And thusly, chanting my favorite piece of non-advice "Ignore unsolicited advice" I managed to keep my big yammer shut and not offer advice that was not asked of me

More thoughts from the road:

*To me road trips are about past-- so much reminds me of what has already happened. The waking up to the sun reflecting off of snow was a friendly reminder of the good times I had in the longest winter of my life. The red-roofed building, a reminder of a Stuckey's joke I never quite got. The music blaring requires that I recall so many road trips from before to N'awlins, Chicago, Toronto, and more. The times I was stuffed like like a sardine in a teal Mustang, or had no one riding shotgun as I headed to see Elvis. It reminds me of mountains and emotional valleys that I have since driven away from, but always seem to be driving toward.

*It's also about present. About the realization that certain people hug like they have something to prove and certain people hug like they have something to give and certain people hug like they need to borrow a little bit of your love and you should let them. About the fact that when you say "good sense of humor" you actually mean "laughs at my jokes." And the fact that there is a whole different world out there and it's best not to forget it. Because somehow you need to remember that far apart is not always spacious and grown-up is not always suffocated by responsibility. It's ok if vegetarians eat meat and it's ok if two people want to rush back into love. It's ok to camp out in the living room near a creek, Dawson's, because vacation is what you make it.