On the Road

“On the Road Again” is a well-known song by Willie Nelson released in 1980 one of many songs that embraced the idea that baby boomers love to travel. In 1969 Canned Heat released a song called Going Up The Country, which is one of the first songs that gave me the travel itch. There was a famous novel by Jack Kerouac that represented the generation before the time of the boomers, but that novel very much became a bible for us during the 1960s.  As a result, there is wanderlust and a yearning to get away from it all and travel that is deeply ingrained in our mentality and way of viewing the world.

It isn’t surprising then that as adults we have created a leisure and travel industry that has reached new levels of popularity in the last three decades.  So nobody would be surprised either when in our early retirement years begin to look into becoming the ultimate wanderers by hitting the road in their RVs and staying on the go virtually nonstop.

The spirit of adventure and desire not only to see and be part of the expanse of our glorious country has a lot to do with the yearning to travel that is so common my generation. It is more than just wanting to see great sights and enjoy the huge variety of climate and landscapes that Canada has to offer that lures us out of our rocking chairs and out onto the highways.  I am sure this idea also appeals to boomers, no matter where they live. It is also the allure of meeting new people, becoming “citizens” not just of their local community but of the world and packing their retirement years with fun and new adventures that have a genuine appeal.

We have always been people of adventure.  This can be seen in the great literature that has been made popular by my generation.  The Lord of the Rings is a great example of how we see the world. As ordinary creatures, the Hobbits, go on the road to do some great thing to save their world.  No wonder that trilogy became an anthem of the boomers who have always seen themselves as adventurers with a mission in life to do good for all mankind.

Hitting the road in an RV, as tame as that may seem, also appeals to a sense of unrestrained life that helps us combat the feeling that the world is closing in around us.  Another song, “Born to be Wild” was more than a catchy tune.  It expressed a self-image enhanced by the movie Easy Rider had us believe that we were only somewhat civilized and that there is a part of our nature that could never be tamed.  The freedom of travel and the lack of restrictions is liberating to those who may have been boxed in by life’s responsibilities, jobs and families for much of their adult lives. 

In this way, we don’t see retirement as a time to cut back on the adventure of living.  Quite the opposite, we see the chance to live on the road in our RVs as a chance to release that inner bohemian wanderer, that Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy that lives in us and give the free spirits amongst us the chance to redefine the world in their own terms.

We can be an inspiration to generations to come that they can live a life of responsibility and maturity and still retain a little of that inner beatnik or hippy that truly was born to be wild.