A must have

If somebody wants to take on a trip like this, I must insist that they find a Chris. Without this man, I cannot see how this trip would have, or could have, been possible.

"Dada" by Oliver

I watch him get up for work every day and head out, walking the dogs before he leaves, and he texts in an hour to see how our morning is going. He watches all of the gadgets and gauges that keep us safe and operational. He knows when to replace the propane and a hot water stick that I didn't even know existed, he knows when tanks need to be emptied, and he never leaves a dirty hose to be cleaned out later. He's replaced countless bike tires, fixed bike brakes, and adjusted all things hard for little hands to be able to use. He backs our trailer up in the dark and walks me through a 15 point turn in the middle of a frontage road at night telling me I can do it. He takes the trash out at night when the bears are out roaming around.

When blowouts happen as we travel down the road, Chris calmly pulls over and replaces the tire. When truck tires have leaks, they disappear and he hands the truck back to me with new tires. When the belly of our camper filled with dirty dish water, Chris climbed under the camper to empty it, smiling for my pictures and when the truck started to overheat on the highway, Chris knew to turn the heat on, slow down, and keep the truck on to let it cool down. Yes, if somebody is going to take on a trip like this, they must find themselves a Chris, as it will be the best investment of their life.

A couple of days ago I spent hours putting together our end-of-trip slideshow and as I sorted and watched the thousands of pictures we have, I think, my god, I love this man who didn't blink an eye when I said "let's go." When life gets measured by bank accounts and hours clocked, this year has been measured in memories and experiences, and I can't help but think, "CHRIS! Look at what you provided your family! Look at what all of your hard work has helped us experience!" People who meet us jokingly ask us where we go to fight if we live in this little space, if we get sick of one another, and I think not in the least. After nine years of marriage, it has been so much fun to go on adventure with my best friend. To learn more about him when I was figuring I knew all there was to know. Some of my favorite things about this man I have learned on this trip, such as that he loves to take pictures, and I love his photography. He likes bluegrass music. That he loves a bike ride in the morning to wake up, which was something he learned about himself. That he is actually far from apolitical, but his beliefs are just so concrete he doesn't really see a need to talk about them because they are just facts in his head, not opinions to be debated. He is quite simply blown away by our children who he can watch for hours, and watching your love, love your children, is a feeling quite similar to unequivocal happiness.

As our trip comes to an end, we fall asleep talking about our dreams for the future, trying to figure out how we take the lessons we've learned on the road and apply them to a stationary life. We have both learned that now, just as it was nine years ago, our life goals match one another's, and I am confident that as long as we are by one another's side, we can go and do just about anything that we dream up.