You all see the writing prompt above. Regular Dubsists know what the Change My Mind series is all about. So I’m going to follow my own advice by keeping this rooted in my core principle here: Simplicity. This principle has two main components.
1) Travel Light
Change “just the facts” to “just the basics” and you’re there. The best example of this ever comes from a 1967 episode of the TV cop classic Dragnet: Iconic main character Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Officer Bill Gannon are preparing for a trip to Arizona to extradite a homicide suspect. On their way to the car, Friday notices Gannon isn’t carrying luggage of any sort.
Friday’s further investigation reveals Gannon’s ultimate “travel light” approach. He has everything he needs for an overnight trip tucked away in his coat. In his chest pocket, he had his toothbrush, toothpaste, and razor. A flap pocket held a change of socks. His inside right pocket was for clean underwear, and pinned to the lining on the other side was a neatly folded shirt.
That’s simplicity.
2) “Never pass up a free lunch or a chance to go to the bathroom.”
Here’s another bit of wisdom from the 1960; it came from the mouth of then-president Lyndon Johnson. I can understand this coming from a guy who spent years crisscrossing Texas on the campaign trail. Having made several trips across the western United States several times myself, I know that there’s all kinds of places in the Lone Star state and many others where you could hit the Scan button on your AM car radio…and it just goes around and around and around.
Places like that mean it can be a long time between the most basic of basics. No matter what, we all have to eat, we all have to drink, and we all have to go to the bathroom. That’s why when you get into “No Services” country, planning such stops becomes crucial. The peril of running out of gas in the middle of nowhere is obvious, but nothing punctuates this quite getting a horse-fly bite on your ass while trying to take care of business behind a cactus.
At the edges of such gaps in civilization, there’s usually multiple facilities vying for your business before you voyage across the dark side of the moon. As the wiles of capitalism would dictate, competition exists between those wanting to supply your demands. This is where the free stuff comes into play.
Traveling is expensive enough; every little bit helps. Not to mention, many of the “free coffee” truck stops have another “selfie-worthy” attraction…usually the “World’s Largest Something.” If nothing else, it gives you something to talk about during the next two hours of watching dirt go by.
The road slog across the American west is the extreme example, but all travel is about filling one tank and emptying another. Throw in a giant free coffee with the caffeination level needed to keep one awake all the way across Wyomutahstan, and that empty/fill-go-round becomes a “vicious cycle.”
Then you’re screwed.
Avoiding that is all about simplicity. Don’t be a slave to luggage. Don’t overload on truck stop coffee. Nobody wants to have the “bladder race”…80 miles to the nearest toilet or being sixth in line for the airplane can.
Keep it simple.
Change My Mind.
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