Travel many miles for free

By Marlene Bohr

It won’t be long until there are several days off for the school children and teachers in our area. I wonder if any plan on taking trips during this down time from school? I have traveled many, many miles in my lifetime and have never left my driveway. It is easy to travel while not leaving home. Here is how I accomplish this without any cost of gas or vehicle upkeep.
I am truly addicted to books, and I am not alone in this. I can sit down with a book and start reading and sightsee through the eyes of authors. I can travel many places and picture many scenes as the authors describe where they are in vivid detail and what they are writing about. I still think reading a book is about the best entertainment one can get involved in. I have hundreds of books in my house and drag more in all the time. I have some favorite authors and have stacks of things they have written saved for the day when I will start reading them.  
I also have the tendency to read the backs of books and find out what the storyline is, and some are just written to draw you into reading that book. That way I have several books set aside that I haven’t read yet either, but I want to read a ‘new’ to me author. I have done that and found myself totally addicted to that author and then the hunt is on to find many books that they have written, drag them home and add them to the pile of books. I love hunting for those treasured books.
What is really neat is that I have friends who share my fondness of books and reading. We are never at a loss for words when discussing some book we have read or plan to read. Some of us swap books. Some of us read a book and are so impressed, we end up gifting it to another person. I was sitting in Mount Pleasant Toyota one afternoon waiting to have my vehicle serviced. Of course I had a book with me. Sitting on another bench was a lady who had finished reading a book and I imagine she could see my interest in reading so she offered her book to me. That gesture wouldn’t mean much to some people, but the thoughtfulness of it really impressed me. I could tell she was an avid reader. She said she always passed on her books to someone else to read and even though I was a stranger she chose to give me this book with the assurance that I probably would read it, although I was not familiar with the author.
Reading to small children is a bonding that is never forgotten when those children grow up. Reading to them can be done by their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. Taking that special time to read to a child is something they will treasure throughout their lifetime. They will learn how important reading really is in one’s life. You can travel all over and learn a lot of things from books.
And while I’m on the subject, let’s not forget our local libraries. It costs nothing more than a library card at the Daingerfield Public Library or the Hughes Springs Area Library. The card is free. The ladies at these libraries work hard to bring us the newest books on the market. Taking a child to visit the library is a great learning experience for them. You never can go wrong when you instill in a child the adventure a library holds for anyone, young or old. A short trip to the library can end up with a vast knowledge of another part of the country or across the seas. Again, there goes that traveling aspect.
With the holidays approaching, children will be home from school and a great pastime for them would be reading books and taking them to visit the library.  Holidays are a hectic time and the best stress reliever is time spent curled up in a chair reading a good book.