Copyright © 2011 by Ralph Couey
In the past, vacation trips were rarely about a particular destination. They were rather about the trip itself and the many stops along the way. It was that philosophy that sent Americans out on legendary highways such as Route 66, Route 50, US 1, and California 1, the famed Pacific Coast Highway. If you left Chicago on Route 66 heading west, you weren’t just traveling to the Santa Monica Pier in California. You were going to see St. Louis; cowboys between Tulsa and Amarillo; the high plains of Tucumcari, Albuquerque, and Gallup; The deserts and mountains of Holbrook, Flagstaff, Kingman, and Barstow, and then, and only then, the cool waters of the Pacific Ocean. The point of the trip was not to dabble your toes in the surf, but all the natural beauty and wonder of the American west.
People don’t travel like that anymore. Most have a single destination in mind, minimize the travel time to that place, and then rack and stack everything you want (or feel obligated) to do into those few days. That kind of a killer schedule has led to the oft-voiced phrase, “I need a vacation from my vacation.”
However, that old spirit of adventure hasn’t vanished entirely. Within the motorcycle community it lives and breathes in the hearts of sojourners who have never forgotten the power of a journey.
I’ve taken a few long trips, all of which still live in vivid recollections. While they were all fun and adventurous, there were those things I planned well, those I didn’t, and other details I never thought about. Hopefully there is some value in those experiences that will assist others in planning trips.
Planning the trip
