So I had to cross the Mason-Dixon line again this weekend, which I don't like to do. I love living in the south. I do like road trips though and I was eager to see a close family member before he leaves the country for a year, so the trip was a resounding success. I also noticed that it was about my twentieth year going on road trips that require 20+ hours of driving one way.
I remember dreaming about taking long road trips when I was in high school. I've always been attracted to the freedom that the open road allows. I want to tell my 18 year old self that this is what you'll be doing later in life, and you'll be having so much fun doing it. We often adapt quickly to what our lives have become and we forget what we yearned for when we were younger. That's sad, but I try no to think that way and fall into that habit myself.
The technology of the last twenty years amazes me. I drove up this weekend with just an iPhone. Not even cd's this time. The rental car didn't have a CD player. I bought a new car last November and it still had a CD player, so I was a little surprised by the rental not having one. Twenty years ago, I would bring about 10 CD's and two books on CD. I'd also stop frequently to make phone calls back home and tell family that I got to my destination safely. Now, I can pull off to the side of the road anywhere and call whoever I want to and tell them my progress. I also don't need to stop at every off ramp and see if a hotel has vacancy. I can check with Hotels.com. I stopped at a welcome center in North Carolina on 95 and I saw that they still had old fashioned paper maps. They had many left over. I wonder how many people use old maps instead of just their GPS.
In twenty more years, I'm assuring you I'll see self driving cars on the interstate. That's a huge blessing-all this technology is wonderful to see and it's making our lives so much easier.
No comments:
Post a Comment