On the Road

I am back. Where was I? Ah yes, the road trip. As a kid, we did many a road trip, that I can recall. We would visit my grandparents in Kirkland Lake, Ontario in the summer. I do recall being up there a fair bit. They moved down to Toronto in 1975 or 1974. I do recall being up there during part of the Munich Olympics in 1972 (or at least that is how I remember it).

Those were gruelling trips, even for me in the back seat. We would take the old Dodge Dart. No air conditioning in those days, to get a breeze, open the windows and/or the vent. The vent in this case was a large (3" x 3") door under the dashboard. Then the wind would whistle across your legs.

There was the obligatory stop at the Simcoe Dairy in Barrie. There we would sit at the window overlooking Lake Simcoe and have food. It is not the food I recall, so much as the chocolate milk. Then again, as I think of it, it was probably not a wise choice having me, WAM the Lactose Intolerant, drinking milk and then getting in a car with me for well over 7 hours. Then again, my grandmother could do the trip in about 6 hours, but it would take us 10. We did make a number of stops and the inevitable brother or sister having to go to the bathroom. I mean they had the bladders of little children (which they were).

We would also stop in some place with Falls in its name. They had a trailer that served fresh cut fries that were great, hot out of the oil. Then there was the used book and crap store in Cobalt. That was a personal favorite of mine. I got some great books and crap there, though I cannot recall exactly what it was.

So, see, I am no stranger to traveling the blacktop. As I said, I have always loved the freedom it represents. It is like the life of the hobo, riding the rails, going from place to place. No permanent home, just the journey, and the adventures and experiences along the way. There is a certain beauty in that, as well as a desire to remove myself from the "expected" responsibilities.

I think that is why the Jack Kerouac novel "On the Road" always appealed to me. It romanticized the road and the travels. It never said that it was perfect, it just placed a premium on the value of "freedom". It is not an absolute, but a trade off. I do believe that "freedom" is something of value, and worth the price paid for it.

You can take some time to think about that one. Ciao!