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What if you’ve been wrong about your limits all along?

I have a belief that I am unable to plan a vacation. The reason is because when I start to plan solo travel, I become paralyzed with fear – it’s too much money, it’s me navigating an unfamiliar place alone, it’s an investment of time and I may not enjoy it. There are so many reasons for me not to act on my desire that they would take several posts to cover the why’s.

In my career, I traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and all around the U.S. by myself, meeting new people, staying in unfamiliar places, and yet, my dreams to have a camper, to travel the U.S. with my son, to hike in the woods, to get away to nature have always been foiled by my inability to pull the trigger.

So I am forcing myself to do something different in my life. In anticipation of my upcoming birthday, I have quietly made a deal with a friend to buy her used, small camper. It has two beds and a small kitchen and I can tow it behind my car. I have been deliberating on this for nearly a year. I know the camper is road worthy. And I know my friend has made many happy memories in it. So it comes as a gift of love and at a steal of a price and it is me facing my vulnerable AF self and kicking my own ass.

I began paying monthly on this camper a while ago, and plan to have it paid for by my birthday in early May. Whereupon I plan to take my maiden voyage.

And yes, I’m already starting to worry about my safety, and where I will go, and whether I can figure out how to back up with a camper, how to unhitch it, how to do whatever you have to do with a camper. I have a lot of fear and a lot of excitement about this bold move.

My friend, Karen, looked up groups where solo women camp. Another friend, Erin, told me about her 22 solo days of escape where she camped in her Jeep in different parts of the South. My niece, Michelle, took advantage of the pandemic to outfit her small car with a platform bed in the back and she camped in many places solo. My fear is not unfounded – a solo woman camping – but I have so many great examples of fabulous women doing this.

I am working on my fear. I’m going to be vulnerable.

I’m choosing to travel to places that are near to start. I want to take baby steps because this is a long held belief of mine that I cannot do this alone. I have waited for so long to have someone who would want to do this with me.

So I want to be gentle as I whisper: Rachel, you don’t need to wait anymore, go!

My starting list so far:

Land-of-Pines – family campsite, nearby in Covington, LA. Safe, family friendly, if I go during a weekday I can avoid kids!

Fontainebleau State Park – this is where Tin had his mikveh during the pandemic. It’s a beautiful park, and not far from where I live because I’m a wuss and just starting out!

Percy Quinn State Park – I used to do the MS 150 mile bike ride and we would end up at this park. It was beautiful, and it’s also close, safe!

Blackwater River State Park – Erin said it was beautiful here, a bit costly for camping, but gorgeous. This is farther down the line as I grow more comfortable with this camper.

I will grow more adventurous and possibly use HipCamp to find spots.

I’ve thought about driving to Arizona and picking up Tin to go camping.

Introducing (drum roll) WILD THING. Oh, the places I will go!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 21st, 2025 at 10:39 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.