Is there any better test of a relationship than a road trip? I think not. We watch relationships of all kinds grow and become stronger or utterly fail on the show "The Amazing Race." Some people have great communication skills and work together under pressure. Some people become so mean and biting that I wonder how embarrassed they are when they see what they look like on air. We laugh at road trips depicted in movies like whatever that one is with Ben Stiller where he marries that girl in San Francisco that he hardly knows and then they road trip to Mexico and he finds out she is crazy. Mostly in the car on their way there. I have friends that have road tripped with their partner and felt like their partner was stupid since apparently they didn't know how to read a map. And as annoyed as we all get at times at the ineptitude of our traveling companion, aren't road trips just awesome? I do love flying, but there is something more in a road trip.
I have gone on many road trips throughout my life. When I was younger I went with my family down trough the Redwoods and ended up in Disneyland and San Diego. We have gone back east to visit family in Chicago and driven through Mt. Rushmore and other amazing things I don't remember. So they are on my list of things to visit again. I know we've been there but I don't have any recollection of Wall Drug, Rushmore or Yellowstone. I've road tripped to San Francisco twice, Vegas and Reno, Whistler, Canada twice, Vancouver Island, Canada, Lewiston and Clarkston in eastern Washington, Kennewick, down the Oregon Coast, from Savannah, Georgia down the Florida Coast to Orlando, and around Provence, France. I have traveled with Ashleigh Cashman, Chad Latta, John Sconce, Barb, Erika, and my mom and dad, and just my mom and me solo. Friends, family, and former partners.
For the most part we get along. There are definitely times where you want to get away or tell someone else how you are obviously right about something and your companion is wrong, and probably stupid, but you get through it and in my experience it is usually for the better. My most stressful times were when I was driving through France with my mom. The roads are narrower and people drive crazy fast. Through mountainous and curvy roads. People on motorcycles were passing me around blind corners! People honk at you and you are just trying to figure out where to turn off the million and one round-abouts. My mom had been to France twice before so I nominated her the navigator and me the driver. But sometimes her directions were: we should follow the signs to fill-in-the-blank. But with having all the crazy traffic, the people speeding, passing, and honking I didn't have time to look at signs and there were some tense times when I couldn't get the directions the way I wanted them, though I hadn't told her how I needed them yet. But once we finally were able to establish what the best way to navigate was for the both of us, and I was reminded that really we didn't have a plan so if we took the wrong turn, we could just turn around, or continue around the round-about if we missed the exit until it came up again, I was able to relax. It really wasn't that big a deal. We were there to enjoy the countryside and each others company. Don't let the stress of other people get in the way of that.
Anyway, back to The Beach Boys. It seems like every road trip I took with my family growing up had a soundtrack of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and "What's New Pussycat" by Tome Jones. It's Tom Jones, right? What a great song. We all loved that one. So one of the classes I work in plays a variety of music. Today was all Beach Boys. It reminded me of road trips of when I was younger and then road trips in general.
I am thankful for road trips I have taken and for many more to come.
kk
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