Travel times.

I was supposed to visit my best friend this weekend.  We haven’t seen one another in over a year thanks to distance, work schedules, and parenthood.  We tried to make plans before the Thanksgiving holiday but things didn’t work out.  I suggested going to visit him this Saturday, the weekend directly after Thanksgiving.  The idea was to get together as soon as possible, before the Christmas season (and all its scheduling nightmares) prevented us from seeing one another.

This weekend works.  Our schedules are open and I can go see my best friend.  But I can’t see my best friend because I don’t have the energy.  After the sheer amount of travel we did with a toddler last weekend, I just don’t have it in me to do it again.

We did a lot of driving last week from Wednesday straight through to Friday, and all with a toddler.  Now my boy is very well-behaved and mellow on car trips, but he has his limits.  My wife and I are also well-behaved and mellow on car trips, but we also have our limits.  On Wednesday night we drove approximately two hours.  On Thursday morning we hopped onto an hour-and-a-half ferry ride, then traveled another ninety minutes to our destination.  That very same night we traveled another hour to our overnight stop.  Friday morning we drove approximately two-and-a-half hours to visit more family.  That very same night we drove another two hours to get home.  My wife, my son, and I were all pretty punchy by Friday night.

I love my best friend.  I want to see his new house.  I want to see how big his kids have gotten.  I want to hang out with him and talk nerd stuff and eat Indian food until we’re ready to burst.  But he lives almost five hours away from me, and after all the aforementioned driving I did just one week ago, it’s clear I overestimated my car stamina.

I guess I don’t have the endurance for travel that I used to have.