The weather is getting warmer. Trees and flowers are blooming. Mask restrictions are being lifted. Streets and sidewalks and safety paths and parks are filling with bikers and runners and campers. Boaters are launching their craft in Voorheis Lake.

Downtown Lake Orion is teeming with activity and the restaurants are busy. It’s obviously time after a one year of quarantine to travel again. And I can’t wait!

We just bought an update to our GPS which is the TomTom GO 52. We have had a Tom Tom GPS for years and for us it is a must for travel.

Our new GPS has lots of features. It has Blue Tooth – automatic map updates – and you can even talk to it to change course or find restaurants and hotels. It even has a picture of gas pumps on the screen directing one to gas stations. And with the shortage in some states right now of gasoline this is a must.

What we like about the TomTom unit is that it provides the time of arrival and even informs you about changes in traffic patterns so that you can readjust your route.

Back in the Dark Ages of travel we also used the AAA Trip Tick. Just the other day I was in AAA office and asked about the Trip Tick. Surprising to me, I discovered that some people still request and use a Trip Tick when traveling.

When I was growing up and our family visited my grandparents in Mulberry, Kansas, I remember that the speed limit was 55 miles per hour. We would leave at 4 a.m. and arrive by 10 p.m. – no stops at restaurants – we brought our food. And, of course, there was no AC in my Dad’s car – a 54 Plymouth. But it was a wonderful trip just the same.

Things sure have changed.

We now have AC and even air conditioned seats in some cars. Line change alerts and all kinds of other driving aides.

So. come June, my wife Mary and I are off to St. Louis to visit our grandchildren, who we have not seen in over a year.

Grandson Josh is graduating from high school and will attend The Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and granddaughter Jennifer is graduating from NYU. So it will be a joyous and fun trip.

The TomTom GO 52 is programmed and of course I loaded in all the Cracker Barrel locations. What’s a trip on the open road without a stop at Cracker Barrel!

So get in your car and hit the road. Maybe we will see you at a rest stop!

Bill Kalmar

Orion Twp.