Ultimate Road Trip: Another Great Town

[genderjumper]

Didn't take us long to drive a few laps around Ypsilanti, MI, today. We even stopped to walk around and grab lunch. Great vibes, great houses, honestly hard to imagine choosing between it and Buffalo. Buffalo is the better city, but Ypsi has better houses and is surrounded by larger cities. Weather might be a little nicer, but it's a little more isolated (as in: Buffalo is a day's drive from half of the Eastern Seaboard, whereas you can't get to Ypsi without passing through Indiana or Ohio, two of my least favorite states rn).

(Indiana even has a big billboard as soon as you cross the state line: "Cannabis is not legal in Indiana!" I don't partake, but I'm surrounded by folks who rely on it for anxiety or pain management and it's a real unpleasant message to your incoming visitors.) 

The best tie-breaker I can come up with so far is driving culture: Buffalo is very friendly on the road and no one seemed to mind that there were other drivers on the road. Ypsi had more aggressive drivers AND more aggressive braking -- we witnessed one fender-bender and nearly heard another in our short visit. But for now Nesting Partner is open to researching more and maybe even talking to realtors in both places.

Chicago and Champaign are left. We arrived in Evanston (North of Chi-town) this evening and NP is not impressed from the drive in. I'm wrestling with the possibility that Chicago was the dream city for an earlier version of myself, but even under ideal circumstances it may be too much city for me now... We're staying here longer than anywhere -- 3 nights -- and will pass through Champaign (another college town you can see in a couple hours) on the way home.

From the big picture, I'm also trying to get better at adapting to my and NP's spoon shifts over the day. Hers are always worst when we're on the road, but sometimes she gets a burst of energy once we arrive; I on the other hand have the most energy on the road and have been flagging during load-in/load-out. We show each other a lot of patience, but I am constantly checking to make sure I haven't annoyed her. I also had a pretty nasty calorie crash this morning because I did too much before we ate our first meal. Oh the joys of a spoonie life.

Comments

[otter]

I suppose part of the equation would be "how often do we have/want to leave the state" once you settle on a place.

Spoonie life is a challenge, that's for sure.

[sabethea]

Empathy on spoonie life, especially when two of you have competing spoon issues. Jay’s asthma is playing up at the moment, which makes pushing my wheelchair less easy than it might be, so I hear you.

How often do people visit or will you want to leave, so that the neighbouring states will be an issue? Even without that, tbh, Buffalo sounds preferable, though it depends exactly what the difference in houses is. You’d definitely need to see a realtor and look round places to have a good sense of what you can afford and what you like in both places. But we went for a nicer place over a nicer house when we were choosing, and I don’t regret it.

[flamingsword]

What are the car insurance and accident rates like in your “maybe’s”? Because 1, that’s an expense you’ll need to know, and B, together they will accurately indicate the driving culture better than seeing someplace around a holiday weekend, which may throw things off, statistically.

I feel for Nesting Partner especially as I’m gonna be in the same boat soon! Road trips are things I’m used to sleeping through, and I always have to fight to stay awake against the lulling vibrations and car rocking, but then drinking coffee leaves me freaking tense, wired, chatty, and anxious. She and I need better stimulants. 😿

I feel for you also, bc hypoglycemic symptoms are no fun at all, though I have not had those regularly since college.

And mismatched energetic periods sounds so frustrating! But you two have so much patience for each other, and that’s honestly #RelationshipGoals for me. Your love is so inspiring. 💕💜🫂