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Blog 536 – 01.26.2017
On The Road Again

The original Star Trek opening lines said their “Five year mission to explore new worlds, to bravely go where no man has gone before.” I have in my work been on the road for almost five years and it looks like this assignment in Wisconsin is ending and that I will be on the road again to my next assignment soon.

Some would not care for this type of work with so much travel and not knowing how long you will be anywhere or where you will go next. It is probably not for everyone but I love it. I had actually thought when I started my work on the road that like the original plan of the Star Trek crew that five years would be enough but I have opted to do it for four more if that is okay with the Universe. There are at least a couple of states I would like to see a bit more of before deciding where to settle down and write that great American novel or several. They are California and Oregon. That is not to say that the they are the only ones in the running just that I have not seen a great deal of those two and hope to before I chose the place for my writer’s retreat. I envision a cabin where I can look out on the four seasons and preferably see a body of water, and mountains with snow on top year round. I love snow and would like to be close enough so I could drive a short distance and see it any time of the year.

My parting gift from Wisconsin is a beautiful snow. I had hoped when I arrived here in May of last year that I would get to see the leaves change and to see this place covered in snow and I have. Why, I even cheered for the Packers in their latest two playoff games. When I bought a Green Bay Packers cap to look more like a local last summer, the foreman on the construction crew I was inspecting said, “Don’t wear that unless you mean it.” Well, Scotty I did mean it and when I beam to the next location whatever local team hat that I buy and wear to blend in I will mean that too.

People love their states and their teams and I can get my head and heart around that. I have enjoyed Wisconsin and the Driftless Area. But the wanderlust in me is ready for something new, different scenery, the chance to me new people, to learn my way around a new hometown, to be on the road again. I can hear Willie Nelson playing my song, “On the road again seeing places I may never see again. I can’t wait to get on the road again.”

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White