Two Trips, Two Totally Different Destinations

I have to pack. . .twice. Both trips are important. Both trips are to places I’ve never been before. But, both trips are similar to countless trips I’ve taken before. 

The trips are completely different. 

One trip is for a single night. The other is for 8 days. One trip I’ll be sleeping in a strange bed. The other I’ll be sleeping on the ground. One trip, I’ll eat out at restaurants. The other I’ll be eating all my meals outside. One trip is by myself. The other is with eight to ten boys scouts. 

Tonight I’m headed to a meadow in central Utah. We’re going to camp in lava tubes and tomorrow morning we’ll be swimming in hot springs. Monday, I have to head to Louisiana. We are opening a new call center. 

I’ve gotten pretty good at packing for both types of trips over the years. I still remember my first scout campout. I was eleven. We brought our own food. I brought eggs and a cast iron frying pan to cook them in. My friend’s dad was the scoutmaster. My friend still remembers that campout, forty years later. That pan was heavy. For tonight’s campout, I probably won’t even pack until 3:00 for a 4:00pm departure. I’ll probably take a fork, a spoon and a large cup. You can pretty much eat any campfire meal with that combination. 

The remember one of the early business trips I took, when I was working for Microsoft. I took a t-shirt and jeans. It’s what I wore to work most days. I never made that mistake again. I’ll wear slacks and pressed shirts during most days. When the client shows up I’ll wear a jacket and tie. I probably won’t start packing until Sunday night. 

I’m headed to Louisiana by myself. There will be other people from work there, of course. But, I have no idea of their travel schedule. I’m not even sure we are in the same hotel. I am renting my own car. I’ll essentially be travelling alone. 

Tonight I’ll load up my 15 passenger van full of boys, including two of my sons. We will travel together, camp together, eat together and come back together. 

If I didn’t have to go to Shreveport, I’d stay home. If I could go camping for more than just tonight, I’d go for a week. 

Ten years from now, I probably won’t remember my trip to Louisiana. Ten years from now, I hope I still have fond memories of the campout with my boys. 

I’m taking two trips, but they couldn’t be more different.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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