Wow – were going on a road trip.  It has been quite a while since we have gone somewhere that took more than a couple of hours of driving.  How nice – we don’t have to weigh the ”carry on” bags and make sure of course that they don’t conform to fit in the imaginary lines drawn on the board at the airport terminals.  We can make them as big and bulky as we want.  We don’t even have to zip them shut if we don’t want to – so there! We can take snacks and carry bottled water past the security check point – which is actually the driveway sidewalk.  We can pick out CDs to play – which means we pick out 83 CDs and wind up playing 3 of them over and over again.  It is always a challenge to see how far we can drive while keeping the same radio station on as it fades to nothing but static.

Road trip rules are fun.  The driver controls the temperature, and the passenger controls the music/radio/CD.  The object is to divide the driving time as equally as possible to the Dan driving time system – Dan drives until Peg realizes that it has been too long, then, Peg drives.  It actually becomes a 2:1 ratio in Dan’s favor.  It is amazing how the length one drives decreases with age. In college I could drive 12 hours to go someplace, then turn around the next day and drive 12 back – no problem.  Now a 3 hour drive takes 4 with all the pee stops, and is exhausting.  I still like to yell “moo cows” whenever I see a herd close to the road – I know they can hear me “moo” because I can see them roll their eyes and give me the middle hoof gesture.

There is something I cannot fathom.  The state of Virginia has road signs posted upon entering the state that say “ SPEED LIMIT ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT”.   Seriously .  This is amazing –and very scary.  I could imagine speed limits being monitored by aircraft but there is no way to enforce by aircraft – I hope.  Can you imagine the conversation in the cockpit?  “Ah pilot to co-pilot – we have a speeder down there,  Joe  – about 4:00 due south-east.  What do you think Joe – should we use the short bombs or go all out and use the napalm?”  “Well Bob, it looks like an out-of-state license – let’s use the napalm and teach them a lesson. – I’ll radio in for back up.”  I spend most of the drive through Virginia looking up towards the sky – and it’s all their fault.  Cars need to be equipped with anti-aircraft ballistics.

Road trips are most fun but angst ridden when we reach our destination. The joy of crossing the finish line is short-lived as I soon begin plotting the return trip – how will I repack the car, did I take the correct route, should we leave a little sooner than planned, what will the weather be like when we leave – I am exhausted already  and I just said hello upon arrival. But I never have to put my chair back into the upright position or lock my tray table.  But the cows wished I would fly.