Blog 2619 – 12.30.2022

Detours Are A Part Of The Journey

I was in my early twenties when I first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and his adventure trilogy The Lord Of The Rings. Bilbo Baggins was a reluctant traveler who had to be tricked into leaving the comforts of home to experience the adventure of a lifetime, but it was his telling and retelling of his great adventure to his nephew Frodo that inspired young Frodo to follow in his footsteps and to even travel farther than he had and experience many more adventures.

Carol King in one of her first hit songs So Far Away laments, “I sure hope the road don’t come to own me.” Some of my fondest stories are recollections from my travels. During a recent visit my son Jonathan was asking us to help him remember how many states he has been in. He and his lovely wife Lauren vacationed in Hawaii last summer and he was trying to figure out how many states he had yet to go. Ten years ago with a work assignment to Alaska I completed all fifty states and even picked up a couple more Canadian provinces.

Jay still needs Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Oregon, and Alaska. He is a determined young man and I am sure will have a pin in all fifty states faster than I did. And when he and Lauren have babies I am sure they will entertain them with their own stories of adventures to far away places.

When I saw today’s Tolkien quote, I knew I would have to write a word or two about traveling. The very reason I love books and movies so much is that through them I get to travel to places that I hope yet to see with my own eyes and to revisit places that I had already seen.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VBc8cdMwahh8Ez1PtYDV8RnD2ZhIwOpx/view?usp=drivesdk

Come Away With Me