A Well-Traveled Man

My husband travels a lot, and when I travel with him I get to appreciate his expertise. It used to be by car. Now it's by plane. He knows his way around most states, cities, and airports.

For instance:

On family trips it was not uncommon to come across a detour directing us to take a certain route. "Nah," says Larry. "I know a better way." And off we would go, circumventing all the traffic on the directed route and finding ourselves back on the highway ahead of everyone.

My favorite story though, happened just a couple of years ago when I was driving from Florida to Iowa. I am familiar enough with the roads in Iowa to know that interstates are only a little better than the regular roads. Those roads run straight and true and have little traffic to slow you down, unless you get behind a tractor for a mile or so. Even the 18-Wheelers move at a pretty good clip. As I was nearing St. Louis, Missouri, I made up my mind to get off the interstate and take state roads. Of course, my GPS was completely at odds with my plan. So at 4:45 on a Friday afternoon, I called my husband who was uncustomarily sitting behind a desk at the office, instead of in an airplane somewhere.

Me: "Are you still at work?"
He: "Yep."
Me: "Do me a favor and check mapquest for me. I'm near St. Louis, and I want to get off I-70 and take US 61 north towards I-80. Look and see if that makes sense. My GPS wants me to go back east to pick up another interstate. That's out of my way!
He: (without skipping a beat says) "You're in St. Louis? Stay on I-70 to Columbia. Where did you want to stay?"
Me: Drury Inn
He: At exit --- There's a Hampton Inn and the next exit has the Drury. But the best Chinese restaurant is across from the Hampton, so after you check in, go back there for dinner. Then tomorrow, take US 63 up to Des Moines. You know how to go from there."
Me: (laughing) "You haven't even looked at a map yet have you!"
He: "Nah. I know it like the back of my hand."

He could be a great travel agent.

On one trip we had a layover in the Minneapolis airport. Now if you've ever followed my blog, or read posts in February, you've heard me say, "If it snowed in Pittsburgh (where I was living) he was in Minneapolis!"
On this particular trip, as we got off the plane and looked for the next gate Larry asked me where I'd like to eat dinner. "There's a Chili's on Concourse G & H, or we can go to the Food Court where you can choose what you want. It's that way," he says pointing.

By now, you might be thinking, this guy is traveling too much. And you would be right. We are trying to change that, but it's not easy. He's cut back on travel for work. But what do we do when he's not working? We travel!

I grab my bag by the handle and follow him through the concourses, trying to look as organized and in control as he is.

And as long as I have my favorite travel agent along, things couldn't be better.