Friday, July 29, 2011

Vacationing? For a different perspective, hit the road!

If economic circumstances, lack of time off or simply a desire not to go through the hassle of packing and spending nights in strange beds has kept you staying close to home in recent years, it might be easy to forget there's more to this world than your street, your town or your state.

In recent years, several factors have kept me close to home. TV and the internet have helped open my eyes to the fact that this is a great big world. But nothing quite compares to climbing in the car and heading out on the open road. We just returned from a 10-day, nine-night journey to Jacksonville, FL. My mom provided the car and a lot of the expenses. She had a desire to see her daughter, son-in-law, grandson and granddaughter and especially a great-grandson who is not quite two years old.

Since I am in between jobs at the moment, I suggested that we avoid the potential delays and inconvenience of air travel and put her Buick through the paces. I checked my handy-dandy road atlas and thought the 1,220 mile trip would be no problem.

As the day for departure grew closer, I was beginning to wonder if this old man would be up to the challenge of being behind the wheel for three straight days. A couple of days before we left, my aunt, who is only a couple of years older than I am, expressed an interest in joining us. Suddenly, the driving chores were cut in half!

The first night we stayed in Metropolis, IL, the unofficial home of Superman. The next day, we traveled through Kentucky and Tennessee (first time for me) and on through Alabama (another first) to Montgomery. Driving on interstates most of the way, my only problem on this day was a crazy trip through Nashville at midday. My aunt then took over and had to drive through a stop-and=go rush hour in Birmingham.

Many states have welcome centers just over the border as you enter the state. I would say one of the most unique such facilities in the country is just north of Huntsville, AL. We saw the attraction a mile before the exit. A Saturn 1B rocket rested on the grounds of this welcome center. Not a replica, it was the real thing, towering almost 250 feet tall. The connection is that Huntsville is home to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I had wanted to see the Kennedy Space Center while visiting Florida for the first time, until I learned that tourists had to pay $44 for the experience. So the chance to stand less than 20 feet away from the model of rocket that had sent astronauts into space for free was amazing.

We saw a lot of the things that many other tourists see on their vacations. I finally got to wade in the Atlantic Ocean one afternoon and we walked the streets of St. Augustine, FL, the oldest city in the country. On a visit to Daytona, my nephew gave us a personal tour or a huge auto auction facility where he is in charge of the computer systems. The company auctions thousands of cars each year from this location and the administration, security and other aspects of this operation was much more than I ever expected. We stopped at the Daytona International Speeday and stood along the fence just past the fourth turn while a couple of cars roared past at more than 120 mph on practice laps. We also got to meet many of my sister's co-workers in her 12th floor downtown Jacksonville office.

Seeing the sites, experiencing new places and getting away from the daily grind are all important reasons to take a vacation. But even more important for us was the opportunity to reconnect with a sister who continues to amaze me in her professionalism, my brother-in-law who is exploring new professional opportunities and is a real inspiration, my niece and nephew, who have weathered some adversities to grow into mature and caring young adults. and the newest member of our famiy, Warren, who at just under two years of age has already displayed a strong throwing arm. If he can throw a baseball or football in a few years the way he can fling his pacifier, I just hope I'm around to be his agent!

When you board a plane in Moline and a few hours later you land in Florida, it's easy to forget that you are passing over woods and fields and cities and towns. Behind the wheel of a car, you gain much more appreciation for the thousands of people who labored millions of hours to carve a roadway through the mountains and woods of the Southeast. Besides, traveling by air, you miss the opportunity to stop at a produce stand along the road just north of Montgomery and buy peaches the size of softballs picked that morning and sold to you by a nice lady with a strong southern drawl. America is great!