A weekend trip can take a toll

My feeling of disconnected grogginess is the result of spending 10 hours in the last three days, including nearly five hours today, driving a car in holiday traffic. Although the travel entailed no accidents or terrifying close calls, I'm convinced that travel of this sort wears you down. You get out of the car tired, nearly exhausted, but it is not the good exhaustion of physical labor or exercise. This is an exhaustion of the mind caused by an onslaught of unfamiliar images and the concentration that is required to drive a vehicle at 70 mph within a few feet of other vehicles at the same speed. I know that's nothing compared to what NASCAR drivers do, but it's enough to leave me weary and at the same time restless.

The annual family gathering in Charleston, S.C., a tradition that has prevailed uninterrupted for more than 15 years, is eagerly anticipated for most of the year. Charleston, the "Holy City" (for its many magnificent old churches), is festive and vibrant in December, and the shoppers along King Street look as if they haven't heard about any economic downturn. It's a fun place for a family gathering, one the small children can enjoy as much as the elders of my generation. No one wants to miss it, both for the chance to renew acquaintance with widely scattered relatives we rarely see more than once a year and for the chance to be in a place so clearly enthralled with the Christmas season, from the magnificent and beautifully decorated houses along the Battery to the little gift shops on Market Street.

No matter how much it is enjoyed, the annual trip leaves me feeling slightly drugged, in a state of sensory deprivation or sensory overload. There is something in the human psyche, or at least in mine, that does not seem to be designed to deal with traveling hundreds of miles in only a few hours, and of swapping the familiar for the unfamiliar and then quickly back again.

More than 20 years ago, I drove 15 hours in one stretch on the final day of a long family vacation. That marathon leg left me feeling groggy and out-of-synch for a couple of days. Today's trek on two interstates has not been nearly so disconcerting, and a good night's sleep in my own bed should cure my mental numbness. Then I'll be ready to travel again to places that are worth the trip.