By the time you read this, I’ll be in Pennsylvania, taking a short vacation with family up there. 

I have been looking forward to the trip in many ways, from the simple pleasure of taking time off work to the promise of taking in some sights in Philadelphia and seeing family I don’t see as much as I’d like, such as my niece, Iris. 

I have not been looking forward to the ordeal I undertook Friday, which is in your past now but still in my future, at the moment I put this down for print. 

No, as I write these words, I am looking ahead to waking up at the crack of dawn to hit the road for the long road trip up to Pennsylvania, a trip that will take nearly half a day. 

Now, the good news is I’m not driving the whole time. My sister and I will trade off on driving, so I can take a nap every now and then — assuming the three nieces in the car allow me the luxury of sleep, at least. 

But I’ll still be spending five or more hours behind the wheel, plowing through the long, long miles between civilized Georgia and whatever passes for society in savage Yankee-land up there near Philly. 

Which, of course, raises the question of why vacations always have to feel so much like work? 

I mean, a vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, right? A time to kick back and not put forth effort of any measurable kind.

Yet I’m about to spend an absurd amount of time driving into the hinterlands. And then, when I return sometime in the following week, I’ll be doing the same thing again, only heading back the other direction. 

It doesn’t sound very relaxing at all, actually. 

Well, here’s hoping the actual vacation time with family up there makes up for all the trouble of getting there and back again (and that, unlike poor Bilbo Baggins, I don’t encounter any dragons or magic rings on my round trip). 

Some sightseeing (I hope to run up the Rocky steps, at the very least), some beach time, a few overpriced vacation meals and I can at least pretend I had a relaxing time. 

Until I start the return trip, at least. By then, maybe even my nieces will be tired enough to nap in the car and we can all relax on the road home.

Stephen Milligan is the news editor of The Walton Tribune. He can be reached at stephen.milligan@waltontribune.com.