My hubby and Zoey are keeping the home fires burning while I’m out of state in search of historical details.As I was preparing for the trip I thought about how we plan our travel nowadays. Most of us make our plane, hotel, and rental car reservations on the internet. Generally, it doesn’t take long once we know where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. We can Mapquest our driving routes and we can even request a travel agent take care of details if we want. We have cell phones to keep us connected should we need anything along the way and there’s a convenience store and gasoline station at most every turn.
Still, we complain about the time it takes to get to the airport, the
time we have to wait in line for security, the occasional delays at the airport, the car we rented isn’t exactly what we’d hoped for, and the hotel room has two queen beds instead of a king.Back in the 1800’s when folks were traversing the Overland Trail there really were some reasons for complaint. When travel from Missouri to Oregon takes eight months, you have a right to complain. When you’re so hungry you kill a couple woodpeckers and made them into a soup that ends up making you sick, then you have a right to complain.
When you don’t have a map or a trail
boss to keep you headed in the right direction, then you have a right to complain. When you have to ford a river before you can cross, you have a right to complain. Until then, I think we should all keep our traveling complaints to a minimum—and as long as I don’t get delayed at the airport, my rental car is what I ordered, I get my king-size bed, and Mapquest doesn’t send me into a river, I promise I won’t complain either.Blessings as you travel with the Lord throughout the coming week.
~Judy
P.S. The story of the Woodpecker soup is true. Two teenage boys were stranded on the Overland Trail and resorted to the 'soup' to try and sustain themselves. They ended up in worse shape than before they ate the concoction. Both survived the trip. Neither tried Woodpecker Soup again!
Hmmm, so was it the birds or their cooking skills?
ReplyDeleteI find this scenario true when I think of how I complain of it being cold in my house at 65 degrees. I read of people seeing their breath when they woke up (in their bedroom) or breaking the ice on the top of the wash bowl and wonder how I'd have managed. Of course this is still true in our world today.
Enjoy your research trip, Judy!
Thanks, Debra! I'm ready to begin a new day of finding exciting things that will plot some stories. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for those boys and their 'soup,' I think it may have been a combination of both. They were probably so hungry, they just threw those birds in the water and let it cook a few minutes. And then, when you're at starving level you eat too fast, and that causes you to upchuck, too. Yuck!
Good morning, Judy! As I traversed our icy streets this morning, I kept your post in mind and managed to keep my grumbling contained.
ReplyDeleteI thought about the traveling conditions of the early settlers when we went to see the production of "Little House on the Prairie, the Musical." Can you imagine starting out somewhere without a map? Or crossing a river on ice just before the spring thaw? I don't even like to cross the street on ice.
Hope you're having a good, profitable, uneventful trip.
I enjoyed your post, as usual, sweet Judy. We had our annual homeschool day and activities at the statehouse last Wednesday and then the forensics tournament followed during the next 3 days...so I'm just now getting back on the computer and able to check your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. We have it so easy compared to earlier days and yet, sometimes, the complaints flow easily off our tongues. Your words were a good reminder to all of us.
As I head off to clean the bathroom, instead of complaining, I think I'll lift up a prayer that I don't have to go outside to an outhouse this chilly morning. =)