An Ambitious Road Trip at Age 81

Mission realized … A solo road trip at 81
in my ’08 Honda SUV named Marilyn
for three glorious summer months
from Florida to New England
enjoyed mostly in Massachusetts
scenic, historical and spiritual
where I resided in the 1980s

My driving trip by the numbers –

• met with 35 friends and family
• covered 3,000 miles of beautiful America
• wrote 90 poems, one a day, for insights

What compelled this daunting trip?

Rival rationales vie in my mind –

• see loved-ones unseen for years
• enjoy a long, leisurely vacation
• shake up my life at 81 years
• test my vitality for adventure
• admire the East Coast’s beauty
• fill in what’s missing in my life
• escape Florida’s tropical summer
• sense God’s Plan for my senior years
• every one of the above
• motives out of consciousness

I’m intrigued by how people

older and younger than me

reacted to my journey –

• you actually did this at 81?
• oy, I could never do that
• I’m finished with long driving trips
• how did you hold up?
• don’t you have an old car?
• I envy your vitality and freedom

When asked about the trip’s highlights

These vivid memories jumped to mind –

• quality time with friends and family
• interviewed a fiesty woman rabbi
• Klezmer band concert dancing
• July 4^th parade, rock concert, bonfire
• guest in a converted 1876 church
• grand Steampunk assemblage gallery
• Lakota tribe healing ceremony
• my tambourine with African drums
• sang in an outdoor mini-music festival
• tour of the Emily Dickenson House
• majestic mountains, surging streams
• first hot-yoga class sweating
• labyrinth’s overgrown weeds trimming
• musical show performance for seniors
• my brother’s great-granddaughter
• five-day silent retreat on a farm

Reflecting on my road trip on steroids

these big conclusions crystalized –

• It is all about loving people
• I pulled it off at 81 years old
• Upped my confidence to thrive
• Can do other ambitious adventures
• Strengthened my elderly lifeforce

(healthy, vital and youth-full)

• Eager to live for as long as

God grants me life