Another Road Trip

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

It seems like I do a lot of traveling, but even so my little car still has less than 60,000 miles on the odometer, and it had around 18,000 accumulated miles when I bought it three years ago - and a very big chunk of the ones that I have put on it since then were from one trip across much of Canada last summer that rolled up over six thousand.  I make several trips a year to see doctors in Mountain Home, Arkansas (a little over 100 miles round trip) - and Springfield, Missouri (a little over 200 miles round trip) - and a half-dozen or so to Roeland Park, Kansas to see my son and his family (nearly 600 miles round trip).  Beyond that, there are stretches of days at a time when I don't even get in the car and go anywhere.

Herman the hermit.

Getting out and about seems to be more difficult as the years pile on.  This year I have pushed hard and am about to make my fourth major trip of the year.  (A major trip is anything that takes me beyond Roeland Park, Kansas.)   Rosie and I are packing today - clothes, research materials, dog bowls - and heading for Kansas early tomorrow where we will enjoy a couple of days with the Macy's of Roeland Park, and then on Sunday I will be flying to Salt Lake City for a week of family research at the Mormon Library.   Rosie will be vacationing with Tim and Erin while I am away - and she will be spoiled rotten and cuddled unmercifully by Erin.

I began this year with good intentions of not flying anywhere, and did manage to make one long trip by car and another by train.   But flying in America is a necessary fact of life because our government refuses to pursue any viable alternatives to cars and planes and oil and gas - and will not until the last drop of fossil fuel is consumed and its poisonous fumes farted into the atmosphere.  

Secretary Pete was such a disappointment.  

High-speed rail now!

I have packed my pick and shovel, and in a couple of days I will be digging up dead relatives with wild abandon - and the political horrors that await us beginning January 20th will be far out of mind.

Stay positive, that's what I always say - and if you can't stay positive, pack a bag and go somewhere!  But just remember if you would like to check that bag and avoid the hassle of dragged it around the airport, it will cost at least an extra thirty dollars.  And if you would like a decent seat, that will be extra, too.

End junk fees now!