Why Are You Taking This Journey

Several have asked, "Why are you taking this trip at this time?"

I just got out of a warm soothing shower.  We will miss that during this trip.  There is a shower in the camper van but it is very small and the water supply is very limited.  We can shower in the homes of family and friends as we visit them as well as in truck stops and some camper sites.  But none will match our self-designed home shower.  Better showering is not a reason for taking this journey.

Daily we are reminded of our morality.  Yesterday we visited a lady who is nearly 101 years old and is probably not going to reach that birthday.  Last evening we received an email with a 1976 picture of four family members; only one is still alive and two died within the past 5 months.  It may sound morbid but visiting friends and family while we still alive sounds like a reasonable reason for this trip.

Visiting family and friends isn't limited to our morality; some we've never met, some we haven't seen for decades and some we've never visited in their own surroundings.

While we acknowledge that we are citizens of the world, we are also citizens of the United States and there are many places of interest that we have never seen, visited or explored  in the U.S..  In '81 we took our children on a nationwide drive to explore the country with an underlining policy that we would focus on visiting unique sites rather than repeating similar sites, such as not visiting Disney World after visiting Disneyland.  We will continue that idea as we crisscross from west to east, south to north.  The exception, of course, is with regard to family and friends; we will visit everyone we can regardless of when we saw them last.

We enjoy creating tangible memories of our travels so we will be videotaping, photographing, and journaling as we travel.  Some of it might be real time like on this blog and some will be editing and finalized on our return to home base.  This journey is a luxury that not all can do so we hope we can engage you through this blog.

Meanwhile, and until then, we will enjoy the luxury of a warm shower at home.

Preparing for the Journey

 Let your imagination take you back to the late 1800's, a time when many of our ancestors immigrated to America mostly from Scotland and Germany to the United States and Canada alike.  Probably mostly by word of mouth potential travelers learned the details of the journey, what was the cost, how much luggage could they carry, when did the ships sail and from where.  Details about the end of the journey weren't necessary, whatever they were they were better than where they now lived.

With timelines and guidelines in mind, the preparations started.  Father secured the arrangements, Mother sorted our the clothing and food.  Children helped or were oblivious to the happenings if they were too young.  Mental lists formed, clothing, just enough for the trip, coats and warm wraps, blankets, hygiene supplies, which probably were minimal, and basic tools.  It would be months before they could call the final stop home, meanwhile everything had to be packed and carried along.  Every possibility had to be considered.

The months, weeks and days before departure were full of gathering, decision making, and disposing of items not taken along.  Trading accessories for necessities was key to preparation.  Saying good-bye probably for a final time in this lifetime was squeezed into the time of preparation.  Discussions about the unknown future abounded among family and friends, and fellow travelers.

It's just five weeks until our own anticipated departure for our road trip.  Each time we drive our road ship we learn something we didn't know and there's so much more to learn.  Even the simplest of tasks, turning on the headlights and finding the control to dim them at an oncoming car can be an adventure, a lesson within a lesson.

Unlike the international immigration of our ancestors, we will have resources available to us wherever we go.  However, we like feeling independent and comfortable so I will select and gather tools that
could benefit our journey.  Supplies to support Charlie, our dog, are important; like his food and dish, water, his sleeping pad, medication, treats, leash and collar and the list goes on.  And where to stow this in our road ship.  Maps and journals, mostly on computers and cell phones will comfort us as we seek routes and destinations.  Lists of people we will visit and their contact information, as well as notifying them that we are en route.  And unlike the immigrants who had poor food after their personal supply of hard bread, hard cheese and dried meat we had a refrigerator, a cooking top and adequate storage.  Yet we too will have to consider and reconsider our menu and our supplies.

So the next five weeks will pass, very differently then the preparation time of our immigrating ancestors but in so many ways the same.  Are you ready to take the journey to a new life?

Seeing the USA - 2022 - Pre-trip Step One

     It's almost 3000 miles wide, about 1600 miles tall, and includes 48 states.  It's grand and diverse portion of our globe; it's the continental United States of America, USA for short, and often simply called America.

     Forty years ago we drove around this country land touching all but seven of those states in 16 weeks.  Now it's time.  It's time to do it again.  During the last trip we were a family with three children in early elementary school and a Subaru packed to the gills, and my mother for a part of the trip.  This time it's just two of us in an extravagant camper van.

     One goal is to visit and reconnect with friends and family, to see what they remember if they remember anything and to guess if we recognize them after years of maturing.  Of course, some will have spouses and babies whom we have never met.  Others will be children of the '80's grown to have their own children now.

     It's not part of the March to May whirlwind RV trip but yesterday we drove to Bend and emulated facets of the trip.  

     From our home on the west side of the farmland rich Willamette Valley of Oregon, we crossed the valley through Salem where we got our dirty dirt-road car washed and headed into the Cascades.  From the farmland we moved into the lush forests for which Oregon is known. The scene was a sad one as we passed through the remains of the 2020 wildfire that ravished the towns and forest.  Incidental homes and businesses sat undamaged among cleared lots, scorched foundations, blackened trees, stacks of cut trees and new homes or travel trailers.  A burnt out fire truck illustrated the irony and strength of the fire.

     A bit further up the road crews were removing unsafe trees from the sides of the road causing us to sit as the flagperson wiggled the "stop" sign from side to side.  After we were released from our stagnant location we repeated the same several more times, sometimes long enough to turn off the engine and rest one's eyes.  The number of persons manning "stop/slow" positions appeared as samples of the number of persons working this cleanup and the cost to do so.

      Higher in the pass the highway snaked through banks of snow layered with dirt and the next snowfall.  The beauty of a fresh snowfall had been replaced with the mounds of remaining snow often with dirt showing through.  Even though the melt was slow, the waterfalls off the roadside cliffs were gorgeous and rocks on the highway were evidence of small landslides.

     As the journey continued the white covered mountains beamed against the now clear sunny skies and the road sides morphed from dirty snow into forests of Ponderosa pine with cleared underbrush.  Soon appeared the human invasion in a place so well suited for fun and enjoyment.  Our memories were modified to include the continuing advancement of development of homes and businesses to support the new influx of humanity.  We were there as participants in this growth as the three families we were to visit had all moved to Bend in the last five years.

     The people part of the trip was as one might expect.  Conversations focused on topics common to us and our hosts.  Refreshments, drinks and meals were generous and pleasing to the taste, while tours of the premises revealed the uniqueness of attitudes and tastes of our hosts.  Kathy had a new garage with solar cells providing all her electrical needs, newly planked ceilings to cover the old popcorn ceilings and skis as decor most everywhere.  R's backyard was natural open space which was revealed as a golf course while the interior had a remodeled kitchen and bathrooms.  Doors were sitting around awaiting their turn for refinishing.

     The third person we hoped to visit had to cancel at the last moment.  That too is a part of traveling while only giving short notices and being available for short periods of time.

     The drive home was comfortable getting out of the mountains before sunset on a bright sunny day.  After some quick evening nutriment our bodies said it was time to go to sleep and our minds agreed that visiting, especially as aged adults, is exhausting.  Probably we will not need to plan many evening activities when we travel; we will probably just fall asleep. 

Second Amendment

It is not my intent to use this blog for political purpose and certainly I would not have thought I'd write something in support of the second amendment of the US constitution, mostly because I'm not certain where I stand.

However, several days ago a young man who lost his sister in a school shooting voiced in a radio interview his continuing support of the second amendment and bearing arms, aka owning guns, because he understood that the writers of the amendment intended as a tool, a defense against a tyrannical government, allowing citizens to take up arms against the government if they, the government, were ever to reduce the government from a democracy to something less like a dictatorship.

He got me there.  The constitution does need a provision to save us from tyranny.  This got me to thinking about how this picture might materialize or manifest itself.

The thinking went a little like this:  what is tyranny?  how do we identify tyranny?  and what can we as mere citizens do to stop tyranny?

In the process I reviewed my memory of past administrations in the United States, questioning are there any signs of tyranny at any time in my memory.  Maybe!  Skipping ahead I wondered how my BB gun and single shot 22 would make a different.  Perhaps as the boy in the interview was correct, I need a semi-automatic or automatic long gun.

With gun in hand, figuratively, I assume I was in a scenario there tyranny was clearly defined and present.  What do I do next?  Stock up on groceries and fuel and ammo.  Close the gate and set up an alarm system.  Take turns with my wife listening throughout the day and night for the alarm to go off.  OK, I realized having the second amendment and a gun was not going to save me or my country.  But I do need to process to work with my neighbors and those elected into office to do something.  I need to speak up and support those leading our country.

As I write I skipped over what is tyranny and how to identify it, I just assume those questions were adequately answered.  Returning to those questions I have one additional question:  why are common folk talking about tyranny these days?  Are we in or at the edge of a tyrannical government?  And what must I do?  What must we all do?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

You hear it a lot these days.  These days being those around Christmas, after Christmas and a bit into the new year, which this year is 2019.  It's the thing to say.  It's the greeting of the season.  Some of us may even think about what we're saying.

It's an easy greeting to understand unlike so may greetings we take for granted.  Hello, it that anything more than a sound we make when we see someone or answer the phone.  Or hi, what's that all about.  Farewell, we can see that one wishes another to "fare" "well," may things go well with you.

Ciao, common in Europe, a deviation of "I'm your slave."  Really?  I guess it was a polite thing to say once showing your willingness to serve.  Aloha, it's Hawaiian and it sounds nice, either coming to going.  Adieu and adios, it's a God thing, "to God."  Are you sending me off to God?  Wouldn't "with God" be better?  Good bye or goodbye, another God thing, "God be with you" poorly deviated.

Back to "Happy New Year."  All the words in this greeting are clear, simple and English.  We're wishing for you that the new year will be a happy one for you.  We'll let you define happy but what is a new year.  It's some type of bump in the annual cycle of seasons and circling the sun.  Some time ago some created a way of recording the days of the year which today we call a calendar.  Somehow that calendar started about ten days after the winter solstice.

So the new year is when we get a new calendar and hordes of people think that something new will happen.  Other than a memory of staying up to late, midnight typically, or a party with friends or family, the first day of the new year is the same as the last day of the old year.  Well, for many it's a holiday and they don't have to go to work.

Yes, this has been a post of just rambling with one profound point but then maybe it's similar to the reason we celebrate the changing of a calendar.  Anyhow, I do hope that your next year, starting with the change of the change and a midnight kiss, or starting at this moment whenever that may be, is one in which you can find positive feelings including happiness.  Happy New Year.

What a Day!

First stop - 6:00AM - let Marc out at Roger's Automotive Repair in Monmouth so he could arrange for a diagnosis of their Volvo which yesterday began to sputter as if one cylinder was dead or broken.

Second stop - 6:20AM - let Denvy out at Enterprise Rentals on Mission Street so he could pick up a seven-passenger van for the upcoming trip with the grandkids.  After a brief walk around to see which vehicle might be most suitable, and prepared to dig out the camping chair at the front door to await the 7:30AM opening, he found two employees waiting for their boss coming from Beaverton.

Third stop - 7:50AM - Gail and Dominic check in at PDX to meet Payton and Deona.

Phone call - 8:00AM - "We've checked in.  Got a pass to go to the gate and the plane has landed."

Phone call - 8:10AM - "I'm talked to the mechanic and am walking to downtown to sit in the park."

After some compromising and waiting for a vacuum and wash job,  Denvy drove off with a big black eight-passenger gas-guzzler and picked up Marc about 9:20.  Gail and passengers were in Woodburn and after hours of waiting at the repair shop, the rental office and the airport, everyone's coming together.

A lunch and the girls lay down for a nap after their very early flight and a very late going-to-bed.  Others followed creating a very quiet afternoon.  Later packaging was transported from temporary storage in the house to the big bomb.  The perspectively huge space in the van almost immediately filled.  Oops, that was not great judgement.  We're work it out tomorrow.

Marc and Gail went to Monmouth to retrieve his car which turned out to be less complex then anticipated.  Apparently the coil, not the cylinder that went bad.  Good news.

Late in the evening the travelers discussed their expectations, ate homemade pizza and made more preparations.  Now it's time for a good sleep so we can have a fresh start in the morning.

Potpourri

Pat asked me at our 50th class reunion some years ago why our parents would tell us to not associate with folks who go to church on the other side of the tracks.  The Catholic Church was on the south side of Main Street and the railroad, the Protestant churches were a block or two on the north side of the tracks.  He was Catholic, I was from the north side.  I nodded in agreement and shook my head having no answer to the question.  Definitely my parents had told me that and apparently his parents had told him much the same.

I learned later that the segregation was much deeper than that in this small farming community of about 1500.  The Germans from Russia were by culture assigned to the northeast corner of town with its smaller houses called Moscow.  I guess everyone else was pretty much German; I don't remember of know of anyone who wasn't.

Sixty years later after having a Afro-American president of our country and almost a woman, the same thing is being said to people in our society.  It's not north and south now, it's red and blue, it's conservative and liberal, terms that don't mean anything but to draw lines.  When can we simply be humans and care for everyone and make decisions to better all rather basing our decisions on color, or language, or where our parents came from?

We're just a week from the end of July, in the middle of a ten-day steak of hot temperatures and months of no rain.  While the temperatures in the morning and evening are below 90, preferably 80, I work in the yard.  We've dug our potatoes so we don't have to water them.  We've pulled many pea stalks because either the drought or the varmints was gotten them.  We're fixing fences and cutting off the iris and spring flowering plants.

The church continues to wane, in part because it's summer, in part I think because our leadership (pastor) is only half-time and seems to not support many of the projects from our heritage.  Even our worship service format has changed to seem quite foreign to us.  Fortunately the members are strong enough to continue to love God and neighbor without that support.

It's time to slip on the straw hat and brave the heat for a while.  Take a deep breath and head outdoors.