Postcards from My Dad's Road Trip

My father retired this spring and decided to drive across the country alone in his old pickup truck. My sister and I were nervous. He was thrilled.

Every few days, a postcard arrived. "Kansas: flat, but beautiful. Saw a sky so big it made me dizzy." "Colorado: ate a burrito the size of a newborn baby." "Utah: the rocks are red and I took 300 pictures of them." "California: the ocean! Dipped my toes. Cold. Worth it."

He wrote about the people he met. A waitress in Missouri who gave him extra pie. A park ranger who told him the name of every tree. A family from Texas who invited him to their campfire for s'mores.

He came home after seven weeks with a beard and a sunburn and a box of rocks. "Best thing I ever did," he said. I've taped all twenty-three postcards to my fridge. I'm planning my own road trip for next year.