Road Trip Journal done
It’s taken me a while but I’ve finally put the binding on my road trip journal and called it a day. When we chose to regard our trip north as a “Road Trip” I decided I’d do the usual journal and record our experiences just as we would if we’d been driving across America. It proved more difficult though, maybe because it all feels so commonplace?
I got hold of a few bits and pieces - plaid patterned paper and scrapbook elements - to use throughout and I think, looking at the finished journal, it’s all a bit product-driven. Never mind - done is better than perfect!
The usual favourites are all here - there are route maps, carefully drawn by my hero for the sake of accuracy.
There are one or two ropey drawings when I found the time to do them and it’s noticeable when I read it back, how preoccupied with the pandemic we were in mid August - the previous page had explained how I had chosen a broadly outdoor attraction so that we could avoid large groups of people. Clearly we were disappointed here.
Some pages are heavily collaged and my journalling is squeezed in amongst other information. When I did this page - completed that evening - I felt it was important to include all those Scottish CV-guidelines which were actually more stringent than in England. One of my favourite journals was made using only recycled ephemera like this and I’m reminded that it’s something I should try again.
The edge of my “recycled ephemera journal”, made following a trip to Sweden in 2009.
As usual, during the first half of the trip, I’m keen to keep up with it all each night but one or two late nights in restaurants or busy days spent out in the fresh air mean that I soon fall behind with making the pages in real time. After a while, I simply stuff the memorabilia between the relevant pages of the journal, maybe doing a quick drawing to remind me of some event or other, or scribbling down a few words.
Because of course, I’ve got my notebook with me during the day as well. Nothing gets forgotten!
So things like turkish map folds and other, more elaborate pages get put together at my work table once we are home and its this that takes the time and the discipline to getonwithit!
It was a familiar motivation that sent me to my worktable the last couple of days - I was tired of seeing all that “stuff” all over, fed up of the little cutouts and bits of tartan paper falling on the floor and most of all, I was ready to leave all of this behind and move on.
I’m glad to close the pages and put it on the shelf!
