I love road trips. Taking a road trip is one of my most favorite things. My favorite road-trippin’ buddies are my best friend and our dogs. We’ve yet to all be in a car together, but I’ve taken a trip with both dogs and it was quite fun. I love taking trips with Sophie. For the most part she loves being in the car. She likes to keep her paw on my wrist as I shift gears and she doesn’t throw up much.
There are some great tunes abounding for the seasoned road-tripper. When Jenny and I go, we’re total Shania Twain freaks. Neither one of us really listen to her unless we’re stuck in a car together. For Sarah and I, there’s a lot of Van Halen, Lyle Lovett, Cake, Shawn Colvin, etc. At least once, “Under Pressure” by Queen with David Bowie will be played. Sarah’s David Bowie and I’m Freddie Mercury. I can even hit that really high note just before the bridge. It’s not pretty and I really shouldn’t, but I can.
I love the conversations that arise in the course of the road trip. Some can be raucously funny and some can be preciously poignant. You can learn a lot about a person when you are confined to a small space together for several days and several hundred miles, especially at night. I don’t know what it is about being in a car in the vast darkness of lonely roads, but the walls come down. People say things, share things that they can’t put into words in the daylight—unless of course we are talking about my mother, and then this concept does not apply. If you know anything about my mom, you understand. It’s all psychological really. Night brings with it a veil of sorts that allows all others to fall away.
Here lately, I’ve come to really treasure the journeys I take alone. The longest trip I’ve ever done by myself was Lubbock to Arizona to visit the parents of a friend. I got to cross New Mexico and see parts of it I’ve never seen before. I drove through the Plains of San Agustin where the Very Large Array (VLA) is located. The VLA is that long line of radio antennae that stretch across the plain and was briefly featured in the film “Contact” with Jodie Foster. It was a pretty cool spectacle and very odd topographically speaking. Something about the lay of that land messes with your visual/sensory perception. Even though I was driving at a high rate of speed, I felt like I wasn’t moving at all. Trust me, I was going fast.
I like to sing in the car and have my tunes along, usually Sister Hazel. I’ve compiled a CD with all my favorite Christian music that I really love. The great thing about driving by yourself is that you can sing as loud as you want and no one is going to be offended. I usually try to sing all the parts at the same time in any given harmony. It’s humanly impossible, but I try. Even more than that, I love to turn off the radio and sing all the devotional songs I know. Again, since I’m by myself, no one has to get hurt. And anyway Psalm 100:1 says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord . . .” It didn’t say anything about it being pretty.
The thing I like best about traveling alone is the time it affords me to pray, really pray. I can talk to God about all the things I mean to day in and day out, but often forget for procrastinating. I can pray for each person on my mind and speak to Him in earnest on their behalf. I can bring to Him the things pressing on my own heart, nothing withheld, as much as I need. I’m less likely to fall asleep while driving, which is easy to do in bed. I’ve found myself dozing off even when I’m on my knees and the sun’s still shining. It’s just me and Him in the car, though. And I can take the time to praise Him and thank Him for all He has done for me.
What are your favorite happenings, etc., in a car on a journey down a long and winding road?
6 comments:
I love to put on my iPod and belt it out! My favorite traveling companion is my dad. He is so easy going, and if we want to drive 300 miles out of the way to see the world's larges ball of twine, it is his pleasure. We don't have to talk, but we always love to stop at the same places.
I think I would enjoy road-trippin' with your dad. There was a time when I would have loved it with my dad. He used to be able to drive without ever having to look at the road, probably because he helped plot most of them. Nowadays, he only thinks he can drive with out looking at the road. I don't even try to be subtle about reaching over and pulling the steering wheel anymore. He's all about the roads less traveled, just don't fall asleep while he's driving.
I was the official driver for my aunt. We made a trek to Colorado and back and I also drove her to and from Illinois a few times. We always had the dogs and good music. We would talk and talk. It's just like you said, there's something about road trips.
For me ... I love being in between. Airports and road trips are good for me. When I'm in between here and there it just seems like I relax more, have a different peace about me.
I have learned more about people and who they really are on road trips ... I need to take more of them.
I love to take trips...I really love to take them by myself, but that rarely happens!! I usually have children with me. But since they have their music they are usually in a different world than me anyway. So I turn up my music(not as loudly as if I was alone) and I sing (again, not as loudly)and I think and I talk to God.
I would love to take off and just drive...no worries...no fears...just time to think and sing and "be".
When Chris and I first got married we lived in Dallas. We drove home monthly for my orthodontic appointments. So as newly weds, we had LOTS of time to spend togther on the road.
And Lisa, you're right, you can really learn a lot about someone when you're confined to a small space for several hundred miles.
We have a book called love starters that asks a lot of questions. Most of them are for couples, but it is a good get to know you book too. It asks questions like "if you had $10,000 to spend and you could only spend it on yourself and you had to spend it in 24 hours how would you spend it?"
It's my favorite book and still to this day it is packed in our bags for every road trip.
And what I love most is that our answers are always changing.
Well, I'm one of those people (define "those" as you wish). I used to hate road trips. Being stuck in the car for more than an hour with my family does not a happy Susan make. (This is partly because my grandpa did not like to stop; unless someone was in danger of bleeding on his car, we kept going. Even when his grandchildren were teenagers, he tried to get us to pee on the side of the road. No, grandpa, I don't think so.) It did not get any more fun when the cast changed from "my family" to "my aim classmates"; I never understood (and still don't!) aimland's love for the Tulsa trip.
But, then the cast changed again, to just Chad. Suddenly road trips are fun. But I still prefer to keep them relatively infrequent.
I'm with Paige; I love airports.
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