Points2Ponder by Alan P. Scaglione

August-- the last month of summer. Some schools are starting back. Before long…kids will be having afterschool practice for sports. Football games.

Might be your last chance to make a summer memory.

So….Road trip any one???

That’s right…just get your family into the car and plan one of those “one gas tank trip” wonders—get out and see your backyard!

It can be a state park, a tubing adventure, a picnic, a visit to an old neighborhood. Just vow to discover and uncover somewhere new!

It can even be a “why haven’t we ever gone there before?” trip.

Just get out, get in the car…and wander!

If you’re empty nesters, like we are, invite another couple to go wander with you.

You will be surprised what you will uncover when you stretch your neck of the woods.

It will be an adventure—the kind you will experience together—not by sitting in a movie theatre or watching TV—Just get out and explore!

POINTS2PONDER Why do we assume that we have to spend a lot of money to have a good time? Remember when fun was a Road Trip!

We recently discovered a part of our state that we had never visited. We are natives but nothing ever took us to that part of the state.

Until we reconnected with Sandy and her husband Derrick.

We took them on a road trip this past Saturday and we travelled to Cedar Key, Florida….by way of Crystal Springs and Homosassa Springs.

I got to see my first nuclear plant at Crystal Springs—don’t laugh! That really was on my list of things to see! LOL

We just got in the van and headed out to visit a destination none of the four of us—all Florida natives—had ever visited!

And…we made a memory together!

That’s the whole point of the road trip! Making a Summer Memory with friends and family.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot—greatest cost is your time! But greatest reward? Your memories!

Don’t go to an amusement park where you spend a lot of money and spend the day dreading the money you spent.

A road trip costs the price of a tank of gas—I know in today’s world that could cost a little, but…consider the reward.

Stop along the way to take a moment, share an experience—that may just last a lifetime!

And the best part of the road trip…the conversation that just unfolds as you’re driving, looking out, discovering your neck of the woods.

For example—that nuclear plant—I always thought the stacks were tall and thin; not these, they look like a potbelly stove! I didn’t know that?

And the best part of the road trip? The next time someone mentions Cedar Key, I will always remember who I saw it with-the “NativeFloridianFour!”

We ended our trip at another place I would never have found if I hadn’t visited Sandy and Derrick’s backyard of Dunnellon.

A hole in the wall restaurant on Hwy 200 and the Withlacoochee (say that three times—I dare ya!) River called “Stump Knockers!”

There’s a really cool story I heard explaining why they call it that! See—that’s another benefit to a road trip—the stories you hear!

They serve the best catfish you will ever eat while on Hwy 200! Check it out sometime-- on one of “your” road trips through Florida!

See that picture of the blue bottle tree? Compliments of my new catfish stomping grounds- Stump Knockers!

Aww! The things you’ll see -- when you take the time to see them!

Aren’t ya ready for a road trip???