TheWife and I went on a road trip today.

It was not anything special, just a trip over to the other side of Bryant Pond to fill water jugs from the roadside spring there.

What made it special to us, was it was the first recreational trip we have made anywhere since early March.

You read that correctly.

We have been following the self-isolation rules during the pandemic pretty seriously and typically go out only twice a week for needed supplies. Other than a few exceptions to get stuff for projects, repairs or taking a bird to a bird rescue site, we have stayed very close to home.

In other words like many others during the pandemic our traveling and trips for fun have been curtailed until further notice.

We did pack a lunch and filled the gas tank before we left Sidney, to help reduce our exposure to others while traveling. Which reminded both of us of how this was how families traveled back when we were kids. There were no fast food joints and families packed food for trips and ate at roadside stops or other places that had good views, but were off the road a bit.

Our main goal today was to reduce our exposure to others, and we were successful in doing that. So traveling over to western Maine today was a huge treat and didn’t increase our exposure all that much. Which was something that we did worry a little about.

This is one of the routes we used to take to travel back and forth to New Hampshire at least once a week for almost six months. So it brought back a variety of memories both good and bad.

There were a couple of stops at the little park by the old Twin Bridges area, and we got to walk a on the short trails there and ate lunch over at what I call West Sumner Pond.

What Did I Learn?

How much I missed simply going for ride with TheWife and Bennie. We used to travel around here and there to see different places and visit relatives before the pandemic took over the world. We would talk about this, that and everything in between. Car therapy is what we used to call when I worked as a social worker.

This little trip was a piece of almost normalcy. It would have been more normal if we had stopped at McDonald’s in Rumford and gotten Bennie his burgee, but neither of us felt comfortable doing that at this point.

We got to see something other than our local roads and backyard. It was past peak foliage, but there were still some nice views to be had, so that part was really great.

Also, during the trip, we didn’t meet anyone on any of our stops. Our planning was to take the most rural route we could and limit our stops to places where the fewest people would be and it worked quite well. We did have our masks with us in case we met someone when outside the vehicle, but didn’t need them.

One thing about the pandemic and the restrictions that come with it is that we are beginning to forget the little things that make life a little sweeter. How a simple little trip like this made such a difference in our day and I know that when I got home I was smiling and happy that we had taken the time to do it.

With the pandemic life has changed and probably will never be the same as it was. Even with a cure or vaccine, life has changed so much since March, that it cannot go back to the way it was, too many things have changed. However, most of us will get back to living a life well lived, even if it is not the same.

All we can do is keep doing the work necessary to keep improving the life we have.