Sometimes it takes a good cross country drive to change your perspective. Not that people select that as the sole reason they take a vacation or rent one of those silver sausages to tug behind their SUV, but it is one of the benefits. As you drive, you see and experience new things.
This past week, I took off from North Texas, heading to Pewaukee, WI, just west of Milwaukee, to start a new job. A side benefit has been waking up to cooler mornings, taller trees and more greenery.
But the drive north and start of a new job hold more than that in terms of my senses. I’ve been struck by the sights and smells and how it affects my mood.
The drive was long. The nights short. Sleep got cut off. The demands of a new job require learning new things, absorbing a lot of information quickly, and all of those variables tend to wear you out.
Oddly, I’m still thinking about the scenery morphing after crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The drive west to east on I-44 through Missouri is hilly and filled with deciduous trees. Up and down you go.
Crossing to Illinois, you hit the plains. Why does it flatten out? I asked several people, and none had the answer. I figured maybe it had to do with the glaciers thousands of years ago. Google probably knows and at some point I’ll look it up, but right now I still marvel and wonder why. Did the river slowly recede from east to west, leaving the flatlands? Two hundred years ago, it was prairie grass. Again, why? Why the grass there, but the trees on the other side of the Mississippi?
I don’t have the answers, but have lots of questions. The same goes for the smells you encounter.
Wherever you live, you get used to the smells. You probably never think of this. It might be the restaurant near your office that you sniff as you leave the air conditioning to head out to lunch. It might be dust blowing in off the plains, with a unique odor.
Regardless of what you nose breathes in, you get used to it, and you don’t think much about it. When you shift to someplace new, it smells different. This makes sense based on the different vegetation and terrain. But it isn’t something you typically consider until you head cross country, step out of your car and inhale deeply through your nostrils. “Ah, that Kentucky bluegrass is incredible.”
Streams look different, filled with rocks and rushing refreshingly through greenery. The sound of gurgling water wakes you up and realize you haven’t heard that sound for years.
There’s a lot to be said for the long drive to live in a different part of the country or world. You spend a lot of time thinking, reconsidering how you view the world and preparing to step into a different lifestyle, and community.
We’ve been fortunate to give our three kids some different parts of the U.S. to experience as they’ve grown up. I hope they’ve gained from the sights, sounds and smells of each area, as well as the knowledge and opportunities to embrace challenge.
Letting go of the old is hard. Getting restarted is difficult. But the fun part is the experience. When you keep an open mind and seek out strange new worlds, as Star Trek explorers do, you find your life enriched.
Give it a shot. Breathe deeply. Live long, and prosper, my friends.
This past week, I took off from North Texas, heading to Pewaukee, WI, just west of Milwaukee, to start a new job. A side benefit has been waking up to cooler mornings, taller trees and more greenery.
But the drive north and start of a new job hold more than that in terms of my senses. I’ve been struck by the sights and smells and how it affects my mood.
The drive was long. The nights short. Sleep got cut off. The demands of a new job require learning new things, absorbing a lot of information quickly, and all of those variables tend to wear you out.
Oddly, I’m still thinking about the scenery morphing after crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The drive west to east on I-44 through Missouri is hilly and filled with deciduous trees. Up and down you go.
Crossing to Illinois, you hit the plains. Why does it flatten out? I asked several people, and none had the answer. I figured maybe it had to do with the glaciers thousands of years ago. Google probably knows and at some point I’ll look it up, but right now I still marvel and wonder why. Did the river slowly recede from east to west, leaving the flatlands? Two hundred years ago, it was prairie grass. Again, why? Why the grass there, but the trees on the other side of the Mississippi?
I don’t have the answers, but have lots of questions. The same goes for the smells you encounter.
Wherever you live, you get used to the smells. You probably never think of this. It might be the restaurant near your office that you sniff as you leave the air conditioning to head out to lunch. It might be dust blowing in off the plains, with a unique odor.
Regardless of what you nose breathes in, you get used to it, and you don’t think much about it. When you shift to someplace new, it smells different. This makes sense based on the different vegetation and terrain. But it isn’t something you typically consider until you head cross country, step out of your car and inhale deeply through your nostrils. “Ah, that Kentucky bluegrass is incredible.”
Streams look different, filled with rocks and rushing refreshingly through greenery. The sound of gurgling water wakes you up and realize you haven’t heard that sound for years.
There’s a lot to be said for the long drive to live in a different part of the country or world. You spend a lot of time thinking, reconsidering how you view the world and preparing to step into a different lifestyle, and community.
We’ve been fortunate to give our three kids some different parts of the U.S. to experience as they’ve grown up. I hope they’ve gained from the sights, sounds and smells of each area, as well as the knowledge and opportunities to embrace challenge.
Letting go of the old is hard. Getting restarted is difficult. But the fun part is the experience. When you keep an open mind and seek out strange new worlds, as Star Trek explorers do, you find your life enriched.
Give it a shot. Breathe deeply. Live long, and prosper, my friends.
