Doldrums Again

I’m always a little antsy between big trips. Well, “antsy” is probably the wrong word. That implies anxiety. It’s funny that I can totally give you a literary example (imagine Olenka from The Darling by Chekov when nobody’s around), but I can’t produce the right word. I’m sure that word will magically materialize in my head about forty-five seconds after I press the publish button. But that’s neither here nor there.

I’m really wanting to get out on the road. I’m a little sad that I’m not going to Memphis this coming weekend, but in a greater sense, I’m missing getting to pick up more counties. I’m missing putting the rubber on the road. I’m missing seeing places and things (even though I was doing it not that long ago, and I will be doing it again soon enough). I’m missing the freedom of travel. I think that I’m thinking about it more this time than others because I realized something: I think this trip to Seattle in August might be my last trip of the year. I usually get out on the road every two months or so. If I’m lucky, I can do it a little sooner than that so that I can overlap my writing and keep my entries daily. I managed to keep that pace of trips (and blog entries) pretty much throughout the pandemic from May 2020 to February 2022 (except for the week-long delay that kept me from attending Mingo Madness). However, I knew there were some business and personal things that I was going to have to accomplish this year. If I had been more disciplined, I would have done them all early on and not have had to think about them again. Of course, had I done that, I probably never would have hit South Dakota and finished Kansas. But here I am at the midpoint of the year, and I have only accomplished one of a plethora of tasks. Since August is going to be devoted to Washington State, that leaves me the last third of the year to do what must be done. Therefore, unless an eccentric millionaire decides to provide me a grant to continue my travels, I don’t know if I will get back out there. I haven’t given up all hope. If I can get a lot done quickly, I might be able to get out for a Thanksgiving trip, but I’m not going to bet on it. And believe me when I tell you that I have two or three trips totally planned! The only question there is whether I primarily work one state (or a different state), or do I pick up a bunch of new ones?