Jonesing for a Road Trip

 If I could afford it, I'd take a road trip nearly every weekend. I love planning the trip; studying the atlas, Googling the different points along the way. I'm delighted by little things; stopping at a gas station to stock up on treats, pulling over to read the historical markers along the way, taking pics of whatever giant statue a town might have. I love seeing the old broken-down barns - the ones deemed cheaper to just let sit and decay instead of having them hauled away. I love the old houses, too, the ones now barren and falling apart - I can't help but wonder what went on there. Who lived there? What secrets do they hold? If you listen carefully, can you hear the whisper of past lives long ago absorbed into the yellowing, curling wallpaper?

What is it about a road trip? The farms, the forests, the small towns whipping by...because a proper road trip must be taken on the older roads. Not the Interstate. An Interstate is a tool to get someone from one place to the other as quickly and unobtrusively as possible. On a proper road trip, I want to saunter and soak up the countryside, the kitsch, the uniqueness that is often sorely lacking along the Interstate. I want to be able to pull over on a gravelly, weed-strewn shoulder of a quiet country road if the urge arises and breathe in the air and listen to the chirruping frogs and cicadas.

Besides, what better place to get rid of the bodies? (rim-shot, please!)

But seriously, I think it's because this winter has really tired me out and I'm looking forward to spring like I haven't in a long time. Besides, spring, in my opinion, is the best season for a road trip. We tire of the cocoon of winter and long for the wings brought by spring.