#QBConnectOrBust: It’s All About the Ride

It started a little more than a year ago with a suggestion and a few casual conversations. The plan to turn this expedition into a road trip took form through late night texts and raucous phone conferences and plenty of “What if we did this?!” and “That could work!” comments. As the passenger list grew to capacity and the trip planning got more intense, the road trip began to take on a life of its own, which is what all good endeavors are supposed to do. The success of Year One made it inevitable that the #QBConnectOrBust road trip would become an annual event.

I’ve been a roadtripper for as long as I can remember. My family wasn’t much for vacations – we would drive to see the grandparents in the summer because they had a cottage on a lake, and it was a full day drive, so my brother and I would climb in the back seat of the car and annoy each other for the entire trip. Our parents tried to encourage us to look out the windows by giving us those little road trip bingo games to play – mark a square if you see a cow or a bus or a construction site. My brother and I learned quickly that we could occasionally call out, “There’s a water tower!” or “We just crossed a stream!” even when no such things existed, and as long as we didn’t cry out loud, the folks would assume we were playing the bingo game and seemed oblivious to the fact that we were poking and hitting, throwing each other’s shoes out the window, and mouthing obscenities.

Once I became a driver and got my hands on the keys to a car, it was hard to stop me from traversing the country. Who needs planes and trains (although cross-country train trips have their own special allure) when you can see the USA from the driver’s seat of your own Ford Mustang convertible? While driving with passengers can bring its own level of camaraderie and entertainment, I also enjoy the solitude of the open highway as the miles stretch ahead and behind me and I can engage in lengthy uninterrupted conversations where the ideas flow just as smoothly as the pavement. I’ve written some of my best articles and large chunks of books on the road, and have of course solved many of the problems of, if not the world, my own humble life.