A recent 1,600-mile road trip took me to six states, three of which I hadn’t traveled to before (Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky). I do love a good road trip, for many reasons.

1. Seeing new places. It’s a wide world out there–I like to see as much of it as possible.

2. Discovering new things. I learned Betty Friedan is from Peoria, Illinois (where we stayed for a night). I learned why northern Kentucky is a stronghold of Catholicism. I learned about a new bourbon 🙂

3. Meeting great characters. It’s nice to be able to hang out in local haunts. We went to a little bar in Covington, Kentucky, and some amusing characters showed up. I’ve missed those happenstance conversations.

4. Forgetting about any kind of diet or eating well. I’m pretty good about bringing healthy snacks for the car (dried fruit, nuts, granola bars) but the road trip is an excuse to eat cookies and drink more coffee than I normally would.

5. The way time stre-e-e-e-e-e-tches out. It felt like I had been gone for two weeks, and it was only four days. That’s because I’m not trying to pack endless tasks into a day. My to-do list was nonexistent. I hardly read any news. It was a total check-out from my everyday life, and who doesn’t need that once in a while? Especially these days.

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