On the Road Again

View from Wildlife Viewing Platform
(Dael's Rock in the early morning fog)

Today Jan and I kick off a month-long road trip. In talking about past road trips with friends, I’ve discovered they generally split into two camps: those who think long trips are delightful and those who can’t stand being away from home for that long.

I understand both perspectives. Earlier this week I sat on our “Wildlife Viewing Platform” (a fanciful and sometimes wishful name for a rectangular deck my son and I built at the lake’s edge) reading a book, and I realized I was perfectly content with that spot at that time. The sun was shining and keeping me warm on a cool Michigan day. The breeze kept the bugs down and caused waves not much larger than ripples to lap over and against the nearby rocks. A belted kingfisher flew along the far shore, giving its rattling call. Overhead, a red-eyed vireo called and from a distance came the clear calls of a pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks. Dragonflies patrolled the air and used the platform as a landing field.

Nope, it can’t get much better than that, and I could easily convince myself there is no reason to leave my property except for the occasional trip into town to gather mail and provisions.

Autumn morning view from
Wildlife Viewing Platform

But then I get in the car and wander off to some new or remembered place. Traveling forces me to abandon a perhaps overly comfortable routine (read rut?) and explore new geographies, watch plant forms change as I move north or south, to higher or lower altitudes, to warmer or colder climates. I visit family and old friends. I meet strangers and learn from them. I get to see and experience things I read in books come alive (Civil War battlefields, geology’s effects on the land, museums full of history and arts). I make time to stroll an interesting cemetery, spend a few hours watching birds, take a hike to a hidden waterfall, put a camera on a tripod and find a different perspective, a new lens if you will, with which to explore the world.

Dael's Rock on a still morning
with reflections on the lake

While traveling, I sometimes wonder why I bother having two homes that tie me down when there is so much more to see.

A bit schizophrenic, wouldn’t you say? But each sensibility works for me in its own place and time. When I am traveling, I want to suck in the new or relearned experiences. But, as soon as I start heading for home, that’s where I want to be. The trip becomes a mad dash to get back home. I want to know if the phoebes nesting under the deck are raising kids this year, whether the moose have walked down our road, what flowers returned and whether any new volunteers have risen in our wildflower meadow.

How about you? Do you enjoy traveling or would you prefer to stay near home without all the hassles?

~ Jim