When this road trip was originally conceived in 2023, the original intended purpose was to drive somewhere in America, and view the eclipse. Putting his borders-on-the-spectrum-ocd-adjacent super powers to good use, the Hubs researched literally every geographic region in the path of totality and decided that the place that had, historically and topographically, the best chance of having zero cloud coverage during that week in April, was in Texas. So yay, we’re going to Texas. Or, are we? Turns out, no. Because while statistically-likely is a nice thing in theory, in practicality it does not account for the whims of weather. And now, the one place that is definitely going to be hit by massive clouds, and rain and misery, is Texas.
So we are now switching up the plan and avoiding the West altogether. And we’re going North. The van, which is all packed, because we were supposed to leave tomorrow, is half packed with clothes that would be appropriate to 90 degree weather. Which wouldn’t be unreasonable if we were going to be spending a couple of weeks in the south. Which we aren’t. So today, after I go and get my new required-for- the-rest-of-my-life injection of energy, I get to repack the van. Instead of packing for both 90 degrees and 30 degrees (because we’re going to Newfoundland too…. because… reasons…[also maybe we should call this the “visiting places only crazy people want to live Trip…except now we’re not going to Texas anymore so….]… where was I….oh right, freezing and sweating my ass off for fun) I now only need to pack for 30 degrees and 50 degrees. Except I will be driving back through Nashville….in June. Dang. Multi-climate sartorial logistics are annoying. Anyway, we were supposed to leave tomorrow, which, since we are taking Texas off the route is no longer apparently going to be happening and the new departure date is now tentatively Thursday.