Here It Comes Again...

It's January.  The Christmas decorations are still strewn about.  No longer decorating anything, but not yet cozied away for the year.  All of the business of life moving at a constant quick pace, like some crazed Irish Jig that never stops.

Yet, down in the background, barely audible yet, is a small back beat:  "Where are we going this summer?  How will we get there?  Where will we stay?  How long will we be gone?"  These questions thrum about in our heads and sometimes make it to the surface at dinner conversation or during errands.  The whole family is inflicted with wanderlust.

http://earthsky.org/todays-image/milky-way-over-todd-lake-basin-oregon

Rationally, it is ridiculous to even consider this: There are classes to complete, classes to teach, meetings to plan, rehearsals, concerts, practices and recitals.  Bills to pay, repairs to pay off, college tuition looming ever and ever closer.  The loyal Motorcade is over 75,000 miles now and needs an oil change and a turn signal repaired. How could travel even be a thought?

And then a photo such as this appears in the Twitter feed:

 And what are you going to do?  We need to get out there and see skies like this again (or for the first time.)

Beltway traffic just doesn't count as the "Open Road," and we've discovered so many great new road tunes since the last time out…

Don't know if we'll go, where we'll go, or when, but that backbeat of wanderlust is difficult to ignore.