Rick, this wonderful, blissfully spontaneous, barely-avoided disaster of a road trip reminds me of a quote, one that I hadn't realized is attributed to one Dale Carnegie: "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."
By turning every trip into a series of spontaneous adventures, you're letting the universe come to you on its own terms. And this seems to apply to how you live life, even when you're not tooling down the road with the World's Best Travel Companion.
On top of everything else, your rich, vivid descriptions of everything you and your son saw were spot-on wonderful, and I like the humor you deftly sprinkled throughout this wordsmithing journey. (I know someone who uses humor like a sledgehammer; he can learn from you!) Thank you for taking us along for the ride.
I love the acknowledgement that if we relax into to what the world puts in front of us, and we get out of our head about how things show up, we leave space for something amazing to show up.
Thank you Ted. That well-summarizes the lesson here. I wish I could learn that lesson once and be done with it, but it seems to be a thing I need to continuously remember and practice, like showering. Mental flossing.
I'd say what I wind up writing mostly falls into the category of inviting a different perspective for myself. And yes, the idea that I have to preserve, guard and maintain all my resources as opposed to freely participating with them has been a lifetime theme.
In my view, it’s challenging to do the coastal redwoods and the coast itself justice through words, but this surely does. What a fabulous adventure. I imagine both of you will remember this trip for the rest of your lives.
To travel like this by sheer instinct, and in summer no less when the coast is thronged, is an epic idea and valiant act of faith. It’s great food for thought.
I can see that using those inner senses to this degree would really give them a nice workout. Doing it with a kiddo in these circumstances is a step even further.
The TravelLodge view from the balcony seems well worth it. Only one room available, and look what it was. Amazing.
Yes, I think it's probably impossible to overpay for any unique life experience. It might be the number one thing that money should be used for, to experience life from a new perspective.
I loved this story, Rick. What a vivid and joyful reminder of how much magic can unfold when we let go of control.
I really admire your willingness to go with the flow on vacation; it’s a posture I’ve been trying to adopt more in life itself, though it doesn’t always come naturally for me. The moment you described with your son really stayed with me. I’ve heard from more than one parent of teenage and young adult kids that car rides are often where the best conversations happen, because all that quiet motion seems to invite openness.
Thank you for another beautifully told, soul-restoring story ◡̈ And I hope your wife is feeling better!
Thanks Rachel. Yes, car rides seem to be king when it comes to family connection. It's was last July that we made this trip, but writing about it made me want to hit the road again.
Thanks Bob. You have a whole article about that you recently published. You got stranded somewhere with some colleagues I remember. You could put the link to it here in the comments as a related post.
I think this is the one... about how, when we escape to faraway business conferences, we often let our guards down and truly connect for the first time... as human beings rather than clients and sellers.
Oh Rick, this is a wonderful frontier story: uncharted territory before you even depart, the whole shape of the plan changing spontaneously. Thank you so much for including us on the ride, in your thoughts and enjoyments, in those exquisite photographs. The whole shape of the story is so satisfying, drawing together the doubts and intuitions, the fog and the glowing, even blazing clarity in the contact with your son, the impersonal gouge from the Travelodge, and the tenderly precise redemption offered by opening curtains on that spectacular view. To me, this feels like the serendipity of the frontier, always unexpected. Thank you for the ride along.
What a beautiful little review Alden. Your comment itself felt like a small adventure. My story feels so "seen". My pleasure to share it and thank you for taking the time to describe your experience of it.
…i was just thinking i could use a vacation…me…every single day…real talk i have taken several hikes and road trips to who knows where we end up and they are always a hair or wig more whimsicalb than their planned cousins…harder to find tome for though because when they work time no longer does…
…as aerosmith might scream, a permanent vacation (which i know is a reference you might not understand as you don’t listen to music)…ah rick…i like you am tethered to a paper god…maybe i should sell vacations…vacation as a job seems like a good vocation…
Rick, so many reasons to enjoy this post! Not the least of which your covenient YouTube link to Dream Theater's "Top of the World" (already a prog-rock classic!). Love how you took us along (in your mind and on the road) for the drive with you and your beautiful son (what a bright light he is!).
And, if I'm not mistaken, you landed at the Travelodge in Newport, Oregon (overlooking the coast)... if not, it has a remarkably similar view (my wife and I visited the area and stayed there three years ago).
Oh, and let's not forget the coastal highway elk. We've encountered them multiple times as well (in our case they were wandering the beach in the early hours of the fog laden beach -- a wonderfully odd, yet mystical site).
Lovely journey (and all the time, I was hoping your wife was sleeping peacefully in your quiet house). Thanks for taking us with you.
Chris, I love that you've experienced these spots and sights yourself and could picture them while I was sharing the tale. Just re-telling the story, for myself and sharing it with my son, has re-kindled our appreciation of the adventure. Funny too that I went to listen to the song again while writing this, I wound up hearing a queue of Dream Theater classics on You Tube. I'm even a bigger fan of the band than I was at the end of our trip. And yes, my wife got some good rest while we were galavanting across the country. : )
Nice! But if you ever try this in Australia, you might be out of luck. Just came back from driving through a couple of regions and was surprised at how few of the places we stayed had anyone manning the reception desks. A couple didn't even have reception desks. We had reservations and received emails or texts with instructions for how to get into our rooms, how to check out. Several places we never met a soul. I don't know how someone without a reservation would deal with that.
Several spots had Compendiums: binders full of local sites, how-to instructions for the shower and heating unit, etc. It was disappointing, as we were looking forward to chatting with folks to get insights into where we were, plus dinner recommendations.
I guess it sets the stage for those who are still willing to provide true hospitality. The world seems to be constantly pushing the bounds of automation and there seem to be hopeful signs that we humans are not up for an endless supply of that. We want relationship and connection and meaning.
There are some parallels here with Substack. I've left comments before and there are some authors who just never respond to them. Conversation with real people is the best part of any job!
I'm so glad you and your son had a wonderful trip! Sounds like your personalities match up well. Also, let's NEVER travel together! :D I'm an extreme planner.
Ah, I see what you're trying to do there. You want me to PLAN to never travel together. Very sneaky, but no deal. Can you enlighten me? How do you extreme planners have fun!?
Yes! This! "Just when I think I’ve got the world figured out, navigating through the enigma of its geography restores my wonder, and reminds me that my hunches and instincts aren’t something to ignore, that delays and detours are the path itself." It's the journey that's the destination. It's in the journey that connection and revelation is made. It's in the journey we often take the time to listen to that still small voice that says leave now and don't hit any deer.
I love how you write about the relationship with your son. Simply beautiful 💚
I kept readying this engaging story to find out what finally happened! It did not disappoint.
By the way, did it take a long time for your wife to recover?
The covid bout was a pretty nasty and prolonged one. The timing turned out to be perfect actually that she had the run of the house alone without having to quarantine. And it was amazing that neither my son or I took it with us. Though I was a little sad to not be there to provide support for her. But she still had the dog for comfort. : )
I really never understood the big deal about dogs until we had one. They are a like little miracle beings with their capacity for bonding, devotion, and companionship.
So true. I used to tease a friend who treated her dogs like her family member and now my dog is my favourite child. I may leave all my riches to him! 🤣🤣🤣
Rick, this wonderful, blissfully spontaneous, barely-avoided disaster of a road trip reminds me of a quote, one that I hadn't realized is attributed to one Dale Carnegie: "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."
By turning every trip into a series of spontaneous adventures, you're letting the universe come to you on its own terms. And this seems to apply to how you live life, even when you're not tooling down the road with the World's Best Travel Companion.
On top of everything else, your rich, vivid descriptions of everything you and your son saw were spot-on wonderful, and I like the humor you deftly sprinkled throughout this wordsmithing journey. (I know someone who uses humor like a sledgehammer; he can learn from you!) Thank you for taking us along for the ride.
Thanks for your help with talking this one through Larry.
Such a good reminder that gorgeous surprises can await if we don't plan too carefully and follow our instincts. What views!
And lucky elk (and you) that you somehow knew to look out for them.
Oh my gosh, I am SO grateful we didn't hit those magnificent creatures. There are a hundred ways that would have been a story I never need to tell.
I love the acknowledgement that if we relax into to what the world puts in front of us, and we get out of our head about how things show up, we leave space for something amazing to show up.
Thank you Ted. That well-summarizes the lesson here. I wish I could learn that lesson once and be done with it, but it seems to be a thing I need to continuously remember and practice, like showering. Mental flossing.
I honestly don't think that you're alone on this one.
What a magical journey you've woven for us... my mind is flitting here and there recalling travel adventures of my own. both planned and unplanned!
I hope you're writing those stories down Linda!
Your road story sounds a lot like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance... the best selling philosophy book of all time. Hint, hint...
Thank you friend for the encouraging nudge. The idea of a next book keeps has been cropping up from different directions these days.
"I wanted serendipity without wasting our resources."
This line struck me. Which resources, exactly? Money, obviously. Time? Maybe. Emotion or attention? Possibly.
This whole essay seems to be questioning the idea of waste in a lot of ways, and inviting a different perspective. One that's filled with wonder.
Thanks, Rick.
I'd say what I wind up writing mostly falls into the category of inviting a different perspective for myself. And yes, the idea that I have to preserve, guard and maintain all my resources as opposed to freely participating with them has been a lifetime theme.
In my view, it’s challenging to do the coastal redwoods and the coast itself justice through words, but this surely does. What a fabulous adventure. I imagine both of you will remember this trip for the rest of your lives.
To travel like this by sheer instinct, and in summer no less when the coast is thronged, is an epic idea and valiant act of faith. It’s great food for thought.
I can see that using those inner senses to this degree would really give them a nice workout. Doing it with a kiddo in these circumstances is a step even further.
The TravelLodge view from the balcony seems well worth it. Only one room available, and look what it was. Amazing.
Yes, I think it's probably impossible to overpay for any unique life experience. It might be the number one thing that money should be used for, to experience life from a new perspective.
Wow, love that. Pay for a new perspective. Well worth the exchange.
I loved this story, Rick. What a vivid and joyful reminder of how much magic can unfold when we let go of control.
I really admire your willingness to go with the flow on vacation; it’s a posture I’ve been trying to adopt more in life itself, though it doesn’t always come naturally for me. The moment you described with your son really stayed with me. I’ve heard from more than one parent of teenage and young adult kids that car rides are often where the best conversations happen, because all that quiet motion seems to invite openness.
Thank you for another beautifully told, soul-restoring story ◡̈ And I hope your wife is feeling better!
Thanks Rachel. Yes, car rides seem to be king when it comes to family connection. It's was last July that we made this trip, but writing about it made me want to hit the road again.
Wonderful reminder how something bigger is there to guide us when we listen. Travel is a wonderful way to follow this flow!
Thanks Bob. You have a whole article about that you recently published. You got stranded somewhere with some colleagues I remember. You could put the link to it here in the comments as a related post.
I think this is the one... about how, when we escape to faraway business conferences, we often let our guards down and truly connect for the first time... as human beings rather than clients and sellers.
https://theworkaround.substack.com/p/its-ok-to-meet-local-friends-at-faraway
Yes, that's the one. Check it out folks. It's a good companion post to this one.
Oh Rick, this is a wonderful frontier story: uncharted territory before you even depart, the whole shape of the plan changing spontaneously. Thank you so much for including us on the ride, in your thoughts and enjoyments, in those exquisite photographs. The whole shape of the story is so satisfying, drawing together the doubts and intuitions, the fog and the glowing, even blazing clarity in the contact with your son, the impersonal gouge from the Travelodge, and the tenderly precise redemption offered by opening curtains on that spectacular view. To me, this feels like the serendipity of the frontier, always unexpected. Thank you for the ride along.
What a beautiful little review Alden. Your comment itself felt like a small adventure. My story feels so "seen". My pleasure to share it and thank you for taking the time to describe your experience of it.
such a beautiful story rick! you really captured the magic and serendipity of spontaneous travel!
thank you Christina
…i was just thinking i could use a vacation…me…every single day…real talk i have taken several hikes and road trips to who knows where we end up and they are always a hair or wig more whimsicalb than their planned cousins…harder to find tome for though because when they work time no longer does…
You? A vacation? I thought you had cracked the code on a perpetual blending of work and vacation. no?
…as aerosmith might scream, a permanent vacation (which i know is a reference you might not understand as you don’t listen to music)…ah rick…i like you am tethered to a paper god…maybe i should sell vacations…vacation as a job seems like a good vocation…
The events industry is a step in the right direction. I still think you have a place as a presenter.
…have me open some time…
I need more gigs in Oakland.
…clorox man…i drink that koolaid every day…
I'm so glad you had this awesome adventure!
Thank you Carson. : )
Rick, so many reasons to enjoy this post! Not the least of which your covenient YouTube link to Dream Theater's "Top of the World" (already a prog-rock classic!). Love how you took us along (in your mind and on the road) for the drive with you and your beautiful son (what a bright light he is!).
And, if I'm not mistaken, you landed at the Travelodge in Newport, Oregon (overlooking the coast)... if not, it has a remarkably similar view (my wife and I visited the area and stayed there three years ago).
Oh, and let's not forget the coastal highway elk. We've encountered them multiple times as well (in our case they were wandering the beach in the early hours of the fog laden beach -- a wonderfully odd, yet mystical site).
Lovely journey (and all the time, I was hoping your wife was sleeping peacefully in your quiet house). Thanks for taking us with you.
Chris, I love that you've experienced these spots and sights yourself and could picture them while I was sharing the tale. Just re-telling the story, for myself and sharing it with my son, has re-kindled our appreciation of the adventure. Funny too that I went to listen to the song again while writing this, I wound up hearing a queue of Dream Theater classics on You Tube. I'm even a bigger fan of the band than I was at the end of our trip. And yes, my wife got some good rest while we were galavanting across the country. : )
Nice! But if you ever try this in Australia, you might be out of luck. Just came back from driving through a couple of regions and was surprised at how few of the places we stayed had anyone manning the reception desks. A couple didn't even have reception desks. We had reservations and received emails or texts with instructions for how to get into our rooms, how to check out. Several places we never met a soul. I don't know how someone without a reservation would deal with that.
Seriously? That's wild. It sounds like accommodation vending machines.
Several spots had Compendiums: binders full of local sites, how-to instructions for the shower and heating unit, etc. It was disappointing, as we were looking forward to chatting with folks to get insights into where we were, plus dinner recommendations.
I guess it sets the stage for those who are still willing to provide true hospitality. The world seems to be constantly pushing the bounds of automation and there seem to be hopeful signs that we humans are not up for an endless supply of that. We want relationship and connection and meaning.
I can see the listings now: Be Greeted by a Human! We’ll even talk to you!
There are some parallels here with Substack. I've left comments before and there are some authors who just never respond to them. Conversation with real people is the best part of any job!
I'm so glad you and your son had a wonderful trip! Sounds like your personalities match up well. Also, let's NEVER travel together! :D I'm an extreme planner.
Ah, I see what you're trying to do there. You want me to PLAN to never travel together. Very sneaky, but no deal. Can you enlighten me? How do you extreme planners have fun!?
We have fun with the money we save by booking everything early! 😉
Yes! This! "Just when I think I’ve got the world figured out, navigating through the enigma of its geography restores my wonder, and reminds me that my hunches and instincts aren’t something to ignore, that delays and detours are the path itself." It's the journey that's the destination. It's in the journey that connection and revelation is made. It's in the journey we often take the time to listen to that still small voice that says leave now and don't hit any deer.
I love how you write about the relationship with your son. Simply beautiful 💚
I kept readying this engaging story to find out what finally happened! It did not disappoint.
By the way, did it take a long time for your wife to recover?
The covid bout was a pretty nasty and prolonged one. The timing turned out to be perfect actually that she had the run of the house alone without having to quarantine. And it was amazing that neither my son or I took it with us. Though I was a little sad to not be there to provide support for her. But she still had the dog for comfort. : )
Thank goodness for the dog! 🐶
I really never understood the big deal about dogs until we had one. They are a like little miracle beings with their capacity for bonding, devotion, and companionship.
So true. I used to tease a friend who treated her dogs like her family member and now my dog is my favourite child. I may leave all my riches to him! 🤣🤣🤣