I LOVE them ... BUT:

It was the band Steppenwolf who offered the immortal lines:

"Get your motor running. Head out on the highway ..."

After the day I had, the last thing I really needed to do was head out on the highway ... but I needed to clear my mind and get my thoughts in order for my sermon tomorrow ... So, after gathering a variety of things I would need in this evening and tomorrow by zipping back and forth between the office and home - I was ready - with tunes BLASTING to head out on the highway to enjoy the feel of the cool wind blowing through the open van windows (I know, I know - you can only be moderately "Cool" in a toyota van ... ), and to let the tunes and the drive relax me and get me ready for tomorrow ...

My schedule for today was as follows:

7:45 am - wake up ... "no you can't hit snooze - GET UP" yelled the little voice in my head.
7:46 am - put on coffee ...
7:48 am - shower and get dressed ...
8:00am - begin drinking coffee ...
8:30 am - start driving west on Hwy 16 to pick up Beetle from Camp
9:55 am - arrive at Camp
10:30 am - begin driving in a southerly direction to pick up Noahkila from Camp
11:15 am - stop at a Bakery for "lunch" on the run
1 pm - arrive at Camp on North Dakota Border
1:30 pm - watch the Band Concert with Noahkila and his bandmates
2:00 pm - short walking tour of the Peace Gardens in the stifling heat ...
2:45 pm - begin driving north to Brandon
4:00 pm - stop for lunch/dinner in Brandon
5:40 pm - arrive home in Minnedosa
5:55 pm - start scaling the pile of laundry that suddenly materialized in the kitchen
7:00 pm - (not sure where the last hour went ... mighta been the laundry!??) drive BACK to Brandon for the evening events at the IRCA Conference ...
9:00 pm - drive home to Minnedosa ...

SO, on one level, a midnight drive seemed redundant after so many hours spent behind the wheel of the van criss crossing the province ... but because ALL of the above mentioned schedule involved having children in varying numbers by my side - I NEEDED to just clear my head ...

And so it was with the tunes blasting (and I MEAN BLASTING !!!), and the van windows WIDE open that I headed out on the highway ... it was excellent therapy and got me in the groove for tomorrow's worship service ... I highly recommend midnight drives on a summer's eve along the open highways that cross the prairies.

With open apologies to my environmentally sensitive readers (I share your struggle) - I know driving for the sake of driving is not the most eco-friendly things to do, but sometimes you just gotta do it !!! Sorry ...

Like the man said:

Yeah darling gonna make it happen

Take the world in a lovely embrace.

Fire all of your guns at once

and explode into space...