The Long and Winding Road and Lessons Learned

 We have been blessed with beautiful weather for most of our journey.  New Mexico and Arizona have so many sunny days - it was delightful staying in both places.  On our last portion of this road trip, it was driving six or more hours each day.  Driving north out of Taos into Colorado we saw a hot air balloon hovering in the morning sky as if calling out a goodby to us!

We were driving into a mountainous area, getting closer each mile.  The land looked like flat, grassland with giant mountains towering over it.  We had a change in elevation from 4300 feet above sea level to 8000 feet above sea level.  It was ear popping!  We turned east toward Kansas and descended into the high desert and high plains. The changing terrain was impressively flat and very dry.  Colby Kansas was our first stop. 

We drove across the whole state of Kansas listening to good public radio stations and commenting on the huge wheat fields.  There were some cattle herds, but the fields were only dotted by a few spikes of grain elevators.  As we approached the Kansas City area there was a change of terrain again with some lovely rolling areas.  Then there was the heart-stopping experience of driving through the very large spaghetti tangle of highways in Kansas City.  We crossed into Missouri and stopped in Blue Springs. Even though the rest of our journey progressed into Illinois, Indiana and (finally) Michigan, we couldn't help but notice that drought conditions seemed to be everywhere.

Every road trip teaches us lessons and this one really made me think about the bounty of land and food in the United States.  I wonder why there is hunger here.  What can we do to improve the even distribution of food to ease this situation?

When we travel, I try to take only the amount of clothing I really need.  It fits into a relatively small carry-on suitcase.  So, why do I have a closet full of clothes?  Do I really need all of those?  The number of hours spent driving leads me to this kind of self questioning.

But, there are also the practical issues.  We are a bit out of practice, not having done a long road trip in a few years.  We need to plan our route by looking at the places we want to visit - museums, events, etc.  That way we will not run into issues like a museum that is only open Thu-Sun when we are there Mon-Wed!

We need to plan our distances traveled to avoid 6 or 7 hour drive days.  If we drive 4-5 hours in a day we can reach our destination with time to see a monument or walk through a museum or photograph a garden. 

We love road trips because we can see the country and meet people and re-discover our connections to people everywhere.  During this vitriolic election year it is hard to remember that we have much more that unites us than those things that divide us.  Traveling renews our hope.