Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Life is a Road Trip, Part 3

Those three days across half of America, by car in June 1974, taught me quite a bit about our nation. You don't see a lot when you stay on Interstate highways, but then again you do see a lot. The mountains in Pennsylvania, the tire plants in Akron, the frontage roads in Missouri. All these were new to me, and seemed in some way symbolic of the diversity in America.

And they weren't all. The huge truck stops I saw along the road, especially in Ohio, amazed me. Also in Ohio were the many high tension power lines. I had never seen so many. Little did I dream that in 13 months I would be designing those structures. Since we bypassed St. Louis to the north, I didn't see the arch on that trip. But in those three days I gained a greater respect for my native land. I had a great respect before that trip, but it grew even more during those days.

In life you encounter new things daily. We've seen new technology, new places, new people, new work circumstances, and too many other new things to list. Most of these have enriched my life. A few haven't. I say that meaning I don't know that my life would have been better had those few bad things not come my way.

So that road trip and the journey of life are similar. New experiences, enhanced appreciation, growth in knowledge and spirit. In case I ever write my memoirs (assuming the world will want my memoirs), I've already chosen the title: The Journey Was a Joy.

The road trip of life.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey! Remember me? The come and go "blogger". I inadvertently deleted my old account so I just created a new one. I'm going to follow you via e-mail as I'm more likely to keep up with my blogging friends that way. I did buy and read "Too Old To Play" and enjoyed it very much. I didn't post a review yet though because I'm afraid it will sound too much like the review I wrote for "Mom's Letter". Hope you and yours are doing well.

Unknown said...

Oh, this is Poppy, by the way. I said all that, but forgot to tell you my name.

David A. Todd said...

Hi Poppy. Good to see you back again. If you get a chance to review "Too Old To Play", that might help my flagging sales.

Unknown said...

By the way, I wrote a review. Hope it helps. :)

David A. Todd said...

Thanks, Poppy. I appreciate it.

Nice pic, btw.

Unknown said...

Thanks! That's me on a "good day" and I used Photoshop to put a red tint on it. Red's my favorite color. :)