This was written impromptu, during a ‘no show’ at work, while waiting for the cab to the airport….
There are many aspects of this weekend that excite me. Perhaps one of the more joyful elements of travel is the road trip. I like road trips. There is a sensation of ‘going somewhere’. The journey getting there usually is as nice as the destination itself. Someone usually does the driving as he likes to drive and I like to be a passenger. This gives me the opportunity to be Map-master (in charge of directions) and Ipod-master (in charge of the entertainment).
On these journeys I have gone through a literal wheelbarrow of old food magazines. I take a handful of them on each road trip. I scan them for potential recipes, ripping out the ones with potential. After two years, this weekend’s road trip sees the completion of phase 1 – going through all the magazines. Now I enter phase 2. This is going through the files of ripped our recipes and editing them down. I suspect many will go in ‘round two’; I suspect I’ve torn out multiple versions or the same thing, which means they can be thinned out to only one version.
Sometimes I get caught up with my professional reading viz. my many medical journals. If Someone doesn’t mind we hear a lecture or two on CD. (the latest CD is on “Borderline Personality Disorder” which promises non-stop entertainment and never a dull minute).
Sometimes I sit in the back seat and dictate charts. This gives me a fun opportunity to play “Driving Miss Daisy” or pretend I am royalty but this game is getting old (and Someone just turns up the music).
I like road trips mostly to stare out the window and think. My mind flits so, going from ‘thinking of nothing’ to ‘thinking of everything’. I wonder cosmic issues like ‘where am I going, what am I doing?” Someone doesn’t often see me sitting still let alone being quiet, so my introversions cause him some alarm – particularly when he is in need of direction (on the road, not in life). We drive from Santa Barbara back to Phoenix, so I will have many hours to reflect.
Spo-Reflections 
20 comments
October 8, 2010 at 9:25 AM
Mike Studio City
When you are driving back to Phoenix and you are passing through the San Fernando valley. It’s about 70 miles east of Santa Barbara. I am asuming you will be driving east on the 101 freeway. When you enter the “valley” you will most likely see a sign that says Woodland Hills or Calabasas. I live about eleven miles farther east in Studio City. When you see the freeway junction of the 101 and the 134 you will be about two blocks from my house. If you take the 101 south from this split it will take you to Hollywood, about four miles farther, and then farther down the road is downtown. If you continue east on the 134 it will pass through beautiful downtown Burbank and farther east it will pass by the Pasadena Rose Bowl, north side of the freeway, and Pasadena. By the time you are in Pasadena the freeway is no linger the 134 but becomes the 210 and will take you all the way east and connect with the 10 that will take you all the way back to Phoenix. So now you know where I live in Studio City Ca. Mike Wilson in Studio City north of Hollywood, BYW have lots of fun and have a great trip.
October 9, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Urspo
why thank you very much – that is better than Mapquest! I don’t trust Mapquest which purposely gives me wrong information so Someone and I get cross over where to go next.
October 8, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Will
You’re lucky you can read in the car. I always get queasy if I try to do that or if I try to write. I could probably compose lectures if I had one of those little personal recording devices.
Enjoy the trip!
October 9, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Urspo
Truth be told I get motion sickness in cars as well. Reading is a no-no until we are on the highway, going constantly without turns or stop and go.
October 8, 2010 at 9:51 AM
Jay
Envy – That is all I can say. I love road trips also. And I find I can really do thinking when the music is off. But since I prefer music to thinking I don’t get much of the latter done. What is on your i-pod?
October 9, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Urspo
My ipod’ contents rangers from a few full length plays (Shakespeare, Ibsen, Wilde) to opera to classical music to classical rock to whatsherface who sings all you single ladies. Shuffle songs is amusing – and jarring – to go from Bach to B52s.
October 8, 2010 at 10:06 AM
Greg
Roadtrips tend to be more fun for me as opposed to flying. I love accidentally coming across something that you wouldn’t know about unless you drove by it, then exploring and having a great time. enjoy the roadtrip!
October 8, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Laurent
So you have a driver, the only civilized way to do road trips while you luxuriate in the back leather seat of your limo.
I cannot imagine any other way of traveling by car. I like the concept that you can alternate between medical journals and food recipes, like an intellectual journey between two creative topics. Borderline personality disorder, are probably more common than one thinks, I just look at office politics and some of the people I had to work with including managers who used alcohol and drugs as a tool to help them cope with management issues, sadly most of them women managers pushed to the top by feminist issues.
October 8, 2010 at 11:52 AM
Raven~
If you do take the 210 as Mike suggests, you’ll drive past Claremont — one of the places I still call home. Wave at Mt. Baldy for me — my beloved Alison lives half way up the mountain 🙂 … 210 parallels 10 for quite a distance, then drops down to join 10. There are a couple of connecting freeways … but I think 210 is a nicer drive.
October 9, 2010 at 11:26 AM
Urspo
There are no lack of mountains here: I will wave at Alison and hopefully I will get a wave back.
October 8, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Mike Studio City
Raven, 210 is nicer and more scenic if the sky is clear inland. BTW, when you pass through Beaumont and Banning, the last green area you will see until the Colorado river. Wave to my ancestors. They settled there in the early 1900’s. Many still live there and many are buried there.
October 9, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Urspo
Pleasant folks, I trust? I will certainly wave. On the whole I find deceased relatives are less difficult than the live ones.
October 8, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Blobby
oooh. I’ve met someone who has Borderline Personality Disorder. I should say – she worked for me. What a nut job. ….yet at least she thought she was sane.
October 9, 2010 at 5:06 AM
Birdie
Yeah, I know someone who was diagnosed with BPD, and she insists there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. Pointing out the shopping debt of tens of thousands of dollars, the emotional meltdowns that ended at the hospital and more means nothing to her: she thinks that’s normal. Ahhhh!
October 9, 2010 at 4:09 AM
Rick
I like the idea of just staring out the window and being introspective. You’re always “doing” something, relax, slow down.
I remember when I drove cross-country with my ex, we never put the radio on once. Four days of silence and just plain old conversation – was one of the best times of my life.
October 9, 2010 at 4:47 AM
Lemuel
You comment about Driving Miss Daisy reminded me of a story my wife tells from her youth about her sisters. The one used to remove her slip and put it on her head while riding in the back seat and pretend that she was a bride or a princess in a limo. (a ’49 Chevy was hardly a limo!)
October 9, 2010 at 5:09 AM
Birdie
I just LOVE road trips, and now that I have a convertible I love them even more. When the sun starts to set and I’m not pressed with a deadline, I’ll take the car out and drive on the quiet roads and zen out to smooth jazz. Very soothing.
Since the husband is on the road for a living, road trips are the vacation from hell for him. I need to grab a friend and go.
October 9, 2010 at 6:48 AM
Shawn
Enjoy the ride, the wedding, someone and Santa Barbara it’s such a beautiful place. This weekends weather should be fab.
October 9, 2010 at 8:16 AM
Ron Tipton
I love road trips! Only problem is The Other Half doesn’t. You’re lucky that Someone likes road trips too and DRIVES. I would make such a good passenger. I wish I had a friend who also liked to take road trips. However, it is not to be. I’ve been a solo act most of my life and I will continue.
Take Mike’s (of Studio City, CA) suggestion and make a trip to visit him and Glenn. They’re both great guys and I hear they have beautiful gardens.
October 9, 2010 at 10:02 AM
DougT
I totally agree with you about road trips. One of my favorites is taking the Overseas Highway down the Keys. Knowing that you guys are waiting at the end of the drive adds to the pleasure of the experience. I hope that you and Someone enjoy this one. Save travels.