I've talked about this subject before, but it never hurts to look at it in a slightly different light. While we have a webpage we call future travels, and we do try to use some planning as far as what those travels might be, they are not cast in stone. Perhaps it would be better to say that they are future wishes. For example, our Alaska trip of last summer had been on the schedule for a number of years, it just kept getting pushed back as things changed.
In fact as I looked at that page while thinking about this article, I realized it was already suffered major changes this year. There is one item on that future itinerary however, that is cast in solid steel, monolithic and motionless. It being the every five year high school reunion that Linda ALWAYS attends. A number of times during our working life she flew back on her own to attend, but now that we can take our home with us, the logistics are easier.
Now the time is fast approaching for us to travel to southeastern Ohio, which brings into focus one of the reasons why we love the western US where we have lived most of our adult life, the weather. I don't want to sound like a wuss, but violent thunderstorms, hail, tornadoes, and the like are not something that we find appealing. Sure we will spend the summer traveling in the eastern part of the country, sure we will enjoy the chance to see long lost friends and relatives, but still....
It sure sounded like the thing to do when were planning it. It still sounds like it will be fun. It is something we will be doing, but still.... We pride ourselves on having open minds about most things in life, not falling into the trap of finding a safe cubby hole to curl up in. We look forward to wherever Sara will guide us next, but still....
We read about the people who are just now beginning their life on the road, spreading their wings, they look forward to flying high, wide and far. Have we soared off a treetop one too many times, are we seeing the same places we saw before? No, but still....
Maybe it is the five years doldrums, maybe it is age, or maybe, just maybe, it is because we know what it is we like and where it is we like, and where we are going is not that place. I don't have the answer, but I do know that the way I looked at things in the past is not the way I look at them now.
And no, it doesn't mean that there is any sense of burnout, heck we still have to drive the route of the Oregon Trail, to follow in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, to explore vast sections of southern Utah and the four corners area. We haven't begun to see Texas, and the Dakota country beckons. The Civil War battlefields of the south await, as well as the lure of Florida in the winter. But, still....
What's missing is where we planned to spend this summer, the Maritimes and New England. Will we get there, yes, no, probably, not likely, maybe, perhaps, definitely, certainly not, absolutely, it changes all the time. No, it is not the price the fuel, in fact with it being to high it is probably an excellent year to head that way as there will be far fewer visitors than normal. This is our chance to see a part of the country we haven't explored lately, and it will likely be some time before we will be back again. However, that's not a reason, but still....
This is not to view the next few months in a negative light, it is not to say that we are not enthusiastically looking looking forward to the summer, because we are. Just don't be surprised if our plans change, if we turn northwest instead of northeast, we don't even know for sure what we are going to do, but still, sometimes a great notion is just that, a great notion, or perhaps a not so great notion.