I’m not one for spontaneity. I’m the kind of guy who likes to make plans months in advance and not really think about it until two weeks before. It’s not that I can’t adapt to change, as several years in improv has made me quite adaptable. I love sudden plan changes if they’re small. A sudden beach trip or late night drive can be really refreshing. But big plans need time to percolate, and the pros and cons need to be weighed.

Well, most of the time. Recently (roughly ten days ago) my brother found a really good deal for a car online. Good condition, very few miles, and pretty affordable, too. The only problem was that it was in Chicago, roughly 2,000 miles away from Los Angeles. He had the brilliant idea to fly out there and road trip back. That’s not the sort of thing to do alone, so he asked Facebook.

What happened next will shock you!

Clickbait aside, the cause and effect of the chain of events is actually pretty reasonable. One sister said she’d go if nobody else did. My other sister jokingly said that all the siblings should go and make it a fun family road trip. All 6 of us.

I said I’d consider it, and another brother said he’d only go if everybody else went.

Long story short, what began as a joke made two weeks ago turned into a reality, and so 6 fully grown people and their 3 day luggage are all crammed into one little station wagon driving across most of the continental United States. Funny thing is, the age difference between the oldest and youngest is 12 years, so some of us grew up and got lives before the rest got out of the house (looking at you, me). So we as siblings have never spent time together as siblings. Every time we’ve seen each other for the last decades were holidays and temporary visits. Also, most of us are introverts, so that’s a thing to consider.

So I’m writing this in the car as we go. We have three days to get back, so we have 8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to sightsee, and 8 hours to drive for each of those days. If I’m going to be in the car for that amount of time, might as well make use of it. I also plan on working on some plays for one of my classes, so we’ll see what I can muster. I make no promises, though I have high hopes.

I’ll write a full travel log after I get home, so I’ll probably publish it on the 9th, after my February update. I’ll say this though: Chicago is cold right now. I’ve never experienced sub 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and suddenly we’re walking around in -4. Quite a change, though I welcomed the snow. I had only seen snow once before in my life, and never seen it fall.

I don’t know if I would necessarily recommend throwing caution in the wind in the name of memorable life experiences, but so far my favorite part has been spending time laughing with family without any cares in the world.