Measurements of distance.

I had to laugh today.  I had a lady come into the store and she was kind of bummed when someone bought something that she wanted to buy, and they did it right in front of her.

Ouch.

The item was one that I thought we had additional stock of, and she hadn't even considered that.  I was able to track it down for her and she came back to buy it from me.  She was extremely thankful since she stated on three separate occasions that she had "driven all the way down here."  All the way down here was from 10 minutes up the road.  I briefly considered telling her that I have a customer that, several times a year, travels to Japan and takes gifts from our store with her.  She said that the trip is 24 hours door to door. 

Me thinks that she wins the distance trip.

We have people say that on a fairly regular basis.  We are not on a truly regular course for anyone other than those who work there.  Well, and we're rather in the hood.  (Fine during the day, but I wouldn't walk the streets at night.) 

When I was a kid, we lived in our town.  Our town had a grocery, a post office, the corner store, a drug store and a Kmart.  We had anything you needed.  Truly, if there was a trip to go to, lets say the doctor, it was as if we were going on a trek that was further than driving to California.  I remember Mom driving me to one of the local universities for an award ceremony. 

You'd think that she drove me to India.

When I started dating Hubs, not only did he live in a different county, but he also lived in the snow belt and! it was 50 minutes door to door.  :gasp: 

You'd think that he lived on Mars. 

Because we weren't people of the biggest means :er, poor: we didn't vacation that often.  When we did, we went to the same places.  :zzz:  While that was trippin' out of the parental unit bubble comfort zone, we went. 

They made the drive feel like it lasted an eternity.  It was as if we were circumventing the globe by car and my dad had to have the window open the entire time-- rain, wind or shine.  Inevitably, I would lose the draw of who's going to sit behind Dad and I'd come back from vacation with a monster sinus infection as a result.

Good times.

This isn't to say that we didn't have good times on vacation.  It's just the drive that was, pardon me, hell.  Perhaps that is why I have a built-in travel cap on my time spent in the car and I am a home body.  I love going to new places, but I also love my own bed. 

I digress.

We've brought K- up to be a child who isn't bothered by distance.  Traveling isn't an issue and if, like a dog, you allow me to get out and stretch my legs every couple of hours, I can last a good 6 hours before I start getting to the point where I-want-to-get-out-now, please. The last bit of that drive to Chicago can occasionally be rather long.  Traffic makes it no better.

K- and Hubs started having Happy Daddy Day when she was two.  That was when Hubs started his "new job" (been there for almost 6 years) and since he had Mondays off and she did preschool only on Tuesday and Thursday at that point, they had travels.  They'd think nothing of hoping in the car and driving off to a destination in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or some other place around Ohio for the day. 

My question is this:  Is distance driving viewed differently now than it was when I was a kid.  I mean, a mile still measures out the same.  Are people more willing to get out and get moving to places further out now than they were, or were they always willing to get out and I was just oblivious due to growing up in the town bubble? 

Smiles in my day:
-  Hubs caught a 20" bass yesterday and he said that it was the biggest fish he has ever caught.  He thought his hook was caught on a log.  :) 
-  Rev. K- is coming over tomorrow to talk and check out our gardens.  Hubs would like to have a butterfly class here in August and she wants to have a sit down with us and get the scoop. 

Have a great night!