Imaginary Travel in an Old Truck

I just LOVE this photo!  It's called Traveling by GMC Truck. You can find it and other amazing photos at Rachel Edgington's RaeoLight Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/RaeoLight.  Here's a link to that great photo:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/58440910/traveling-by-gmc-truck-4x6-art.  Rachel is from Joplin, MO, and has a special place in her heart for the victims of the Joplin tornado. Please visit her blog at www.raeoflightphotos.blogspot .com to see some sobering photos of the aftermath of the tornado, with a link to her church's relief fund: http://www.ccochurch.org.

 

So WHY do I love this old truck so much?  Well, because once upon a time, a long, LONG, time ago, when I was a little farm girl back in South Dakota, there was an old truck that looked just like this (at least in my mind's eye after all these years)!  It was parked near "the trees"--a magical wooded area where I would escape to read and write, surrounded by beautiful old trees.  (Was it once a tree claim, I wonder?)  As near as I can remember, our old truck was used for parts.  I know it didn't run.

 

My  little brother and I would climb up into the cab of that old truck and bounce up and down on the seats (they don't make springy seats like that anymore!), and we would take turns "driving."  We'd occasionally pretend to stop for gas.  Our favorite imaginary destination was Disneyland.  (Disney World wasn't built yet.  Yup, I'm that old.)   We'd imagine the states we'd drive through, and the things we'd see, and keep up a rolling commentary on our imaginary trips.  Imaginative play is a magical thing! 

 

We're all grown up now.  My brother no longer takes imaginary trips, but he and his wife have traveled the world to destinations we couldn't even have imagined as kids – Egypt, Bhutan, Thailand, Denmark, India, Viet Nam, and the Cayman Islands, just to name a few.  Every year for the past 28 years or more, they have taken a major trip to a faraway place.   And every year my brother and his old college roommate take a "baseball trip" to major and minor league ballparks in the United States, stopping at Civil War battlefields and ice cream shops along the way.  He's kept the scorecards from every baseball game he's attended since he was 11 years old (and there are MANY)!  It must be a "guy thing" –or mild OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).

 

I, on the other hand, don't even own a passport.  I've traveled to occasional work-related meetings, but most of my travel is not as a tourist.  Now I travel to visit kids and grandkids that have left the nest.

 

Nowadays my imaginary travel is via The Travel Channel on TV: www.travelchannel.com.   (Don't worry, I don't bounce on the couch and pretend to drive!)  I've still never been to Disneyland, except in my imagination.  Seeing Rachel's photo brought back so many memories of my imaginary trips to Disneyland!   Perhaps I'll need to add "Go to Disneyland" to my bucket list!

 

TTFN

LeAnn aka pasqueflower

http://pasqueflowerponderings.blogspot.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/pasqueflower