As the Canadian border agent asked us what town we were coming from and we both stumbled to remember the name I started to wonder if we were getting dumber. The agent wasn't impressed either and I had a lot of time to contemplate the topic over the next two hours as we were waved over to park and "invited" to go inside for further questioning.
We were separated and questioned independently, still stumbling over giving answers like idiots. Our story is hard for people to understand and in fact I often struggle to wrap my brain around what we are doing. After somewhat satisfying their questions they then searched our car and camper for good measure. We warned them that Navi wasn't friendly and quickly became obvious that at least that part of our story was true as Navi tried to bite one of the agents. Eventually we were waved across the border with a smile from the border agents.
Whew!
But seriously, why couldn't we remember the name of the town we had stayed in for a week?
Rob's theory is that our every day lives are so full of things most people take for granted (Where are we going? How will we get there? Where can we go to the bathroom? etc). Because those questions are a daily issues they occupy the majority of our available bandwidth and it takes longer for experiences to be processed and put into long term memory.
Maybe.
Or maybe we are getting dumber.
Say what you want about your job and your routine but they allow structure to the day without constant thought and an opportunity to pay attention to other things. Stuff like work outs, news stories, classes, or time with friends. You know, things that stimulate your brain.
However...our brains are getting a workout. We are constantly researching boats, sailing gear, safety, surveyors, and general life at sea issues. And we spend a lot of time discussing our options and making what feel like big decisions. So maybe we aren't getting dumber, maybe we are just to deep in the weeds of learning new things that everyday "normal" things like the name of the town we are in don't feel as important.
Honestly, whatever is happening we are tired at the end of every day and sleep on average 9 hours a night. I'm holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, we are getting a little smarter instead??? Fingers crossed!