Thinking About California

For weeks now, I’ve been thinking about and quietly planning in my head my road trip to California. I’ve been considering the length of the trip, including travel time, as well as cost. The purpose of the trip, mainly, is to pick up the rest of my stuff from my mom. I have about 9 boxes of books and a couple more boxes of DVDs and miscellaneous other stuff. I mostly just want the books. I’m also planning to stop by an Ikea to buy some furniture. Since the beginning, I was thinking about going around Christmas time, and now that Christmas is just a few weeks away, my thoughts have been on this trip a lot more.

One of the biggest issues I’m most concerned about is the cost. I have a Dodge Durango with a V8 Hemi engine. This is not a gas friendly car, so gas will cost me a lot. But, and this is what converted me into driving down there and not flying, the cost to drive down there and drive back with just my stuff is a lot cheaper than flying down there and shipping my books through the post office. I want my books! And since I’ll be down there anyway with my big car, a stop to Ikea seemed logical and exciting. But again, to buy the stuff I know I’m going to want for years to come will be somewhat expensive. I want a few bookcases, a rug, a new bed frame and mattress, a lamp, and an end table. All in all, this trip will cost me over $1,000. Since I know I won’t be doing this on a regular basis, I’m thinking of treating it as a one-time necessary expense that I can put on my credit card and pay off during 2015. I’ve actually been more concerned about my drive down there than the cost, in a way. The cost was something I knew I had to eat, but it still affected my decision.

Another big issue that has concerned me has been time. A trip to California, regardless if it was by plane or car, will disrupt the flow I’ve built up over the past few months. 93 days to be exact. It will take me 2 days to get there, regardless of how vigilant I am. I’ve never driven for the length of time required to get there, and even though I know I can do it just fine, I won’t know until I’m out there actually doing it. So, two days there, two days back. That’s already, lets say, three full days on the road.¹ Then I’ll have to spend a few days with my family to make the whole trip worthwhile. Another part of a day driving to Ikea and actually buying my furniture, and maybe a few days up in Los Angeles to visit my friends. Realistically, I would need to block out an entire week for this trip.

My biggest concern relating to time was disrupting my workouts. Fortunately, Insanity ends on the 27th. I could spend the 28th stretching, but if I forego that and leave first thing that morning, I can spend that Sunday driving and arriving the following Monday. I can spend Monday through early Friday in California, leave Friday and arrive sometime Saturday night. I can then spend that Sunday resting and setting up all my furniture, and I’ll be back at work the next day, on a Monday. I’ll lose five days of possible work time, but I think I’ve already built up a few days of vacation that I could cash in. That’s something I’ll have to check in sometime before I leave. And on this Monday, I can start my new Insanity workout, which would be Insanity: Max 30. This workout was just released today, in fact. I don’t want to break my 200+ day Insanity goal I started like two months ago, and taking a week off seems okay, especially since I’ll be starting on the first day of the new year anyways.

That, my friends, are my thoughts that have been weighing on my mind these past few days. I know this might be a very crappy entry, but it’s a crappy entry in a long line of crappy entries. I just know I have to lay the groundwork now for this trip because I know just having my books around will make me better and happier in the long run. I’m a longterm type of thinker. Small habits that build up to big things and all that. Lets hope this trip actually happens. I’ll of course keep you all posted.