Most people of my era have read Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in the late 70's. Although it was a long time ago, I remember my takeaway was the writer's exploration of romantic and classical (or rational) approaches to life and how the combination or coexistence of these will lead to a better quality of life. This is all discussed in the context of travelling across America on motorcycles with his son and another couple. Great stuff to ponder over 40 years ago as you are starting your career as a geek, but want to maintain some kind of creative balance.
So getting back to the TrailerDreams trip, we started the adventure as a "Farewell America Tour" and initially we were somewhat focussed on the destination. Consequently our approach to issues or problems that came up was practical and matter of fact. For example, spending 2 days fixing the running lights in Lassen. However as we progressed on our journey we became more relaxed about how we addressed issues. For example, when the internal grey water tank blew up, without much discussion, we decided to use an external tank and find a better solution when we are in UK. This new approach caused much less short-term stress and as we kept saying "lets take a deep breath and be more Zen".
As Robert Pirsig said “Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive”
PS Another late 70's book that I read at University which introduced the Logical vs Creative approaches was Godel, Escher & Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Doulas Hofstadter. Here is a link to a copy: GEB
Sometimes it's a little better to do the actual maintenance on the Motorcycle, sell the Motorcycle, drink the profits and repeat the cycle (pun intended) ...
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of those books that you are made to read when young and only understand when you are older. Like Peter Gabriel says about the Book of Love: "It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes, and things we're all too young to know". Great that you took to time to get your Zen on!