Road trip

I couldn't have picked a better day for a road trip. It's one of the first warm days, the sun is shining and there's a liberating, summertime feeling in the air. In an hour I'll be headed for Columbus for the SPJ Region 4 Conference and a visit with my sister. This is one of those fine days that remind of the classic college road trip.

The spring of my sophomore year at OU, we jumped into my roommate's car and drove to Port Clinton to stay with another friend at her dad's lake house. It seemed as if we drove all day just to get from Athens to Port Clinton, (I'm sure we got lost once or twice.) but it didn't matter because we were having a ball.

When we arrived it was dark, but we could hear the sound of Lake Erie waves crashing on the shore. One of the girls was from Dayton and had never seen Lake Erie. The next morning she woke us all up saying, "Oh my God, it's huge! It's like the ocean!" She had no idea of the lake's size. Of course, we also learned of its fury that weekend when a cold front moved in and we found ourselves surrounded by three feet of water and trapped. No matter, though. That was the fun and excitement and spontaneity of a college road trip.

This weekend isn't quite the party girl weekend (which is just fine with me). Instead, I'll say hey to my SPJ colleagues, help out with a little mentoring and spend the rest of my time with my mom and sister, catching up, laughing, buying books and just doing girl things.

So I'm packing my favorite CDs—a rather eclectic mix that includes Allison Kraus, Billie Holliday, James Taylor, Dave Matthews and Diana Krall—and hitting the road.

See ya!