I’m at that point in life when one starts taking a serious look at their “Bucket List” and all of those things they’ve yet to have done. (Bucket Lists are those things you want to do in your life before you die. This idea was memorialized in the 2007 movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.)
Cross-Country Road Trip
A couple of weeks back, I mentioned in a blog article that it had always been my dream to get into my car and drive our country from the East Coast to the West Coast and back.
For too long, I’ve flown across this great land and seen it from 30,000-feet, gazing out of the airline window saying to myself, “One day, I’m going to drive from sea to shining sea.”
When I shared this Bucket List item with my fiancé, Sue, she said it was something she always wanted to do as well.
Let the Planning Begin
Planning a trip that will span about eight weeks and 8,000-miles is quite an ordeal.
Originally, I thought we could just wing-it by getting in the car and driving wherever the winds took us. But that turns out to be a little unrealistic, especially if, like the two of us, you have kids and grandkids along the route you wish to spend time with.
Once you start talking with them – after all they have lives they’re living and plans they’re making – you have to map out a specific route and timetable. Plus, when I started looking at hotels to stay at along the way, I realized that if you want to have a place “leaving the light on for you” when you pull into town, you’d better make reservations. Triple A says that they expect this summer to be a banner year for people going on vacation via their vehicles.
The Map Takes Shape
Once we firmed up our stays with our kids and grandkids, we began to map out our route and timetable for traveling coast-to-coast.
Starting this week, we will leave Virginia and head through Ohio.
I’ve never been to Dayton and I’m excited to meet a radio friend and blog reader, Kevin 
Fodor who is a radio programmer and news anchor at Cox Radio. The Cox Media Group in Dayton is print, TV, radio, digital and so much more in one location.
It should be an exciting start to our cross-country adventure.
Some of the High Points
Without getting too deep in the weeds, here are some of the high points of our cross-country trip.
We plan to cruise on the mighty Mississippi River, hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir & organ, tour the Hoover Dam, stay in a haunted hotel, ride the Hooterville Cannonball to Petticoat Junction, wine in Napa Valley, walk through a giant redwood forest, see Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose,” watch Old Faithful, view Mount Rushmore, visit The House on the Rock, traverse a great lake on a ferry, experience Hitsville U.S.A. where the Motown sound was born, visit Radio’s Best Friend, Art Vuolo, 
and tour the Henry Ford & Greenfield Village before heading back home to the Shenandoah Valley.
Oh, Sue just reminded me that we will be shopping the incredible thrift stores in Minneapolis too.
But the part that we are most looking forward to is spending time with our children and grandchildren. We have them in Nevada, Washington State and Montana.
What About the Blog?
Since I anticipate very little online time during this trip, I have been writing blog articles that will automatically post to this blog site while I’m on the road. I know some folks have become “addicted” to this weekly muse and so I don’t want anyone to suffer withdrawal. However, if something catches my ear that I think you should hear about, I will be sure to write about it and post it while we are on the road.
Now would be a good time to go to the blog website: https://DickTaylorBlog.com and sign-up to have each week’s new article delivered to you via email on Sunday mornings.
Thank You for reading and sharing your thoughts in the comments section.
It’s by sharing our wisdom, experiences and perspectives that we all learn and grow together.
Life gives us lots of fears. When we’re very young, we’re fearless. Not because we are so brave, but because we aren’t smart enough to know what to be fearful of, yet. That, however, changes quickly and life gives us a heaping helping of stuff to be afraid of.
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