Maybe I Was a Gypsy

You know how so many RVers say they must have been Gypsies in a former life? I believe it. From my earliest days, I’ve had my eyes out the window and have loved to go new places.

I remember being in a big black car once and getting to lay on the back deck so I could watch out the window. Kids can’t do that anymore and that’s probably a good idea but it sure was fun. I could wave at the car behind us or count the stars at night.

Later we had the first of a series of station wagons and I got to sit in the “wayback”. .There was even a day when we rode very slowly down the highway with donkeys following us munching on carrots we held out the window.

I drove the folks nuts singing see the USA in your Chevrolet or The Happy Wanderer whenever we went out. If there was a road song I heard I commited it to memory, ( and I can still sing them today.)

It really never has mattered to me where we went. It was just important that on Sunday afternoon, we went. Mom and Dad helped us to appreciate the world outside our doors. We went to historic places and scenic places and beautiful garden. We lived close enough to the Atlantic coast to be able to go to the beach several times each summer.

When I began dating Big Jim, we were short on cash. College students usually are. Often we’d pack a picnic and take off for a ride. When he asked where I wanted to go I usually told him “take me down a road I’ve never been on before.” I still say the same thing. The day we left on our honeymoon, Big Jim and I missed a turn. We decided not to turn around because there would be something even better in the direction we were headed.

Our favorite form of entertainment has always been “going for a ride“. We brought our kids up the same way we were raised, to know that there’s something worth seeing around almost every bend. To discover what’s down “that way” is always enticing. For the most part that’s always been the way we plan our routes. As long as we get where we need to be by the time we are supposed to be there, we have no fixed plan. We’ve discovered some wonderful places by straying from the path and following the sign that catches our eyes.

Since we began Rving, we’ve met plenty of people who feel pretty much the same way about seeing the country we’ve been blessed to live in. And of course there are many more we’ve yet to meet. For instance there are the Doobie Brothers, who sang:

I need another point of view
Someplace I've never seen
Keepin' my eyes wide open
Goin' where I've never been
So take me to the highway
Take me far from here.

One of these days we might run into them.

See ya down the road,
Yarntangler