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Dream Travelers

The Source

The Millionaire was one of the earliest TV dramas. It ran for five years at the end of the 1950’s, based on the premise that a very rich fellow would hand out one million bucks to deserving folks every week. All we ever saw was the benefactor’s right hand giving the cashier’s check to his loyal secretary Michael Anthony. I thought I’d try a similar gimmick with some of our local travelers. The only difference is that I gave each of them only $5000. Oh yeah...one more distinction between myself and the guy on TV….I didn’t actually give them any money. Here was the set-up: I said, “If I were to hand you $5000 and you could choose anywhere in the world to take a vacation this summer, tell me where you’d go and what you’d do.” Responses ran the globetrotting gamut from the local to the exotic. Jacksonville’s favorite Cuban ex-pat, Omar Panella, said that upon receiving the $5000 his first trip he fall onto the floor in a dead faint. Upon regaining consciousness, Dr. Panella listed Cadiz, Spain, as his destination. He said, “It’s a fun place with lots of good food and good wine and my wife has a sister there.” Terri Kimler would forego the airline ticket and spend her $5000 on gasoline, visiting the smallest town in each state. (I’m still looking for her bridge to Hawaii.) She said, “I grew up in a town with a population of 220 and had just 14 in my graduating class.” Her tiny farming community taught her that “people in small towns kind of look at life differently than their counterparts in cities.” Julie Hood said that it’s not the destination but the people with whom you travel. “I could be in the middle of nowhere and as long as a few good friends are there, I’d be happy.” She added that good food, music, and laughter would be a requirement, and that “swimming, racquetball, running, rock climbing…anything that makes a person perspire just wouldn’t be normal.” Passavant Hospital’s Tammy Middleton is thinking Greek. She traces this yearning back to her high school days studying Greek mythology. “I want to cruise the islands with stops to get out and explore the land…imagining living right on the sea…It’s breath-taking.” Tammy’s especially enamored with visiting a place steeped in antiquity. “To know that these ancient buildings and temples are still standing is incredible.” Jacksonville’s Kris Roth narrowed her gift trips down to a couple. “First, I’d take my family of five and my future son-in-law to Ireland.” Kris’s son, Sam, recently returned from the Emerald Isle with his University of Missouri marching band, and Kris immediately fell in love with the photos posted on the band’s blog. Her second choice is a cruise from New England to Canada. “I love just watching the water,” she said. Barb Davenport would “rent a condo or cabin in Colorado and stay as long as possible.” She listed the weather and the Rocky Mountain scenery as the main draws to such an excursion. Barb adds this p.s.: “No cell phone, no computer…just my Kindle!” Barb Gatlin of Farmers Bank wants to see the Holy Land. She says, “I am a very passionate person and I cry.” She expects such emotions to be vivid as she visits The Garden of Gethsemane and Golgotha. She added, “I was one of the people who sat in the theatre a very long time when I saw ‘The Passion of Christ,’ (all three times) so I know I would feel His presence and me moved to tears.” Some travelers would prefer to spend their windfall without crossing an ocean. Brad Barnes of the Alvin Eades Center wants to take his parents to Kentucky, his mother’s home state. “It’s beautiful there in the hills with tobacco fields and natural lakes. It would be wonderful if she could see her few living relatives again.” Bobbie Goodin of Virginia wants to return to something exotic. “I’d truly enjoy going back and traveling on the Orient Express with its taste of decadent elegance, luxury accommodations, and its elegant food and service.” The five-day trip travels from Singapore to Bangkok. Bobbi may have to travel first around Virginia to ask for donations to add to my gift of $5000. Next summer’s prices for the trip begin at $19,000. The British Isles scores as a favorite destination of may locals. Triopia superintendent Steve Eisenhauer describes his “Golf Trip of the gods” as a whirlwind tour of the great courses of Ireland and Scotland, including The Royal County Down Golf Club plus the Royal Portrush and Emerald Isle Club in Ireland then hopping across the Irish Sea to Edinburgh. He’s already picked out his Scottish Hotel, The Rusacks, which just happens to overlook the courses at St. Andrews. He’d then putt his way across the Firth of Tay to Carnoustie Golf Links, referred to as “The Beast.” Along with the trip, greens fees, food and lodging, Steve asked me to provide someone to guide him and extra golf balls. Passavant Chaplain, Patsy Kelly, would return to the land of her Irish ancestors by traveling to Dublin via Canada. She prefers to make use of Ireland’s railway system to get a leisurely view of the “Land of a thousand shades of green.” Her dream itinerary includes lots of music and drama in the Irish capital, followed by a night’s stay in Bru na Boinne, then onward to the monastic site at Glendalough, passing through the Wicklow Mountains. After a short retreat, she’ll head on to Cork for an extended stay then to Killarney for more music and sightseeing. The prayerful pixie of Passavant then veers off to Limerick and the Bothar Charity, hoping to learn a bit about their efforts with Heifer International. From there, she’ll be off to County Galway, Armagh Cathedral, Kildare Abbey, Blendoran, Belfast and back to Dublin. Patsy go Brau! Local appraiser Sally Stock says that although her taste runs toward Kool-Aid and cheeseburgers, she’ happy to dream along, traveling to England once the Olympic fervor has cooled down. Her favored route would be northward wandering along the Cotswold Way, then making her way north to York, eventually crossing the border into the land of kilts and bagpipes, arriving just in time for Edinburgh’s Tattoo. Like many of the vacation dreamers, her fondest desire would be to simply soak up the local flavor. Recent JHS graduate and current student at the University of Missouri, Logan Bobb, has his eyes set on Alaska. He said, “I want to see Mt. McKinley, a six-mile wide glacier, and do a lot of kayaking while watching 40-ton humpback whales breaching.” Logan says that the 23-hour summer days of northern Alaska would allow him more time to catch all of our largest state’s beautiful sights. Wes Hendricker, Search Director for the Ag Division of Higher Plains Executive Placement, says he’d first take $1000 and put it somewhere to impact the lives of young people, then he’d rent a beach house and host his entire family for a week, “without doing any work on the computer nor answering any business calls on the cell phone.” Wes and Linda are now multi-grandparents so he naturally added, “I would spend the majority of my time spoiling my grandkids and spending time with my kids and my wife.” Photographic wizard Steve Warmowski said he’d set his sights on bears and blackberries as he makes a third jaunt to Sweden where he first visited on a Rotary exchange then returned with bride Tiffany two years later. “We’d rent a stuga (summer home) nestled in the woods at Sisjon to hunt blackberries, raspberries, and cloudberries.” Steve says he’d combine them with chanterelle mushrooms and cook dinner while looking for moose and signs of bear. Among his other dream events are, “grabbing their ancient bikes and riding to the Gota Canal, trying to speak Swedish and failing.” And of course watching the sun setting after midnight. Jacksonville’s mayor, Andy Ezard, thinks that perhaps he has some making up to do and that the beaches and pools of Key West are calling his name. “It’d be really fun and the perfect spot to take my wife Jenissa for our 15th wedding anniversary. We had big plans for our 5th and 10th but we didn’t make it happen.” The town’s ace mechanic, David Zink, wants to trace his family history by visiting Germany, Austria and the Swiss Alps on the lookout for great music and food. “The real trick,” he said, “will be trying to figure out how to get the Alpine Horn home on the plane.” An obviously more youthful insight on travel comes from Dalton Kindred of Farmers Bank who chose the sights and experiences of Rome. He’d like to rent a bike and take off riding to see the ancient Italian capital. He said, “I don’t see sleep being a being part of this vacation, however relaxation and alone time would be essential. I wonder if there are a lot of pretty girls in Rome? Maybe I’d rent a tandem bike.” No Dalton, there are no pretty girls in Rome. I’ll have to take your ticket. Several respondents yearned to return to places they’d visited earlier. Cathy Doyle of Briggs Appraisals says she’d love to walk through the pages of history by returning to London. “I would eat shepherd’s pie for lunch every day in a local pub with a pint or two of the local flavor, and I’d visit the old cathedrals and outlying castles.” She adds that every trip to London leaves her with a thirst to return. Former JDC supervisor, Bill Curry, opted for a return to Ireland and Scotland. He’s especially anxious to travel to Ireland’s northern half. “I have seen the southern half twice and each time our coach driver has told us that we need to see Northern Ireland.” Bill told me that if I’d up the ante to $7500 he’d pick Australia. “The Aussie’s love us Yanks,” he said. Sorry Bill, $5000 is all I can afford. Nurse anesthetist Richard Dunseth would load up his wife Linda, his dog Sidney, rent a 1972 International Scout and relive their trip of forty years ago, motoring up the Alcan Highway to Alaska. Another option for Rich would be to travel to England to visit his brother. “I owe him a visit,” he said. But Rich’s idea of the ideal vacation is simply taking off for Green Pastures Performing Arts Camp where he serves as head of the art and video department. I have a passion for good travel writing and my favorite is still Mark Twain as he put his wry pen to paper in Innocents Abroad and various other essays. Although Twain bemoaned the agonies of travel, his mantra remained constant: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”