Ma philosophie de voyager

I've been to 46 of the 50 states. This privilege was thanks to the many road trips we took as a family for my dad's annual denominational meeting. Since they were held in all corners of the U.S., I've seen much of the country. I can describe to you the grandeur of Hoover's Dam and how damn hot it was. I could tell you about the little differences between Disneyland and Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I've seen so many sights in the U.S. that it would be quite boring to see them again. I saw these sights because of the way my dad likes to travel. Maybe he wanted to show his kids the features of our country and share some of his childhood travel memories. But I think the more likely explanation is that my dad is more oriented towards being a checklist traveler.

The road trips were timed quite well so that we would reach one site, spend an hour there, and leave in order to make it to the next destination. It's not like I don't appreciate the traveling we did. After all, I was just a kid, and what did I know about where we would be going. But I do feel like we missed out on some things during the blitz of national battlefields, museums, birthplaces, and parks.

One example that sticks out was the trip we made from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It started out very nicely. We stopped in Carmel, the small town on the Pacific where Clint Eastwood was mayor. My dad, my brother, and I got to go golfing in that area, which is not too far from Pebble Beach. But that was apparently enough northern California coast for my dad, because we were leaving for L.A. after a day and a half there. The drive to L.A. could have been leisurely except for the fact that Hearst Castle was on the way. So in order to carve out enough time for the voyage and the visit and still make it to L.A. before sundown, my dad raced down Highway 1. Big Sur was a Big Blur. My mom alerted me to look out the window to see some seals, but by the time it took me to turn my head 90 degrees, the seals had disappeared from view.

That's how my traveling self grew up, in bursts. Rich points of interests were interspersed with mad rushes. Even potty breaks were an inconvenience to the schedule. My family had a big red conversion van in which we sprinted across the country. When my brother or I had to pee, my dad would stop off the side of the highway, where we could stand in the door and let loose a stream that should have been relieved an hour before. After so many road trips like that, apparently we either got too big to do that or it was too much of an inconvenience. And embarrassing as it still might be, we got a little port-a-potty to shove between the rear bench and the second row driver's side seat. Potty breaks, as we knew them, no longer would interrupt our hyper space travel.

So these were some of the shaping events of my travel life. Next time, I am going to tell you how they have shaped my philosophy of traveling.