I drove 3,000 miles from SC to Oregon to visit friends. They
had no clue I was coming until I blew my horn in their driveway. Why would I do
this?
For me, the journey is perhaps more important than the
destination. When I'm on the road I can 'ponder' all of life's beauty and
mystery. I'm a ponderer from way back. In my pre-teen years, I remember sitting
on the couch with my knees against the backrest pondering out the window for
hours.
During college break I got a job at a printing company as a
Material Handler. Take four steps toward the press, take one step up, grab a 5
lb stack of books, then back down a step, turn around, over four steps and
place the books on a skid - repeat over and over for 8 hours. Others thought
this to be the most boring scenario possible for a human being, but for me it
was just the opposite. My body knew what to do automatically and my mind was
free to ponder for 8 hours. A plus was that the press was on the 5th floor with
an East facing window overlooking Lake Michigan. I was on the 3rd shift and got
to ponder the sun coming up over the lake every morning.
OK, so you get the picture. I'm a ponderer, and this is
where the road comes in. Driving is pretty much automatic, like picking those
books up over and over. I love to ponder on down the road, for hours and hours.
Of course if there's people, traffic or bad weather, my joy takes a back seat
to concentration and safety, but I still have an ace in the hole in that I
always keep the speed under 55 mph, always. Why be in a hurry when you ponder?
But there is another factor that destroys a road ponder. A
schedule. Now, even under the most ideal conditions, we must constantly be
aware of time keeping. "I'll meet you at 3pm" totally destroys the
ability to ponder...that's why I prefer to arrive unannounced.
Here's how I murdered a Ponder the other day.
I was destined for a leisurely trip to FL from SC. I'd leave
Monday. And on the way, there was a buddy's boat I wanted to have a look at.
"Can I stop by your marina and stroll the dock to have a look at your boat
on my way south?"
"Well, NO. It's a gated marina, so you have to be a
member or guest to get in."
I don't know about you, but I never look forward to being
behind a sign that says, No Entry, Restricted, Authorized personnel only, No
Parking, No Trespassing, no No and NO! And that goes for any place that
requires credentials or a pass to enter - I'm just not the slightest bit
interested. Y'all can have your special place to yourselves - I'll go where I'm
unconditionally welcome.
"But if you come by at 3pm on Tuesday I'll make
arrangements for the guard to let you in. My nephew and I will be taking a 3
day cruise." Now we have double jeopardy - a guard and a schedule,
but OK. I'll start a day late and figure when I need to leave to get there at 3
because my GPS doesn't know I only go 55 mph. Thanks for notifying the guard to
let me in.
"By the way, your dog isn't allowed on the boat and has
to be on a leash otherwise."
Fine. I'll leave Merlin in the car. But if you've ever owned
a dog that is a close companion, you know how uncomfortable it is to 'abandon'
your friend. As a rule of thumb, if my dog can't go neither will I. But OK, I
explain, I will only take 15 minutes for a look-see, and I actually expected
this dog restriction.
By now, were a long way off of my original plan to just
meander along the dock on my own schedule. It's kind of like when you play in a
snow flurry and don't realize that after a while you're in a blizzard. An
unscheduled stroll along the docks has turned into an extra day, a schedule, a
guard, and not so friendly conditions for my best friend. It happened so
gradually I didn't realize I had ventured into a full-fledged BLIZZARD. So lets
get on the road.
About a hundred miles out while I'm pumping gas, I send a
text that things are looking good. I only do this phone stuff when I'm stopped
because I refuse to be a phone slave on the road and I'm not comfortable
texting while driving - not to mention it might be illegal. I like to run Waze
to keep an eye on turns/traffic and things to watch out for on the road. A
short time after the fillup I see a blurb come up at the top of Waze from the
fellow I'm heading for so I pull over to read it. It's instructions on how to
deal with the guard and where to park.
Then a while later I see another text pop up from him. I'll
get to it when it's convenient to pull over. When I do stop, I read that the
nephew is running behind and the new arrival time is 5pm. At this point I
realized I was in a Blizzard, so I throw in the towel. All I had planed on was an
unscheduled 10/15 minute dock walk. Things had gotten way too complicated. I
texted back, "Maybe next time."
After a subsequent incoming text with another stop to read
it, I was informed that I misread the text? The lateness was for the nephew but
he would be coming to the boat in a different car. I'm still confused at to why
I might have found the ambiguous nephew lateness information useful but???
Feeling a little guilty for calling off the trip - and by
now I was on my way somewhere else, I suggested maybe meeting the following
morning before their strict departure time. But while negotiating that time I
realized that I really wanted to get out of the blizzard. I offered a feeble
excuse and again bowed out. Merlin and I, now totally unencumbered, gleefully
pondered the 250 miles back home.
So I learned/confirmed something. My bliss is simplicity on
the road. Once a schedule, conditions or other complications creep into the
picture it destroys my road trip joy. I'm on duty at home 24/7 and seldom get
away for more than a few hours at a time, so when I do get away for an extended
period I need to remember - No schedules and No conditions, just an
unobstructed opportunity for a Road Ponder.
Side note...
When we adopted Merlin, there was a twin brother
(litter-mate) that we almost chose instead. We learned from the breeder that
Niko, the twin, went to Florida. We got in touch Niko's parents and scheduled a
visit to get the boys back together. The boys had a great time together and we
became friends with Niko's parents.
As we were getting ready to head back to SC,
the husband commented that our visit had caused some grief in that the
preparations and otherwise getting ready for our arrival had the house in a
Topsy-turvy. This is another reason I prefer to arrive unannounced.
