Episode 731: The Exit That Changed Everything – Permission to choose your own road With Dan Porta & Megan Porta

EBT731 – Dan & Megan

[00:00:00]  Megan Porta 

Today’s episode is a vulnerable one, very vulnerable, and it’s also one of my favorite ones yet. I am sharing something I have quietly been working on behind the scenes and I haven’t shared it with anyone outside my family until now. It is my first book that is a non cookbook and it is a memoir.

[00:00:22]   

It is about RV life, a decade on the road for me and my family, but it’s so much more than that. It’s also about listening for the whisper that says there’s another way. My husband Dan joins me for this one and I will tell you that his teenagers not to be confused with our children, different set of teenagers make a guest appearance in the episode and the book, but we talk about them in the episode and also in this episode I cry.

[00:00:54]   

I think it might be the first time full on tears have happened in a podcast episode. We talk about how this book came to be, who it’s for, and what happens when you stop waiting for someday. If you have been feeling a creative nudge or craving more from your life, this is your sign. I hope you enjoy this episode.

[00:01:19] Intro  

Hi food bloggers. I’m Megan Porta and this is Eat Blog Talk. Your space for support, inspiration and strategies to grow your blog and your freedom. Whether that’s personal, professional or financial, you are not alone on this journey.

[00:01:41]   Sponsor

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[00:02:55]  Dan Porta 

Hi, Megan. Welcome back to your podcast.

[00:02:58]  Megan Porta 

Thanks. Hi. From the basement.

[00:03:01]  Dan Porta 

I think this…

[00:03:02]  Megan Porta 

How’s upstairs?

[00:03:04]  Dan Porta 

It’s nice. Sun’s out.

[00:03:06]  Megan Porta 

Good.

[00:03:06]  Dan Porta 

I think this is the second time we’ve done this, and I believe we were talking before you hit record. This was my idea. Right.

[00:03:15]  Megan Porta 

This podcast episode was 100% your idea, and I loved it.

[00:03:18]  Dan Porta 

All right. I thought it would be fun to talk about something that you have started. You’ve talked a long time about writing a book, probably for years, and you had even started writing stuff down. But then something happened on our last road trip out to Montana, and you kind of. You kind of went crazy writing.

[00:03:47]   

And so I thought it would be fun to talk about that because you had wanted to do it for so long. And first, why a book in the first place? And then what happened that got you going?

[00:03:59]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I know. And just to acknowledge that you mentioned, I started writing before. So I did start writing a book last fall, and I still want to write that book. But it got to the point where it felt a little. I don’t know, something was just off. Like I was having to force myself every time I sat down to write, which didn’t feel right.

[00:04:21]   

It didn’t feel aligned yet. And then when we were on the road this year, I chose to unplug completely, which is something I’ve never done for an extended period ever, in the 15 years that I’ve had my business. But I did, and you can tell people that I’m telling the truth. I literally unplugged for two weeks, at least. It was glorious. I did do this.

[00:04:50]  Dan Porta 

Yes, you did. It was amazing.

[00:04:52]  Megan Porta 

Yes, it was weird, but also awesome. But when I unplugged, I found that I was getting some insights that I think were waiting for me to clear some room for. I think without the noise of Instagram and email and all of that, that things came to me, including the idea for this book.

[00:05:15]   

So we were. I think we were on day two of our road trip, so it wasn’t far in. And I was in the back at the table when you were driving. And I was reading On Writing by Stephen King, which is a book I’ve wanted to write or read forever. And I. It just, like, I didn’t plan this.

[00:05:36]   

It just happened to be the book that I picked off the shelf. And as I was reading it, I don’t know, something about his writing and his encouragement for others to write just gave me this idea that I just felt so strongly tied to. It was, you have to write a memoir about the 10 years of RV traveling that you and your family have done.

[00:06:04]   

And also, I don’t know, provide kind of the background, like, why. Why we have sought out this time on the road and time freedom in general for our family before I write that other book, because the other book is about how to achieve time freedom and how we’ve made it happen in our family, in our lives.

[00:06:28]   

So I just felt like that something was telling me higher power, whatever was saying, yes, that book needs to be birthed, but first you need to write about your why. What has motivated you to seek out time freedom. And like you said, I kind of went crazy. I started. I found a little notebook in the RV that was blank, strangely, and just started jotting down notes about everything.

[00:06:57]   

Because we were in it, we were on the road, and that was where it started, how it started.

[00:07:02]  Dan Porta 

That is very cool. I’m excited to read it. But you won’t let me read anything yet, right? Because that’s one of the rules.

[00:07:10]  Megan Porta 

No. Well, one of the parts of Stephen King’s book. So his book on writing is part memoir about his journey as a writer, starting as a young kid. And it’s really cool. He talks a lot about his life and the people and his life and all that. But then part of the other part of the book is about how we can write and be better writers.

[00:07:33]   

So one of the things he recommends is that you don’t show your writing, your first draft to anyone. You do it in secret. Because you can too easily be like, things can be altered. You know, if you dug into it and you’d be like, well, wait, that story isn’t exactly how I remember.

[00:07:53]   

Or there are things that you would probably point out that I’m like, wait, but this is. This needs to come out the way it needs to come out. So as hard as it is, because I really want to show you. I’m not showing anyone draft one. I’m just letting it flow and then going to take Stephen King’s advice on the next part too, let it marinate for a few weeks. Don’t look at it at all. Don’t think about it at all. And then come back, do a draft, too. And then at that point, gather feedback from trusted people like you.

[00:08:28]  Dan Porta 

I think I should get a disclaimer section in some of the stories because I think you have a tendency to, you know, remember my actions, maybe a little more nutty than I remember them. So I. I need to have note.

[00:08:45]  Megan Porta 

Access my perspective that. No, you don’t. That is My perspective. But I will take your feedback once I let you.

[00:08:53]  Dan Porta 

That’s good. So this is obviously different than anything else you’ve written. You’ve done a lot of writing overall the past 15 years. How does this compare to that? This is a little more personal.

[00:09:05]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I’ve written a lot of things. Recipes, recipe posts, blog posts, emails galore, podcast episodes, a cookbook. But this is definitely different. It has felt like the most aligned project I’ve probably ever done. It’s been a really weird kind of. I don’t know, I feel like sometimes I’m. I can zoom out and look at what’s happened over the last few weeks.

[00:09:35]   

It’s only been a few weeks, and I’m kind of in awe because it’s so natural. It just feels like this was meant to come out right now in this exact moment, because it’s been. I’ve just felt like this incredible flow. I sit down to write and I haven’t even written out an outline.

[00:09:55]   

I just sit down to write and it’s all just spewed out of me from word one through the end. I’m not done yet, but I’m probably halfway through. And every time I sit down, it’s just like this natural flow. Like, I pick up where I left off, and it is like the book was inside of me the whole time and it just needed to come out.

[00:10:20]   

So it feels very different from anything else I’ve ever done. It feels aligned and just perfectly timed and. Yeah, just right.

[00:10:32]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. It’s been fun to watch, actually, from a distance, because it just. You described it well. It just seems like there’s no effort. You just sit and go and write as long as you want. You have a wealth of stories, obviously, to choose from, from our travels.

[00:10:50]  Megan Porta 

Yes, we do have.

[00:10:52]  Dan Porta 

One of the other reasons I thought maybe had an impact was that we thought this could be our last, our 10th and final road trip that at least looks like this. We’ll still do trips, but as far as going out to Montana and doing the same kind of steps, we thought this might be it. Did that impact you, too?

[00:11:11]  Megan Porta 

Definitely. Because 10 years is a long time to live on the road. We don’t live on the road full time, but even part time. I just thought, oh, my gosh, a decade. We’re rounding out a whole decade of this traveling. That is significant. If you do anything for a decade, it’s significant. But then I thought a decade with all of these incredible stories that we have inside the decade.

[00:11:40]   

And not only stories, but lessons and ways that We’ve evolved and changed because of our travels and saying yes to the travels. There’s so much in that decade. So, yeah, for sure, the fact that we rounded out 10 years was a huge reason. I don’t think a year ago this would have been right to write yet.It just wouldn’t have been fully baked. But now, 10 years, even though we might continue to travel in the RV, it just feels like a fully baked muffin that we’re ready to deliver to anyone who wants to eat it.

[00:12:21]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. As you were describing it, when you’ve given me little just outline topics that you’re writing, I think it’s going to be a really fun lens to get at what you said earlier. Kind of the why time freedom is cool. So I’m excited to read that. How are you breaking it up? What are your different chapters, different topics?What do you. What’s the flow?

[00:12:46]  Megan Porta 

Oh, I can’t tell you too much, but I like I said, it’s just flowed out. I haven’t given it much thought. Like, ooh, I’ll start with chapter one. And do talk about this. It hasn’t been like that at all. I just kind of started where I knew I needed to start, which was the kind of the dawn of RV travel and what prompted it and some stories involved with that and how it was really like divinely timed.

[00:13:15]   

There were so many things that were divinely timed and aligned back then. And so I talk about that and then I just get into some stories because I know people love travel stories. They’re crazy, they’re wild, they’re unexpected. I do a little bit of character development because you three are and Buddy, so four of you are the main characters.

[00:13:38]   

So through the stories, I do character development and show people who you are. But then what I just finished is the middle of the book and that highlights you guys. So it talks more. But like here you’ve been given a little bit of a teaser about who Dan, Elijah, Sammy, and Buddy are through these stories.

[00:13:59]   

But now I’m going to like really dig in and tell the reader really who you are from my perspective. And then I talk about the why. Why what has propelled me to do the RV travel and seek out this life that we’ve created of time and schedule freedom. So that’s the middle and then the end is just going to round out with some deeper stories.

[00:14:24]   

Now that people know who you guys are and what my motivation has been with all of this and you know my heart a little bit more, then we’re gonna get into some I don’t know how to say that, but like maybe more meaningful stories like why Montana? Why am I drawn to the Montana mountains?

[00:14:43]   

And yeah, some of those just deeper things, but delivered through stories as well. So it’s kind of like what started the mission. Really fun, tragic, funny stories, you guys, and my why and then meaningful stories to end.

[00:15:03]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. I love that you’re not worried about like it has to be this way chronological order or I have to do this just seems every time you sit down and you just start going with whatever is on your mind that day. So I’m excited to see how that unfolds throughout the book where it’s… you’re talking about one topic, not necessarily before or after another. I’m curious to see how you put all of those little stories together in different categories. So we’ve talked a little bit about why you’re writing the book as you’ve gotten into it. Further, when you think of the audience that you’re writing for who might enjoy reading it, besides me of course, who do you think is going to take the most from this?

[00:15:48]  Megan Porta 

I gave this a lot of thought before I even started writing because I’ve been a food blogger for a long time. I know that the audience matters. You can’t just. You have to kind of define who is going to be consuming the book before you write it, just like with anything else. So I think this book is for women mainly.

[00:16:08]   

I think men will get a lot out of it too. But in my mind, my ideal reader is a woman who, who has maybe forgotten important things. Maybe how. What makes her feel joy in her life? She is middle aged. I don’t know, I don’t like to put an age really, but like 30 to 60 maybe feeling a little bit weary and feeling a little bit of an ache for a life that she dismissed or decided not to chase or the world told her not to chase.

[00:16:44]   

She’s not necessarily looking for a how to book. Instead she’s craving a companion. Someone who has walked a road like the one that I and we have walked and I want to be seen as someone walking beside her. And I’m going to try not to get teary. Wow. Just. Yeah. Just reminding this person that even though she feels like maybe she missed something that she hasn’t.

[00:17:16]   

Oh, why am I crying? Okay, so just giving her permission to stop doing things that are told to her that she should do by well-meaning people and society and to just design a life that she feels joy in and passion for.

[00:17:43]  Dan Porta 

Oh, that’s awesome. You can tell it means that much to you. That’s exciting. Do you have…

[00:17:49]  Megan Porta 

I’m all good.

[00:17:50]  Dan Porta 

Do you have an end date in mind when you want to wrap up by? I figure another purpose of this quick little chat will be some accountability. Listeners can ask you how far you’re coming, but do you have a time in mind?

[00:18:05]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that’s a huge part of this, too. When you mentioned, oh, we should do an interview, I was like, yes. But then, oh, it’s so scary because when you put something like this out there, then you have to follow through. I can’t just walk away from this project. I have to do it, which is good.

[00:18:23]   

I need that. So I don’t have a set date, but I started this project just over three weeks ago, and I’m halfway done. I’ve written about exactly half the book, so I would imagine in three weeks I’ll be done with the last part. Then I want to let it sit for, I don’t know, a good month probably, and go through that.

[00:18:45]   

Give it another month before I write another draft and have people read through it. So what is that? End of fall? September? I would love to have publishing figured out because I haven’t thought through that at all and have it in the works by the end of the year.

[00:19:02]  Dan Porta 

Yeah, Holiday gift. Perfect.

[00:19:05]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that would be amazing.

[00:19:07]  Dan Porta 

You said that it’s just kind of been coming out of you naturally. Have there been any parts that have been difficult to write, either getting stuck or just difficult to remember? I know one for sure, but.

[00:19:22]  Megan Porta 

Ooh, you tell me, what was the one?

[00:19:24]  Dan Porta 

It just wasn’t fun necessarily to recall the appendix issue. Oh, yeah. Thinking back on that, that was a. A unique, stressful, painful time. But still, we got more painful for you. We got good lessons out of it. So I. But that one, it is a fun one.

[00:19:45]  Megan Porta 

And some good stories. Honestly, that, yeah, it’s been fun to piece stories together with you because some things fade over time and just the details are like, I don’t know. I don’t remember this exactly how it went down. So talking through some of the stories with you has been fun. And then we remember details that we’d forgotten.

[00:20:07]   

But I would say nothing has been like, tripped me up or created a block or anything like that. But it was really hard for me, and I haven’t even told you this, to write the section that I just finished, which was talking about you and. And Elijah and Sammy and even Buddy and I talk about Moga a little bit, our cat, and then talking about my why, but particularly writing about you guys, that was not hard.

[00:20:39]   

Not hard in the sense that I, you know, it was hard to pull it together because I know you guys well, but it was emotional and it was. I would sit down and almost have resistance, like, I don’t want to go there because you guys are so awesome. And just, gosh. Writing about you guys on that deep of a level and really digging into who, not only who you are, but why I love each of you so much was really challenging.

[00:21:13] Sponsor   

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[00:21:31]  Dan Porta 

Even some of the stories we talked about, they’re definitely very emotional. So it’s. It’s fun to hear you talk that emotionally and know that that’s going into the book because I think that’s going to be super impactful for people. Do you have a title? Do you want to tell us a title?

[00:21:49]  Megan Porta 

I think so. This could change, but I really like it because it has just some multiple meanings. But I think Take the Exit really struck a chord with me because obviously that is tied to road travel, but then it also ties to the theme of you’re traveling on an interstate or somewhere where everyone else is.

[00:22:16]   

The road is busy and people tell you you should go that route. But sometimes you need to exit and take a different route even though it’s less traveled. So that kind of ties into both of them.

[00:22:30]  Dan Porta 

I like it. I like that messaging. Do you? Well, you can’t tell us a ton about the book, but do you have any quick little sneak peek stories that you can share that you put in there?

[00:22:44]  Megan Porta 

So many. I won’t read passages, but I could tell a few stories. What do you think would be interesting? We’ve got the appendix story. We have the River Adventure. We have your teenagers. That’ll be a little tease you have to read just to find out about Dan’s notorious teenagers and all of the havoc they have caused in our lives over the years.And they’re not our teenagers.

[00:23:11]  Dan Porta 

They’re different teenagers now. It made sense at the time. We were on our first stop in South Dakota.

[00:23:18]  Megan Porta 

Wait, should we even tell people? Oh, I think we should just keep it so people listen.

[00:23:23]  Dan Porta 

But this is one of those ones where I. I mean, I wasn’t quite as ragingly upset as you make it sound. I was perplexed.

[00:23:35]  Megan Porta 

How do you know you haven’t read It. You don’t know. I’ll make it sound.

[00:23:38]  Dan Porta 

I just heard you tell it, like. Well, yeah, I don’t know. So you can’t tell that. Well, we have to tell one story.

[00:23:45]  Megan Porta 

So that story is good. There’s. I know. I mean, there’s like some sickness and illness type stuff that’s really hard and sad that’s happened on the road. Funny things, too. Fun adventures. How about the river adventure? That one was one that we talk about all the time as a family.

[00:24:08]  Dan Porta 

That’s a fun one.

[00:24:09]  Megan Porta 

The boys usually say. Yeah, they’ll say that. Remember that time you. You almost died, Mom. Because they literally thought I was going to die, and I did, too.

[00:24:19]  Dan Porta 

So.

[00:24:20]  Megan Porta 

But we were. Yeah, you can start it.

[00:24:22]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. I’ll set the backdrop and then you can add the flair.

[00:24:27]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:24:27]  Dan Porta 

In Montana, it’s common to go float down a river. And we were staying with some friends and we got a decent sized group together. Ryan was there, right. Sparzak and Ethan and the girls. There was a, I don’t know, 10ish people in a variety of watercraft. A float boat, a raft. Megan, you were on a paddleboard and some inner tubes.

[00:24:56]   

And it’s kind of fun. You float down. You bring coolers. You stop along the way, have lunch. After lunch, we kept on floating and noticed some clouds in the distance and a storm started. Heavy rain, some hail. I think the lightning was a little further away. But when you hear Ryan tell it, he’s like, I could feel it in the rod of my fishing pole.

[00:25:20]  Megan Porta 

So Dan tends to underplay things, and I probably do the opposite when we’re telling stories. But the lightning was real and so freaking close. And I believe Ryan when he said that he could feel the electricity through his. Through his fishing pole because I was on the paddle board. We keep in mind we were all in the river and the river was not.

[00:25:46]   

There was no exit access. It was like, kind of cliffy on the side. You couldn’t get off where we were. So we were stuck in the river despite this crazy, raging storm. It was hail, cold, hail, rain, wind. And I mean, when the lightning came, I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me.

[00:26:09]   

Because I remember looking down the river and seeing lightning. Like, I could see it. And I was like, I don’t. I’m not very good at science, but I think when you’re in a body of water and lightning strikes, that’s probably not good. I was just, oh, my gosh. Just praying that we would all survive that.

[00:26:29]   

And the boys were in a boat over here to my right with Ryan’s wife. And I was alone on the paddleboard. And then you were in a separate boat in front. The boys were so scared. They were under towels on the bottom of the boat. I don’t know if they were crying. They were.

[00:26:47]   

They were upset. But I just remember hearing Sammy say, my mom’s gonna die. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so scary for them. Are they gonna be traumatized?

[00:26:59]  Dan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:27:00]  Megan Porta 

But, yeah, it was intense, but clearly we all survived.

[00:27:04]  Dan Porta 

It was one of those moments where I remember being in the heavy rain and cold, and I had to kind of tap into the whole, okay, this is going to end. This isn’t going to go on forever. It will be done soon. I don’t remember how long it was. Maybe 30 minutes, something like that.

[00:27:21]  Megan Porta 

It seemed like forever. I had the same moment, but I was being pummeled by hail, by myself on this paddleboard trying to stay on it, and I was freezing and just hail was, like, accumulating on my life jacket. And I had the same little self pep talk that was something like, you are going to get through this.We all. We are all going to survive. This will be a fun story in the future. And here we go. Delivering it to you now.

[00:27:50]  Dan Porta 

It is a good one. It was exciting.

[00:27:53]  Megan Porta 

Yes.

[00:27:54]  Dan Porta 

Well, I think you’ve given a good teaser here. Do you have any other things you want to say about the process, the book, how you want people to keep you accountable?

[00:28:04]  Megan Porta 

Oh, yeah. If you feel inspired, definitely send me an email in the next few weeks asking how it’s going because that will keep me on track. I would love to be done with this by the end of the year. I just feel like it needs to be in the world and I have no expectations as far as financial or anything, really.It’s just one of those things I know has to be released. I just know it. So, yeah, hold me accountable. And I. I would love to ask you some questions. Can I ask you some questions back?

[00:28:40]  Dan Porta 

Oh, I guess can do that.

[00:28:42]  Megan Porta 

Are you just dying of curiosity? Are you just like, okay, let’s. Let’s let her finish. When you see me write, do you want to know? Do you not want to know? I’m always curious about that.

[00:28:53]  Dan Porta 

No, I’m not dying of curiosity. We’ve talked enough that I have a general idea of what you’re doing, so I’m just excited to see it all come together. Like I said earlier, it’s been cool to see just how it’s just been coming out of you. And it’s been fun to reminisce too, you know, 10 years.

[00:29:11]   

Even on this past trip. I remember that night in Bozeman, we had Ethan over and I think you mentioned the book and we just remembered some of the crazy stories over the past 10 years. So it’s going to be entertaining for me to read. I know. Oh, did I have some firework lessons that I just remember too.

[00:29:30]   

I learned some very good lessons lighting off fireworks too, but yeah, so I’m not. I’m just excited to see it all come together and remember the stories, reminisce and hear how much you love your boys. That’ll be fun.

[00:29:48]  Megan Porta 

And you mentioned Ethan too. He’s a big part of the book because we stayed at his house for so many years. It was one of our staples in the summer, staying at his place in Montana. So that’ll be fun too. Just watching other characters float in and out of the book. You don’t get to know them as well as you guys.

[00:30:08]   

Yeah.

[00:30:09]  Dan Porta 

Best backward fire backyard fireworks show in the state of Montana. That’s what we did.

[00:30:15]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh.

[00:30:15]  Dan Porta 

And we only. Oh, one teaser quick. And we only put a couple of burn holes in kids shirts. So no real injuries.

[00:30:24]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, we didn’t kill any children. When we were reminiscing with Ethan this summer, he said, I didn’t know this. He learned later that the neighbors that lived close to him would set their lawn chairs up each year, unknowingly to him at the time, to watch your guys show because it was so good.

[00:30:46]   

They’d be like, oh, remember last year Ethan put on that great show so they would prepare themselves and have a little display party, which is so fun.

[00:30:56]  Dan Porta 

Yeah, that was very fun.

[00:30:57]  Megan Porta 

And that must make you feel honored even though you. You almost killed a herd of children.

[00:31:02]  Dan Porta 

It wasn’t that bad. It was just a small explosion.

[00:31:07]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, we’ll tease that for the book too. You have to read to find out that story.

[00:31:11]  Dan Porta 

Just if you’re lighting off fireworks this summer and it’s a windy day, don’t have the pile of fireworks downwind of where you’re lighting fireworks because sparks are amazing and can fly a few feet over and cause some serious damage.

[00:31:32]  Megan Porta 

Oh my gosh, you guys. I’ll give a little teaser to that. So, yeah, after that whole situation, I was in the RV at the time and saw what looked like a missile from war flying. It was red flying past the RV door. And I was like, oh, gosh, this is not good. I very gingerly peeked my head out and saw you and Ethan crouching behind a bush out of pure fear.

[00:32:01]   

It was like war. I was like, what is happening? And I don’t even remember what you guys said, but I could tell you were freaking out.

[00:32:08]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. That may have been a different one, though. I think that was the one. We’re getting a little too deep into this.

[00:32:13]  Megan Porta 

Oh, yeah.

[00:32:15]  Dan Porta 

Another lesson. If you’re launching two mortars off of the same board, it’s not a good idea because the one will launch and compress the board and then when the other one goes off, there’s not as much to compress against. So that one, the one you’re talking about, the first one shot off and went, yay pretty.

[00:32:35]   

The second one went up and I remember time slowed down because I just saw the mortar spinning about 60ft above the ground and I was like, that just doesn’t seem very high. That’s when Ethan and I both turned and dove under a tree and it went boom. The crowd loved it, though. It was nice and close.

[00:32:57]   

Boom.

[00:32:58]  Megan Porta 

Crowd pleasing and death defying. Anyway, so many memories. I’m combining them. I forgot that that was a different story.

[00:33:07]  Dan Porta 

We learned like a lesson each year.

[00:33:09]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, you guys did. You could probably create YouTube videos about that.

[00:33:14]  Dan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:33:15]  Megan Porta 

Enlighten other people. During our adventures, did you ever think that all of the highs and lows and crazy times and even the mundane times would become a book?

[00:33:29]  Dan Porta 

No, I don’t think so. I knew you wanted to write a book in general in the grand kind of picture of life, but I didn’t know that it would be just kind of inspired by this whole experience. But like I said earlier, I think it’s great. It’s a great lens to look at why we do what we do and tell some fun stories along the way.

[00:33:52]   

So I wouldn’t say I expected it, but I think it’s going to be a great fit.

[00:33:56]  Megan Porta 

And it’s funny because I never. It never occurred to me, honestly, to write this book until that moment on this past RV trip. And it’s kind of weird. Why. Why wouldn’t I have thought of that? But I literally didn’t this whole time.

[00:34:13]  Dan Porta 

Yeah. I think it’s like what you said earlier, it’s just the right time. 10th trip, you’re reading that book and now is time.

[00:34:21]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. What else do we have? I. What, aside from the death defying and dramatic moments, do you have any just low key everyday moments that you really love about our trips that I’m sure will be talked about in the memoir?

[00:34:42]  Dan Porta 

Oh, yeah, for sure. One of my favorite first memories is in the RV in Deadwood that first morning because we usually stop once in South Dakota and then we go to Deadwood and stay just outside of town and having my morning coffee with my little table with the huge pine trees and just the smell.

[00:35:08]   

I love that, that morning time. And then I like nerding out with building little fires. That’s kind of one of my simple pleasures. I like to real finely stack them all together in little square cabin looking things and then it’s got to be lit with just a tiny flame. Yeah, simple pleasures. Those are a couple of them you.

[00:35:32]  Megan Porta 

Do have very selective simple pleasures. And I love it because I love them too.

[00:35:38]  Dan Porta 

So I think I’ll close with this question. For people who may have kind of felt a nudge to do something like what you’re doing, how would you encourage them to kind of listen to that inner voice? Are there even practical things like ways they can follow you on this journey? What do you think?

[00:36:03]  Megan Porta 

I think it’s telling that the whole project idea came to me when I decided to get quiet. I shut everything out. So I think it starts there just getting quiet on some level, even if it’s for a day or a couple days, preferably more if you’re feeling the need for it. But that’s when those nudges have space to come in and when you feel them, don’t ignore it.

[00:36:31]   

Don’t excuse it away by saying, but I have to write five blog posts this week and do XYZ make space for it. Figure out how to do it. Because those whispers come to you for a reason. And I think the more you listen to them, the more aligned you’re going to be as a person and as a business owner.

[00:36:53]   

For me, it hasn’t been easy to make time for this because I’m trying to write at least an hour a day. Sometimes it’s more. And that infringes on a lot of things. It has required me to rewrite my days, which has been weird, but I’ve figured out how to do it. I’ve had to put some things aside.

[00:37:15]   

I have not published as many blog posts as I normally would have, that sort of thing. But I know this is important. So yeah, get quiet, listen to the nudges, figure out how to put it in your schedule, even if it’s getting up early or working at night, whatever, and just trusting that that whisper came to you for a reason.

[00:37:35]  Dan Porta 

So for people who aren’t already either on your email list or following you and they want to follow along on the last half of this journey, since you’re already about halfway through. Where would they do that?

[00:37:48]  Megan Porta 

So get on the Eat Blog Talk email list for sure. Just go to eatblogtalk.com to do that. And also follow me on Substack because now that it’s out in the world, I haven’t shared this with anyone. By the way, this is the only time aside from Dan and the boys. Now that it’s out, I plan to talk about it more in Substack because that’s more of reflection and mindset and that sort of thing.

[00:38:16]   

So definitely follow me there. I include Substack links in my e blog talk emails, but I’ll also include it in the show notes for this this episode. So do that and share this episode with anyone who you feel could use inspiration, who is maybe putting a dream aside that they have ignored and, you know, they need to chase it. I think that’s about it.

[00:38:44]  Dan Porta 

Awesome. Well, I’m excited to read it. Appreciate your time in the basement to do this quick chat. Oh, did you have an event, special something this past week?

[00:39:00]  Megan Porta 

A special event? Oh, you mean a giant birthday? Is that what you’re talking about?

[00:39:06]  Dan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:39:08]  Megan Porta 

Oh, yes, I did. Thank you for bringing that up.

[00:39:11]  Dan Porta 

But it’s kind of fun because it’ll shock people. Everyone take a second. How old do you think the beauty is over there? And how old are you?

[00:39:22]  Megan Porta 

Well, I am 50 now on July 23rd. Turned into the 50 decade. Yeah, it’s a big one. It feels. It feels big, but not in a. I thought I would feel daunted by it or afraid of it because my parents haven’t aged gracefully. And I think I’m was a little bit fearful about how I would go into this year and beyond.

[00:39:49]   

But I actually feel after a few days of being 50, I mean, now I’m super wise. I feel like I’m going to just embrace the. The wisdom and maturity and alignment and, I don’t know, just all the good things that come with aging in this decade. So I’m really excited.

[00:40:10]  Dan Porta 

Best years yet to come.

[00:40:12]  Megan Porta 

Exactly. I love it. And you have a few years, so I’ll. I’ll wait for you. You’re not quite 50 yet in there.

[00:40:20]  Dan Porta 

All right, well, should we wrap it up?

[00:40:22]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Thank you for listening everyone talk about our random RV travels. But I really hope that you’re inspired by the book. At least read it for the fun stories and hopefully more than that. And yeah, we’ll talk about it more in the coming weeks and months.

[00:40:39]  Dan Porta 

Excited for it.

[00:40:40]  Megan Porta 

Yes. Me too. Thank you for the interview, Dan.

[00:40:44]  Dan Porta 

Anytime.

[00:40:47]  Outro 

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.