic of 2020. This adventure was so intense, it resulted in a sea change that will forever alter the trajectory of their lives. If any of this is intriguing dear reader, grab a beverage, get comfortable and read on. You're about to begin the first chapter of the tale.
The Griswolds - America's first family of road tripping
Part One: We've Gotta Get Out of This Place
Our journey began as so many others had before, with a question repeated again and again by our bored, cabin-fever stricken children: "Can we please go somewhere? We'll go anywhere. We've been stuck in the house for months. Can we just go SOMEWHERE? Please can we go ANYWHERE? PLEASE!?!?!" It was early June, and school (or the reasonable facsimile held by Zoom at our dining room table which we were pretending was school) was almost over for the year.
Typically, as soon as school lets out, our family hops on a plane for our annual trip to see my family in Florida. Logistically, there was no way to make this happen. And even if we found a way to get there safely (we thought about driving - even considered bringing the pets in an RV!), we realized after all the exposure to the outside world during our journey it wouldn't be safe to stay with my parents unless we could quarantine for two weeks after arrival. With a week of travel there and another back, and a two week no-see period, we'd be into the trip for a month before we ever got to visit. Not ideal, especially since my husband has (thank GOD) continued to work through this whole mess and couldn't be away from his business that long. So Florida was definitely off the table.
The kids' need to get out of the house, coupled with our own unfulfilled wanderlust, made my husband and I wonder if we COULD possibly travel this summer despite the Coronavirus raging beyond the safe harbor of our home. Our nagging disquietude about the circumstances made us trepidatious, but our nagging children convinced us that we, the all knowing and supremely powerful parents we are, could find a safe way to get out a little for a much needed change of scenery. We couldn't go to Florida, but we could probably go SOMEWHERE.
We both agreed we should only venture a few hours from home, at most, to a stand-alone rental-type place where we wouldn't encounter many other people. We were looking to convene with nature, breathe some fresh air, do some hiking, maybe enjoy a lake, and see the stars at night. As I was raised to believe tent camping is an exercise in homelessness, we'd need an actual structure of some kind in which to sleep. In all of Southern California, there must be SOMEPLACE we could go to that could accommodate our needs.
Except there wasn't. And there wasn't anything in Central California either. And not even all the way up in Lake Tahoe. We'd find something online that looked promising only to call and find out that they were closed. Or we'd come upon a resort that would TAKE reservations but not HOLD reservations, which, as fans of Seinfeld know, is the most important part OF the reservation process. We could book it, and drive all the way up north just to be told they weren't going to open and our reservations were meaningless. Even the state and national parks were closed. A California road trip just wasn't in the cards.
We were deflated and defeated. We needed a break of some sort and it appeared we had no options. We couldn't even travel in our own state. Florida was going to be off the table for the foreseeable future. As was New Orleans, my husband's hometown. We felt like we couldn't go anywhere. Then the gravity of the situation really hit us. When would we ever be able to see our parents again until this stupid virus had a cure or a vaccine? As long as we lived in California, the answer was never. We would never see our families. Definitely not for months, maybe even not for years. As you can imagine, that didn't sit well with us.
So we made the decision to bravely road trip across America in search of a new home. One that would allow us a maximum of one days drive access to both sets of grandparents. One that would allow my husband to move his business and see it continue to grow and thrive. One that would give us a little more financial freedom as we prepare to send twins to college simultaneously in just five years. Folks, for the second time in our married lives, we went looking for our little piece of the American dream. Only this time, our definition of that dream had changed. This time, instead of seeking the magic of California, we'd return to our Southern roots and find some new magic. We decided to head to Tennessee.
Life is a highway...
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