Sometimes I need something to look forward to, just to keep moving forward. That’s what travel has become for me. It’s not just an escape; it’s fuel that keeps my days from blurring together. When I’m trying to eat better, spend less on things I absolutely don’ t need, and not lose myself in the routines of work and obligation, the idea of a future trip helps break up the monotony.  Just watching YouTube videos or reading travel books about future trips makes me happy on a bad day.

Last year, I drove the remnants of Route 66 from Chicago to St. Louis, taking in the muffler men, preserved gas stations, a Cards vs Cubs game, and the interlude of a severe storm just before the game where I huddled with others in a barbecue joint and shared beers while hail pelted the windows.

 I took my first cruise, Anchorage to Vancouver, to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was phenomenal and a memory with her I’m glad I have.

I caught the inaugural Minnesota Yacht Club music festival in St. Paul. And closed out the summer with Ocean’s Calling, a beachside music fest in Maryland.

This year has been purposefully austere, but that ends soon. I break my fast with a few days in Galena, Illinois, for the July 4 weekend, where I’ll hike with goats and visit the Ulysses S Grant home, and visit many little shops with nothing I need and nothing I’ll buy, but looking is still fun.

Later, I’m heading back to the Yacht club fest, an affectation in name only, as it’s Midwest nice and not stuffy at all. Winona Fighter, my old bones might find their way into your mosh pit.

Then come my big trips.

In peak autumn, a Canada and New England cruise. I’ve always wanted to try a solo cruise, and I ran out of reasons not to give it a go.

And in winter, the trip I’ve dreamed of as long as I’ve thought about writing Under The Sunflowers: Christmas through New Year’s in Iceland.

Reykjavik is a free-for-all on New Year’s Eve, with bonfires and unrestricted fireworks that fill the city. The residents go all in to celebrate a long dark winter together.  If I write a sequel to Under the Sunflowers, Iceland will play a role.

These daydreams are how I stay steady and just writing this has made me feel happier.