Road Trips

"A road trip is a journey taken on roads. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile."

I am going on several road trips this summer.  This has been a dream of mine for years!  I'm so excited to be taking this journey and sharing it with others.  My first road trip will be taking Highway 281 from the Texas/Mexico border (Brownsville, TX) to the North Dakota/Canada border (International Peace Garden).
U.S. Route 281 is a north–south United States highway. At 1,872 miles^[2] (3,013 km) long it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route.


I live within a stones-throw distance from Hwy 281, and in looking at the map, I found that it goes through the heartland or the Great Plains of America.  

"From the airplane, the Great Plains look like a repeated pattern of rectangular fields and arrow-straight highways, prompting urban Americans to dub it 'fly-over country.' This predominantly rural and agricultural region which stretches clear across the center of the country, embodies the all-American ideals of independence and hard-working self-sufficiency."  Eyewitness Travel - USA

When I lived in Colorado and California, I crossed this region several times by car traveling to Wisconsin.  However on those trips I was limited on time (using vacation time) so I made few stops at the sites of the region.  So I was excited to see what  the region has to offer.  I am using four travel books that I have accumulated over the years to plan my trip.  Eyewitness Travel - USA; America's Historic Places; Off the Beaten  Path; and of course Rand McNally Road Atlas.  I don't want to miss a thing!  

I am finding out that there is a lot to see along Hwy 281.  I plan to stop every 100 miles and take photos to share on this blog and see some of the sites within 30 miles of the highway.  Tentative plans are to leave Memorial Day and arrive in North Dakota about 7-8 days later.  I will then go to my mother's in Wisconsin.  
On June 7th, I will start my second road trip. My mom and two of my sisters and I will travel to Rapid City, South Dakota to see nephew, Tim and his family and tour the sites there.  After we get back to Wisconsin (June 12), I will spend two weeks visiting family and friends there.  

June 27th I will pick up my hubby, Paul, at MSP airport (Minneapolis/St Paul) airport and travel to spend the weekend with a sister in Wisconsin Rapids.  June 30th will start my third road trip of the summer!  We will travel to Upper Peninsula Michigan; western coast of lower Michigan to Muskegon (visit Texas friends); through Ohio to Niagara Falls, New York; Massachusetts (visit Paul's brother); New Hampshire (visit Texas friends); New York City (visit Paul's other brother); Pennsylvania; West Virginia and the homeward bound through Kentucky, Tennessee and ???   I have not figured out our route home yet!

I have found it quite interesting doing research for this first road trip.  In looking at the map of South Dakota, I found "Prayer Rock" on the map near Ipswich.  When I Googled it, I found another person's blog about their travels through the area.  They referred to a Yellowstone Trail, which I was unaware.  Thank goodness for Google, I discovered the Yellowstone trail that went from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to Puget Sound, Washington, going through my home state of Wisconsin.  So I got side-tracked and read about the Yellowstone Trail for about an hour!  

On my trip along Hwy 281, I will cross over other famous trails - Pony Express Route, Santa Fe Trail, and Oregon Trail.  Just like travelers today, the people going on these trails had another destination in mind and though they trudged, rather than fly-over the Plains, they did not stop.  

Did I say I'm excited about this trip?  :)  Here it is 4 am and I'm writing instead of sleeping.  Join me as I write about my road trips.  I will try to have visual and written descriptions of the sites that I visit on a daily basis....main reason for getting this laptop computer.  With Google at my fingertips, I can expand my knowledge base, as well as yours.  Any suggestions on must-see sites, leave a comment.

Influence

At the leadership conference I attended last week, I heard of a book to read. "Influencer" by the same authors of "Crucial Conversations." I bought the book on Sunday and spent the rest of the day reading it.

Before I continue, let me say that I have a lot of self-help books dealing with weight loss; improving relationships at home and work; and those proverbial what-do-I-want-to-do-with-the-rest-of-my-life? books! So many of them I have started reading and never finished. I either get through half of it and I understand the concept, therefore I can do it or I decide it's too complicated and time consuming. Then I stop reading and the book sits on my bookcase shelf collecting dust. This book, I kept reading. I wanted to make sure that I did not miss a step in the process. The book "Influencer" addresses CHANGE. How can we influence change in our own lives or in the lives of others (personal or work)?

There are two key questions that have to be answered by the person making the change.
1. Is it (the change, process, procedure) worth it to me?
2. Can I do it (the change, process, procedure)?
The first question address our motivation and the second question addresses our ability.

Take for example that our employees at our company are required to give every customer a smile. Every customer, every interaction, every time, every, every, every! Now that's easy for me. However, I may have a member of my team that may answer these questions by saying her ability to smile is hard. She has braces and when she moves her mouth to smile, it creates friction on the inside of her mouth and it hurts and causes irritation. Is she motivated to smile? She may know that others will often smile back at her and she's a friendly person. But, her mouth hurts a lot by the end of the day and right now, it may not be worth it. She may also feel embarrassed by her braces as the customers may point out her braces. It may not be worth it and she may not be able to do it (smile).

My job as her manager is to help her find ways to be able to "smile." It may involve finding out if there is something to put on the braces to lessen the irritation. I may have to help her find a opening script to tell the customer apologizing for not smiling widely. I may help her find a way to put in "smile" in her voice, if not on her face. My job may be to help her keep her irritated mouth from becoming an irritated personality. My job as her manager is to help her find ways to understand and grasp the worth of the smile and make that worth her own.

I have had a busy work week, implementing changes within myself and my management style. It's exciting that you really can teach an old dog new tricks! Yes, I have to find out for myself what the worth is to make changes in my job. Yes, this job is worth four more years of salary to pay off car and build up retirement funds. But more importantly the job is worth it when our department is "show-cased" as the department to watch as we're "going to the top." It's important to help team see their worth. It's important for me to smooth the path for them, give them the tools and training so they are able to do the job. I can do it and it's worth it!