My mother really doesn’t understand my husband and me.
My mother is a homebody. Perfectly content to stay at home, putter around the house and the yard, read a book with a cup of tea at the kitchen table, go to town once a week for groceries and to church on Sundays.
Growing up in my family, vacation was one or two camping trips a year and the annual State Fair in August. One year when I was very young, I can vaguely remember Mom and Dad packing up the slide in camper for a trip around the state, visiting Spruce Knob, Seneca Rocks, Dolly Sods, Canaan Valley and Black Water Falls, WV, though the only clear memory I have is a snippet of climbing out of the camper on a cold, foggy morning at the campground.
I can remember five trips to Indiana to visit my Aunt Margaret - once just to visit, twice for graduations, and twice for weddings. I can remember one trip made to Kentucky to visit my uncle and his family. Oh, and there was one trip made to Indiana with my mom and my grandparents but now that I think on it, that was one of the graduation trips. And once, when I was thirteen, I traveled with my grandmother, her brother, and my cousin to visit the same uncle who at the time was stationed in New Jersey. They left us at the base house to spend the day by ourselves while they went to the casino. After taking us to the beach - in New Jersey in November - for a whopping 15 minutes.
At least I got to see the ocean.
In college, I didn’t do much traveling myself, but once I graduated and moved out of WV to my exile in PA, I did a little more. I drove all over south western PA as part of my job as a field engineer for a local utility; lived in Idaho for 4 months for a temporary job and drove up to Montana and out to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park by myself a couple of times. I took my best friend on her first camping trips. I took my sister to Bar Harbor, Maine, for her 30th birthday, driving up the coast on our way back and then detouring down through New Hampshire and Vermont so we could see more of New England.
But that seems to have paled compared to the amount of traveling I’ve done since marrying the love of my life 5 years ago.
In addition to annual trips to Wisconsin to visit his family, we’ve traveled to Iowa, Missouri, annual trips to Georgia to visit friends, trips to North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan for conferences or just to go see something. We’ve gone to see Gabriel Iglesias, spent a weekend in Charleston, WV, to see Charlie Berens, drove over to Charlottesville, VA, just to play pinball. This year alone we’ve traveled to Pittsburgh to play pinball and attend the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing the score live for The Empire Strikes Back, and spent a weekend at the Glenn Ferris Inn in Glenn Ferris, WV, during my birthday weekend.
top left: Fluffy at Pittsburgh, 2022
top center: Pittsburgh Symphony playing the score live for Empire Strikes Back, Heinz Hall, May 2026
top right: Charlie Berens, Charleston WV, March 2026
bottom left: Falling Water, Pennsylvania, 2026
bottom center & right: The Church arcade, Duquesne, PA 2026
In February and March, we went to Roanoke to (you guessed it) play pinball and visit the transportation museum where I was introduced to one of the great rivals for my husband’s affections - the 611 J Class Steam Locomotive 4-8-4 northern configuration train. The pinnacle of steam technology ever developed in the United States and “sexy as hell” according to my husband.
I admit, she is pretty.
We are gearing up for our trip to Liberty Con in Chattanooga tonight, driving down tomorrow to spend the evening with writing acquaintances and friends in a rollicking fun time at a local Brazilian Steakhouse to kick off a busy weekend of panels, games, vending books, and networking with other like minded writers and having a good time.
And of course, playing pinball since my husband is determined to get to the Chattanooga Pinball Museum.
And on the way home, we are going to loop through Corbin, KY. To play pinball, of course.
(My husband has a wee bit obsession lately)
We get back next week for 3 days, and then we are off to Virginia to take a rare trip on my husband’s mistress - that 611 J Class Steam Locomotive will be running the weekend of July 4th as part of the 250th birthday of the US celebration.
Of course I got the tickets and insisted we go. It may be the one and only chance he has to ride that train!
Then at the end of the month we head to Wisconsin to visit his family, get back in time to turn around and head to Roanoke to vend at Big Lick Comic Con, then there is a possibility of a trip to Atlanta, GA for a conference for my job, followed in September by another trip to Wisconsin and a trip across Lake Michigan on the USS Badger (trust me - the car ferry is so much worth it to avoid driving anywhere near Chicago!) to Michigan for Basedcon. Then come October, we travel to Greensboro, NC to vend at another comic con.
And in amongst all these driving trips, I try to get at least one camping trip in.
And we won’t even mention what next year is shaping up to look like!
My family doesn’t get it. My mother shakes her head and laments that we “never stay home”. My father grunts and goes back to reading. My sister flat out asks where are we going NOW?
But I enjoy these trips. They are memories. Places I’ve only read about now alive in front of my eyes, seeing the countryside and how different it is from my beloved WV home. Getting off the major highways to drive a country two lane road to see the real state and not just the tourist areas. Enjoying sights and sounds of cities I don’t mind visiting but absolutely don’t want to live in. Visiting long distance friends. Standing on ground that my ancestors crossed generations ago. Getting a small glimpse of God’s beautiful world and being reminded that what’s out there is so more much real and awe-inspiring then pictures on the internet, and people can be so much better than the vitriol that we see on social media or in the news.
I’ve talked to so many different people from so many different walks of life, and found decent human beings exist all over.
Sure, we could save more than we do. Build up those savings for some future chance of retirement. But I don’t know what the future holds and I don’t know that I will have the health or the ability to travel when that day comes. My husband is nine years older than me; would he have the health and ability to travel when I finally am old enough to retire?
And I very much cherish those hours in the car with him, talking about life, music, movies, books, philosophy, religion, politics, history and whatever else catches our fancy. We laugh, we argue, we enjoy each others company and most importantly, we get to experience the adventure together. So that when the day comes and we can’t travel any longer, we can settle back on our front porch and remember.
For us, the trips are all part of the blessing we have in our lives.
And it does make us appreciate home too.
There may be something said for the old saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Now excuse me while I go pack my suitcase once again.
See you soon!
Please note... my "obsession", as my darling bride calls it, is because I'm trying to START a new pinball parlor business and this is, in part, research. Trying different machines, talking to owners and employees as well as just enjoying the time playing works of art.
And I cherish our trips together just as much.
When I was a kid, my family rarely traveled outside that state, so I took every opportunity after college. Had a blast until retirement. 🙂