On the last day of the trip, our thoughts always turn to home. When we turn the corner on the trip – begin the return – we are still thinking of the trip and how to get back. But when the day’s destination is our home, we naturally begin thinking about taking up our lives there again.
We enjoy our roadtrips – the long days of sitting in the car together, watching the world go by, talking or not, perhaps thinking our own thoughts, happy to be together. Inevitably we talk about what to do with the rest of our lives. And just as inevitably we come to no firm conclusions. The trips are a form of reset, a break from the home routine. We may start the routine again when we get back, or we may adjust it or revamp it or take off in a new direction. Part of the pleasure of the trip is the break, giving us a chance to establish new habits if that seems right.
And part of the comfort of the roadtrip is the time we spend together, alone together in our little shared cocoon. At home we wander off, doing our own projects, following our own stars. Sure, we spend a lot of time together at home, talking and just being with each other. But on a roadtrip it is more intense, deeper. And that is part of the pleasure of the trip.
This particular trip was strange in some ways. It took us a long time to get into the rhythm of the travel. The first few motels were either undergoing renovation or in sore need of it. And Andrea’s mind and attention were still back home, deep in the project she had helped get going and that still needed her attention. I’m not sure where my mind and attention were, but they were only nominally on the trip in the first few days. But by the time we were the farthest from home, we had settled into the travel.
We saw quite a bit of Colorado, but we didn’t get into the southwest quadrant of the state – a beautiful area, much of it quite remote, and where some cousins live. We’ll have to visit them on a future excursion.
We were lucky with the weather, although it was more varied than is often the case this time of year. We hit hot, dry weather, but not into the triple digits. We drove through some poor air from dust and wildfire smoke, but it wasn’t often and was never awful. We hit a strong rainstorm just before stopping for lunch one day, and the storm had passed by the time we were through eating. And we had some evening and overnight rain. We woke one morning to fresh-washed skies and 39º temperatures.
The first three, four, five, maybe six days felt like work. We wondered if this would be our last roadtrip. But then we started to enjoy it all. We began sleeping better and had gotten our traveling shoes on. We talked about where we might go next. And on the last day, heading home, we toyed with the idea of taking a circuitous route to delay the trip’s end for another day or two.
But we’re home now, on schedule. Today is a day of laundry and picking up the threads of all we let go of when we were away. And of maybe starting anew, at least a little bit.
Travels with Kate 