One week and counting...

“You’re going on another trip?” I get this question from time to time.

Yes, I am going on another trip! To me, travel is one of the real joys of being a senior citizen. We are no longer responsible for paying college tuition or outrageous insurance on a fleet of cars driven by teenage children. Olen and I have never owned a boat, and do not have a motor home. We never spent a dime on alcohol or cigarettes. We don’t drive expensive vehicles. I love my ’05 mini-van and Olen drives a truck. We rarely go to the movies, and would just as soon eat a Whopper Jr. as go to an expensive restaurant. We are not extravagant people…but we LOVE to travel.

A new laptop, a few guidebooks and I am ready to go!

My slightly skewed reasoning works this way: God made this beautiful world and in some strange way it is my responsibility to see and appreciate as much of it as possible during my lifetime. Fortunately, my precious husband shares my enthusiasm for travel.

However, this “journey” I am about to make is different. I am going with Ferrell and Elizabeth Jenkins on a tour of Switzerland, Austria and Italy without Olen. I have always dreamed of a trip like this, and at the time of the deadline for signing up for this trip, our family situation was not such that we thought we could both be gone that far away for that long. So, Olen graciously insisted that I go on the trip and use this opportunity to “scout out” places both of us could return to together when the time is right.

It won’t be the same without him by my side, but I plan to enjoy it…in a different way. Margaret, who has been my friend for over forty years, as agreed to be my roommate. We are looking forward to a great trip. We fly from Huntsville on the morning of September 10, and join the rest of the tour group in Atlanta, where we will fly non-stop to Zurich, Switzerland over night.

I will attempt to send back posts to this blog (including photos) each day…or whenever I have internet access…so you are invited to join us on this “journey” to Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Ferrell Jenkins writes a much more educational blog, and you should read his posts at ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com. Ferrell posts the important things on the tour while I focus on people, places and feelings, with much less respect for grammar, spelling and historic details. Both of us thoroughly enjoy the trip…each in our own way.

Please pray for a safe and enjoyable journey for all of us on this remarkable “journey”.