The Best Day Ever So Far - Day Two

The drive to Lakeport was quite routine, but you might like to know that we paid $6.30 for diesel fuel in Weed, California.

If this is indicative of future days, we will be overwhelmed with great friends and lacking in time to blog.

Much more visiting, reminiscing and having a great warm fuzzy time and less blogging.  Maybe more, hopefully more, tomorrow.

Day One

There’s a story, fact or fiction, I don’t know, about a family on a road trip.  After a day at the Grand Canyon, the boy made a short entry into his mandatory daily journal.  The father being curious what he wrote, took a look and read, “I spit a mile today.”

Today I could simply write, “All’s well that ends in some unscheduled location,” however, I won’t.

The day had a bit of a rocky start as a stomach acted up and invited (invitation accepted) one to take an early morning nap.  Nap done, stomach settled, everything packed:  noon is a great time to start a road trip.

Stop number one was the RV dealership in Junction City with a question or two.  The receptionist said everyone’s at lunch so we drove around the back door and chatted with some technicians just standing around.  We left there a bit wiser now knowing that they couldn’t answer our questions.

We pulled into a gas station to top off the tank.  We saved 20 cents a gallon by choosing the station where the diesel fuel was $5.20 a gallon as opposed to $5.40 down the street.  We thought four dollars for gasoline was high.  Wow.

We considered driving the beautiful scenic coastal highway 101 to our first stop, the home of an Alaskan couple, but chose the monotonous straightforward, yet beautiful (all of Oregon is beautiful with the sheep grazing in rich green meadows with mountainous backgrounds) on I-5 for this inaugural drive.  We’ll drive it again someday; we’ve done it several times in the past.

Rolling down the backside of Siskiyou Pass into California we were prepared to relinquish our bag of quartered oranges as we passed through the California inspection station.  As we approached the station we noticed no lines and people were gong through quite quickly.  When we pulled up to the stop sign by the vacant booth, we read the sign stating that there were no inspections today and that we should process with caution.  The oranges were safe for another day and they are delicious.

After grabbing a bit to eat and walking the dog we settled into our first overnight in the van, so happy to be on our way.

  

What to Expect

I expect that I will have to push on the accelerator a bit harder to climb out of our driveway.  I expect that I will have to swing a bit wider turning out of the driveway.  I expect that because I've done it in the past and I know I need to do that.

What I don't know and for what I have only vague or no expectations is where we will park the first night or where we will fuel up.  Believe it or not we have never fueled this camper van.  This is a relatively new experience for us.  Oh, we've traveled broadly having been to al the states but Oklahoma and some 20 countries, but we were younger, more adaptable to change and foolish enough to take unforeseen risks.

We've talked to Jack and Shannon on the lake with whom we will share a St Patrick's Day meal.  And with Toni who has had her son clear the trailer from her driveway in Reno so we can park there.  Cousin Cheryl is planning to go to the Mormon genealogy library in Salt Lake City with us in about a week.  Even with those general plans we don't know what to expect for details.

The van itself has many variables like which switches need to be flipped which way to make the refrigerator work.  And how comfortable will the fold-down couch/bed actually be.  And then there's the dripping water we discovered yesterday after waiting for months to fill the tanks, months during which temperatures dropped low enough to freeze the water if we had filled the tanks earlier.

One of the joys and outcomes from living in remote Alaska is that we had to solve many unexpected issues on the run.  We expect that there will be some of the same on this trip.  It makes me a little nervous but visiting with family and friends, especially after two years of pandemic limitations, the deaths of Gail's sister and cousin, Denvy's brother and niece (none COVID related), is worth any risk.  Rising and record-breaking fuel prices are a topic in the news these days but that's irrelevant considering that a reason for the increases is the war in Ukraine where we left friends and acquaintances after a mission trip to that country almost two decades ago.  We are so concerned about them that fuel prices are trite.

We expect to be gone from Oregon for more than two months, long enough for the war to take some drastic turns, COVID variants to disturb normality again, the status of friends and family to change with marriages, births and deaths, and Mother Earth to kick up some notable weather and regreen its fields and forests.  Thinking of it that way we are ready and rearing to go.

Having done some twenty-plus mission and service trips and several extensive family journeys including three weeks of driving around Europe in a van, we know this will end on the up-side.  Therefore we set aside our expectations and heed the words that say don't worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will have enough to worry about in itself.

The above pre-trip images are from Bob Main's collection of awesome photos.  Thanks, Bob.  It is our expectation to provide our own images as we move along.

It's The People

Yes, it is definitely the people.  They are certainly the reason for this toad trip.  Oh, yes, we will see many new vistas, taste a broad variety of foods, experience a host of new events otherwise not found sitting in my recliner, but it's the people who initiated this trip and who will give it dimension.  It will be the people we know and have known, people who are family and perhaps seldom or never seen, and the people who we have never met and will never see again as we move on.

As we prepare for this trip by making lists and checking off items on those lists, we are also reviewing names, memories and contact information.  Yesterday we checked in on a friend and we were given yet different phone number.  The second number revealed an exuberant "Gail and Denvy, what a blast from the past!"  That in itself ratcheted up our enthusiasm several notches.  She was a next door neighbor in Trapper Creek, a friendly progressive young lady with kids about the age of our kids.  We've haven't seen her in say about 15 years, but as the cliché goes, "We picked up where we left off," years earlier.

Not every effort to reconnect goes like that.  Several phone messages remain unanswered.  Some are doing their own traveling and our timing was unfortunate.  Some are no longer capable of answering the phone, which is why we would love to see and hug these people one more time.  Some don't really know us from Adam and aren't interested in meeting their never seen great aunt and uncle; besides they have their own busy lives to live and, well, we're just not part of that schedule.  In these cases, they may be on our list but we are not on their list of people to connect with, and that's just fine.

This nasty war in Ukraine is another reminder that it's the people.  We did a mission trip there in 2004 helping convert a storefront into what was to become their church, doing some Bible studies with the children, and sharing worship and a retreat experience in the rural hillsides.  Now we're not thinking about the statutes we saw, or the quaint small houses with gardens and a tethered cow, or the churches and marketplaces; we're thinking about the families with whom we stayed and the church members with whom we shared a Ukrainian hymn.  We're thinking about Yiktor, Ivanka, Raya, Sasha and so many whose names have vanished even those the memories of laughter haven't.  Now 18 years later, these young people are of the age of those fighting for Ukraine and raising their young families.  Yes, it's the people who are the reason.

Setting aside the comforts of home and stability doesn't compare to the relationships we will kindle with this trip.  Besides when it's all done and said, and we cross the bar to another phase, what will there be but relationships.  We suspect there will be no physical bodies, no possessions, only our essences interacting with the essence of others.  Yes, it's the people.  And so we get up out of our bed, our recliner, our comfort zone to connect with people.

The sermon focused on differences - the different languages at the Tower of Babel and the different languages at Pentecost.

Differences is a reason for this trip, or at least one reason.  If it wasn't for differences, if everything was the same, there wouldn't be much reason to travel.  Everywhere we'd go would be the same.  What a bore!

Of course, not everything is the same.  We know that.  Every tree is different, every road is different, every view is unique, every building built by humans is different.  Well, there are some places that look a lot like the next one especially in the suburbs and the row houses.  Yet, even those vary in color and decor and individual personality created by the residents.

The biggest difference however are the people.  There are big differences, such as color, language, history, cultures; but there are individuals differences within the color, language, history and culture.  Each individual is different.  Whether it's big differences or individual differences, this is what we're out to discover and explore.  The more differences we find, the more options that open up to us, the more interesting life becomes.

Today, four days after Russia attacked Ukraine for no good reason that most of us can understand, the differences we experienced in Ukraine become very personal.  We were there only a week to help build a church and share ideas in classes; there were only eleven of us, yet today 18 years later, those we met there, those whose homes we slept, ate and bathed in, those with whom we shared s'mores on a farm in the hillsides, those who attended the classes we lead, are rising in our hearts and thoughts.  The twelve-year-old children in VBS are now young adults possibly with families and in line to defend their country even to the point of bodily harm or death.

In our nation where ideologies strongly differ, where mountains flow into prairies, and oceans abut skyscrapers, we covet the opportunity to experience and embrace these differences.  If there is a message we could and should carry with us, it's one of embracing our colorful montage of natural and human made points of activity on this finite global on which we are confined.

As God was present when diverse languages expanded the cultures after Babel and when the Holy Spirit allowed foreigners to understand their own languages at Pentecost, may we acknowledge God's presence as we travel as well as when we settle in our homes.  May our travels bring us back home and bring us back home richer with diversity.

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?