Road Trip 2013

Grand Marais, MI; Baltimore Maryland. All in two weeks.

I have been going to Grand Marais, MI since I was eight months old. In fact, I went there every summer from eight months until I was around 26 and every other year since. When I come around the bend that leads me down the hill that feeds into downtown, something inside me feels like I've come home.

I am taking the kids there for a week. The drive from Chicago is around 430 miles.

When I get back, it will be about 24 hours before I turn around and drive to Baltimore, MD. There, we are staying a couple of days with our friends, the Crickets. Over the weekend, we'll meet up with Wife's family for a cousin's wedding reception.

That drive is a little over 700 miles.

No holding back: I'm getting a little worried about all of that driving. When I planned it, I thought, No big deal! Now that it's upon me, the butterflies are fluttering.

Actually, I'm not entirely sure what I'm worried about. Perhaps it's the unknown. In many ways, it will be great. The kids will get to read and watch DVDs while I am planning on downloading some music and audiobooks. I love NPR and hope to get a few episodes of A Prairie Home Companion, The Moth, and some David Sedaris. Perhaps I will get some Louis C.K. comedy, but only when the kids are sleeping or watching a movie.

That makes me feel better. There is also the fatigue factor. I have driven long distances, but it has been a while. My body is not conditioned for driving as it once was. My driving has been reduced to around 8- or 9,000 miles per year. That's not nothing, but ask a car commuter and he or she will scoff at those numbers. There are at least one or two days per week when the key to the ignition does not get turned. And those are weekdays.

(As I am writing this, I feel myself slouching in my chair and force myself to straighten up, strengthening my core which will serve me well on the road.)

More on my road trips as they get closer. Right now, I have to get ready to go golfing!