Road-trips have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. For almost every summer of my life, I found myself packed in a car with siblings, bikes, beach toys and of course sugary, gratifying snacks to please any whining “I’m hungry.” First it was to the lakes of Canada, then Hilton Head Island, cousins in Pittsburg and other shorter trips dotted throughout. Yes, the drive was hectic for the folks. Someone always wanted a snack every 5 minutes, certain babies hated car seats, and the combination of the two polar-opposite siblings who happened to sit next to each other could be dramatically explosive. Sometimes toys were thrown out the window, SAT tests had to be taken, and a sickening amount of baby tunes played. Then there were the times when we sang musicals at the top of our lungs or family-jammed to T swizzle or sparred with our competitive spirits in a brutal match of the alphabet game. It is all a swirl of mixed recollections that always ends up as a laugh in my memory.
This summer, I started out on another road trip from FL to NH. This time, with just my roommate and a friend minus the background noise of ten other people, I had a bit of thinking time. So here are a few of my road trip musings that started out my summer.
- Steady Sky, Moving Road.
Whenever I relieved my roommate from driving so she could begin a blissful car nap, I would be left to listen to soft tunes as the background to my own thoughts. Driving up 95 can be a bit dull sometimes. You stare at the straight, moving road and there isn’t much else except an impressive plethora of South of the Border signs (I counted 50 plus- yes I was a bit bored). But against the grey rumbling road, the sky was the beautiful constant that remained always ahead. It was these mixed diversities that created the road-trip images that reminded me of the importance of faith and the value of unseen beauty which parallels the daily drive of our own humdrum days. If we always look up to the sky for hope, the moving road will pass far more quickly and worthily.
2. Soundtracks create the attitude of life.
Music changes your mood no matter how hard you believe otherwise. And the words each song offers affect your thoughts. With the amount of time we had to listen to tunes on this drive, I began to notice the stark difference between artists whose lyrics actually drew me in to think about what the words meant and the songs that were just mindless melodies: easy words to a good tune- which aren’t bad necessarily, but can promote mental lethargy. The difference between the two types of songs was that one grappled with truth and the others were repetitive and surface-level. The key is to choose the right sound track and ask ourselves if the music we listen to should deepen the life of our mind or just mindlessly push us along. Music creates attitude and attitude is everything.
3. Car conversations are some of the best.
With nowhere to go and 20 hours ahead of you, there is nothing more to do than converse with your road trip buddy. In daily life, free from the enclosed space which a car offers, we can hide from real personal exchanges through activity and business. On a road trip, the car does the moving so that you can be still for a moment within your own mind. Young children become agitated on long trips because they want to move and play but I think adults are sometimes uncomfortable with the silence as well. When life stops for a moment, you are left with just yourself and your own thoughts. As simple as this sounds, it can be intimidating. Road trip conversations uncover the thoughts we think when we aren’t moving- all of the places where our mind wanders. And these moments of encounter can bind and challenge us to face the thoughts our moving bodies have no time to tackle. Conversation with another person is a beautiful way to bond more deeply. I absolutely enjoyed doing this with my roommate, in particular when Krispy Kremes were involved in accentuating the dialogue.
I thoroughly loved this time spent in the car and all the sitting and driving prepared me for an active summer of beginnings and adventure. It is only through silence and thought that we can be driven to act well. And so this time taught me the importance of the classic parental warning to think before you act or speak. So here is to a summer of thought and action, new musings and exciting adventures and hopefully more charming road trips.
