JUST HITCH UP YOUR TRAILER AND GO
As everyone in the car hobby says, “It isn’t about the cars; it’s about the people.” For me, meeting new people and learning about how they approach life is certainly the best aspect of my role as editor of The Star. A case in point: New Zealanders Elisabeth and Fred Smits, whom you can read about on page 48-49 of this issue, decided as they reached retirement that what they really wanted to do with the next five years of their life was to travel around the world – sleeping, eating, and living in a small camper trailer. To make life even more interesting, their tow vehicle would be their 1957 220S Ponton.
I admire that spirit of adventure, wistfully thinking to myself, “Wouldn’t it be exciting to do something like that?” Maybe not a five-year world tour in a Ponton or a camper trailer with our significant other – my wife jokes that her idea of camping out is a five-star hotel with windows that open. But people like Elisabeth and Fred make us think about how we live our lives. Wouldn’t it be nice to get outside our comfortable sphere of routine, even once in awhile, and do something involving just a bit more uncertainty? To look at the hill ahead and be worried less about the tough climb it represents and more excited about what might be waiting on the other side?
Fred and Elisabeth just hitched up their camper trailer to their 220S and took off around the world.
Now I’m not saying to be silly about things. The true adventurers and explorers I’ve met or read about always invested time in advance to think through every possible scenario and prepare themselves accordingly; the Smitses did that. Nevertheless, they are much more excited about confronting scenarios they didn’t anticipate: They know that enjoying new experiences and solving new problems is what takes us out of ourselves and keeps us feeling fully alive.
No one tells stories about the day they did just what they did the day before; the stories they share are about when they found themselves totally lost, or broken down, or in some other quandary, and were able to figure out how to get out of the situation.
Most often, people telling these stories talk of finding themselves in places that they would never have visited if left on their own – creating new memories to treasure forever. And that’s what the automobile has always promised us; the means to get out of our own valley and see what’s over the hills – and over the hills beyond those. Scientists say that’s the secret to living a long life; sages say it’s the secret to getting the most out of life.
I look forward to hearing from Elisabeth and Fred Smits on their journey, not just because I’ll be able to vicariously enjoy the new places they’ll see and people they’ll meet, but also because they will remind me to think just a bit more broadly about my own horizons and maybe – once in awhile – spur me to fill up the car, hitch up the trailer and strike out for somewhere new. Just to see what there is to see.