On The Road Again. To Harrisburg, Pennsylvania en route to the Florida Keys.
Well, a little late, as I planned to leave at 10, and now it’ll be 1:30 if I’m lucky, and heading down to Harrisburg, PA for the night, and still have to finish packing the car and booking a place to stay.
Pack my car I did, reminiscent of my long journey last year, but it was a breeze by comparison, with just two weeks worth of stuff to take and a whole car to put it in. And with all these bits-and-pieces to take care of before heading out, I actually didn’t leave until a little after 3, for the 370 mile drive to Harrisburg via Wilkes-Barre, where I’ll spend the first night at the good ol’ Super 8, which was a welcoming site after nearly 7 hrs of driving, due to heavy traffic at times as I hit rush hour traffic in a few places along the way.
An easy drive, aside from some traffic and rain, and then it got dark by 5:30 of course, but easy nevertheless, and I listed to an audiobook biography of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young most of the way. Bev and I tried this reading route after it became more difficult for Bev to read, but the audiobooks moved a little too fast, so I wound up reading books to Bev instead, but I don’t think I’ve listened to any audiobooks since then. It feels like cheating, but it’s a good way to “read” and pass time in an interesting way while driving. I remember “reading” the unabridged version of Moby Dick this way many years ago. Anyway, the drive was easy, although I was getting tired by the time I arrived, but uneventful. No photos taken, especially as it was dark most of the way.
I’ve been waiting to take a road trip all year, and had fully expected to drive across country again (among other travel), for a maybe 5-6 week trip (not like last time), but things kept coming up all year, first with rotator cuff surgery followed by 4½ months of physical therapy and rehab, and then some eye problems, culminating in eye surgery on my left eye, which was simple enough but then required weekly visits. So, other than short trips (Oaxaca in February, and Toronto to visit my very old friend Laurence for a few days about a month ago), I just haven’t had an opportunity. But, finally, a break in eye appointments, with my next appointment not until November 19, allowing me to slip in this 16-day driving trip, heading down to the Florida Keys and the Everglades, places I’ve never visited but would like to — and now I am.
This trip was a choice between flying to California to visit Kaye and renting a motorcycle to ride down the coast to Southern California and then back up, or driving my car to New Orleans or instead driving to the Keys and Everglades, which won out for several reasons, but only at the last minute. I literally didn’t decide on where I was heading until about 11 yesterday morning, and that was only after speaking to Big Ken, which helped me decide. I’m hoping to drive (or maybe ride my motorbike) to New Orleans in the spring. At any rate, as I’ve been ready-ing myself for this current trip, I’ve thought a lot about the state of my life and my thoughts. It’s been exactly a year since I arrived back from my 22,000 mile, 4-month trip, in fact a year today, so it’s sort of appropriate to be back on the road today, albeit for a mere 16-day trip, but I hope the start of my getting back into a traveling head.
In the past year, a lot has happened, and a lot hasn’t. One thing is that I’ve fallen gradually into a conventional daily life style, rather than the very different life style of driving and visiting anywhere I wanted, and for as long as I wanted (maybe that part isn’t quite true, but it’s in the vicinity).But the conventional life style — being at home, paying bills, gardening, fixing things, watching movies, spending time with friends, etc., is so odd because it’s exactly the same life I lived with Bev, in every way, except there’s no Bev; it’s just me. That might be the feature that’s the strangest about my new (and un-wished for) life. It’s the same old life, but without Bev. The same things, the same people, the same holidays, the same dinner plates, the same couch, sitting on it the same way, and the same everything with just one thing, the most central thing it unsurprisingly turns out, missing. It’s sort of like a Twilight Zone world, where everything the same… but not quite.
Being on the road is also strange without Bev, but if Bev was here and traveling with me we wouldn’t living our “usual” routine. Traveling is different. It’s a holiday from everyday life. It feels good now, as I’ve stepped back onto the road, both calming and exhilarating in different ways, perhaps refreshing is the best word, and I’m glad to be on this trip. It feels good because even though Bev isn’t sitting next to me, it’s not filled with the house, the gardens, maintaining the house, paying bills, shopping, the neighborhood, watching TV at night, etc. It’s not routine. Traveling is complete unto itself. What you’re doing is getting to or enjoying the destination, and then moving along. Not wondering how to spend the day or how to fill the time in a useful and meaningful way because the journey really is the journey. It’s cleansing, freeing, spontaneous, and feels liberating, and takes me out of my head.
The most challenging thing about planning this road trip is that it’s limited, and this is a long way to go and see stuff in such a short and close— ended period of time. For instance, if I had more time, and didn’t have to be back by November 18, I could keep driving around the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans, and do the Keys/Everglades and New Orleans on the same trip, In fact, when I reach Panama City Beach in Florida in a few days, I’ll be less than 5 hours from New Orleans. But, can’t. Hopefully, next year I’ll be less restricted by things and able to be more spontaneous and open ended again.
My itinerary. Richmond and Josh tomorrow, and then onto Myrtle Beach en route to southern Florida, all the way down to the southernmost point..
