Why drive across a continent when preparing to walk across a country? In some ways, a road trip has some parallels with a pilgrimage walk, in that it is time-out-of-time or time out of place, which takes us out of the day-to-day context. It is a time to build resilience against the unexpected, and to get used to living with less. It is fairly straightforward to train physically for a Camino, but many seem to neglect to train mentally for it. What do you pack for the mind?
The road trip provides an opportunity to reflect on our lives, and perhaps to consider what the pilgrimage means for us. It is also a time to visit our surviving parents – to connect with who we are – and in the event of something happening to them (or us) while we travel – at least we will have spent some time with them.
In 1925 the first car to be driven right around Australia was a 1923 Citroen 5CV (856cc four cyl) driven by 22 year old Neville Westwood, who had bought the car second hand in Perth Western Australia. That car is now in the National Museum of Australia. So it seems fitting to take a road trip 91 years later in a 2007 Citroen C3 bought new in 2010 (ex-demo). Today the roads are better, the fuel stops closer, and the cars more sophisticated – it will be interesting to see how the car performs 🙂
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Well said about preparing your mind for the journey. Earlier this year I read Cees Nooteboom’s Road to Santiago in which he travels around Spain and barely gets to Santiago. I absolutely loved immersing myself in this book and it’s ‘detours and riddles’. So atmospheric you didn’t care where he went and I hated getting to the end.
Safe travels across the Nullabor and elsewhere!
What do you pack for the mind indeed? I love this post, Jerry. Onward and inward you go.