Some of my favorite road trip memories began because I wasn’t particularly good at following a plan… or the blue line on my Apple Maps.
Joe can confirm.
Road trips included.
I’m the person who says, “Let’s just wing it. If we get lost, we’ll stop for ice cream. Ice cream always makes things better.”
Sometimes that leads to a charming little coffee shop tucked into a town I wasn’t planning to visit. Other times it leads to me confidently assuring my boys that I’m pretty sure we’re going the right way… to get ice cream.
Those road trip memories have become some of our family’s favorite stories to tell.
Some of my favorite memories weren’t destinations at all. They were the unexpected stops along the way.
The antique stores we almost drove past.
The tiny roadside diner with pie that tasted like a warm hug.
The overlook we found because someone (ahem… me) missed a turn.
Even our move to Alabama felt like one giant detour. It wasn’t part of the life Joe and I had pictured, and if I’m honest, I spent a lot of time wondering why we’d taken that road in the first place.
Sometimes I think life works a lot like road trips.
You plan, or at least you try to.
You prepare, pack, and make sure you have everything you think you’ll need.
You spend so much time looking toward the destination that somewhere along the way, you forget to enjoy the view outside your window.
You forget the funny conversations in the car.
The unexpected (and sometimes gross) experiences along the way.
How leaving early somehow becomes the perfect excuse for Chick-fil-A breakfast.
How gas station snacks mysteriously become lunch.
They’re little reminders that not every good thing can be planned. I’m still someone who likes a destination. I enjoy checking things off a bucket list and arriving where I meant to go.
But I’ve learned not to panic when the route changes after I’ve missed my turn for the umpteenth time.
Some of the best memories in our family didn’t happen because everything went according to plan.
They happened because it didn’t.
Maybe that’s why I don’t mind detours anymore. Maybe that’s why my favorite road trip memories were never really about arriving at the destination. Sometimes they simply become part of the story. And every now and then, they end up being the very reason you wanted to take the road trip in the first place.
So if you’re ever traveling with me and I say, “Let’s see what’s down this road,” don’t worry.
We might find some ice cream. And I’ve learned that’s usually where the best stories are waiting.
