Keep All Your Legs Moving

The story of the ant and the centipede come to mind this morning.  One day an ant was busy working when a centipede walked by.  The ant stopped his work to watch with wonder the way the centipede moved.  “I have to ask,” said the ant, “how do you manage to keep all those legs going without getting them all tangled up?”  The centipede stopped to think about it and never moved again!

We are going to be “On the Road Again” today—heading for Maine to enjoy a lobster dinner and a clam chowder lunch.  I want to walk again along the Atlantic coast, near Portland Head,  and watch the waves crash against the rocky shoreline.  I want to see the changing foliage as I drive through the Taconic, Adirondack, Berkshire and the Catskill Mountains.  I just love being on the road again—wherever the road takes me.

It takes a lot of planning to get ready for such a trip, even if it is only a short journey.  Our Odyssey (miniature RV) must be checked out mechanically—the fresh water tank filled, propane tank checked, refrigerator cranked up, heater tested just in case it gets cold, along with the air conditioner, just in case it gets too hot.  We have to check out and load up the cooking equipment (pots and pans, can-opener, paper towels, eating utensils, bowls and plates) and, of course, the food we plan to cook and eat!  We do have a number of checklists to help us keep it altogether.

Now it strikes me this morning that we have to be careful about being overly conscious about the preparations required to get on the road again.  If we become overly conscious of all the “stuff” we have to do to get ready, we may lose sight of what being on the road is all about.  If we begin to think too much about it with questions like:  “Are we getting too old for this kind of thing?  Should we really go right now with all the other things that need to be done here at home?  Will we have a safe trip?  It is dangerous to be out there on the road today.  It sure takes a lot of energy to get ready. Is it worth it?”  

As soon as we begin to judge or evaluate our travel preparations, we grow uneasy.  Like the centipede, when we begin to think about how we keep “all our legs going without getting them tangled up” our love of travel gets tangled up.  As soon as we make our travel a chore, or a heavy burden, or a fearful thing,  we, like the centipede become stiff and stilted and paralyzed, and if that happens,  we will never get On the Road Again!