Learning to Take the Slow Road

Our drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway taught me a little about myself. I discovered I can just sit and enjoy the drive. That hasn't always been true.

Usually, when we drive I like to read. I always pack a few books with visions of devouring a few on my list. Of course, in the days when I worked, I saw 'drive time' as a great free time for me to catch up on my reading list while passing the time of a long trip.

This trip was very different. Instead, I sat with a travel guide on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Sky line Drive, a mobile app, and a map of the park. I would scan through my resources for upcoming points of interest, and snap photo after photo of mountain ridges and valleys. I never even picked up a book. (Except at night in the hotel!)

I was so glad to see that I had enjoyed every minute of that trip, without reading! (This has actually been a secret concern of mine.) There was one other thing I wondered about. Usually, I'm a girl on a mission when we get in the car. Go 'til we get there! I would rather drive 14 hours to the destination, than stop after 8 hours on the road and spend the night, and head out again in the morning. I rarely wanted to sight see on a trip. I just wanted to get there. Again, when one's vacation time is dictated by work schedules, if the destination was the purpose for the trip, I wanted to spend as little time on the road as possible.

However, Larry and I have big plans to buy an RV and do a lot of traveling and I've wondered how that would work. Would I want to read, when he would expect me to be looking out the window? Would I be just as interested in sightseeing or would my need to read get in the way? We have always traveled and driving is our favorite way to go.

Retirement has changed a lot of that. This trip reassured me that there will be two types of travel. The Trip--where we are trying to get someplace, and The Drive--where we are exploring. We will no longer be tied in to vacation days and deadlines. I see now, that when we are cruising from one place to another, I'll have plenty of time to read as we go down the road, but when we are traveling interesting sights, I will be looking for places to stop and explore. And loving every minute of it.