Anyone who really knows me knows how important travel is to me. I'm just not one of those people that's ever done well chained to one place. Like a dog continually seeing the view of the same inside of the fence, I have to get out to what's BEYOND the fence, to travel, to move around. So the last two and a half years, without a vehicle suitable for long range travel, were sheer torture. In all that time, we made ONE lengthy trip as a family, back to the community where I grew up. One trip in such a length span of time is almost unbearable from my perspective.

So we set the goal for last week that we'd get our yard work done during the week and roll out on Saturday. Yesterday morning, when the kids all awoke, we loaded up and headed to a community near us that has a big St. Patty's day celebration. I didn't quaff any green beer (driving, you know), but we did have a good time, even though we paid way too much for lunch (before continuing on and finding out we could have eaten for significantly less...a move we regretted later when we were in Amarillo and saw $1.29 Whoppers being advertised at Burger King).

We left the town and headed on out to Amarillo, where we spent another few hours. Somehow in big communities with which I am not wholly familiar, I have a penchant for finding the worst neighborhoods, and Amarillo was no exception. But rather than get back on the Interstate, I headed up to go on the state roads...it was a better route for where we were headed anyway.

On the way back in, I had to stop for some brews. We stopped at a little quick stop that didn't look like much of nothin', and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had Sam Adams in stock, a relatively rare brew for this part of the country. I picked up a six and hot footed it on home to enjoy the delicacy.

It sure was nice to get out for a change. And we even picked up information for a jaunt for next month.