Countdown to Departure: 5 days

Welcome to my blog.  The intent of this is to chronicle a road trip I am taking from Boston to Santa Fe by way of the Bruce Peninsular in Ontario, Canada and the Upper Peninsular of Michigan.  And while I don't leave for several days,  I've decided to start early to try to get the hang of this format - and to be sure it makes sense for us all.  Those of you who know me well will recognize the names and dates, but I am writing this with a pen name and nicknames in place of given and family names.  I have become cautious in my old age.

A friend of mine who has known me for over 40 years emailed me suggesting that "it was curious that I liked road trips", but then again, that I was not "someone who could be pigeon-holed".  That got me thinking, "Do I even like road trips?"  It is certainly not my image of myself.  And if I didn't have "the Tramp"  (part of the pun in my title for those of you who may be wondering about it) I doubt very much if I'd be doing this.  Yet, travelling this country alone, and car tripping are certainly a constant as I think over my personal history.

The Tramp

                                                       

My first "road trip" was actually by train west across the US and back home across Canada.  It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, and I was supposed to travel with one of my new college friends, a gifted dancer who was studying at both Julliard and Barnard.  She had neither licence nor car, but assured me she would acquire both in time for us to spend a month exploring the US over the summer.  Well, her parents had a different idea,  but I had been looking forward to the trip too much to just cancel it.  So Union Pacific became the means, and off I went.  I slept sitting up in coach ( not recommended ) and joined a tour through the national parks.  I can still remember the awe I felt out in the majesty of these lands, and the pride I felt that I could do this, and enjoy it, despite being alone.

The next hint about me was the choice I made for a college graduation gift.  My folks generously offered me the choice between a car or a trip to Europe.  I chose a sweet, used little Mercedes roadster.  She had a convertible hard top,  black leather interior, white exterior - and, as it turned out,  a whole lot of rust.  I was in love.  And she became a key part of my next road trip as I shall explain.

My senior year in college I dated a scrapping athlete who went off to war after graduation.  He had been living off campus with several teammates, one of whom stayed on at school to get a combined JD/MBA.  The next year  this friend, JD, invited me to come back to NYC and play with him and eventually we began dating, tho not exclusively or seriously.  This relationship continued for a couple of years, until, by the end of the 60's,  I knew I had to make some major changes in my life.  I had grown into an independent, pragmatic and curious woman who was eager for new experiences.  Layoffs had begun to make my job uncertain.  So I proposed to my NYC off-again, on-again boyfriend that I move to San Francisco and that he follow me in my roadster after his graduation.   I would go on ahead with another friend who had offered to drive me there.   JD accepted as I was sure he would.  So began road trip number 2.

My first memory about this trip was the day I packed my things into my friend's van and left home.  My mother cried.  To this day it is the only time I have ever seen her with tears in her eyes.  As neither my friend nor I had much money, we camped in sleeping bags along side his car for the entire trip.  It was not a happy trip for me, but I learned several important lessons.   First, travel can cause anxiety and you need to know your travelling companion(s) very well.  It is better to travel alone than with a difficult person. (Unfortunately, this is a lesson I keep forgetting and having to relearn.)  Second, it snows very early in Banff.  And, third, I like hotels, hot showers and soft beds more than sleeping bags and cold, hard ground.

My friend dropped me in Tiburon where a cousin was living and returned to Marblehead without me.   I began a job search.  When I found a job in downtown SF for a young and rapidly expanding timesharing company, I sent for my "boyfriend", my car and a few of my belongings.  When they arrived we moved in together, along with 4 other college friends in a Berkeley, Ca commune of sorts.  It was the season of hip, young, exuberant 20 somethings with flowing clothes, wild hair, and lifestyle experimentation.

I'll skip the details of this adventure and simply tell you that I learned that I am a pretty conventional middle class kid, and when my job offered me the chance to return  to Boston a couple of years later to open and head up a new Boston office, I said yes.  I rented a small studio apartment in the South End and was as happy as I ever was in any job.  One day, out of the blue,  one of my Berkeley housemates called about coming to Boston.  She had just finished a graduate degree in Norman, OK and was thinking about coming to Boston to work.   I flew out to meet her in her Norman apartment, load up her car and  drive with her back to Boston to live with me until she could get herself set-up.  Road trip #3.  B had been a year behind me in college.  She was (and still is) beautiful,  smart , unassuming and sweet.  We had a great time on the road.  This was not a pleasure trip - we pushed hard to get east as fast as possible, but I can remember stopping to go bowling one afternoon and barely being able to move the next day.  I can also remember how impressed I was with Pittsburgh, PA - by then clean and safe with neighborhood parks everywhere.  My only other memories are about how packed her car was with plants, cats, and cases. We laughed most of the way to Boston.

Over the next several years I returned to graduate school for an MBA, married, divorced, and returned to San Francisco as a management consultant.  I was fortunate to travel a lot during that time, mostly by first class air and in luxury hotels.  I spent a summer circling the globe, spent many winter weeks in the Caribbean,  and criss-crossed small town America for work.   By 1987 I was back in Boston in a new job and condo apartment on Beacon Hill.  Life was mostly about work until, on vacation in 1995 in the Galapagos Islands, I met the man who transformed my life and set me on this path of seemingly annual road trips.

Chip was born with travelling genes.  He could not sit still.  His work always required travelling, and he always loved it whether driving huge vans across Canada or commuting between Germany and the Philippine Islands.  He travelled well, enjoying all the luxury and amenities an executive position and wealth could provide.  From the day I met him, which, by the way was on an airplane, we travelled constantly.  First it was the Galapagos vacation when we met; then commuting every weekend between Chicago and Boston so we could be together.  In 1996 he moved in with me in Boston; we married the next year.  Between 1996 and 2004, we travelled to China and the far east at least 3 times, to England or Europe half a dozen more times for his work or mine.   After one trip to Aspen, we rented a car and drove the 4 corners of Colorado.  It was a  mini-road trip of sorts, and terrific fun and at least partly because of this Colorado is one of my favorite states.   Another time we drove from Munich to Salzburg staying in small villages throughout the Black Forest.  Yet another time, we drove from Paris to Alsace-Lorraine to explore his family's roots.  By 2001 Chip was planning his retirement and first on his list of things to do was a road trip across the US, visiting friends and family along the way.  I was still working and so we decided I would take one week of vacation and start off with him returning to work for the next month but flying out to join him each weekend, and then take a month's leave of absence to spend the last 4 weeks of the trip travelling with him.  We bought a brand new Lexus sedan with GPS and satellite concierge services and Chip packed a notebook to keep a daily log and off he went.  And that began nearly annual road trips for me over the 10 years since.

Chip died in 2004.  We had rescued the Tramp, a one year old wheaten terrier, when we knew Chip had only a few more months to live.  I wanted him to have the comfort a dog's love provides as he dealt with the ravages of chemotherapy.  He wanted me to have companionship after he died and, as he wished, Tramp has become the center of my life.  I retired when Chip became ill,  and Tramp and I are constant companions.  I hate the thought of leaving her in a kennel when I travel, and so I arrange to drive whenever and where-ever I can.  Since 2004 we have road-tripped down the southeast coast to Savannah and Jacksonville; out west to New Orleans, Austin, TX and Tucson, Arizona.  We have driven north to Toronto, around Ohio, and northeast up and along the craggy coast of Maine.  We love the mountains of western North Carolina, the dry air of the southwest desert and the islands off the coast of Georgia.  Tramp is a swimmer and wherever possible she will find water and a way to cool off.  She has enjoyed fountains in Savannah, rivers and marshes outside of Charleston.  She's been in the Atlantic in almost every state along the east coast.  She jumped into the Rio Grande in San Antonio and wouldn't have been able to get out without the fast thinking of a chain of friends and family leaning over the side of the wall and grabbing and pulling her up.  She is an easy dog to travel with.  She mostly sleeps in the car, is generally eager to jump out for a picnic or easy hike, and becomes the reason for conversation with strangers.  Most dog-friendly hotels are managed by warm and friendly people; and as her job is to keep me safe, I need never worry about sleeping alone in a strange place.

And so, as you have read, since 1964 I have taken over a dozen road-trips, some long, some only a few days, some alone, many with Chip, and now, with Tramp.  Sometimes a girlfriend will join me for part or all of the trip.  Sometimes Chip's daughter meets up with me and we travel together.  These trips have given me wonderful experiences and memories.  And I hope to continue them as long as I am healthy and able.

This year, I will be on the road for nearly 5 weeks.  I will try to keep up this blog the entire time.  I am going to some places I have never been before, and returning to many places I have come to love.  If you decide to continue to read this blog, I hope I make you laugh and enjoy my adventure.  I shall look forward to having you as my travelling companion.