I have come to the belief that I almost cannot help it. I am now at a place in my life that I know I have not gotten to on my own. I am merely carrying on a family heritage of travel and adventure. This began somewhere higher up in my family tree and has been passed on to me over time by family. I simply cannot help myself. I have to go and see what experiences I can find and enjoy. I have this incessant desire to get away. Whether it is a short jaunt or an ambitious trek to someplace far away, I have a desire to go see, taste and experience what’s out there.
I work the typical 40-hour week, Monday through Friday. I am blessed to have my weekends free, and as I inch closer to the end of every work week, I begin hearing this unrelenting call to get away. But where to? Perhaps someplace I have never been to before - a small town, a state park, an eating place that I've read about. Or perhaps a familiar destination that I have come to love and long to escape to when times are hectic. Sometimes it matters where I head off to and sometimes it doesn't. That unrelenting call isn't prejudiced in its nature. It's just there and it waits for me to answer.
There was a time in recent years that I wondered where this call came from, and why I have such a drive to submit to it. But with age comes enlightenment, and it hit me that this call has been passed down from generation to generation. This call could be embedded with my great-grandpa. I'm not sure if he ever had any desire to travel much - I never spoke with him. But my mom and dad recently gave me a receipt that belonged to my Great Grandpa Miller. It is a receipt that he had from the sale of one bale of cotton that he grew on his farm. To sell that bale, my great-grandfather traveled by horse and buggy 8-10 miles one-way to the gin on the other side of the county. That doesn’t seem like much, but that trip was likely an overnight trip. And I’ll grant you that trip was made for his livelihood, but I'm sure he enjoyed the sights and the outdoors along the way.
There was no mistaking, however, that my Grandpa Miller loved to hit the road. As a boy I would listen to the stories my grandpa told of his travels with my grandma. When they were a young married couple they traveled with friends to places like Washington, DC or Coney Island, New York. As time marched on and my dad and aunt came along, the travels continued. My grandparents found the same excitement and enjoyment in taking family trips with the kids. They went everywhere. By the time my dad left home and went out on his own he had visited over 40 states, and most of that travel was done in the back of a sedan towing a camper. Getting away to my grandpa seemed effortless. He would take his family on 2 or 3-hour drives on weekends just to enjoy a family picnic and a ride through the country. That wasn’t easy for a church-going man who worked every day but Sunday. By the time Grandpa passed away, he and Grandma had visited every state except Delaware, and had been to Canada, the UK, France and Italy. They had a trip planned for the Holy Land when he had a stroke, and plans were being made for a trip to Asia after that.
It was easy to see that those trips meant so much to Grandpa. Years later he would reminisce over one of those early trips, and he could recall the price of a breakfast he had along the way, the name of the restaurant, and what he had to eat. There were pictures all over their home of their travels. His love of getting away was palpable.
My grandpa's desire to hit the open road and get away was passed down to my father and our family. Dad and Mom love to travel and have taken many trips. At age 69, my dad has visited 45 states, 5 Canadian provinces and Mexico. He is also the one who taught me the "art" of traveling to a destination one way, and coming back another. Never know...might be something to see on the other route. As a boy growing up, Dad and Mom took my brother and me on many vacations and trips. We went to the beaches and mountains of North and South Carolina almost every year, and we enjoyed the occasional bigger trips to places like Florida and California.
So this call for adventure and exploration is something that I almost cannot shake. It's a part of my family and who we are. It seems like a responsibility that I have to carry on the family tradition. Having grown up and remained in beautiful North and South Carolina, there are likely more places to explore and experience in my own backyard than I will ever visit. But I try hard to see all that I can, and expose my family to our beautiful surroundings. I am also fortunate in that I get to travel some with my work. I have taken domestic and international trips because of work, and I have seen some awesome sights. So opportunity for adventure is great for me, and I am thankful.
In my travels for work and for play, I try to find those special places that can make the same kind of memories that my grandparents and parents made. I try to find good places to eat, neat places to visit and high places to explore, and I enjoy sharing my experience of those adventures with others just like my grandpa did.
While I am starting this blog a couple years later than I should, it’s always better late than never. Hopefully I will be able to write about some of the adventures I have already had. Hopefully there are many to come.
It is also a desire of mine that I will inspire my children to search for adventure and instill in them this call to get away and see what they can find. I shouldn't have to work too hard. After all, it's in their blood.
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