Nice to meet you, Be Prepared To Stop friends! As co-producer of BPTS (the production’s Sweeper if you will) I am honored to be working with the incredibly talented Jennifer Clymer and Marijane Miller on a topic near and dear to my heart, The Road.
During my childhood, The Road played the part of the mysterious “uncle,” (the by-choice rather than by-blood variety), materializing during summers and holidays to dazzle me with glimpses of a life beyond my greatest imagination.
Many of my earliest and most formative memories were “on the road:” sharing crowded back seats with slobbering, entitled Labradors and usually less slobbering but sometimes equally as entitled sisters (myself included); rainbow refracted light creating a boundless kaleidoscope world out of the Southwest’s giant, drippy sand castle mountains; and giddy anticipation of ghost stories to be told at late summer campfires. But more on these experiences later…
As a child, I considered the reward of these road trips to be the destination, and the time passed on the way was simply a distraction. As an adult, I now consider the reward of these road trips to be the time passed on the way, and the destination a bonus.
Long before the advent of DVD players in cars or the internet, for that matter, and with very limited access to a first generation Game Boy shared between us girls, The Road created a sacred space for my family to explore our imaginations, engage with the communities we encountered, connect with each other, and discover ourselves.
I’m indebted to The Road, my mysterious “uncle”, for helping form the person I am today. That influence is part of why I feel personally responsible for helping out The Road in its time of need, repairing and preserving it for future generations to fall in love with.
It is my hope that sharing some of my experiences of The-Road-as-family with you will inspire action and change.
(Maggie’s Road Tip #1: when confronted with a homemade Pork Rind, always try it.)
Editor’s Note: In the photo, Maggie is the stylish one on the left, Vogue-ing for the camera. Her sister and father seem like very tolerant people.
Love this take on road trips. And the photo knocks me out!