Shift happens
Selling our adventure rig and grappling with change.
Howdy! A hearty welcome to Traipsing About, my newsletter about reclaiming creativity and ditching tired personal paradigms. No bot writing here—I get credit for all goofy drawings and glayring typos.
Chelsea and I just returned from two weeks of tootling about in the Airstream. Instead of cramming too many places and people into the trip, we focused on visiting a few dear friends and spending tons of time with them. It was delightful.
In other news, this past trip gave us the conviction to *gasp* sell our Sprinter van. We just posted it for sale a few days ago—if you know someone who needs a sweet adventure rig, please send them the listing!
This week on Trampoozling About:
Van feelings.
We can improve our cities!
Traipsing About Sparks
Letting go of the van
I consider myself someone who attaches to people, not stuff, but wooeee was the process of prepping our Sprinter van for sale a rollercoaster. Some days I could picture selling it, while others it felt like betraying an old friend.
So many memories tied up in that van, even if it’s just a big gray hunk of metal and some wood! All the road trips, the friends we met, the (relatively) care-free time with Chelsea, playing piano looking out at beautiful vistas, bumping Macklemore’s music as we drove around.
Funny how little things ping me with nostalgia or “I can’t sell this!” A piece of metal trim that I filed 167 times to get it to fit; memories of making the bike drawers with Chelsea’s dad; roadtripping with my dad to Montana; camping in the wilderness while cracking up with buddies after a bike ride.
The reality, however, is that it doesn’t fit our travel plans these days. We’re aiming to do longer stays in fewer places…and I’ve gotta say, having a shower, toilet, and more space in the Airstream is a big selling point!
To help me get through the process, I depersonalized the van, removing stickers, the custom curtains, pictures, little keepsakes. I think I’m finally to the place where I’m pumped to see it go off to its next home with some stoked person who will continue the adventure.
In fact, on my best days I realize I can do exactly the same activities—bike, hike, friend time—while traveling in the trailer, but with more comfort when I’m back. Plus a cozy nook to play piano! :)
But I may still run after the buyer as they drive the van away, shouting like a madman.
Lots more to write about this, but I’m going to wait until it sells to write a real tribute to my old companion. For now, this quote from few weeks ago kept bouncing around in my head as I prepped the van for sale and it’s helped me through this process:
Our next life will always cost us this one. If we are truly alive, we are constantly losing who we just were, what we just built, what we just believed, what we just knew to be true. (Glennon Doyle)
Onward!
We can make our cities better!
Awesome to see cities improving. For example, New York launched its congestion pricing program on January 5, 2025, charging more for vehicles to enter the city. Dramatic results in just a few months!
1 million — fewer vehicles entered NYC
448,000 — more passengers riding public transit per day
37% — less crime on the subway compared to year prior
61% — increase in commercial leasing
21% — growth in attendance at Broadway shows
$900 million — increase in retail sales
$1.3 billion — estimated boost to NYC economy annually
Traipsing Spark: Dealing with change
So much change lately, both in our close circles and in the world. It’s got me spinning around some days and also fired up on possibilities.
My Spark question this week: How can I best deal with change?
Choose to grow—From Being With Dying by Joan Halifax:
“Change is inevitable, growth is optional.”
D’s note: We can fight it or we can swim with the current. Rather than thrash upstream, I’m trying to be like a baby salmon and play in the downstream flow.
Take breaks—From Switch by Chip and Dan Heath:
"Change is hard because people wear themselves out. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion."
D’s note: We can’t fight upstream all day without a pause. Find the activity that resets your mood and capacity to deal with hard stuff. Walks and bike rides outside, a call with a friend, or piano time work miracles for me.
Flex the muscles—Get used to the feeling, as Jonathan Fields writes in Uncertainty:
"The more you’re able to tolerate ambiguity and lean into the unknown, the more likely you’ll be to dance with it long enough to come up with better solutions, ideas, and creations."
D’s note: Tolerating ambiguity really is a muscle we can flex. Not knowing where I’d sleep or find food on bike trips, starting my own business, and many other smaller trials of leaning into the unknown have helped condition me to (mostly) enjoying not knowing what will happen.
And just remember these words from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five: "Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future."
My Sparks takeaways this week: evolve with change vs. flail against the current, take breaks, and see it all as training for future (potentially more difficult) change.
Traipsing About Tidbits
Drifting an old Volvo in the snow to some sweet music (via Kottke).
A guide to ditching Spotify and their exploitative practices towards musicians.
Love these ideas for interpreting music by pianist Rami Bar Niv.
Wow, the panoramic photos from this contest are incredible.
That’s the end of this round of Traipsing About! Til next time…
Dakota
Thanks for reading! I appreciate your time and attention in a world where it’s a precious commodity.