Monday, June 29, 2009

Needed: Ideas for a road trip... You can make a difference.

As those with sharp eyes (read: people who can read and comprehend the blatantly obvious) may have gathered from recent Writings, I've been a bit busy lately. Unfortunately for the author, "lately" will also extend for the next 12 days. (Not that anyone is counting.) Nonetheless, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. That light, although it seems as dim as a penlight in a spelunking expedition right now, is still putting forth a tiny glow. That tiny glow represents the vacation I'll take later this summer.

Currently*, the plan is to hit the road and take a trip to check out some new locales. Unfortunately, I don't really have any good ideas as to where to go. Big cities are out of the running, as it seems that visiting the sites of a big city would be better suited for traveling with a companion. (That, and I drive like a cataract-suffering grandmother in heavy rush-hour traffic.) Traveling to Cooperstown to visit that Baseball Hall of Fame is also a no-go, as that is a trip being saved for another occasion. I have been to Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado on many occasions, and therefore must also eliminate them from road-trip consideration. I won't drive to Canada, as I will not consider having to adhere to the metric system two summers in a row. I also refuse to consider going anywhere overseas... You see, this is a road trip, and I'm fairly confident my car will not stay buoyant enough to float across the ocean. 

*"Currently" could transform into "formerly, should fuel prices rise to the point that one cringes at the thought of filling their gas tank.

As you can tell by now, I really have no direction (literally and figuratively) concerning where I should travel on this trip. This is where you come in, oh valued reader. Delve into the deepest crevices of your mind and suggest a potential stopping point for the DLRT09*. You can suggest a state, a city, a small town, a tourist trap, a restaurant, a relative you would like a message delivered to, a trip theme, a list of roads to avoid, the number of miles I should drive with my eyes shut... You can pretty much suggest anything.

*Derek Larson Road Trip '09... It's the best I can name the trip without an actual destination in mind. It was either that, or "The Quest to Locate Some Semblance of Sense."

My hope is that the trip will provide plenty of material for a blog that has been severely neglected in recent weeks. It may not admit that its feelings have been hurt, but the fact that it's been playing Boyz II Men's "Water Runs Dry"* on a loop lately has me thinking something might wrong. It puts up a tough front, but in reality it's a very fragile blog. It seems that a cross-country trip where I'm sure to encounter "people in your neighborhood" and plenty of "things I don't understand," may be just what is needed to get things around here clicking again.

*Most optimistic estimate - This reference will confuse all but about three people that might read it. Hopefully, those three people appreciate it.

If you have any roadtrip ideas whatsoever, pass them along... Not for me. For The Writings.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The oddities of Kansas are always nice while traveling in solitude. It gives you ample time to ponder, "who thinks of this stuff", "why did they go through with the idea", and "they must actually be a genius because here I am, looking at this and actually giving it a moment of thought".

Ex- The Garden of Eden in Lucas, a truly wonderful thing to stick in the middle of nowhere.