Open Road, Open Mind.

I love road trips.  Last Monday, I drove to North Carolina. Long drives are very Zen for me. Unfortunately, just like going into a pool, starting a drive is always the hardest part. Once I get on the open road, I don't want to stop driving.

The drive was long but I started early.  I drove from state to state, stopping at rest stops in each one, to stretch my legs and use the facilities.  It was the first road trip in a long time that I did not have my trusty Escape.  The Focus was amazing on gas(almost 42 mpg) and I only had to stop for one fill up along the way.  A cheaper car though, drives and feels like a cheaper car.

Dodging storms and scary truck drivers became a game.  Driving through the western half of Pennsylvania and across the edge of Maryland, I kept an eye out for stops I would want to make on the way home.  I'm that guy who goes to the roadside attractions.  When the kids are with me, I can't pass up a zoo; a cavern; the largest ball of yarn.  The candidates really started building as I passed a billboard for The World Miniature Museum.  Thoughts of a really small museum, then just a globe crossed my mind and I chuckled.

As I passed Luray Caverns in Virginia, memories of the kids and my trip to Fl. reached through time to coax a smile.  Maybe I would have to stop there on the way back I thought. I was getting tired but still had a ways to go through North Carolina. I wondered what it would be like to live in each locale as I passed.   I enjoyed the sites along the road and the puffy visions of clouds ahead.

Long distance driving is like a microcosm of life.  Scenes change with time, progress isn't always easily gauged and no matter how many times you take the same road, somehow it is different.

I reached my destination in record time and spent a very productive week with my friend and his family.

Sometimes, you need allow the scenery to go by.  Other times, you have to grab the wheel and take charge.  Either way, you miss a lot if you don't get on the road.