Sometimes you need to get a room to feel like a tourist.
Even when you are staying in an RV park that has 25,000 check-ins per year because of its location in the Black Hills.
Wayne always says that his goal is to be a full-time tourist. What I think he means is that he likes exploring new places, eating new foods, and doing all the touristy stuff like walking through t-shirt shops and eating fudge.
But when we return to the motorhome each night, we become disconnected from that feeling of excitement. We sit on the same couch and turn on the same streaming service.
To be a proper tourist, the routine needs to change. All of it.
When we arrived at this site last week, the tree outside the window had a tint of yellow at the top. Now it is more yellow than green.
Fall is the season when my desire to be out of the same old routine becomes strongest. It is the fear of missing out on the beautiful display that nature provides.
There is a different vibe.
All summer weekend campers are home, and the heartier souls become leaf peepers, not afraid to go outside with a coat on.
We have been leaf peepers, “dam” tourists, and geyser gazers. That tree is reminding me to get outside!
By the door is a portable table. It doubles as many things, such as a dining table (because the booth dinette is now my office).
Today it is the staging area for a weekend getaway.
We are staying in a lodge tonight inside Custer State Park. It overlooks a small lake surrounded by spires of rock and serenity.
Since we don’t do this that often, I feel like I need to pack like we’re flying off to a beach in Hawaii. But I won’t even pull out the suitcase.
We will be bag people for the night.
As I go through my morning routine, the small table begins to fill with tea and stevia (because they never have it), filtered water (just because), vitamins, and medications. Our change of clothes will be on hangers, and the rest will be in a cloth grocery bag.
A cooler will have our juice and green shake that we drink every morning.
Some things have to remain the same, even on short getaways.
But it will feel different as we wake up to a late breakfast that someone else prepares for us. We will act like we are from far away and must see every little thing. We will stay up late to see the lighting of Mt. Rushmore and take pictures of the fall landscape.
Tomorrow we will be back at the RV, in the same place, but feel like we had a great adventure – and have the pictures to prove it.
