Is it really a vacation to trek to the airport, get through security, check baggage, crowd onto an airplane only to reach your destination and blend into throngs of tourists, not to mention the myriad of mishaps and irritations along the way? Then it’s time to pack as many events into each day as possible to get your money’s worth.

Many vacations these days consist of jaunts to popular tourist island resorts for fun in the sun. I find the very thought of making the trip so stressful that I end up staying close to home. This year I took a road trip to my hometown to visit lifelong friends. I had no schedule to keep. My road trip included not taking the interstate, but a less traveled road with almost no traffic.

The countryside is blissfully peaceful and beautiful. The little towns boast country café’s and stores. Farmers and ranchers go about their daily work. Late one evening at sunset, under shadowy clouds splashed across the sky, I found myself driving through the middle of a wind farm. Before, I’d only seen these “windmills” from a distance where they look like little sticks turning about. Up close they’re majestic man-made spires with long, missile like arms turning gracefully in the wind that sweeps across them.  

The motion of the modern day windmills against the display of clouds gave me the feeling of floating through the air watching the magnificent sunset as my car dipped up and down over gentle hills toward the plains.  No hustle and bustle of tourists, no noisy nightlife.  Just me on the open road, waved silently home by the turbine arms under a brilliant sky that God painted.