Just a Few Thoughts on Journeys Past and Dreamt Of

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers.  The mind can never break off from the journey."

Pat Conroy

A few from William Least Heat-Moon:

"Be careful going in search of adventure - it's ridiculously easy to find."

"What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road."

"A true journey, no matter how long the travel takes, has no end."

More from A-Z Quotes here:

Figure 1.

Some of the things which trigger spells of road-trip nostalgia include the passing of time, the passing of beloved friends (especially those with whom you shared at least some brief day trips), a photo of an old field trip vehicle, or a site seen, and decadal anniversaries.

The photo above was taken in November 1979 on New Mexico Hwy. 80, which becomes Arizona Hwy. 80 once the state line is crossed.  (Without looking it up, I suspect it is part of "old U.S. Hwy 80.)  For the Thanksgiving holidays, as usual, I was driving to Phoenix to visit with my aunt and uncle.  

This side trip was to deliver to Bisbee one of my neighbors, Joan.  She wanted a ride to visit with some of her friends in the old mining town of Bisbee, Arizona.  So I gladly complied with her request, as it gave me the chance to see some different scenery in the area shared by SW New Mexico and SE Arizona.  After finding the home of one of her friends, she and I had dinner at the historic Copper Queen Hotel.

The next day, I left out for Phoenix and from there (with my aunt and uncle) we went to spend Thanksgiving night at the home of one of their daughters, in Flagstaff.  I had never had the experience of 8 degrees with blowing snow, on Thanksgiving night.

The next day, we left to spend a few days with their other daughter in Tuba City, AZ.  That daughter's husband was an anesthesiologist in the government hospital on the Navajo/Hopi reservation.  We did make a side trip from there to see the Glen Canyon Dam.

One the return trip to Bisbee, I planned to come back for another visit, but just never managed to do so.

Returning to the present, though I don't foresee it "in the now", I hope to do a few more road trips.  If time, money, and circumstances allow.