Safe Travels... Make Good Choices!

"There is a great deal of unmapped country within us..." 

- George Eliot

This Route 66 mural on the side of an18-wheeler  was taken inside the HUGE and fun travel plaza at the Joplin 44 Truckstop just east of the Oklahoma/Missouri state line. For us, the mural depicted so many of our visits throughout the western states during the past 18 months, causing us to reflect on an assortment of introspective "ah-ha" moments that our "UFF-DA" encounters have  provided us. The stop also provided us with a wonderful tagline - as we were leaving, the cashier looked Jer in the eyes and said, "Safe Travels... Make Good Choices!" The second half of that phrase stuck with him, almost like it had been channeled; as it has become evident that this lifestyle constantly presents a myriad of decisions and problem solving opportunities.

It's been a year-and-a-half since we sold our home in Illinois and began our nomadic journey traversing this grand country.  We've shared a lot about the sites and insights along the way, however a topic we haven't discussed much is our discoveries and perspectives on how to remain healthy along the way, or as the Route 66 author Michael Wallis puts it... "Travel Well." And, an important aspect of traveling well is learning how to obtain medical assistance as needed when one doesn't have a home base, and therefore, trusted healthcare professionals to turn to.

We hadn't considered this topic much as we are both pretty healthy and aside from regular maintenance (like teeth-cleanings and eye exams), we hadn't interacted with doctors much. However, we've both had need of healthcare professionals over the past 18 months and have had to learn how to deal with not having typical access to them. The most problematic has been emergency dental issues which resulted in implants for each of us - if you've had this type of work done, you know that the procedure is multi-faceted and takes several months to complete. Since we aren't in the same place for several months, we each have had to negotiate with dentists to do a part of the process, then move onto the next location and dentist to take on the next step. For other types of assistance, we've relied on local recommendations and trial and error. 

So far, we've been blessed with great experiences and have learned about more methods along the way. For example, Phyllis found an excellent a Chinese massage therapist on the west coast because of a rambunctious dog encounter that took out her knee. And Jer found a chiropractor/acupuncturist in Oklahoma when his back went out. We knew and trusted those sources 'at home' for decades, but we aren't at home anymore!

Staying healthy is also a challenge when traveling. Sometimes we have no choice but to stop at an eatery along our route... though when we get to our destination we cook the majority of our meals at 'home.'  To do that, we've learned to search out local Food Co-ops... these alternatives to the chain stores offer a multiple of local good-fer-ya ingredients and healthy ready made meals prepared by the employee-owned staff.  We also look for established farmers markets that offer an assortment of local food vendors.

So, the journey for us hasn't only been traversing the country, which we love and will continue to do, its also been learning how to live day-to-day as nomads. In our next blog, we'll talk more about the day-to-day, particularly what to pack and not pack!

Finally, we do take a variety of vitamins and herbal supplements (needed to counter the lack of nutrients in most restaurant food!) regularly. We have them shipped to whatever address we're staying at - the internet has certainly made our lives easier in this way!

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PS: For those of you who have been wondering why we haven't posted for a couple months... we were detoured from our regularly scheduled programming based on a family member being diagnosed with  dementia as they entered the fourth-quarter of life. Many know that this debilitating disease can become an all consuming process, particularly for family members as they struggle to develop long-term solutions to the medical, emotional and physical symptoms related to this disease.  Talking with friends and family, we have learned that many others have had to address similar situations with loved ones.  And, in our experience, seeking advice and comfort from those who have traversed this challenging road is highly advised, both for the benefit of the cared & caregivers...