I am due for a road trip. Nothing major but something to reward myself. I just survived a hectic month of UIL academic and speech competitions with my students in addition to judging 18 speech and debate rounds. This is my version of March Madness.
The route chosen is from www.texaskidsadventures. com. I qualify as a kid in every way except for my 67 trips around the sun.
The letters correspond with the following Texas towns that have a European connection: A Paris, B Athens, C Moscow*, D Berlin, E Vienna, F London, G Florence, H Holland, I Dublin, and J Italy.
*much of Russia is in Asia, but the capital city is on the far eastern edge of the European continent My dear friend Laura, who has seven years on me, will ride shotgun. The only restriction I have for her involves music. SiriusXM Channels 05 and 06 are off limits.
Leaving Austin on a Sunday and returning late on Wednesday night will not leave room for much sightseeing. I can do that another time when the school calendar is not in play. Much like my memorable Texas Iditarod in March 2016 when I drove the perimeter of the Lone Star State over a seven-day spring break, the goal is to simply do it. Ride in the car. Drink a lot of water. Make discerning stops for bathroom breaks and unusual photo ops and say we did it in 80 hours (modified shout-out to the novel by Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days, published in 1872).
My social media accounts will be entertaining and enlightening. If we aren’t friends and you can’t follow along, just imagine the fun we will be having driving some farmto- market roads, a few US highways, and maybe an occasional dirt road. No interstates.
Trips are for kids. And big kids. And old grannies.
My bags are packed.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
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