Traveler - Michael Beebe

Name any drug you want and I will tell you that traveling is more addictive. Imagine being completely exhausted in the French Quarter of New Orleans, or New York City's East Village, or the El Pueblo area of Los Angeles and your addiction is whispering in your ear, "just go one more block and see what's there." Just walk one more block. Just take the long way back to the hotel. Just cut through the park. The monkey on my back is real and people who have never traveled don't understand. It's beyond the annual vacation. Because of my job, I travel for work and that feeds the addiction. I may be in Portland on Monday and Miami of Friday. Though it's largely not glamorous, it is a slightly more comfortable form of vagabonding. I won't say it's comfortable, just more comfortable than being a hobo riding the rails.

So Long, Mirage
May 1, 2023
In 1995, I was attending two different campuses of Purdue University for one semester. I started Purdue-North Central in 1993 after graduating from high school and in spring of 1995 I started at Purdue-Calumet (the two campuses have since merged and […Read More...]
Save Money in Las Vegas
January 16, 2023
I stayed at the STRAT again the last time I stayed in Las Vegas and honestly, it’s not that bad. It is dated, but you can’t beat the price. It has a low rate, but does include a $40 resort free making it still a cheaper place to stay. […Read More...]
Three Days in Abilene
April 1, 2019
When you drive as much as I do, breakdowns happen. You only hope that when the breakdown hits, you’re not in Joplin, Tulsa, or Cheyenne. Add Abilene to that list. I stopped at a truck stop on the outskirts of town to sleep and when I fired up the […Read More...]
Bucket List Item Achieved: The Old Absinthe House
October 8, 2018
Recently, on a trip to New Orleans, I popped up the map on my phone and found directions to The Old Absinthe House. This was also a bucket list item for me so I was excited. I finally made it! After a few minutes of looking over the absinthe […Read More...]
New York City on the Cheap
October 7, 2018
People always say how expensive New York City is and I can’t deny it. If you are totally ill prepared, New York will suck and you will leave broke. I will break this up into multiple segments for ease of reading by topic and make things easier. I am […Read More...]
Desperate in Dallas
September 8, 2018
“The floors of bus stations are the same all over the country, always covered with butts and spit and they give a feeling of sadness that only bus stations have.” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road The more I travel, the more I love this county. […Read More...]
The World’s (Second) Largest Ball of Twine
June 18, 2018
A tribute to the American way of life is our, at times, boredom. The two largest balls of twine in the world aren’t in Saudi Arabia, Japan, or Mexico. They are right here! Today I will focus on what is technically the second largest, but I believe […Read More...]
I Rode Business Class on Amtrak
April 13, 2018
One of my bucket list items was to take business class on the Amtrak sometime. When I work, occasionally I have to train new people and I am not always a fan of it. After spending fourteen hours on the road with someone else that I don’t know or […Read More...]
I Flew First Class
April 11, 2018
While adding the blog piece Coin a New Word 1: Macro Niche, which completed number 39 for me on my bucket list, I noticed one saying to fly first class. I forgot it was a bucket list item and I accidentally did it a few weeks ago. It was […Read More...]
I Hate Texas
March 22, 2018
There! I said it! But what if I really don’t hate Texas? I’ve taken more than a few trips through Texas but always down Interstate 40 through Amarillo, but I haven’t seen the whole state really. Maybe there’s more to see than a desert and stockyard. […Read More...]
Nowhere Special in North Dakota
March 9, 2018
With my job, I have visited a lot of states. Coupled with family vacations, I’m so close to seeing the Lower 48. I had two to go and now there’s just one. I drove through North Dakota last week…and it sucked. It started out when I got […Read More...]
The Great American Road Trip
February 19, 2018
One of the hardest things about writing this blog is the variety of places I go but only for a short time. How do I sit down and talk about Times Square in five hundred to a thousand words when pictures can’t even do such an amazing place justice? […Read More...]
Trapped in New York
July 21, 2017
I love New York! There, I said it. I also violated one of the biggest rules of a columnist (not that I am one, but the same rules apply for a personal blog) and started a piece with the word “I,” but it had to be said. With all that, it’s an OK […Read More...]
Surprising South Dakota
July 7, 2017
One of the hardest parts about this blog is finding something to write about. It’s not for lack of content, but because it’s hard to sum up some things in just a few hundred words. South Dakota along Interstate 90 is one of those places. […Read More...]
No Regrets
June 23, 2017
Two weeks ago I quit my job without any real notice. Since then, I often wonder if I made the right choice. The job I took is totally not something I pictured myself doing and it was a spur of the moment decision to start driving trucks and see the […Read More...]