It's Not The Destination, It's The Journey

One of my favorite quotes is from Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Life is a journey, not a destination." I like to take that quote, turn it around a bit and apply it to my travels in life.

And by that, I mean whenever I travel to another location that takes longer than, say, 60 miles. When I go out of town for whatever reason, I enjoy the journey to get from point A to point B, more that the destination itself.

Not that I am not happy with wherever I end up in my travels, especially if it's a weekend or vacation destination, I just appreciate traveling down the road to get there.

I don't fly much, but I did get to travel to Memphis, Tennessee last January to visit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. It had been about 20 years since I last flew, and probably almost that long since I've ventured more than 70 miles or so from the Binghamton area. The flights and the airport experiences to and from Memphis were an exiting journey for me.

Last weekend, I traveled to a small town off Interstate 80 in central Pennsylvania to pick up my new Greyhound. I drove down Interstate 81 to Interstate 80 to get to my destination, which was a parking lot of a fast food restaurant. Well, it was a convenient meeting point for the folks with the Greyhound adoption group I am a member of. They are based out of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and I didn't want them to travel too far to meet me.

My return trip took me from Interstate 80 to Route 15 through Williamsport and then up into New York State to Route 17 and then home. On both legs of the trip, I really enjoyed the journey through the mountains of Pennsylvania. It's amazing how they cut through some of those mountain ranges to build a highway, and of course the scenery on a warm sunny summer midday was spectacular.

Maybe I'm the only one, but whenever I drive somewhere, I take in the journey, admiring the nature around me. Of course it's much better when taking a more rural two lane road through the countryside versus an interstate highway for the best scenery.

The next time you take a long trip, be sure to enjoy the journey to your destination. I think you'll like it.