Vacation 2007: Thoughts and Lessons Learned

1. In West Texas and New Mexico, K-Bob’s Restaurant is your friend. They always have a good soup and salad bar for the health-conscious traveler, and plenty of steaks, hamburgers and fried stuff to satisfy any less healthy-minded travelers you may be driving with.

2. Take lots of camera batteries with you. Lots and lots.

3. Pay the higher price to get a hotel with workout room, a really good breakfast, and on-site laundry. You’ll be so glad you did!

4. Take your own pillow. You’ll never have a bad night’s sleep.

5. Carrot sticks, grape tomatoes, dried cantaloupe and zucchini chips all make terrific road foods. They satisfy the urge to munch, but you can’t eat enough to rack up any significant amount of calories.

6. Exercise every day if you can. Running or walking isn’t just a nice way to burn off calories and keep you from feeling like a slug, but it’s a nice way to learn about the place you’re visiting, too.

7. Do the things you can’t do at home. I’m always amazed at how many people go to a new city and then hit the mall. Unless there’s something specific you need, what’s that all about? Go see something that isn’t available in your hometown.

8. The light wedge book light is proof that God loves us. Get one. You’ll be so glad you did!

9. Get a really good organizer for your medicines and toiletries. Throwing everything out of the suitcase and cussing at it like I do is also effective, but not ideal.

10. Smith’s grocery store in Socorro rocks. Who would’ve thought to find organics in a dinky little nowhere town like Socorro? I love you, Smith’s!

11. Every traveler has his or her quirks. Learn them. Then learn to stay out of the way and shut up about them. Dan and I became much happier when I quit trying to help him load up our stuff after each stop. He has his way he wants things packed, and if I just go away and let him do it, he’s happy and so am I.

12. Likewise, if your traveling companion insists on bringing things you think are useless, just grin and bear it. You never know. Dan thought I was nuts for packing as much food as I did, but snacks on the road and a few late nights in small towns used up most of our food, and he learned I’m not so crazy, after all.

13. Caffeinated gums and mints are great for the road, especially for those long stretches where you need a pick-me-up, but there are no facilities for miles and miles.

14. Likewise, always have sanitizing wipes and gels handy. When you do find a restroom, it’s usually clean, but there are times you have to make do with what’s out there, and it isn’t always pretty.

15. Most of all, try to bring a little of the road back home. Reality isn’t that narrow corridor we traipse each day to put bread on the table. The world is so much bigger than that!