Word, Image, Song: Road Trip
A road trip’s reliable surprise? Pitstop kitsch.
Summer is the season to take to the open road. Where will you roam? In my family, we have an annual trip in June to visit grandparents, and often—toward the end of summer—a second road trip to a landscape specific destination. The Rocky Mountains. Lake Superior. The Black Hills of South Dakota.
We don’t pack light. Instead, we’re wedged into the car between backpacks and coolers, blankets and pillows. You can count on there being pretzels and Twizzlers to snack on, and a themed playlist. These are burned to a CD (because we can’t play a mixtape), and I prefer the old school method of choosing how the tunes should unfold—one after another—for a cohesive sound.
My kids could tell you stories of these roadtrips, as can my husband and I. The cartrips themselves are sensory specific. My daughter draws within a nest of stuffed animals. My son holds a stack of DnD books to browse as the miles roll by. When my husband needs a nap, it’s time for me to trade my knitting project for the steering wheel.
Together, we’ve experienced journeys as magical as the destination. There was the moment we entered the Badlands just as the theme from the Dances with Wolves soundtrack began to play, followed by a flute filled Dakota prayer song. Though we couldn’t understand the singer’s words, we knew firsthand the beauty he described.
When we ascended the terrain of Rocky Mountain National Park, the kids screamed, “we’re going to die!” Yes, I too, was nervous by the car’s precarious angle. “What happened to the trees?” I asked my mountain loving husband.
“We’ve reached the alpine elevation,” he said with a grin. “We’re higher than trees can grow.”
Road trips are a particular kind of adventure, especially in the USA where we rely on the highway system to move freely from state to state. Though I love riding the train and wish our country could cooperate enough to bring Amtrak into the 21st century, that’s a story for a different day. For now, let’s celebrate the surprises of the open road.
PS:
Yes, road trip is really two words, but only when used as a noun. If using it as a verb or adjective, be sure to add a hyphen: road-trip.
SONG
I love the way this song mimics a winding road, its melodic movement from light to heft, left to right, and back again.
FLOURISH
Inspired by road trips real and imagined, give yourself thirty minutes this week to dream with pencil in hand. Begin with a list (or two). Favorite snacks. Ultimate playlist. A pitstop or park you’ve visited or (long to). Choose a detail to write or draw about, focusing on the delight of expressing yourself on paper. Queue up your playlist and fill a page with sketches and notes, illustrating your road trip memories.
