THE ROAD TRIP–HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Against all laws of logic and reason I’ve decided to write an explanation to the image I posted a week ago. As you can tell from my history, I typically try to post every 2-3 months or so. But here I am, just a week later, posting again!
Okay, back to our story. On July 31 I jumped in the car with my two boys and drove to Colorado. Why Colorado? Because I was dropping them off at a two-week sleepaway camp! My lovely wife was supposed to come along on this little 10-hour drive, but she conveniently scheduled a 10-day “business” trip to the east coast. So off we went, without mom. The original plan was to drive 10 hours Saturday, drop them off on Sunday, and then I would drive the ten hours back home again. Well, that short little 10-hour jaunt driving to camp ended up taking A LOT longer than it was supposed to. I’ll go into that in another post, but suffice it to say it involved kicking, screaming, biting, slamming on the brakes, threatening, and at least one police car.

Freedom on the open road

So anyway, I dropped the kids off at their camp high up in the mountains on Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning. I Believe check-in was supposed to be around noon, so imagine the camp director’s surprise when he opened the gates even before the dawn’s early light only to find two soggy kids, their luggage, and their grumpy dad anxiously waiting to be let in. Okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating slightly. In truth we woke up in our cheap motel about 10 a.m. and then casually drove the last 45 minutes to the camp. We arrived. We unpacked. We said our goodbyes (no tears!). I love my kids, but I was looking forward to a long lonely drive back home with just me, myself, and I.

But as I drove down the mountain’s dirt road and prepared to turn left onto the highway that would take me home, a strange but wonderful thought entered my mind.

(with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

And the more that I thought of this returning home thing,

The more that I thought…

I must stop this whole fling!

Year after year, I’ve thought of this day.

I must stop home from coming! But how?! I mean…in what way?!

I looked at the facts, they racked through my brain.

If I turn left I go home, if I turn right I go…away!

So then and there I decided to start the road trip of a lifetime. I turned left instead of right. My kids were gone, my wife was away. How often does a thirty-something man with a wife and children get to go on a SOLO road trip?! Thus began my journey. A journey lasting 17 days and one that would take me through 30 states. In the posts that follow I’ll try to share pics and stories from my epic journey. I hope you’ll come along–it’ll be awesome.

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