Planes, Trains and Matchbox Cars

Originally posted 9.28.06

I'm planning a trip. In truth, I am always planning a trip. My mind wanders drunkenly, lustily through places I have never been but which just might feel like home if given the chance. Did I list travel as a hobby? It's something of a lie if i have. My feet don't leave this desert city's soil often enough to qualify myself as a traveler in the most accepted definition. But be that as it may, I am a traveler. A traveler in the truest sense. A traveler of words and feelings. A traveler of the heart and mind. A traveler unto myself.

Years ago, in the early years of my adult life, when I was still broke and already broken down, I thought I might die if I couldn't hit the road. The sound of tires on the endless highway and rushing air through open car windows was as strong as any siren's call must ever have been. And while I did rove the Indiana countryside many a night in my little Honda Civic, I rarely even passed county lines.

All this did little to sate my deep seated wander lust. But I was a full time student and a full time waitress and a full time maker of ends meet. So I learned to travel in a different way. I started buying matchbox cars (blue convertibles mostly) so that I always had the freedom of the road, or at least a symbol of it, in my pocket. And I planned trips. Trips to Iceland (a truly gorgeous looking country) and Idaho, Spain and Seattle. I love beaches and mountains, cities and countrysides, tourist favorites and spots known only to the locals and I planned to see it all. 4 weeks through Europe by eurorail (god I love trains!), surfing lessons in California, sailing lessons off the coast of the Carolinas, rock climbing in Arizona. All the places I had ever wanted to go to do all the things I have ever wanted to try.

I did do some of those things. Surfing lessons were a gift to myself for my birthday. Rock climbing is partly responsible for the fact that I now reside in Arizona. But so many trips are left untaken. And so many more are still unplanned. So many open roads still call out to me. So I am planning a trip, and maybe, just maybe, we will meet along the way and travel together for a spell.

(I also commented on this post - the only comment I might point out - see below)
Pedantic, effusive, self indulgent and bordering on the cliche. Skip it and don't buy the cliff notes.