License to Chill

Let the rat race run, roll around in the sun until

Trouble turns funny, songs get sung

A little bit of money, the night's still young

Leave me alone I've got a license,

A license to chill

Those popular lyrics by Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney have been rolling around in my head today. Finally, after more than two years of roaming around this country, we feel like we’re passing our final tests for our license. Our license to chill.

You see, we’ve been hanging here in beautiful Gunnison for more than a month. We’ve hung out with friends, made a few new ones and entertained family for awhile. We’ve made the scenic drives, seen the national park and taken more pictures than we imagined we could. (However, one of us just hasn't seemed to muster up enough strength to craft a travel blog post!) These days, we’re hanging out and acting like a couple of locals.

We ride our bikes to breakfast. After we’ve had our fill, we head out on one of the many trails in this very two-wheel-friendly town for some exercise with sweeping mountain views.

Back at home, we read. We write. We nap. We knit. We soak up the pleasant sun-kissed days. Basically, we chill.

Actually, we’re getting pretty darn good at it.

As the resident travel planner, I’ve been trying to plot out travels from here to points east. The major influence in our planning is the weather. We won’t be heading into Kansas when the daytime temps are in the 90s. After all, we have just half an air conditioner! The days are just gonna have to cool off before we head into that part of the country. Until then, we’ll just chill.

We have tentative plans and even a reservation here or there. But, truth be told, we don’t have to be anywhere until mid-September in Southwest Missouri. Reservations can be cancelled. Plans can be changed.

So, what to we do in the meantime?

We just chill!

We’ve been at this fulltiming gig for a bit over two years. So, you’d think we’d be pretty good at this. But, when it comes to chillin’, we’re the first to confess we’re really newbies.

You see, we feel better when we have a plan. But, as we’re learning, sometimes we need to just chill.

Like right now. The 80-degree temperatures around here are just getting better and better. We like this town. We feel really comfortable here. We know that Monday night is $5 burgers at the Gunnisack. Tuesday night is Sushi night at the Brick Cellar. And, Wednesday is the night for cheap wings at 5b’s BBQ.

That’s right. We’re eating our way around this town!

There are a couple of great biking events coming to town. How often do you get to see three of the top five finishers in the Tour de France? They’ll be here in Gunnison next week, with tens of thousands of their friends. It sounds like a real party.

So, we think we’re gonna stick around for awhile. After all, we really like it here.

After more than two years on the road, we think we might - finally - just be earning our license to chill.

And I believe I will.