My rule for travel is, in general:
If drive time < 8 hours, then I drive.
But for drives longer than 8 hours, if the weather isn’t going to be nasty, the traffic won’t be too bad, and the flights are crazy expensive, sometimes I drive. The BFF college-version has requested that I go to Boston or Western Mass. The parents want to see me, as does BFF high-school-version. Then there are possible plans with friends in DC, and a certain hooved creature that deserves attention.
The Options:
Fly to Boston. Can’t bear to look at cost of plane tickets.
Drive to Western Massachusetts from Arlington, VA. 10 hours minimum.
Drive to Sault Ste Marie from Arlington, VA, while listening to Bob Seger’s “Roll Me Away,” because Alrington really is about 12 hours out of Mackinaw City, never mind that that means not pulling into the Soo until about 8 am Saturday, and probably having to sleep in the car at truck stops, which would inevitably delay my “12 hours out of Mackinaw City” bit, meaning I’d have to plan my trip very carefully so that I sleep at exactly the right time in order to not screw up the timeline of the song. Because failing to be precisely 12 hours out of Mackinaw City is just not acceptable.
Stay put, go to the barn, ride the horse, maybe duck over to a friend’s house on the beach.
I’ve been away or had guests for the last four weekends in a row, and I have a planned trip to NYC in June. I SHOULD stay put, but . . . but Bob Seger! Cottages! Farms! Dogs!
