Some people recoil with dread when thinking of road trips. They just want to get from A to B as quickly as possible. That’s not me. I relish the road trip as much as the final destination.
 

Road trips can be adventures and learning experiences.

 
Some of my fondest memories are from road trips. After finishing College, I drove across Canada with my best friend. A few years ago, my daughter and I took Route 66 across the U.S. Even shorter road trips, up north with my husband or camping with friends have been memorable experiences. My dream is to do a minimum one month road trip through several U.S. National Parks. I can feel it getting closer.

In February of 2015, I drove to Florida with my dog Daisy. It was the first time I’d made this trip, about 26 hours of driving in total, that I spread out over a few days. Along the way, I found pet-friendly hotels and stopped for a day to visit friends in Beaufort, South Carolina and Naples, Florida, finally landing at West Palm Beach.

Here are a few benefits of road tripping I discovered along the way.
 

* Always expect changes in the plan.

Road trips start out with a plan, but one has to be open and willing for those plans to change. Because, in any adventure, unexpected circumstances will inevitably come up. Sometimes, the plans change before you leave, which is what happened to me.

A predicted snow storm had me leave a day early, which meant the first night I spent in Morgantown, West Virginia, rather than the planned Beckley, West Virginia.
 
* It’s fun to experience new places.

While I advocate photographing close to home, travelling through new territory is a great way to rejuvenate. Your senses and attention are heightened when you’re travelling in areas you’ve never been before. Although you don’t fully experience a place as you travel through, you do get a taste.

On the first leg of my trip, I travelled on roads and through places that I’d never been before, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania being one of them. I’ve know of Pittsburgh as a steel town, but was surprised at how hilly and pretty it was.

The hilliness continued and the weather warmed as I continued on to Morgantown, home to the University of West Virginia and the actor Don Knotts. I found out that it’s considered one of the best small cities for living in the United States.
 

* Beauty comes in unexpected places.

For most of the next day, I drove through the state of West Virginia and it was one of my most enjoyable drives ever. I was blown away by the beauty of the West Virginia mountains. There were several scenic lookouts along the way for stops, as well as a visitors center for the New River Gorge, a spectacular sight.

I didn’t expect West Virginia to be quite so beautiful, and it was a wonderful surprise.
 

* Take the time to meet new friends.

Being in the online world, I meet many people through the digital airwaves that I’ve never met in person. On this trip, I reached out to two online friends, who took the time to spend the day with me in Beaufort, South Carolina, another new place. What a joyful and stimulating time we had walking, talking, and photographing at Hunting Island Beach and in town.

Of course, you can also start conversations with people you meet along the way. Everyone has a story to tell.
 
* Time on the road gives space for new ideas and photographs to emerge.

Driving can be quite monotonous, giving plenty of space and time to see and reflect. It took about three days before I started noticing ideas popping up everywhere – possibilities that I could consider in life and in business.

The time and space between starting point and destination gives these ideas time to germinate. It’s also a chance to listen to inspiring content, whether a radio show, podcast, music, or book on tape.

There are even photographic possibilities.
 

I saw the photograph above while walking my dog at a rest stop in Florida. It had rained the night before and this puddle in the grass reflected the sky and greenery above. I snapped this photo with my iPhone and love its Monet-like qualities.
 

Do you like road trips?

 
More on Road Trips

As photographers, we tell stories with our images. There can be a whole story in one image, or the story can be told through a series of images. Many of the best images by renowned photographers came from their own road trips as David Campany and Denise Wolff show in this book, The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip.

It’s always good to have a special book for the road. My friend, Norah, gave me The Long Quiet Highway by Natalie Goldberg, the perfect road trip book.