Road Trips & Friendship

This trip to Buffalo has been so much fun!

Just a perfect little tasting menu of all the things I like to do: interesting venues, economic geography, eating yummy things, wandering.

Miniature adventures!

It was a short trip—I’m just now waiting out Buffalo rush hour before I head back home—but really, the perfect palate cleanser.

A secret trove of treasures in my heart to sustain me through future Remuneration!



Ichabod expressed some surprise that I was road-tripping solo when we did phone last night.

I suppose that’s because of my advanced age or maybe because Ichabod knows me to be a nervous driver—although, interestingly, I am a far less nervous driver when I’m driving alone.

In fact, my personality is significantly different in a number of ways when I travel alone. I am far more resourceful. I am far more open to interesting conversations with strangers. The stuff I see is far more interesting, and I am more inclined to connect it with other stuff I’ve seen in fascinating—at least, to me—ways.

I suppose I channel my inner travel memoirist. A less curmudgeonly Paul Theroux, perhaps.



I do occasionally suggest road trips to people.

But these days, very few take me up on the suggestion.

I suppose it’s some combination of (A) People thinking, Road trips? at my age?; (B) the destination I proposed doesn’t entice or intrigue; (C) the proposed itinerary seems too long and/or too expensive; and (D) I seem like I’d be too difficult to travel wit



On road trips, I’m a fan of screeching the car to a halt and opening the door when I see Chance hitchhiking.

I don’t think I do that to an obnoxious extent or to the point where it endangers personal safety, but, of course, people are very private and protective when it comes to feelings of personal safety; they not infrequently lie about them.

Rule of thumb: If they like to control the itinerary down to minutest details, they probably have issues around feeling unsafe.

While I’d say I’ve cemented more friendships than I’ve lost over many years of road-tripping, I’ve lost a few, too.

Well. Not friendships. More accurately, amicable acquaintanceships that appeared to be veering in the direction of friendship.

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Anyway!

Rush hour’s over; time to vamoose.