Summer Road Trip Requires Reunions

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What sense does it make for these road trippers to embrace nostalgic reunions this summer?

In accordance with the great American singer Nat King Cole, who once sang, “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…” , I’m excited for our next road trip to begin soon. For the stars seemed to be aligned for us now to re-kindle some fun loving times with distant family and friends on four occasions during this sun blissed season.These adventures will thus feature extended stops in Geneva, New York, Burlington, Vermont, Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida to fulfill that exciting agenda. See for yourself our entire itinerary in the title photo above along with some captivating images attached below that inspired this vacation.

In upstate New York, I’ve first seized on the opportunity to re-unite with my friend Steve, my  Rock n’ Roll drumming colleague as well as former, off campus housing roommate during those youthfully inspired years  when we both attended the University of South Florida five decades ago. I might add that it’s quite impressive to me that Steve still plays drums professionally in South Florida to this day. So I look forward to witnessing this gifted percussionist again during a live “gig” in Geneva with his longtime band called “The Echomen” , happening in this city where he first honed his talents. Beyond reminiscing about our mutual musical connections, I also look forward to sharing new ideas with him informally about our hopes and dreams for living happily right now.

Next up on our itinerary we head north toward the Canadian border to spend some much valued time at the summer home in Northern Vermont of my wife’s former college roommate, Theresa and her husband, Bill. In addition to reminiscing with them about those friendly times as South Florida neighbors, it’s so generous of them to have also extended an offer to accompany us on some interesting sightseeing adventures during our short stay around the Burlington area to such iconic places as Fort Ticonderoga and Lake Champaign.

Driving westward then along Lake Erie to my birthplace region in Northeast Ohio, we anticipate a pleasurable stay in Cleveland with my wife’s cousin Jo and her husband Tim. For as my wife spends some valuable couch time relaxing with her family on this visit, I’ve been granted more freedom to enjoy live games of my long revered sports teams from the greater Cleveland area as I once did as a “kid.”

For our final reunion closer to home, there’s University of South Florida Day at Tropicana Field, where we’ve purchased convenient ticket seating in the USF alumni section of the ball park. Thus I look forward to mingling then with former and current USF students and faculty as we watch the Tampa Bay Rays play my beloved  Cleveland Guardians on our last Saturday night of this trip. In addition to making such casual alumni meetups in St.Pete, if the weather allows, we might also allot some nostalgic time to tour the main University of South Florida campus earlier that day.