Travel Bug is Biting

Until I boarded my first plane at age 18, my travel days played out in an 18-wheeler. I loved going on trips in my dad’s big truck. While my sister didn’t mind beelining to the bunk for the most restful sleep to a truck’s hum, I never liked leaving my dad alone up front, especially on the long rides."

"I enjoyed watching him press pedals, push buttons, hear the air release, from the truck and from my passenger seat, up and down I’d play with the lever, raising and lowering when a fellow trucker would pipe in on the CB, “Heya Dan, where ya headin?” Amazed me how one trucker could spot another on an Interstate in a state where neither lived, in a time of no cell phones, or maybe the beginning of baggers, but lack of where-about knowledge nonetheless."

"“Why don’t they call you Ricochet?”"

"“Guess they like my real name better. I'll let you have it, you can be lil'lil' Ricochet.”"

"I don’t recall all the places I went in the truck with my dad. I do know California didn’t happen when he was making those trips, but my brother got to go once with our cousin and I was jealous. I always wanted to go to California. But I took the trips I could, and they were usually to western South Dakota, or Chicago, Twin Cities, Denver once, maybe."

"I don’t think I went often but I remember the times I did because I loved the feeling of cruising down the highway elevated above everyone. When he had the truck with bunk beds, we climbed to the top bunk and looked out the top windows wide open to the sky. When passing through cities, we ducked and swerved as if the large green exit signs would smack us."

"One time, parking to unload in downtown Chicago, my dad decided to mention to me “that there, that warehouse across the street there” as he pointed across the intersection, “that was where they filmed that cult movie we watched the other night where they crucified everyone in a big warehouse, that’s the one,” all proud of his external knowledge to movie weekend extravaganza, then opened his door, turned to look at me for a quick reminder, “lock the doors and don’t let anyone in” as he scaled down the floorboards and disappeared."

"He returned to the truck "lt;exhale"gt; and said it would be awhile so he was going to crawl in the sleeper to shut his eyes, and that I should “keep a lookout for anyone who might try to break into the trailer because that can happen sometimes here.”"

"I sat in the passenger seat, and after every few swipes of the dust rag across the dashboard I checked my large side mirror. Nothing… Nothing... Nothing..."

""Wait, what, who is that? What’s that noise? Someone’s back there". “Dad, wake up, someone’s trying to break into the trailer!”"

"Dad staggered out from his sleeper with little concern and checked the driver’s side rearview mirror", "“Oh, looks like they’re ready to unload.” He laughed at me. “I sure know who to put in charge!” I breathed."

"He loves to tell that story, and another about how I cleaned his dashboard when I should have been napping, trying to run with the big dogs when I rode in my dad’s big rig, no porch for me."

"Besides those trips, we went to Colorado once for a family wedding, with a pit stop in the Black Hills, and we occasionally crossed Minnesota’s border to visit family and friends, and once for a church camp."

"The summer before my Senior year in high school, my cheerleading squad attended a cheer camp and won a bid to the national competition in Dallas, TX, "wha?!" We were beyond excited, raised enough money, boarded our bumpkin asses on the first plane ride for most of us, took in all we could Dallas, and got our butts whooped in a competition we had no business being in, "but it was fun.""

"I didn’t leave my home state for college, rather just moved from the central part to the southeast corner then transferred to the north central region then transferred to the east central region, trekking west occasionally to the Black Hills to attempt snowboarding, adding in Colorado when my sister moved there. The extent of my travel, until…"

"I decided to venture east one summer seizing an opportunity that begged me to go for it, and that I did, and will forever applaud myself for leaping with no net."

"The drive itself was an adventure like no other I had been on, basically no plan that I put in place anyway, and flowing with whatever when I arrived to my destination. My cousin said I could stay with her at the house of the family for whom she was the nanny, but I knew I couldn’t sleep in their linens all summer, so the job hunt was on to find my own family and my own bedroom."

"That I did, and my life changed more dramatically than I ever could have imagined."

"One semi-sober decision to travel into mystery with curiosity as my currency opened doors I hadn’t considered, and never would have known."

"I love travel. I love home, too, but I love seeing new things, taking in new experiences, learning new ways of living, meeting people for snippets of time that leave you with stories forever."

"The travel bug bit, infecting my desire for different lands to explore, and many I have. Thinking now about the first place I want to travel when this virus concedes…"

""You?""

"This was Question 11. I think Question 12 is about typical day as a child, followed by typical day as a teen. I might combine the two. Questions will continue to revise.