Travel is good for the soul.
Isn’t that the truth? That’s why we decided it was finally time. It was time to take a road trip, just us dads. No “girls” allowed, no kids allowed. Just two guys, the open road and a mission to visit the Indianapolis 500 for the first time.
Actually, there would be a lot of firsts on this trip. My buddy John and I had traveled before – the Caribbean, Hawaii, the mountains, but we have never done a road trip together. I met John 20 years ago; we were only 19 years old at the time. I was a snot-nosed college kid working at Target and, like all 19 year olds, I knew everything. We’ve been friends for nearly two decades and we’ve never road tripped together.
We needed to change that, and quick. We were on a mission…
Two Friends, Four Children, Two Wives, Happy Thoughts
But the bottom line really is that we are happy dads. And it’s okay to be happy!
John and his wife had just welcomed their second child into the world only four short months ago. John Junior is handsome and his sister is amazing, too. John and his wife weren’t sure they were going to be able to have children. But two miracles arrived for them, just when they were about to give up.
As happy as he is to finally be a dad, John needed a bit of a break. He was doing the whole stay-at-home-dad thing and I had actually talked him into setting up his own movie blog over at LateNightBlogger.com. Our wives are both amazing and they agreed to set us free for a few days to roam the country in search of speed. John is a big fan of Formula 1 racing, but a trip to Europe seems a bit far off, so we decided to pack up the car and head to Indianapolis, IN in the wee hours of a Friday morning.
Now, I’m sworn to secrecy on some of the conversations we had (not our top 5 favorite super powers), but I have to say that taking such a trip with a best guy friend is a must-do experience. There is no such thing as “too late” in life. We are busy dads, leading pretty hectic lives. But sometimes you just have to make time to travel.
It was decided teleportation is our preferred super power. #roadtrip #homewardbound #GA #I75 #daddybloggers
— Daniel Ruyter (@DanielRuyter) May 26, 2015
We are Fortunate Souls
You’d think that we’d spend half of our time talking about “guy stuff” and the other half of our time complaining about our wives. Actually, I think our wives agreeing to a guys-only trip just re-inforced for us how fortunate we were. Absence does sometimes make the heart grow fonder. I’m not the sentimental type and of course we got a few things off our chest. But the bottom line really is that we are happy dads. And it’s okay to be happy!
Dadtography Road Trip Samsung NX Gallery
Since we were on the road for most of day 1, I don’t have a huge gallery to share. I’ll post a much larger gallery in my next installment of our road trip series when we visit downtown Atlanta, GA and Centennial Olympic Park and an Atlanta Braves MLB baseball game!
