U.S. Hwy 287
On a recent drive from Dallas to Amarillo, I was sitting in the passenger seat jabbering about life while my hubby sat behind the wheel doing all the work. Watching the road. Paying attention to the traffic. Keeping us safe.
Do you know where Hwy 287 starts and where it ends? I asked him.
These are some of life’s most important questions, after all. Where highways start and end.
“No, not really.” That usually means he’s thinking about it but he hasn’t had the time to formulate an intelligent answer.
Then, as is our pattern in these deep, thought-provoking, conversation-stimulating road-trip talks, my response to his lack of an answer to the question.
“I’ll Google it and tell you.”
Surprisingly Long
As it turns out from searching “the Google” on my phone, U.S. Hwy 287 goes a very long way, my friends.
From Port Arthur, Texas to Choteau, Montana, in fact.
Goodness, I had no idea this little section of familiar Texas highway actually stretches all the way up through four more states and crosses nearly 2000 miles.
If you’re like me, you’re thinking that it’s not all that big a deal. Great highways are just part of life in the U.S.A., right? We have the world’s best infrastructure, don’t we?
Not really. We’re actually rated Number 9, with Hong Kong having the best.
Goes to show – I tend to think first and Google later. I also tend to believe we do everything better in the United States and best in Texas. (Born and raised – it kinda does that to ya’.)
Started With a Plan
This conversation was getting a little over my blonde-ish head, so I tried to cut to the chase and give Mike the high points.
A girl can only talk highways for so long, you know.
But it was definitely an interesting story. And total news to me. Us. You, too?
U.S. Hwy 287 wasn’t part of a government infrastructure plan at all. It was the future-thinking idea of a group of businessmen who worked for over 50 years to see it come to pass.
At their first meeting, held in Ft. Worth in 1912, these dedicated men voted to start with an association and formulate a plan.
The National U.S. Hwy 287 Association was born in 1950 at a meeting in Lamar, Colorado. Because of a concerted effort by the Association, we now can travel from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to the Canadian border on one highway with stops at all the national parks of the Rockies along the way.
Plans Need Planners
We were only driving U.S. Hwy 287, not building it, but still, I became pretty enthused about the whole idea of what can happen with a man and a plan.
Experts say that writing down our goals and dreams regularly makes us 42% more likely to achieve them.
If that’s the case, a plan in your mind is like a highway in your head. If the route never gets put on paper, the road just probably isn’t going to get built.
Planners for Men Who Have Plans
Here are 4 perfect planners for men who have plans.
Men don’t like all the frills and stickers and fuss of the Erin Condren style planners that we women can’t live without.
No, sir.
A perfect man-planner is simple. Basic in color, structured in design, useful in purpose.
Whether looking to purchase a planner for yourself or someone else, you can’t go wrong with ordering one of these. They come highly-recommended by those who have already tried them out, and the price points are also pretty appealing.
That means you can have a little left to spend on a pen.
Field Notes
The Field Notes 56-week planner would be a great choice for the guy who likes to jot it all down from the behind the wheel of his pickup.
This is not a planner to take to business meetings, nor keep your journaled thoughts. It’s just a basic note-taking planner where the important information gets kept.
If you’re working on the next best way to irrigate crops without using up the aquifer, this Field Notes planner is probably just your style.
Classic Moleskin Monthly
Are you the kind of guy who enjoys studying? Maybe you’re the Benjamin Bolger type – always working on a graduate-level degree in something interesting.
If ol’ Benj is your hero (14 degrees and counting), then the Classic Moleskin Monthly Planner is your jam.
It’s simple, sleek, modern and useful for keeping track of all manner of due dates. Or assignments. Test dates. Graduation requirements.
Maybe a list of things you haven’t studied – yet?
Lion Planner
These Lion Planners get great reviews.
Inside the front and back cover is plenty of space to plan your goals for the days and weeks ahead, but there’s also space for jotting notes to review last week’s work.
Changing quotas and handed-down priorities necessitate a lot of planning on the part of a guy in sales, coaching, or project management.
If that’s you, the Lion Planner can help make you king of the jungle in no time.
Academic Weekly Monthly Planner
For the guy who walks around while he thinks, a fold-over planner is the way to go.
If you use your laptop for keeping track of business knowledge, customer orders, and billing criteria, you might want to try this easy-to-hold planner to keep track of more personal things.
Ball games, dental appointments and committee meetings? Write ’em down here.
But be sure to pencil in some time for dreaming and goal-setting, too.
Plans Come to Pass
There’s nothing like a brand new planner to start the creative wheels turning.
Writing it down sets the idea in motion. Seeing it on paper is the start of its success.
Big dreams can become huge realities.
Just ask the guys who built U.S. Hwy 287.
Encouraging a life filled with everyday intentional adventure, and enough planning to bring it to pass,
