Thursday, March 30, 2006

Wanderlust

Eric asked if I have ever moved just for the sake of moving, rather than always following jobs or some other practical necessity. Nope. Every one of the ten moves I've made over the past 25 years have either been due to an employment change (lots of corporate transfers for Larry) or a housing upgrade. But I've sure dreamed about it.

I did a 10 day backpack trip in Tennessee years ago with a college class and fell in love with that part of the country. Then this past August, Larry and I spent some time in Alaska with friends doing some serious fishing and white water rafting. We had a blast. I've been in about 40 of the 50 states at one time or another. I've also had opportunities to spend time in Costa Rica and Fiji.

I may be too practical to just up and move on a whim, but I suppose I will always love to travel. Aunt Joy says I inherited my wanderlust from my dad. I have plenty of memories of Don Pendley dreaming of / threatening to up and move us all to Australia. He never did though. To the best of my knowledge, he never even visited the place. Still, he definitely instilled in me a hunger to see the world.

Larry and I are hoping to take another dream trip this year in celebration of our 25th anniversary, but we have not yet settled on a specific destination. Any suggestions?? Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I definitely know whose kid I am. If I go back to May of 2004, less than two years ago, I've been in Jacksonville, NC; Athena, OR; Bend, OR; Austin, TX; Muskegon, MI; Lansing, MI; and now I am at rest temporarily in Kalamazoo, MI. This is officially my seventh move in two years. Although I finally got smart to my wanderlust last summer when I went to Austin. I visited. I enjoyed. I called my mom and told her to sell or junk all my stuff. THANKS MOM!!!! So far in all of the towns I've been in from this country, I'm pretty fond of Savannah, GA and may find myself back there some time. Beautiful climate, lots goin on and great southern hospitality. However, as it stands now, if I could go back to one place I've been, it would probably be Brisbane, Australia. I'll thank the Marine Corps for that two months of my life. Anyway, I hope not to continue to move quite at this pace, but I've got one more upcoming move to upgrade my living circumstance in K-zoo while I go to school, then I'll be here for 4 years finishing school...then...WHO KNOWS?????

Eric said...

We travel frequently, even though we haven't managed to escape the clutches of Central Texas permanently. However, we tend to visit urban areas, since we are always checking them out to see if we want to live there. Unfortunately I can't think of any suggestions that could compete with Fiji, Costa Rica, and Alaska.

I think our constant desire to travel is related to that same wanderlust that Buncar had (Don will forever be Buncar to me, my childhood nickname for him). I'm pretty sure my dad, Wayne, has inherited that same wanderlust as well. Although he's only moved out of work necessity in the past 17 years, I'm pretty sure he's always thinking about or looking for the next place to call home. He moved every few years until we landed here and I think only my mom's steadfast determination and stubborness kept him rooted as long as he was.