“Not all who wander are lost”
A quote from Gandalf, the wizard in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and if I’m not mistaken, Dumbledore’s brother-in-law. Two beards like that have to be related.
My Captor and I have been ‘wandering with a purpose’ the last couple of months, and had a blast: Trips to Charlotte, Lake Blue Ridge, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Atlanta – and home again.
All visiting family and friends, all ‘counter trend ‘: None to Iceland or Europe, none a cruise on the Danube. But we have rode Thunder River at 6 Flags…
My Captor and I – and I’m guessing, every couple – travel the same way each time, with our own rhythm, and set of duties.
The vast majority of our trips by car, for fear our flight might be diverted to Newark.
Long car travel uniquely American – due to the country’s size, Ike generously building the interstates, and Mamie designing the rest areas. And our car dimensions: A Suburban too large to fit in Lichtenstein.
I drive, My Captor navigates with Waze. She packs sandwiches, I handle Spotify – her Promised Land hearing a podcast, which I humor with my ‘Keith Morrison voice’.
We have faith in Waze, but now ‘trust and verify’ – on a recent trip to Alexandria, we ended up in Egypt. But the pyramids were nice…
As an excursus – a word of the day, meaning ‘aside’ – the single quote and double quote are essentially the same thing, a vestige of typesetting. Silly me, I thought they were “different’.
Our obsessive road game, trying to beat Waze’s arrival time – the occasional minute or two our best, still better than road map arrival estimate of ‘Tuesday’.
Back in the day, we did a LOT of family vacations in my beloved 8 passenger Astro van – a kid in every seat – a car I’ll be buried in. We arrived safely, but I don’t want to know what happened back there, or what psychological/physical issues our kids have as a result.
(Shakes Fist Wistfully in remembrance of the Astro van…)
Trips begin with the ‘packing of the car’, an event as sacred as men grilling together. The goal ‘Cubing Out’, jamming as much in the back as possible. Now that My Captor and I travel alone, I pack old furniture to ensure ‘Cubing Out’ still challenging.
Our planned stops in the 2-3 hour range, a Snickers the travel treat.
When it’s called for, we’re 5A departers, ahead of some traffic issues, but since neither of us can see in the dark, the rosary in full workout.
As another excursus, time on 95 time off from Purgatory – recently approved by the new pope. Praying for a 3rd SC lane…
The trips: Charlotte a grandkid sitting gig, Lake Blue Ridge a restful book club weekend, Atlanta a friend’s daughter’s baby shower.
Lake Charles a visit to My Captor’s brother and wife. It was pretty exciting – but I grew up in Omaha.
Alexandria, a chance for Easter with grandkids, and our Marquette niece’s final Big East lacrosse game vs. Georgetown. Our first lacrosse game: the Omaha of sports… And we flew, clearing Brunswick TSA in under 3 minutes. On My Captor time, fortunately we gate-arrived an hour early!
And to keep our trips exciting!!! The license plate game, with the Lake Charles high of 41, just short of our record of 43! The random Alaska or Hawaii definitely beats the cow counting game.
But the best part of every trip – the return.
Is there anything better than the first night back in your own bed?
BUY THE BOOK! Beers at the Nifty 2024 still available on Amazon. Order today, make me – and yourself – happy! Today’s special: Buy 2, they’ll send you 2! Also available on Kindle – only $7.99.
And please leave a review… but only if it’s good.
I’m frequently asked “Why is it called Beers at the Nifty”, here’s a link to explain.
For 291 more posts like this –each with a wish for a 3rd lane– go to beersatthenifty.com. Your phone will display every post, and you can waste an hour or two.
ENHANCE YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS POST, PAIR IT WITH THE FOLLOWING ‘AGING HIPSTER MUSIC’:
David Kitt is an Irish musician who is also a member of Tindersticks, a recently featured band. I’ve added ‘Song from Hope St.’ ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ ‘You Know what I Want to know’ and ‘It’s Yours’. Odd – and nice – at times he sounds like JJ Cale.
Jimmy,
We had an Astro van too! Only after the staton wagon with the backward facing seat became too small. We got tired of dragging a uhaul behind it. We traveled like the Beverly hillbillies .the Astro van was a godsend !!\
The little v6 engine as pushed tithe max.
Great memories!! Thanks for another great article!!!
Ed—(aka Jed Clampett)