Random Thoughts on Friday

I have done a lot of travelling outside of the state lately. I get goose bumps sometimes thinking about how easy it is to travel around this great country and the area and to see so much.

I was reading a book recently about settlers in the 1850s travelling West. They were covering about 10 miles a day on a good day.

It is nothing for me to get in my car on any given day and just drive. 120 miles is an easy day trip. I can drive several hundred miles and go somewhere on a weekend trip. Give me a week, and I can cover half of the US in my car.

We just got back from seeing St. Louis and Kansas City within 5 days, leaving from Cincinnati. We probably put 1,500 miles on the car and made the trip to St. Louis, then to Kansas City, and back home very casually. The drive was easy. We stayed in comfortable hotels and we had no worries of weather. We had cell phones if needed for an emergency.

I thought about the same trip, if made 150 years ago. The same travelling may have taken 6 months or more.

Plus, with the Internet, it is so easy to google, or look at wikipedia for quick information about a tourist destination.

It is funny, I remember when mapquest became so popular. You could type an address in and instantly, you could print out a map and specific directions! Life became even easier!

Now, with a GPS, it is even simpler.

I still consult with mapquest to get a rough idea of where a new business in my area is located. On longer trips, I might check googlemaps for an idea of what the landscape might look like for a destination.

It is hard for me to think of a way to make travel any more simple. Life, and travelling, is good!