We just came back from a 5-day road trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota which was just amazing.  While I love travel of any kind, there’s something that I particularly love about a good road trip in the western United States and this trip was no different.  Being raised in the middle of the country, my childhood was filled with trips of us packing up a station wagon and heading out on the open road going somewhere.  Many of our trips followed the interstates west to places like Colorado or Wyoming.

Also, for some reason as I’ve expereinced difficult, stressful times in my life where I felt despairing about work ore relationships, the first reaction I have is to hit the open road and drive for the hills.  Whether or not this is healthy, I’m not sure.  But something about hitting the open road, especially in the western United States seems to free my soul, and make me feel a little more hopeful in some way.  One of my favorite books as a kid was Blue Highways, the story of a man who spends a year traveling the remote “blue highway” 2-lane roads around the country, stopping in tiny little towns along the way.  Driving these remote roads in these wild places just speaks to my adventurous spirit and I keep wanting to see more of what’s around the bend.  Our trip to the Black Hills was filled with many mini road trips each day — each one different, but neveretheless filling my wanderlust.  This trip was filled with curvy, winding mountain roads, narrow, rock tunnels, long straight roads through the plains, as well as interstate highways that had speed limits of 80 mph.  It was also filled with scenic views of more than 100 miles away, horizons with glorious sunsets, and wide, open spaces as far as the eye could see.  Now back home, there’s nothing left to do but plan the next road trip….

 

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