IT’S BEEN A while.

I had almost forgotten what a road trip felt like but it came back in a hurry. I haven’t left Chester County, PA for more than two years, except for a couple of quick business trips. Not since Connie started down the dementia road and ended up in a memory care unit.

I write a blog on our dementia experience and in one of them I talked about how caregivers need to take care of themselves, to make sure their batteries are carrying at least half a charge. I wrote about in the vein of giving advice to others that I wasn’t following.

So finally, after more than two years, I decided it was time. I was burnt out. Some friends that Connie and I did Sierra Club National Park volunteer work with told me they were going to be gathering the first week of April in Big Bend National Park for a reunion. I said I’d be there.

As the time to go drew nearer, I started to backslide, but my kids said, firmly, that I needed to go. Connie even said I needed to go. So, this morning, I headed out, the car packed full of camping gear.

MY FIRST DAY WAS 720 miles, from West Chester, PA to Cookeville, TN. It was a test drive for the Subaru Crosstrek, which also hadn’t left Chester County since I bought it last year. It wasn’t bad. 34 miles per gallon on the road. Smart car. It steers itself and the cruise control backs off if I get too close to the car in front. Scary smart stuff. Glad I bought it before Our Leader’s tariffs come into play.

It was a pretty drive into Spring as I headed down in a strip of West Virginia, Maryland, into Virginia and Tennessee, with more and more blooming and leafing trees coming into view. I was a little tired by the time I pulled into the hotel, but mostly my butt hurt. Haven’t spent nearly 12 hours in a car for a while.

One thing I did notice was I was driving with the ghost of a living person. I’d find myself looking over at the empty passenger seat where Connie always sat, catching myself before I’d say out loud, “look at that!”

My son called just as I got to the motel and put her on the line and I gave her an accounting of the day and told her I loved her. Then I walked over to a nearby Mexican restaurant, had a pretty decent fajita, then went back to the room.

Day One in the books.

Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].