What’s In Between

The end of the road. That is what I traveled today. I woke up early and got out of Chicago before the masses swarmed downtown for the St. Patrick’s Day parade and the dyeing of the river. It would have been cool to see, but I was tired and my trip was coming to a close. I was anxious to get home, see Rod, sleep in my own bed.

So, as I neared coming through my tollbooth and entering my garage, I thought about what was in between here and there. Just as Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth learned many things that changed his perspective, so did I. When Milo was in the Word Market in Dictionopolis, he found many lovely words that were important to him. I did too.

One was love. I thought a lot on this trip about the many kinds of love. The love I have for my husband, Rod; the love I have for my children, Patrick and Kate; the love I have for their partners, Kelly and Brendan; the love I have for my mother, and siblings, and extended family; the love I have for my friends; the love I have for my country, with all it’s flaws; the love I have for nature and wide open spaces; the love I have for learning; the never-ending love I feel from God. Love in all its forms was with me each day on this trip. I could have done this trip without those forms of love, but it made every day so much better.

Another was Share. I didn’t start this blog to share with other people. I started it to help me remember where I had been and what I had seen. But then some people wanted to read it, so I sent the links. And I kept sharing the links. And some of you shared the links. The wonderful thing was, I received such lovely responses to what I was writing. Sharing this journey hopefully spread some information, some humor, some joy to you. There were also many things that were shared with me. Homes, food, laughter, opinions, beliefs, questions, beautiful as well as quirky places, and the road. Sharing was so important for this trip to be a success.

The last word was Unique. As I travelled, I saw and talked to so many people. People from cities and tiny towns, people working and sightseeing, people realizing their dreams, and people trying to get by. Everyone’s life and situation is unique. I don’t have any idea what is really going on in most of those people’s lives, why they do what they do, why they go where they go, why they believe what they believe. Sometimes I feel we all think we know everyone, or group people together and think we understand them. But we don’t. And we won’t begin to until we move out of our little bubbles and see and talk to them. Kris said it best when she said, “Travel abroad in your own country.” This country is so vast, so different, so unique. No one shares the same American Experience. We each have our own.

Milo also travelled to Digitopolis, where numbers are more important than words. Here are some of my numbers:

Days on the road: 15

Miles travelled: 4,503.5

Times I used an umbrella: 1

Times I was in a dust storm: 1

Number of states I drove through: 13

Number of nights in a hotel: 7

Number of nights in a rental property: 3

Number of nights at a friends home: 3

Number of nights at my daughter and son-in-law’s home: 1

Number of fiction audio books finished: 2

Number of fiction audio books started: 1

Number of non-fiction audio books started: 1

Number of episodes of the podcast The Anthropocene Revisited completed: 31

Number of hours of songs listened to: 18 and 12 minutes

I will remember if I end up in The Doldrums like Milo, I only have to think to get out of them. I will remember if I am in the Mountains of Ignorance, I can always learn new things. On Tuesday, I am starting an art class that Barb (of the 4 Bs) is teaching. I am going to try things I don’t know about, and in which I have little self-confidence. How else does your confidence grow? If I am in the Forest of Sight, I have to travel to Point of View to understand others, and really try to comprehend the difference between Illusions vs Reality. (You really should read the book, it’s great).

I was asked if I would do this again. I would. I enjoyed this trip immensely. It was nice that it was in three phases (4 1/2 days alone, 4 1/2 days with friends, and 5 days alone and with friends). Each day brought different things to see and experience. But I would also like to share those experiences. I want to see the rest of Route 66, however, I would like Rod to come along. I would like to see National Parks that I have not yet visited like Acadia in Maine. Again, I would like Rod with me. I know I can do it alone, but it is so much more fun to share the journey if you can.

When Milo, who started out bored and uninterested in anything, reaches a bend in the road, and finds himself in his room, he realizes the tollbooth has disappeared. In its place is a note explaining the tollbooth has gone to another child who needs it. He is momentarily sad, because there were other places on the map that he wanted to visit. But then he realizes the following:

Outside the window, there was so much to see, and hear, and touch— walks to take, hills to climb, caterpillars to watch as they strolled through the garden. There were voices to hear and conversations to listen to in wonder, and the special smell of each day. And in the very room in which he sat, there were books that could take you anywhere, and things to invent, and make, and build, and break, and all the puzzle and excitement of everything he didn’t know— music to play, songs to sign, and worlds to imagine and then someday make real. His thoughts darted eagerly about as everything looked new—and worth trying. “Well, I would like to make another trip,” he said jumping to his feet, “but I really don’t know when I’ll have the time. There is so much to do right here.” The Phantom Tollbooth, Chap. 20, pg 255-56

I wish this for you. That your days are filled with wonder and excitement, learning and joy. You don’t have to travel to find it, it can be found right where you are.

Thank you for following along. It was one heck of a trip.