When travelling any distance, most people have a tendency to hop on the nearest interstate. Faster is better. All they really see are billboards, pavement and other motorists trying to get somewhere in a hurry. It is very rare you will find me on an interstate. If I’m in that much of a hurry then I don’t have time to truly savor where I am going. I take backroads everywhere. Even to some of the biggest cities.
I have never found a new favorite restaurant flying past it at break neck speeds with other cars all around me doing the same. If something does happen to catch your eye on the interstate you can’t pull over and do this:
You don’t get to experience the calm beauty of the fog settling in on a misty evening:
There is no down time between hectic life back at home and what is suppose to be stress free time. It’s all rush, rush, rush. What is the point of stressing yourself out to relax? Where is the relaxation? Slow down. Take the journey. You already know what’s at the destination. Hell, everybody knows what’s at the destination. What’s in between? Explore. Find the gems nobody is telling you about. Spend real time with your family or friends. Pull over and play in a roadside spring:
Take your shoes off. Get out of the car. Breathe fresh air, and let the sun shine down on you. Unless it’s raining. If it’s raining, dance in it! Remember what it was like to have fun without a schedule. Learn to use your imagination again.
We actually have a game at my house. It’s called Get Mommy Lost. This was a way I spent quality time with my children when I was off from work with no distractions. We would get in the car for the day and go down the road. As we came to stop signs I would ask them which way. They would choose a direction and this would go on until we found some place we wanted to stop and explore. Or until it got so late I would have to turn around and find my way back home. Either way, the kids loved it and so did I. We found a lot of “destinations” this way. The only real rule was I was not allowed to use a map of any kind. I am proud to say I always found our way back home without any problems.
The real point is the children didn’t really care where we were going. They only cared about the journey. The time they got to spend with me. We talked and played games. They took turns picking out the music. No one cared about videogames and mobile phones. It was all about being together. Still today, even though they are mostly grown, they will climb in the car with me not caring where we are going. The journey is where we connect.
Go create your own journeys. Maybe we’ll bump into each other along the way.
The Southern Tourist 