Day 8: Places I have traveled to

I am very lucky in the fact that I get to travel a lot with work.  I have been all over North America in the past few years.  In my life I have been to 5 different countries 40 of the 50 states and more airports than I can remember.  My preferred way to travel is by car.  I would much rather take the time and drive someplace than fly.  I like the ability to turn left when the mood suits me.  However if you are flying here are ten rules I have developed that will make your flight much more enjoyable for your and everyone around you.  I posted these orginally in May of last year.

Last year we took my dad on vacation with us and went to Idaho.  The drive on I-84 between Boise and Tri-cities in Washington is a stretch of road I have driven literally dozens of times in my life.  I know where the speed traps are, the dangerous curves and best places to eat.  However when making that drive it has always been about how fast we can arrive at our destination.  That changes on this particular occasion.  We stopped on top of the Blue Mountains and found a state park that was part of the original Oregon trail and we able to see actual pioneer wagon tracks that over the years wore groves into the rock.  We stopped and walked around the abandoned cement factory in Lime.  We visited the Oregon trail historical societies museum in Baker.  We stopped and bought cherries from some guy on the side of the road.  It was much more about the journey than the destination.  What would have normally taken 5 hours of driving stretched to about 9 hours.  The funny thing is that I don't have any memory of the driving or the time we spent in the car.  I do however have some great memories of the stops and experiences we had when we chose to turn left. 

So just some parting wisdom (this is a place to get "Ryan's words of brilliance" after all) worry less about making good time driving and worry more about having a good time while driving.