On the Road a Lot

I've been away from my computer a lot, traveling for business purposes. Our publishing company staffs booths at several national conventions where we try to sell our books and catechetical materials. In early April, I was in Annaheim, CA. Last week Atlanta, GA, and next week Chicago, IL. The member of our department who is in charge of these conventions retired unexpectedly and I have been asked to fill in for her.

Between all those trips I have attended two 2-day workshops, one in St. Louis and the other in Chicago. I have been in my office a total of only 8 days the entire month of April. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to get back into my own bed after so many days in strange ones.

I usually don't get into personal daily life in this blog, but on top of all the above, my apartment building has been sold. When the previous owner put it on the market I decided to begin looking for a house to buy. I love the apartment - it is right across from the Missouri Botanical Garden. My second floor balcony overlooks the garden. But I've been there three years, and I had no idea how much a new owner might want to raise the rent.

Instead, the new owner gave me a 30-day notice to vacate!

I had not been expecting that. Apparently, his loan requires him to occupy the building, and because of lease restrictions, I was the easiest person to get rid of. I have until May 1. Since I'm leaving April 30 for Chicago, it leaves me only tomorrow to move. Fortunately, I had already begun the process of working with a realtor, and so I will be staying for a few weeks with a friend, just until I can find a place I like.

Another fortunate thing is that I do like to travel...especially if it's to a place I've never been before. Perhaps I'm an explorer at heart. And sometimes I will walk and walk and walk until my legs can go no further just so I can see as much as possible.

I've had the great privilege of visiting Europe twice (I loved Germany!), Australia for a whole month, and even South Africa - which was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

On all these trips I did not have the travel guides that Liguori publishes available to me, but they would have been a great help. Several were written by Kevin J. Wright. These two I have pictured talk about lots of different places to stay and even restaurants to visits. Some of the travel guides lead pilgrims to specific shrines in Eastern & Central Europe, Western Europe, and the United States.

I still have three places I really want to visit sometime in my life: Hawaii, Greece, and the Galapagos Islands. I don't know why, but I've always had a fascination with Greece. And since I was a biology teacher before I "evolved" into other kinds of work, I really want to see that marvelous place where Charles Darwin got his inspiration for the theory of natural selection. To get there you have to go to Quito in Ecuador. That would cover South America for me. I still need to find a place and reason to visit Asia - then I will have set foot on all the continents of the world. (And no, I'm not going to try for Antartica!)