Summer is my busiest season, and also my most hated season, with the heat, bugs and general swampiness that comes on around mid-June and stays until October. I’d like to hibernate indoors and skip the whole thing, but late spring through about November works best for travel planning, actual travel time, and making the books that my company publishes. Because other times of the year are busier with client projects and other priorities, during the summer, I am on the road every few weekends.

Coming up between now and the end of September: East Texas (four days, 13 towns — a lighter trip because I’ll be seeing family for a day or so); Port Isabel to Port Arthur (four days, 31 potential stops so far); Dallas to Santa Fe to Oklahoma City (TBD but probably 30-ish) and then back to East Texas, then hopefully an airplane trip somewhere later in the fall for a real vacation.

By the time all of this wraps up, I’m burnt out and saying never again. But at the end of the day, I really like what I do. It’s fun to see new things and interesting things in unexpected places. Last month in Athens, Texas, we saw a fiddle festival AND a robot barista. Found a new favorite “Mexican-Chamorro” coastal Mexican food restaurant alongside I-20. We’ve seen beautiful scenery, from canyons to mountains to bayous, within a few hours of our house in a very flat city. There’s a little Pennsylvania Dutch market and deli on the way from Dallas to Lufkin, and you won’t find a better kolache than theirs. Route 66’s Blue Whale of Catoosa, while not a hidden gem, is very fun.

Few things make me happier than when I hear that someone went somewhere cool that they learned about from me. When I was building my business, for a hot second I thought about adding a hosted tour component, but then remembered the words of an elderly boss at a church I once worked for: “Ya ignorant about politics, but ya know ya’self.” Harsh assessment? Backhanded compliment? Who can tell. But I know myself enough to know that I don’t have the temperament for all the interpersonal politics that hosted excursions would require. (*I did enjoy hosting art tours, but that’s a different scenario!)

I don’t want to be a travel influencer because, you’ll notice, none of my photos include selfies and influencing is all about selfies. I’m an older person who does not thrive outdoors. No one would be influenced by a sweating middle-aged lady on the sidewalk in Boll Weevil Tinytown, USA, fruitlessly typing “coffee shop Sunday hours” into her phone and wondering if the next public restroom will be as bad as the last one, or much worse.

So books it is, and other creative projects for clients and it’s working out pretty well. I spent a lot of years wondering what my life was going to look like and how things could possibly shape up after one thing went away or another thing never worked at all or all the myriad other ways that the future can seem to evaporate. I am fully aware that I will be wondering that again in my lifetime. But it’s nice to have a little less of that specific worry for now.

So, I pack my suitcase and the car cooler (again), say goodbye to the cats (again) and set off to see what lies just down the road.