The Open Road Before Me

This year was a particularly tough for me. A new grade level to teach which meant, while still history, a different era of it with a whole new set of lesson plans and a whole new type of student to understand and try to motivate to learn. I am not the type of person who likes to feel scheduled and routined generally. I like free time to do as I please. People who say they would go crazy without a job, I just don't understand. I guess there is that bit of 'free bird' part to my soul.

The day after school ended, with all it's scrambling to get 8th grade activities done successfully (which was a really fun note to end the year on with my students), I took off north. I have many favorite songs for many different reasons, but there are two that stick out in my mind right now that are particularly appealing to me, "Don't Fence Me In" and "Heads Carolina, Tails California". I think their themes of freedom, adventure, and exploration are what really appeals to me. I would love to just leave in my car one day and not have any plan where to go and just flip a coin to figure out in what direction to go.

This heading north was not quite that - I did have a plan in mind and pre-determined destinations. Still, something about being on the open road is exhilarating to me. It's like with each mile I feel all the cares and worries, all the restrictions and routines, slipping away. I feel free. There is a sense of a whole big world of excitement laying before me and I'll get to see or experience something new, appreciate beauty, and just think. It helps me relax and clear my brian - sort out things that maybe I hadn't had time to sort out yet. People don't always understand how I can drive such distances alone, but this is why. I guess it is definitely the introvert coming out.

My first stop was to one of my dearest friend's home with her family of six. It was so much fun to relax and see how much her children have grown since I last saw them and catch up on her life and her husband's life. I even made them revert back to their childhood - or I should say my childhood - by creating a whirlpool in their above ground pool. My brother and I would do that during the summer on my grandmother's farm.

Next was my drive up to Washington to another dear friend whose first child I had yet to meet. First I stopped at my alma mater and walked around remembering the carefree days of college (they didn't seem so carefree at the time, but now I can appreciate how carefree they were). It was there, though, that I grew so much - tested my faith, grew my faith, started to learn who I really was, and build relationships with some of the best people.

I found out spring came late to the Pacific Northwest this year, and I was coming earlier in the summer than normal. Going into Oregon I began to see the wildflowers and they didn't stop all the way up to the northern point of the Washington peninsula. There were purples, yellows and whites mostly sprinkled along the highways. Northern Washington had foxgloves everywhere and whole fields of daisies. Stunning. I was able to see the rain shadow effect in full force as we drove from western Oregon along Mt. Hood down into central Bend area. It went from lush green forests to high desert in no time.

My friend was brave enough to leave her sweet little one for a few days with her mother so we could take a road trip (since our theme song is "Heads Carolina, Tails California") up to the Olympic National Rainforest. We walked among furry trees and gnome shaped fungi. We drove up a steep curvy mountain roads to see nothing but a deer through the fog. In between the cloud layers though we did get a breathtaking view of the mountains lying before us. We even kayaked with the seals on rough waters.

On my way home from Washington I stopped and visited another set of dear friends and their baby boy in the bay area and my cousin in San Francisco. I was able to see new places I'd never been with dear friends I want to see time and time again.

Every summer, my grandfather would take off with my grandmother in their motorhome and be gone at least a few weeks every summer. They did a few trips up to Alaska. I was thinking about that on my own drive. I completely get it. In this way, I am my grandfather's granddaughter. I share his love for the open road and with it the visiting of friends and family along the way. It's the perfect balance of reflection and relationship building. It's a way to clear your mind and enjoy God's beauty set forth in the surroundings of nature or human created art.

Can't wait for the next road trip.