On Fire to Go

I’m weary. I’m weary of work, worry, wonder and a few other words I’m too tired to think of right now. I’m not complaining of anything that others aren’t experiencing during this pandemic. What started out feeling like a few snow days without the snow, that turned into more of the being grounded vibe, and now, well, it’s just old. We all so want to be over it.
 

I’ve always been a busy girl. Papa Paul used to tell me I was burning the candle at both ends. I usually responded with some “But look how much brighter it is with both ends going!” I was probably the only girl in high school whose mother made sure I took my Geritol tablet each morning. I’ve never really ever wondered about that until just now! 

You are getting the picture that I’ve been a go-girl long before I was Good to Go. So now when the brakes are on without a departure for months, I’m kinda lost. I’ve tried to continue in the “hair on fire” mode, making lists and doing jobs that I don’t usually have time for. One of those jobs does get close to hair on fire….I’ve been obsessed with burning the downed timber on our family farm. That terrible storm last fall took down about 100 trees, and the Much Older Sister’s husband has been pushing up these burn piles that range in size from a Volkswagon to a semitruck. I’m on fire number 17. I take pride in my fire starting skills and refuse to use any kind of fuel except paper. And I get a little cocky if I can do the whole pile using only one match.

I get in some good thinking time breaking twigs, feeding the fire and watching the flames. I miss traveling. I’ve planned and offered many (what I thought were) great trips down through the years. Like some of my fires, they didn’t catch. I advertised and fanned the flames, but I just couldn’t get a fire built under folks to get them on the bus.

I’m keeping up with peers and partners in the travel industry. There are a lot of opinions of how travel will come back once we have weathered this storm. Of course, everyone will have personal outlook on what they will want to do. Some people will be ready to get on a plane and go! Some may be ready for travel but will decide a motorcoach trip in the USA is a good idea. Others may wait on bigger trips and just enjoy some family get togethers. How the economy is fairing, how the presidential election is going, these will be a few more things that will determine how the travel fire will ignite.

You can expect me to stand on my stump and say, “Don’t wait! Go while you can! You never know about tomorrow!” I’ll take my own advice and pack Big Red, my suitcase, and go as far as my budget will allow. I hope there are many out there that like to have trip on the calendar, and enjoy the spark that being somewhere else gives us. You can count on me to fan the flames.