2015 A-Z April Challenge - T is for Travel

Today my challenge letter T is for Travel.  I love to travel.  There is something about planning, preparing,  and executing a trip that makes me smile.  I love the whole process. I can honestly boast that I have been to 48 of the 50 states.   Several years ago my cousin, Amanda, and her family and my daughter, Kat and I took a 9000+ mile Pacific Northwest trip.  We went all the way to Vancouver, Canada and down to the Mighty Redwoods...it was an amazing trip.  We spent a night in Gillette, WY and stayed at a lovely place called the Mustang Motel because it was the annual cattle drive and there were no rooms at the inn....any of them.  Our suite had bullet holes in the ceiling, windows, and doors.  I guess we should have known something was wrong when the inn keeper asked if we wanted to see the room first....and if we were paying for an hour?  Kat and I traveled to PEI when she was 15 to see where Lucy Maude Montgomery lived.  She was a huge fan of the Anne of Green Gables series.  We traveled as far as we could up US-1 and then hopped on I-95 when we could not.  My bucket list contains a few more travels such as these.  I want to get some special people together and drive Route 66 - The Mother Road from Illinois to California and of course I want to see Vermont and Alaska.  I think with Alaska it is now Alaska or bust.  I have been to several countries in Europe and still have a few I want to see....of course Moldova is at the top of that list because my daughter is a missionary there.  I also want to see Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland.  Some day my travels will take me there.  My parents were back roads travelers so I have it in my blood.  My dad used to say he was not lost but just exploring.  Jana Stanfield does a song that I like to claim as my mantra.  The lyrics  to I'm Not Lost, I am Exploring are:

If I could look down on this path I walk from somewhere way up high,
I could see the crooked road that I have come.
I walked a mile with sorrow, I walked a mile with joy
and now I'm less afraid of either one.
For every tear I've cried, there's a smile that I have earned,
for every mile I walked there's a lesson I learned.

Chorus
I'm not lost, I am exploring.
Life is an adventure worth enjoying.
Though I may not know where I'm going,
I am not lost, I am exploring.
I am not lost, I am exploring.

Some people choose to live their lives on quiet avenues,
while others find a place in the parade.
Some like me are seekers, we take less travelled roads,
believing we can find a better way.
And though I get discouraged, I won't be turning back
I have joy as my compass and faith as my map.

Chorus

All of us are headed for the same destination,
so why not blaze a trail that's got imagination

Chorus

I am not lost, I am exploring.    

So I want to leave you with this thought....get out there and Travel, take small trips...take big trips....have an adventure and enjoy it!