Ever since Randy and I met, one of our favorite things to do together is to take road trips. When we were dating, Randy was stationed at KI Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette, Michigan and I lived and worked in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Every other weekend one of us drove to visit the other. It was about a 5-hour drive in the mid-1970s, a long way for a visit of about a day and a half, but we were full of energy generated by being young and in love. We both like driving and we both had good, new cars (a ’73 Duster for Randy and a ’74 Mustang II for me) to make the trip.
Over the years some of our very best times and memories were created on road trips. I’ll tell the story soon of the road trip from Wisconsin to Guam, one of our very favorite, and most memorable, trips. We didn’t actually drive all the way to Guam of course, but we did have to deliver our 1972 Olds Delta 88 to the port in San Francisco so the government could ship it to us there. We’ve criss-crossed the country several times, north to south, east to west, always relishing the time we spent having each other’s undivided attention for hours, or days, at a time.
As we’ve aged, and as our time is now all our own to spend as we wish, the journey has become as important as the destination. We’ve slowed down, stop often, see the sights, linger, meander rather than race to get there. Road trips are now even more enjoyable and relaxing as a result.
Advice we’ve taken to heart by settling in Florida is to create a life from which you don’t need a vacation. It’s no secret that we feel like we’re on endless vacation down here in paradise on earth. Of course retirement helps that. Although it would be fine with me if we never planned another vacation anywhere, most of our family is important to us and still lives in the Midwest. So this week we’re headed to Wisconsin for a couple of weddings, one on each side of our family, who, unbeknownst to each other, scheduled them 2 weeks apart for our travel convenience. Road trip!
On this trip we’re going to caravan up to Wisconsin with a single friend who is also going to a family wedding in Milwaukee (no relation to our family) and didn’t want to make the drive with her two dogs by herself. We plan to push a little harder to get there, but will slow down and savor the trip home a few weeks from now. This will be the first time we’ve driven the route from Wisconsin to Florida with plenty of time to explore the sights along the way. Any suggestions for MUST SEES between here and there?
Surprisingly, this is the first road trip I can remember NOT looking forward to. I’ll love visiting family, especially my mom who we don’t see often enough. But home, in paradise, is where I really love to be these days. There’s nothing better than the blue and green view from our lanai, refreshing, restful (until a gator swims by in the canal behind our house), with sunshine almost every day, all day long.
There are a few road trips we still want to take, eventually. In all our past travels, we’ve never been to New England. Perhaps next fall might be a good time for that, provided fuel prices drop from their stratospheric highs. And a bucket list vacation (from before we moved to Florida) is a couple of weeks on a houseboat on Lake Powell. I have no idea what the status of Lake Powell is these days, whether or not there’s even water there. But I want to see those gorgeous canyon walls up close and personal. Another pre-Florida bucket list item is driving the Alcan Highway to Alaska. We thought we might do that in an RV….no longer a desire. But the drive sounds exciting if the crazy world ever returns to something resembling normal again.
How about you? Do you like road trips? What’s been your favorite? What’s still on your bucket list? I’d love to hear in the comments.
P.S. I can’t wait to stop at a Buc-ee’s Convenience Store on this trip. I’ve heard they’re amazing. I’ll let you know in Friday’s Short what we discover.
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