Back in the day, Linda and I would easily jet home and back the 600 miles between here and Chicago over a long weekend.

These days I’m not much of a fan of any back and forth that takes more than four hours, even if I’m traveling with my sidekick of nearly 50 years. It’s not my companion that’s the problem; it’s arthritis and sciatica.

Some couples aren’t as lucky though. Long road trips can test a relationship, whether old or new.

"Any time that there's no other distraction, and all of the attention is on each other, it's the connection and emotional intimacy that makes it work”, says Patrick Wanis, a Miami-based relationship expert and the author of titles like ‘Find Love Fast’, and ‘Get What You Want’. She’s also published ‘Get Over It’, a break-up recovery guide. Could it be for people who took a long car trip and discovered they didn’t really like one another?

Indeed, a road trip with your significant other — or friend or family for that matter — can sometimes evolve into suffering.

Which is to say, I’ve known women (and men) that I would never take a long car trip with. In fact, one of the ways I gauge whether I can be a friend to someone is to ask myself the question, “Could I take a long car trip with him or her?”

Of course, even the best of travelers have to cope with navigational disagreements. These days, though, the disagreements come over whose cell phone route to follow rather than what the map says … or “You missed the turn!”

Then there’s how much do we stop, who manages the temperature control, and what to play on the radio or CD player.

The most important factor for me is that I have plenty of food — everything from soda and water to peanuts, chips, jerky and sandwiches — lest the fatigue and stress of driving make me ‘Hangry’.

A couple weeks back I drove Linda to Lawrence to share ‘Army of Amazons’, her Humanities Kansas presentation on our coal mining history and the women’s march of 1921.

I’m her roadie on these excursions. Not only in that I drive and set up her podium and do sound checks but also bring along extra connection cords and a backup laptop. I’m also in charge of preparing the edibles.

After some consideration of alternatives, we decided to take the Labradorian along on this trip as not to look at his mournful, incriminating dogface as we said goodbye. The decision made easier because he loves riding in the trusty old Pathfinder, aka The Big Kennel on Wheels.

A stop at Pleasanton both going and coming gave us all a chance to stretch and hit the latrine / grass.

As we rolled out of Lawrence toward home around 11:30 a.m. Linda put an opened sandwich bag of chips in the center console along with some bread sticks and handed over a half sandwich at a time to feed the beast in me.

Both going and coming we reflected on the beauty of the Kansas landscape as we shared gratitude, funny stories, plans, hopes and fears … as the tires murmured and the wind gave us a good sideswipe from time to time.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later that we realized we’d made the entire trip without listening to the radio or CD player. Only to Arlo’s grunt signals for a snack — or to open the backseat window so he could lean out into the airstream.

If you have a story or photo for Little Balkans Chronicles, contact me at 620-704-1309 or jtknoll@swbell.net