Escapees March-April 2024

other than our long-distance running habit, we rarely pushed our physical capabilities any further than necessary. The catalyst for my sudden awakening was a book by Michael Easter, titled, The Comfort Crisis . In his analysis of societal complacency, Easter demonstrates how modern creature comforts nudge us away from physical and mental discomfort and into a life of boring predictability and mental stagnation.

For many nomads like you and me, the decision to go full-time RVing was not a spontaneous idea. Maybe it simmered in our minds for decades, or perhaps a life-changing event inspired the big leap. We all had di ff erent rea sons for deciding to go against the grain, and for many of us, the monumental switch felt equally exciting and terrifying for a while. From tire blowouts to disappoint ing destinations, we learned that becoming a long-term traveler is an ongoing lesson on how to deal with uncomfortable situa tions. And the more miles you put under your wheels, the easier it gets to live on the road. Falling into Stagnation However; over time, many of us fall into a predictable RVing routine. We smooth out the rough edges of this lifestyle by taking fewer chances on traveling to new places, and we drive the same old routes of north for summer and south for winter. After a while, even the most adventurous full-time RVers slow down and do longer stints in their favorite places. I know, because that’s what happened to us after we found our favorite winter season retreat in the Southern California desert. Once we bought a duplex rental in Northern Colorado, we started putting down roots in both places, rarely venturing beyond our north-south routes. The repetition of our travels was becoming routine. Our once adventurous lifestyle began to feel like a well-deserved panacea for all the chaos we endured during the pandemic years. But, in 2023, I woke up one morning and realized that we had fallen deep into the kind of stagnation that ignited our full-time RVing lifestyle in the fi rst place. Sixteen years after we started out, the sense of wonder and adventure had cooled. Each week was much like the previous one. Our preference for temperate weather kept us tied to a small number of destinations, and

Photo on page 52: Willow, Alaska, swamp trail in winter. PHOTO BY RENE AGREDANO

“Most people today rarely step outside their comfort zones. We are living progressively-sheltered, sterile, tempera ture-controlled, overfed, under-challenged, safety-netted lives. And it’s limiting the degree to which we experience our ‘One wild and precious life,’ as poet Mary Oliver put it. But, a radical new body of evidence shows that people are at their best, physically harder, mentally tougher and spiritually sounder, after experiencing the same discomforts our early ancestors were exposed to every day. Scientists are fi nding that certain discomforts protect us from physical and psychological problems like obesity, heart disease, cancers, diabetes, depression and anxiety, and even more fundamental issues like feeling a lack of meaning and purpose.” Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

Time to Get Uncomfortable This book struck a chord deep in my heart, and I knew it was time to get uncomfortable. The fi rst step out of our comfort zone was convincing my husband about another hair brained idea I had. Much like when we fi rst decided to hit the road, we needed to get back to our adventure travel roots. Once again, I said, “Hey, I have idea! Let’s go to Alaska again. But not in the fi fthwheel this time. And, let’s go in winter.” He was shocked, but not surprised. Two long-time friends from Denver had introduced us to the reverse snowbird concept more than 10 years ago. They are avid dog mushers and we always thought they were nuts because each winter they leave the city to migrate north. When we headed south as the temps dropped, they hauled their team of a dozen sled dogs to their cabin in the wilds of Alaska. As lifelong West Coasters, Jim and

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March/April 2024 ESCAPEES Magazine