Road Trippin'

As you might know, I worked at a Ford motor Company transmission plant for about seven years. The bulk of that was spent working about seventy hours a week on the afternoon shift (3:30 pm - midnight). Basically, work was my life, and I was miserable.

One thing I always had to look forward to was our summer shut-down. The majority of the American auto industry shuts their plants down for the first two weeks of July so they they can change things over for the new models. This meant the I was guaranteed to be off (with vacation pay)for those two weeks, no matter what.

Like I said, other than some long weekend getaways here and there, I spent most of my time in the plant. When July rolled around, I was ready to get out of town and go nuts. I started taking road trips, and I fell in love with the road. Sometimes I would start driving from home, and sometimes I would fly in to one city, rent a car one-way, then fly home from another city. Some trips would revolve around the tour-stops of my favorite bands, while others were just to random places I wanted to see. When I started working at Ford, I had seen around five of the United States. When I left, I was up to forty-six.

While my time at Ford is a thing of the past (thank God), my passion for road trips remains. I love just getting behind the wheel and going. The only rule is that there are no rules. I never plan where I'll stay, or how long I will be in one place. The feeling I get when I take these trips has become a bit of an addiction. At the first hint of spring, my mind starts racing about where I'm going that summer. Some of my favorite places I've seen in the States are the Grand Tetons, Northern California, the Rockies and basically all of Utah. I've been dying to go out there and share those places with Em, and I will soon get my chance.

We decided take a road trip out west this fall. I was looking around online, and I found round-trip tickets to Denver for $107 each (isn't that crazy?). We are going to fly there, rent a car and make a huge circle around the west, rolling through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah and New Mexico. The only plan is when we will fly in and out of Denver.

I can't wait to get back on the road, but, even more so, I can't wait to do it with Emily. I can't imagine how many road trip stories of mine she has heard, and I'm looking forward to making some new stories with her.

Now comes the part where I sit and stare at my atlas for hours, daydreaming about the upcoming trip. September seems like a long way off!