Tomorrow the plan is to go on a hike a little way from home. I have to be honest-I haven’t wanted to go explore this much in a long time. I mean don’t get me wrong-our neighborhood has been great-but it’s time to escape. It seems like we have never had this much time (or this much cheap gas). We don’t plan to stop anywhere-no hotels, no need for fast food, and none of that dreaded social interaction we keep being told about!
I would have never imagined I would miss driving as much as I do. When you drive a hundred miles a day for work, it tends to get old. Yet now, less than three weeks after stopping my daily commute in its tracks, I look back wishing for it to return. Heck, at this point I find myself enjoying a trip to pick up some food or a drive to the grocery store.
For my wife, the legacy goes even deeper. She has been to every state in the United States you can drive to. (Yes, she has family in Alaska too.) She spent a ton of her childhood in a truck. Her dad drove them, then owned a trucking company, and now sells them. Trucking is a part of the blood in her veins, just as America is beginning to learn that trucks are part of the blood of the nation. It didn’t take very long to find out that travel wasn’t going to be an option in our relationship-it was a prerequisite.
When money gets tight and travel becomes one of the first things to go by the wayside, things begin to get tough. We have been there before, and this time in our lives is no different thanks to our current pandemic. When you are used to coming and going city to city and state to state, it catches you off guard to suddenly be told to stop. We begin to consider what happens next. Do you travel anyway and ignore the warnings? Probably not. Do you look for safe alternatives that still allow you freedom? That’s what we are planning for tomorrow. Do you drive around town for a couple hours just because you can? We might be there next.
When I heard today that Arizona was going to shut down Grand Canyon National Park, I was disappointed but understanding. Obviously I no longer live in Arizona, but that park is a beautiful symbol of everything my family holds dear. My mother-in-law has hiked rim-to-rim and back again. I have spent the night either in the park or around it multiple times. It is everything the National Park system strives to achieve: appreciation for the beauty of God’s creation and respect for the environment around it. However, if you have been there you know it is a city in and of itself. It has its own full-service grocery store and post office. In a time like this, if enough people try to “escape” together they soon discover it’s not an escape at all.
I guess I will soon find out if our hiking “escape” actually works out or if everyone has the same idea we do. Unfortunately, if we don’t separate ourselves and follow the rules we might find a new decree from our governor saying we can’t go hiking either. Until then, we will press on and enjoy an escape. Hopefully we will find ourselves with yet another new opportunity to cherish our love of each other and the world around us.