I love Will Nelson. His songs speak to so many of my truths. As we start the 9th month of COVID response, I really miss travel “and I can’t wait to get on the road again.”

I am a traveler. International. Domestic. Backroads. All of it. Arkansas’s legendary Senator Fulbright was flawed in many ways but he sure knew what he was talking about when he urged more travel as a path to intellectual growth, understanding, and peace.

If you want to understand people, respectfully and humbling go to their home. Not to carry your mission to them or to judge them, just to listen to them. Learn from them. I wish the members of the U.S. Supreme Court would visit some tribal courts again. I know they would find us extremely competent, fair and not a threat to others. Maybe they would see it in themselves to treat us as their peers. An open invitation with me as the pro bono travel agent is perpetually on the table.

As great as travel is for the mind, heart and soul, it can be hell on physical health. Especially work travel. When I got way off track, I was traveling for work, a lot. Living in hotels, eating in restaurants, airports, gas stations. Nutritional landminds. Someday, I’m going to travel a lot for work again, and I’m excited for my new opportunity at ASU, but I know now that it will require more planning on my part to get it right this time.

Recently, my travels have been very limited and only by car. Tahlequah to Okmulgee is a frequent route for me – between the Cherokee and Muskogee (Creek) national capitals. That route includes a lot of Sonics and Charlie’s Chickens and a Taco Bueno. Being gluten free and mostly vegan helps keep me away from those establishments but they remain a credible threat.

It’s key to have a good car food bag. Granola bars, water, fruit, and the funniest hack that my friend Dean Melanie Wilson taught me: baby food packets! Think fruit/veggie smoothie in bag.

If I ever get hangry, that’s when I get in the danger zone with a high likelihood of doing something stupid. So I eat often and graze all day. Melanie’s hack about carrying easy-to-eat baby food packets has been a great “discovery” for me.
One can only (and should only) consume so many Kind bars.

COVID has hit our communities so incredibly hard. Loss is all around us.

Wear your mask, take the vaccine as soon as you can, stay at home for now. . . so we can all go about our full lives again, including travel.