Roll On Down the Highway

I love impromptu get-aways and try to take advantage of every opportunity which affords me a chance to get out of Dodge. As much as I’d like to report that I’ve again jet-setted to an exotic locale, our destination was only a mere 2.5-hour drive from Grand Rapids.

Rewind to July 2008. Mark’s employer at the time, like many businesses these days, re-evaluated its employee pool. We had just returned from a 36-hour excursion when he learned his position had been eliminated. Amazingly, he sent out (count ‘em) one resume and, after a lengthy interview process, accepted a position similar to that he previously held. Since his territory was to encompass the Detroit area, Northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, it was a given he’d eventually have to relocate. That time has finally arrived; he’ll become a Buckeye as of May 1. In his recent travels he happened upon notice for an art exhibit and decided it provided a great excuse to visit the Toledo area to begin scouting potential neighborhoods. He invited me to tag along and we hit the road for the weekend.

Mark and I may no longer be married, but he’ll always be a part of my life. He remains a friend and one of my favorite travel companions. (Weird, I know, but it works for us!) Since he prefers to do the driving, I was usually in charge of navigating … until he replaced me with Bernice, his GPS. She can tell him where to go much better than I ever did! (Interpret any way you deem appropriate!)  I then instead focused on scanning radio stations for the best music to accompany us on the open road, but that too has fallen by the wayside with the introduction of his latest technological discovery.

After downloading the Slacker Personal Radio app to his Blackberry, Mark can channel through his car’s stereo system over 100 programmed Slacker stations, 10,000 artist stations or create his own custom station. Once we found the ‘70s music, we were in classic rock ‘n roll heaven. It's the next best thing to pulling up a bean bag on the shag rug, putting on the headphones and drifting away.

BTO, Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Eagles, CCR, Aerosmith, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, the Boss, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Boston, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Steely Dan, Queen, Styx, The Cars, The Doobie Brothers, David Bowie, Jethro Tull, Tom Petty, Van Morrison, Supertramp, Foreigner, Heart, ELO, Ted Nugent, Little Feat, Journey, Santana and, yes, even Rod “the Bod” Stewart.

We mused about how these blasts from the past have transitioned from 45s to LPs to—dare I admit to an eight-track or two???—cassette tapes to compact discs and now to downloadable music. And it never ceases to amaze me, even decades later, how a specific song has the power to instantaneously transport me back to a former place in my life. Groovy sounds which not only allow us to rock on through the greatest decade of music while road trippin’, but also never fail to spur great discussions of the good ‘ole days.

How can the drive time do anything but fly?