If you were going a six-month long trip how would you pack? How would you predict what events and happenings would be coming your way? How would you plan for the changing seasons? How would you plan for what hobbies might present opportunities out there, away from your stuff. That is the subject of today’s Travel Tuesday. What stuff gets to come and what has to stay.
When Josh and I hit the road three years ago we had a house, hobbies and a life filled with stuff. In hindsight those things might have been a reason we decided to take this job. The amount of possessions that were accumulating and “hobbies” that were filling our time was not enjoyable. It was stress. In the first year we traveled each trip back to the Twin Cities also included a trip to Goodwill. It was hard at first but soon it was liberating to unload. When you have room for those old hiking boots, instead of getting rid of them they get put onto a shelf and forgotten about. Living a truck that does not happen, if you don’t use it you lose it. As for hobbies, the activities you truly enjoy doing are often ones that require no gear and if there is a special item or two then most likely you don’t mind packing it around.
We have a good load of backpacking gear that we keep in the trailers’ storage boxes. Josh has a fishing gear out the wazoo, at least in my opinion. You can’t go to the beach without the proper accessories, right? This all leads to me our newest hobby, SCUBA diving. We are still new to the sport and didn’t want to invest a bunch of cash plus have to find a place for the gear. Well this is break point, if we want to dive in non-resort areas we will have to buy some gear. In resort areas you can rent everything, but most local dive shops (ei…. In Houston) only rent the big stuff. So while we had four days off with plenty of time for a dive, we don’t own the gear to do it. I guess we’re might just have to take a “Giant Step” into this one.
***This is part of a series of posts called “Travel Tuesday“, each covering topics unique to our lifestyle***
The Roving Van Gelders 
I have come to the conclusion after sifting through and moving an ark-load of stuff this winter that I do not need to keep the trappings of another hobby that I am not actively pursuing right at the moment. If I want to pursue it, I will then purchase/rent what I need to do it. I know what you mean about not being in a large enough store to rent what you want. I”m not sure where I’m going with this, but I sold my dive gear years ago and if I ever dive again, I’ll either rent or purchase new stuff – I think we are in agreement, right??
Funny, I’m looking on eBay for some used dive gear, lol.
It took Her the longest time to figure out that She doesn’t really NEED anything new. The clothes She has are just fine thank you very much, no more accumulating new stuff around the house, and packing for trips has been streamlined lots over the years. But, when He became SCUBA certified a few years ago, He bought some nice new fins. And that’s about it. Claustrophobia and diving don’t mix I’m told.