Life Lesson Number 20: Say Yes to Adventure
A time in my life existed when I refused to climb on an airplane. I don’t know if I watched too many airplane crash movies or if a persistent stubbornness made me hold onto the fear of flying. My mind couldn’t process how something so large and heavy could defy gravity to sail through the air. My refusal to climb on an airplane wasn’t logical since I rode thousands of miles on a motorcycle without making a big deal out of the experience. In this post, I will explore how to say yes to adventure even when your mind says no.
Rooster and I have taken many motorcycle trips. One summer, we rode around Lake Michigan. Another time, we towed the motorcycle to Florida. We left our vehicle and trailer with a friend and rode to Key West. Every adventure comes with its unique form of pleasure and complications. This post will be about when I embraced adventure and climbed on an airplane to sail into the friendly skies.
Say Yes to Adventure
We climbed on the packed motorcycle on Memorial Day weekend and headed toward Indianapolis. That decision might not mean much to people outside of Indiana. Still, every Hoosier knows that Indy 500 weekend isn’t the best weekend to travel around the state capitol, especially if your trip is anywhere close to Speedway. The heavy traffic around 465 moved fast and steadily. We made go time until we encountered rain outside Elizabethtown, Kentucky, where we stopped for the night.
The consistent theme for this trip became rain and severe weather. To make a long story short, Rooster and I ended up stranded for two days waiting for the storms in the direction we planned to travel to stop. If you have to be stuck somewhere, I recommend New Orleans.
On day two, we discovered the interstate we planned to travel flooded in Texas. We decided to head north into Arkansas to avoid all the water. Before we got to Little Rock, Rooster started feeling bad. He lifted his shirt to reveal a back covered with a red rash. Going home sounded like a great idea. We spent a day running from the storm, making it to Illinois before water fell from the sky. We made it home, and after a trip to the emergency room, we discovered that Rooster had a bad case of shingles.
Say Yes to Adventure
Most people would have admitted defeat at this point, but we were committed to making it to California. Rooster hadn’t seen his sister in ten years. The only way for us to get there required me to climb on an airplane without having a panic attack. We got a great air rate on a flight to Los Vegas. The psychological thriller Gone Girl helped me survive the flight filled with major turbulence from the unstable atmosphere. I selected the psychological thriller Gone Girl for the flight. I kept my seatbelt fastened the entire way. We had one of our most fantastic adventures.
You can plan all you want, but sometimes your only option is to throw caution to the wind and say yes to adventure. Do I enjoy flying? Are you crazy? I hate climbing on an airplane. There will never be a time when I will suggest that we fly across the country and visit Rooster’s sister. This feeling is especially true since COVID. I can do it if the adventure calls my name these days. Saying yes has made a big difference.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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I don’t know, I’ve flown many times though don’t really like it. I prefer my trips on the ground, such as the trips you’ve shared with us in a favorable and endearing way. Thank you for that.
I like to keep my feet on the ground too.