I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel, but I wasn’t feeling it. I thought about past trips, tossed ideas around for future journeys, read about others’ travels, looked at pictures, watched old videos, bought maps, etc. I did not, however, make any plans.
Hubby, Mike, is embarking on a pretty significant adventure of his own this year. Our usual travel companions are unable to travel as they’re pouring capital into rehabbing a house. So I’m free to plan my own adventure. I’m itching to plan my own adventure, truly. But the possibilities have overwhelmed me.
It’s like being really hungry and going to one of those 24-hour diners with a 32-page menu of food choices. All I really want to do is eat, like NOW, but there’re so many choices that it’s downright distracting.
Caged Bird
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.”
― Maya Angelou, The Complete Collected Poems
Don’t worry, I’m well enough equipped with ideas. And a decision is close.
The arrival of Spring has helped. And I do have a weekend excursion or two planned.
I’m tempted to just do a pack-some-clothes-and-go trip, but half of the fun is in the planning. Plus, I don’t want to miss anything important while I am out and about.
Hopefully, I’ll have a plan soon.
I know I’ll be going solo. I’m 95% sure I’ll be taking the bike. There’s a pretty good chance it’ll happen mid- to late-June. I may or may not get to use my new maps on this trip, but I’m 80% sure I’ll be headed south. How far south is the question.
I still haven’t been to Louisiana, Alabama, or Mississippi, so that’s a pretty appealing option. Except those places get pretty hot in June.
I have a bunch of LOVEworks still to see in Virginia, but staying within my home state just feels kind of lame.
There’re parts of West Virginia I have yet to explore.
A lighthouse I missed in far northeastern Maine.
Michigan’s UP is appealing, too.
I want to see more of northeastern Pennsylvania and New York, but I’ll probably meet up with Hubby there along the final leg of his journey.
I could ride into Canada. (Adding another country to the mix lends weight to the “adventure.”)
I really want to visit Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia/Kentucky border.
I could go to the beach! (Hubby hates the beach.) But the terrain near the Atlantic Coast is flatter than flat. Not to mention crowded.
See what I mean?!? This is why we’re almost a third of the way into April and I still have no set plans.
I’m tempted to write my top choices on paper to be drawn blindly from a hat. Really.
How would you decide? Logic? Or should I use the hat trick?
