Point A to Point B. Get in the car, drive, get out. Day in, day out.

This morning seemed no different. I got in the car, and headed in to work. Point A to Point B. Same ol’, same ol’. But nearly to the office, I rounded a bend on a four-lane street, and had to swerve to miss three large wheelie bins which lay across my lane. It was early, so there was no collision, no sideswiping a fellow commuter. Whew!

Then my mind flashed forward an hour into the future. This street would be busy with Silicon Valley workers, college students, and university staff, some on their cellphones, some still on their first cup of coffee, others jumping lane to lane determined not to be late. I’d seen them all on this stretch of road.

Point B would have to wait. I pulled into a nearby parking lot built for Mini Coopers and MGs, walked back to the bins, and pulled them out of the street. Then I carefully extricated my SUV from the parking lot, and continued on my way.

Later, in the office, I sipped a cup of hot chocolate and teleported myself to the desert. The hot chocolate helped — it’s a favorite beverage when it’s cold in the desert. But it really was those wheelie bins.

Unplanned stops are what those desert vacations are all about. Maybe it’s to enjoy a vista, or photograph a wildflower, or explore rusty junk on the side of the trail. Maybe it’s to fix a flat from one of those sharp desert rocks. The key is that it isn’t just point A to point B. It’s all the little adventures along the way.

Come to think of it, isn’t that what life is all about?