Mastering the Art of Order on the Road

I'm in Durango, Colorado's Marriott Residence Inn, landing here after a 3 day off grid adventure in several of Utah's otherworldly National State Parks. I'm staying in Durango an extra night to downsize, consolidate, discard, and get that much closer to being dialed-in to system that will provide efficiency and ease. One week into this adventure these truths are evident:

1) Hotels and/or hospitable friends scattered about the country (and their bathrooms with running water and showers) are going to be an integral part of this trip.

2) Order and utility are imperative in making or breaking your experience.

This photo demonstrates what happens when the car camper (that's me) hasn't fully perfected the art of order and containment. I discover opportunities for efficiency and make small changes every time I put up and take down camp and a system is shaping up. Even so, I'm often unnerved because I'm constantly looking for my keys, toothbrush, toilet paper, phone, or something/anything. When my phone was showing up as connected via bluetooth and was playing music, I wasn't terribly worried that I couldn't actually put my hands on it. Clearly, it was in the car hiding under something in the passenger seat. But when I got to the campsite at Bears Ears, the phone was nowhere to be found. I searched through everything and even into the back seat floorboards and bewilderedly had to accept that perhaps my phone was lost. The next morning, I searched even more thoroughly and just as I was to the point of resign, I noticed my phone, tucked into the driver side windshield wiper blade on the outside of the car! I must have put it there when I got out of the car to take a photo and forgot to pick it up before I got back in. My new, and badass, iPhone rode across the Utah desert freestyle on the outside of my car!!

I've always been on a quest for order but I often miss the mark, and incidents like the one with the phone occur. Order is a practice to be cultivated. A cross country road trip firmly emphasizes the holy truth of the phrase, a place for everything and everything in it's place.

My goal is to live in an Airstream that I can take to underserved communities and provide hepatitis C education for healthcare providers and the general public, all over the country. When I started this trip, I asked the question, who will I be without hepatitis C? , and as I progress I'm being informed about how to live only with what I need. The peeling away of layers of stuff opens up all kinds of opportunities and makes camping and living a much better experience.