There’s something magical about road trips. You leave behind your everyday to venture into the unknown, to explore places you’ve never seen, or perhaps only passed through on the way to somewhere else.

Two and a half years ago, I packed up my dog Jelly, two cats Maverick and Sable, and drove the RV, a 1996 Tioga Montara with a scant 24K miles, on her maiden 3,000 mile cross country tour to CA. After stopping in to see a friend in Jackson, MS, I headed for Oklahoma City, connecting with Route 66 and along through the I-40 corridor, bouncing down many still active parts of the historic highway until I got all the way to Santa Monica.

Along the way I dropped in on a few old friends in Southern California and spent the better part of a week with my parents in the early fall season, trying to get my life together and my head on straight while introducing Maverick and Sable to their new outdoor home. As they settled in, I was delighted to discover my parents were also open to adopting Jelly as their own. She attached herself to my Dad almost immediately upon my departure, and our physical resemblance probably didn’t hurt her transition to her new forever family.

I still miss my pup, so once again, my parents home is the final destination. However, this time my wife will be along for the ride and has a whole itinerary planned, which for anyone who knows her would not be surprised. Like the pets before them, we’ll be taking the RV on a one way voyage West, where she will live for a few months until I return to take her up to her final resting place, outside Reno, NV, where I’ll be helping to build an Earthship in July.

Not that I’ll be burying my RV there or gambling it away, but the same way my old Nissan stayed in Taos, NM after I left, the RV won’t be coming back with me to Savannah either.

I’m done with things owning me for awhile.

— The Impostor