This blog is a creative exercise. The whole idea of trying to visit parks and world heritage sites by electric vehicle wasn’t suggested to me by anyone. Deciding what to write about and how to present it takes imagination, from what stories I decide to tell and which photos I choose to take and use.

Travel requires imagination. My itinerary has been anything but straight, as I often feel myself driven by curiosity, picking my spots by theme or asking ‘what if I try this way’. Even within parks, visitors must choose how to spend their time, so I often let my imagination take the lead. Should I bike, hike or kayak?

History requires imagination. How are places connected? More than once, I’ve asked whether or how one historic figure knew another and learned to piece together disparate parts of our American story. What was it like for natives, patriots, pioneers, and slaves? What were people thinking for history to unfold the way it did? What can we learn that informs our decisions today?

When I drive, I find my time full of thinking. The whole idea of dividing how we think into four distinct ways of thinking, each with different motives, techniques and goals, came to me while driving. New ideas require imagination, time, and a curious mix of concentration and inspiration, that I find on the road.

Most people, I fear, lack imagination. When in their comfort zone, they take in new information easily. But outside of that, they lack interest, and they resist new ideas, particularly challenging new perspectives or uncomfortable facts they never want to consider. Some are simply busy, preferring to delegate thinking to others who make it their business to tell people what to think.

But life requires imagination. Living well, especially in a diverse and rapidly changing world, requires curiosity, an open mind, empathy, and persistently trying to find your own way. Imagination can prepare you both to avoid problems and to take advantage of opportunities. Every day is a new kaleidoscopic puzzle we need to navigate through as best we can, and for that, imagination is our best friend.