Advocate I
Ok, I know everyone is different and a big factor is where you live/where home is so I'll start by talking about my situation.
We moved from SoCal to Illinois a little over 7 years ago, and while the move was a net gain in quality of life the problem is that Illinois is not exactly known for its outdoor activities unless you enjoy watching the corn or soybeans grow. Of course, not every part of IL is the same. We're "lucky" enough to live in central IL where it really is just corn and soybeans. If we want to do things outdoors the options are pretty limited unless we drive a few hours. Back in CA there was plenty to do if you didn't mind the traffic or the heat as you get away from the coast (unless you're in the mountains).
Prior to the pandemic I didn't feel like a feral, caged animal. I'd go to the office 3 days a week, WFH the other 2, and just getting out of the house regularly was helpful. Also prior to the pandemic we had a travel trailer and would take 2-3 week road trips and that was enough to keep me content for a while (and also not want to go on another trip because I really don't enjoy towing travel trailers anymore). I'll also add that before we moved to IL I worked from home 100% of the time and it didn't bother me because we could always find things to do.
So, then the pandemic hit and I was WFH 100% again. Within a couple of months I had cabin fever and had to get out of the house, so that's when my wife and I decided to take the plunge into overlanding (I was an avid rock crawler in CA but camping was not my thing) and a couple of months later we were on the road to CO with version 1.0 of our overlanding setup. We looooved it. Once we returned from that trip I was able to keep myself occupied by figuring out what mods or gear I wanted next, where we were going to go (general location), and just generally being happy planning the next trip (the big trips are just once per year for now). Last summer we went to Montana (Missoula, Glacier, etc) with version 1.5 of our overlanding setup and it was a mixed bag. Loved the area, but between dealing with some electrical issues, being generally hotter than Colorado (putting the RTT up and down every day was not fun), having a harder time finding dispersed camping compared to CO, and having a teenage daughter frequently complaining about being bored I was left feeling frustrated and just wanting to get home.
Of course, my wife and I weren't feeling like overlanding may not be for us, we still love it. That's why we dove in and replaced the RTT with a trailer capable of going basically wherever my truck can go, this summer will be our first big trip since getting the trailer and is likely to be the last summer with our youngest daughter coming with us. The trailer is for the adventures my wife and I want to do on our own once we're empty nesters but we'll have a place for our daughter to sleep this summer.
More to the point, I'm running out of projects to keep me occupied and am finding myself going crazy. Adding to this is that summer is extremely busy for my wife and daughter but not me (other than work). My daughter is working as a 4H camp counselor for four sessions that are effectively a week long each and then sometimes has a couple of days off or has 1-1.5 weeks off before going back for the next session. Then between sessions my wife already went on one trip to visit family in OR, after the next session my wife is going on a 5-day cruise, then after the last session my wife and youngest daughter are going to CA for about a week. Our trip to CO will be the first 2 weeks of August and we're limited to 2 weeks because school starts again a few days after we get back. It was going to be 3 weeks, but then their CA trip stole a week.
Moving to someplace that better suits our lifestyle is on the radar but isn't likely to happen for at least 1-2 years, so in the meantime I'm trying to find ways to survive. Those of you that have been in similar situations, how have you kept yourself busy/occupied? Planning and anticipation only helps so much. :D
We moved from SoCal to Illinois a little over 7 years ago, and while the move was a net gain in quality of life the problem is that Illinois is not exactly known for its outdoor activities unless you enjoy watching the corn or soybeans grow. Of course, not every part of IL is the same. We're "lucky" enough to live in central IL where it really is just corn and soybeans. If we want to do things outdoors the options are pretty limited unless we drive a few hours. Back in CA there was plenty to do if you didn't mind the traffic or the heat as you get away from the coast (unless you're in the mountains).
Prior to the pandemic I didn't feel like a feral, caged animal. I'd go to the office 3 days a week, WFH the other 2, and just getting out of the house regularly was helpful. Also prior to the pandemic we had a travel trailer and would take 2-3 week road trips and that was enough to keep me content for a while (and also not want to go on another trip because I really don't enjoy towing travel trailers anymore). I'll also add that before we moved to IL I worked from home 100% of the time and it didn't bother me because we could always find things to do.
So, then the pandemic hit and I was WFH 100% again. Within a couple of months I had cabin fever and had to get out of the house, so that's when my wife and I decided to take the plunge into overlanding (I was an avid rock crawler in CA but camping was not my thing) and a couple of months later we were on the road to CO with version 1.0 of our overlanding setup. We looooved it. Once we returned from that trip I was able to keep myself occupied by figuring out what mods or gear I wanted next, where we were going to go (general location), and just generally being happy planning the next trip (the big trips are just once per year for now). Last summer we went to Montana (Missoula, Glacier, etc) with version 1.5 of our overlanding setup and it was a mixed bag. Loved the area, but between dealing with some electrical issues, being generally hotter than Colorado (putting the RTT up and down every day was not fun), having a harder time finding dispersed camping compared to CO, and having a teenage daughter frequently complaining about being bored I was left feeling frustrated and just wanting to get home.
Of course, my wife and I weren't feeling like overlanding may not be for us, we still love it. That's why we dove in and replaced the RTT with a trailer capable of going basically wherever my truck can go, this summer will be our first big trip since getting the trailer and is likely to be the last summer with our youngest daughter coming with us. The trailer is for the adventures my wife and I want to do on our own once we're empty nesters but we'll have a place for our daughter to sleep this summer.
More to the point, I'm running out of projects to keep me occupied and am finding myself going crazy. Adding to this is that summer is extremely busy for my wife and daughter but not me (other than work). My daughter is working as a 4H camp counselor for four sessions that are effectively a week long each and then sometimes has a couple of days off or has 1-1.5 weeks off before going back for the next session. Then between sessions my wife already went on one trip to visit family in OR, after the next session my wife is going on a 5-day cruise, then after the last session my wife and youngest daughter are going to CA for about a week. Our trip to CO will be the first 2 weeks of August and we're limited to 2 weeks because school starts again a few days after we get back. It was going to be 3 weeks, but then their CA trip stole a week.
Moving to someplace that better suits our lifestyle is on the radar but isn't likely to happen for at least 1-2 years, so in the meantime I'm trying to find ways to survive. Those of you that have been in similar situations, how have you kept yourself busy/occupied? Planning and anticipation only helps so much. :D
