This article first appeared in the Carroll County Times on Sunday July 26, 2015.
Merriam-Webster simply defines Road Trip as a long trip in a car, truck, etc. A pretty simple definition for such a meaningful paired two words.
After a weekend of exploring the lesser traveled dirt roads of Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, I sit down at my writer’s desk to pen this week’s column. The only pre-planned part of the weekend was to meet up with friends in the George Washington National Forest Saturday afternoon to camp for the night. The invitation from Alex and Ben at DirtRoadTrip.com went something like this, “We’ll be at coordinates so and so, come find us.”
So I set out to find them.
Friday evening I loaded the truck with my camping gear, a cooler full of food and drinks and hit the road. Friday night’s destination was somewhere around Greenridge State Forest and Paw Paw West Virginia. And yes, that was the extent of the planning. I was going to let the road unfold in front of me and see what came my way.
The sun had long set and the stars filled the sky by the time I parked the truck and made camp. The small cooking fire reflected off the running waters of a small stream. A cup of hot tea with an added nip finished the day. I faded off to sleep gazing at a star filled sky.
Meanwhile, 2,000 miles away my daughter, Lindsay, was gazing at the same sky. She is on her own road trip; one full of discovery. Earlier this month, she embarked on a country wide road trip in her Honda Civic pack full of camping gear and food. So far I have been able to talk to her daily, but as she reaches the remote backcountry along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, she will lose cell reception. She’ll be totally alone. Her trip is one of reflection, discovery of the new, and the pondering of all a young 20 something ponders when facing the future. I cannot think of a better way to take on life than starting with a road trip from coast to coast seeing and learning our country and of one’s self.
Saturday morning I sat streamside and photographed the new day’s arrival. The sun gleamed off the damp waxy greens of mountain laurel. Steamy fog hung over the stream. Over a cup of tea, this time without the added nip, I set the plan for the day.
Having looked at the map before I left, I knew the proximity of our meeting place for the day. I traveled in that direction with the intent to input the coordinates once I was close. Seven hours later I had covered the 90 miles and entered camp. I had traveled many dirt roads, witnessed blue sky filled mountain views, purchased a few items at a yard sale, and generally wandered around seeing what I could find.
I guess the short simple definition Webster gives road trip could be because the real meaning of road trip is so broadly filled with unlimited possibilities. From the trip of which Lindsay is currently experiencing covering thousands of miles over many weeks, to the quick weekend get-a-way I experienced last weekend, a road trip is what the traveler makes of it.
I once heard the quote, “Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” If that is so, and I believe it is, then if you add the Lao Tzu quote “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”, one can begin to see the importance of the road trip. If one never takes the first step, the journey never begins. Therefore, destinations cannot be found.
Lindsay’s cross country road trip is one example of the extreme. My weekend trip in its simplicity of sleeping under the stars is another example of extremes. Road trips do not require extreme measures for positive influence on one’s life. A simple weekend trip to a bed and breakfast with your spouse experiencing a new town or city can be the perfect weekend excursion regenerating the internal batteries.
Most of my road trips are driven by some activity such as hunting or fishing. However, sometimes the mind needs some cleaning and that is when I toss the sleeping bag into the bed of the truck and go for a drive. The only thing required for a road trip is to go. The where, how, when, with whom, and for how long is not the meaning. They are the details. The experiences along the journey are the road trip.
