There and Back Again
A six week trek, odyssey, and adventure starring Sam, Gwen, Marcy and Dave.
Journal by Dave LeLacheur
6/23/2011. It was all begun as something of a lark. About two months ago, Marcy was coming down the home stretch of her master's in counseling psychology program; she was extremely busy, working day and night, a pace which would last into the second week of May. Somewhere in that hectic period, one of us jokingly raised the idea of all four of us going on a cross-country voyage. We'd considered it a Good Idea from long ago; on the strength of Marcy's two such extended vacations when she was young (which occurred when she was 2 and 12, I believe), the notion had long ago slipped unassumingly into our pantheon of Good Ideas, where it had remained comfortably uninspected ever since.
Like most such Good Ideas -- we all have them; some of my others include vacationing to Machu Picchu, hiring out a real castle in England or France to live in for a month, or participating in a (and perhaps even organizing) "Wooster and Jeeves" themed weekend for adults, allowing one to soak in the Wodehousian atmosphere in a country estate, served by a brilliant, if temperamental, French chef, while the largest concerns of the day would be how to steal a policeman's hat, or how much to wager on the local children's three-legged race -- like most of these, I had no real expectation that it would actually happen. Is not the main point of such fantasies the reveling in the imaginative flight of "What if...?"
And yet the seed evidently had some roots about it, for much to my surprise, those careless conversations took hold of me. The question that, once asked, could not be answered was simply: "If not now, when?" It could be answered, of course, but that answer would simply and finally be "Never." I think that is what won me over: I was not prepared to accept "Never" as a final verdict and close down this Good Idea forever.
The planning had one ally in my mind: a prior commitment for myself. Last fall, I had agreed to meet up in Wichita, Kansas, for ~10 days of playing World in Flames with two German friends, at Eric's home. The group of us had played three years in a row at EuroWiFCON in October in Germany, but none of us were going to be able to go in 2011. When Karsten and Michael proposed to come to the states this summer instead, my reason for not going -- a financial one -- was greatly ameliorated, so I agreed. For much of the several months since committing, I had been uneasy about the decision. It's all well and good that I was taking some time off after the prior work with CareerLeader had ended; even I, with my famously poor ability to see what I needed, recognized that I needed rest. I was emotionally, morally, and physically exhausted from the last several years. So puttering around for a growing number of months did not trouble me strategically (although at a more tactical level, the one-way flow of money was always worrisome). But the notion of taking a vacation, a personal vacation away from the family at that, in the midst of a period of not working seemed more than a little self-indulgent.
The trip beautifully erased all such feelings. The cost of getting to Wichita was halved (I will have to take a train from Gallup, AZ, while the others saunter through Colorado for a week before catching up with me), and while I am playing, so will Sam, Gwen, and Marcy be playing too. A bold stroke; guilt erased. And while the cash flow worries remain (and indeed have been accelerated by this trip), it is also true that the fact of going away galvanized me to take some job-like actions which may have set some good things in motion in that realm as well.
The morning progresses here in Poplar Grove, Illinois, where we are staying one night at Marcy's Uncle Barry and Aunt Maryanne's lovely house enfolded by a golf course, so I will wrap up today's writing with a quick synopsis of the first two days. 6/21, Tuesday, was the last day of school, and the first day of the trip. A couple of intense weeks of planning, plotting, and logisticing had gotten us as ready as possible. Emotions were running high, especially for Sam and Gwen, who only once had been away from home for more than a week (that was a two week jaunt to Florida, including a few days at Disney World and visiting both sets of grandparents, which tended to minimize the away-from-home feelings), and were now keenly aware that they were going to be vagabonds for a month and a half. Gwen got a little manic, but her excitement was still ahead of her fears. Sam tends to feel his fears in advance, and on the final days before going, his excitement was surpassed by a collection of feelings, partly concerns over the vacation, but also supplemented and extended by the end of the school year (which he loved unreservedly; in fact we delayed the trip several days to honor his wish to complete his year of perfect attendance), the fact that several schoolmates, notably Will, one of his best friends, were moving away, and most of all that he'd been away from all of his friends for a long time.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
More any day
The bullet train westwards has finally slowed. The Ravioli has performed splendidly, and we are now in Cody, WY. Much to update on, and, if Internet access holds over the next few days as expected, I should have plenty to write about here. More any day....
Monday, June 20, 2011
D-Day - 1: Itinerary and Utter Panic
I'll post the first leg's itinerary below. But today's real issue is all about Utter Panic. The Son & Daughter in their own ways are feeling it; bad dreams for the boy, expressed nervousness for the girl (this is a gender thing right? girls just seem better at expressing than boys, in my observation of the youngster crowd). The Mom is too; you can see it in the double-caffeinated drinks and high speed action that follow.
Me? What me worry? I'm not panic(k)ed in the slightest. Should I be?
And THIS is what has me worried. That I should be worried. And that I probably (no, definitely) have about seventeen things to do right now other than to go a-blogging. But what's the big deal? Part of the neatness of The Plan is that on day #4 we hit Wall, South Dakota, for a visit to the famed Wall Drug store. Where you can get anything. Perhaps fall-back plan, if you ask me. Not that I made the plan; I'm not that clever ~ probably because I'm not worried about needing to be clever. Which is worrisome. Anyways, here's the plan.
D-Day: tomorrow: scoop the kids after school's half day; give them exactly 22 minutes to run around in the after school picnic in the big field across the road; then we bullet off to Buffalo for night number one. Driving time expected to be about 7.5 hours (not including stops). It'll be a late arrival.
D-Day+1: destination is Marcy's Uncle & Aunt's house in north west Illinois. This is the loooong day of driving. We'll take off from Buffalo early (like by 5:30 am) in the hopes of dodging the worst of the Chicago commute traffic and arriving at stop #2 by 5 or 6 pm. Total time of travel might be a low as 10.5 hours, but it might be a bit more, too.
D-Day+2: blasting off early again, ending this time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. What is in Sioux Falls? I have no idea. A lot of water right now, judging by the news of storms and floods. It is another long day's driving (about 8 hours) as we continue our westward ho! bullet train approach. I guess I've been playing too much Mario Cart Wii, because I keep thinking of that bullet bonus thing you get, and how this is exactly how we are approaching the first few days of travel. The only sights we're seeing are those outside the car window!
D-Day+3: now the fun begins. We should make it to the Badlands area in time to take in some of the views of that national treasure. Plus that visit to Wall Drug. Then we'll camp out (for the first time), enjoying a night sky experience of star-gazing that the campground offers. The idea of being far far from city night lights is exciting.
D-Day+4: from the Badlands we wander around to take in Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument-in-progress. (I'm told you should see them together, in that order, for maximum effect.) Then we arrive at a campground nestled under the tall shoulders of Devil's Tower. (Cue the music from "Close Encounters"; memo to self: don't order mashed potatoes!)
D-Day+5: after exploring some more of Devil's Tower, we'll drive to Cody, Wyoming via the Big Horn National Forest.
D-Day+6: our first full week concludes with some time spent in Cody's museums, followed by a drive over to Thermopolis, WY. One of the really exciting events starts tomorrow, but we'll have to wait for the next blog post for that. I'm not worried at all. But I am deeply concerned at my high comfort level, so I need to go have a snack and think this through....
Me? What me worry? I'm not panic(k)ed in the slightest. Should I be?
And THIS is what has me worried. That I should be worried. And that I probably (no, definitely) have about seventeen things to do right now other than to go a-blogging. But what's the big deal? Part of the neatness of The Plan is that on day #4 we hit Wall, South Dakota, for a visit to the famed Wall Drug store. Where you can get anything. Perhaps fall-back plan, if you ask me. Not that I made the plan; I'm not that clever ~ probably because I'm not worried about needing to be clever. Which is worrisome. Anyways, here's the plan.
D-Day: tomorrow: scoop the kids after school's half day; give them exactly 22 minutes to run around in the after school picnic in the big field across the road; then we bullet off to Buffalo for night number one. Driving time expected to be about 7.5 hours (not including stops). It'll be a late arrival.
D-Day+1: destination is Marcy's Uncle & Aunt's house in north west Illinois. This is the loooong day of driving. We'll take off from Buffalo early (like by 5:30 am) in the hopes of dodging the worst of the Chicago commute traffic and arriving at stop #2 by 5 or 6 pm. Total time of travel might be a low as 10.5 hours, but it might be a bit more, too.
D-Day+2: blasting off early again, ending this time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. What is in Sioux Falls? I have no idea. A lot of water right now, judging by the news of storms and floods. It is another long day's driving (about 8 hours) as we continue our westward ho! bullet train approach. I guess I've been playing too much Mario Cart Wii, because I keep thinking of that bullet bonus thing you get, and how this is exactly how we are approaching the first few days of travel. The only sights we're seeing are those outside the car window!
D-Day+3: now the fun begins. We should make it to the Badlands area in time to take in some of the views of that national treasure. Plus that visit to Wall Drug. Then we'll camp out (for the first time), enjoying a night sky experience of star-gazing that the campground offers. The idea of being far far from city night lights is exciting.
D-Day+4: from the Badlands we wander around to take in Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument-in-progress. (I'm told you should see them together, in that order, for maximum effect.) Then we arrive at a campground nestled under the tall shoulders of Devil's Tower. (Cue the music from "Close Encounters"; memo to self: don't order mashed potatoes!)
D-Day+5: after exploring some more of Devil's Tower, we'll drive to Cody, Wyoming via the Big Horn National Forest.
D-Day+6: our first full week concludes with some time spent in Cody's museums, followed by a drive over to Thermopolis, WY. One of the really exciting events starts tomorrow, but we'll have to wait for the next blog post for that. I'm not worried at all. But I am deeply concerned at my high comfort level, so I need to go have a snack and think this through....
Thursday, June 16, 2011
SOULS
D-Day - 5 and the preparations continue dizzingly. I will have a real itinerary to post shortly, but before getting into all of that stuff, I had to take one more aside and talks about SOULS. This is an acronym for the _S_top _OU_tdoor _L_ittering _S_ociety.
What is SOULS? The brainchild of my 8 year old daughter, Gwen, and her new buddy Barrett. They got to be friends watching all of Sam's baseball games this spring (Barrett's older brother was one of the team's star pitchers). The ball fields in Milton are quite nice, but, like any town, they are very heavily used, and consequently they get a bit of trash and litter strewn about.
This was not to be borne, at least not by Gwen and Barrett. During one game the two hatched a plan. They were walking in the woods on a little slope just above the ball field, when they saw some litter in the bushes. They took the litter to a big trash can and dumped it in. But, the litter was not gone; there was a lot more. They formed a patrol and began scouring the woodsy perimeter around the ball fields for more trash. It was dangerous work: thorns tried to impede their efforts, but they were not daunted by a few paltry cuts. (Although one of Gwen's still hurts a bit.)
Fate intervened on their patrol: Gwen's grandma and grandpa were walking by, heading towards the game. Gwen and Barrett said hi, and asked them if they could bring the newly-collected trash over to a nearby trash can. They said, why don't you ask to get a bag from the snack bar? It was a good idea, so Barrett went to get a bag, while Gwen ferreted out more litter. Barrett's foray was a success: he came back with more than a bag; he also had two clear plastic gloves. Two gloves among four hands might have posed a problem for some, but not for Gwen and Barrett: they each took one glove, and went about their business.
They filled their trash bag, and wandered down to the big trash barrel behind home plate. This was when the parents noticed some surprising things: (a) Gwen and Barrett had matching gloves, clear plastic ones, Gwen wearing it on her right hand, and Barrett on his left; (b) they were lugging a very full bag of trash; and (c) and they had very big, determined smiles on their faces. They knew why: they were saving the planet, right here and now, in a very real way.
They went for a second round of trash collection. The supply of trash was by no means exhausted, and they refilled their bag once again. After the second wave had been disposed of, they laid down their weapons of tidiness, happy to be out of thorn's reach for the rest of the night, just as the baseball game ended.
So, that is how the society came to be. With a little creative conversation, the name SOULS came about, and The Daughter, Gwen, has been recruiting others for it ever since.
This is the same Gwen who makes us think about questions rarely considered by 40-somethings, let alone 8 year olds. Her latest: "Dad, before people figured out language, how did they think?" Dad's feeble answer: "Wow Gwen, that is a really interesting question. I have no idea! Ask Mom!" (The Mom had a much longer answer, which Gwen could probably relate, but I had to go and watch the Bruins game that night.... ;-)
What is SOULS? The brainchild of my 8 year old daughter, Gwen, and her new buddy Barrett. They got to be friends watching all of Sam's baseball games this spring (Barrett's older brother was one of the team's star pitchers). The ball fields in Milton are quite nice, but, like any town, they are very heavily used, and consequently they get a bit of trash and litter strewn about.
This was not to be borne, at least not by Gwen and Barrett. During one game the two hatched a plan. They were walking in the woods on a little slope just above the ball field, when they saw some litter in the bushes. They took the litter to a big trash can and dumped it in. But, the litter was not gone; there was a lot more. They formed a patrol and began scouring the woodsy perimeter around the ball fields for more trash. It was dangerous work: thorns tried to impede their efforts, but they were not daunted by a few paltry cuts. (Although one of Gwen's still hurts a bit.)
Fate intervened on their patrol: Gwen's grandma and grandpa were walking by, heading towards the game. Gwen and Barrett said hi, and asked them if they could bring the newly-collected trash over to a nearby trash can. They said, why don't you ask to get a bag from the snack bar? It was a good idea, so Barrett went to get a bag, while Gwen ferreted out more litter. Barrett's foray was a success: he came back with more than a bag; he also had two clear plastic gloves. Two gloves among four hands might have posed a problem for some, but not for Gwen and Barrett: they each took one glove, and went about their business.
They filled their trash bag, and wandered down to the big trash barrel behind home plate. This was when the parents noticed some surprising things: (a) Gwen and Barrett had matching gloves, clear plastic ones, Gwen wearing it on her right hand, and Barrett on his left; (b) they were lugging a very full bag of trash; and (c) and they had very big, determined smiles on their faces. They knew why: they were saving the planet, right here and now, in a very real way.
They went for a second round of trash collection. The supply of trash was by no means exhausted, and they refilled their bag once again. After the second wave had been disposed of, they laid down their weapons of tidiness, happy to be out of thorn's reach for the rest of the night, just as the baseball game ended.
So, that is how the society came to be. With a little creative conversation, the name SOULS came about, and The Daughter, Gwen, has been recruiting others for it ever since.
This is the same Gwen who makes us think about questions rarely considered by 40-somethings, let alone 8 year olds. Her latest: "Dad, before people figured out language, how did they think?" Dad's feeble answer: "Wow Gwen, that is a really interesting question. I have no idea! Ask Mom!" (The Mom had a much longer answer, which Gwen could probably relate, but I had to go and watch the Bruins game that night.... ;-)
Friday, June 10, 2011
An aside: poetry
Just thought I'd share a link for a poem I wrote a little while ago:
http://readingstuffwelike.blogspot.com/
This travel-blog won't be entirely overrun by asides, but you can expect a fair number of them ;-).
http://readingstuffwelike.blogspot.com/
This travel-blog won't be entirely overrun by asides, but you can expect a fair number of them ;-).
Thursday, June 9, 2011
An aside: baseball
Last night, Sam's 3-11 baseball team had its first playoff game. He assured me in the afternoon that they were going to lose; his team was last in the league, playing against the #3 seed. Their opponent has an amazing player: you know how it is with athletes at this age, if they're good, they're really good, usually at everything. He'd shut down our team twice lately, going 4 or 5 innings out of 6, giving up almost nothing (this in a league where an ERA of 9.00 or lower is outstanding). The parents simply referred to this kid as The Pitcher; we all know who we meant. He reminded me of Juan Marichal out there. An unusual throwing motion, but still beautifully fluid, with a look of ease. He smiles a lot, and with good reason; in fact, he seems like a really nice, and certainly very talented, kid.
But the Fates had some wily tricks up their sleeves last night. The Pitcher apparently had a pre-game collision during warm-ups, and didn't start on the mound. (He was still the leadoff hitter, and smoked one over our CFer's head, but, in a moment full of portent, was thrown out trying stretch it home after he was safe at third but the throw got by our team's thirdbaseman ... we don't need to name who was playing third then, right?)
Anyways, it was 5-5 after 4. Our team was away, and The Pitcher came on to start the 5th. The parents groaned. "Here's comes Papelbon" quipped one. It felt like a moral victory to me: we'd forced the other team to use their best, when it seemed like they were trying to save him for the next game, hoping to beat our squad without using him up (the league has strict rules about pitch counts allowed by age per week).
With one out, Sam came up. After a couple of pitches, he swung, and bounced one to the right of the mound. Did I mention The Pitcher is a great fielder too? Well he is, but this time, he couldn't quite get a clean handle on it. Sam ran hard down the line, and beat out the throw by a whisker. He looked back around after crossing first, and was visibly surprised ~ maybe even stunned ~ to see the umpire had called him safe.
Long story short: Sam scored the go ahead run that inning as we went ahead 7-5. But the other team touched our ace reliever for 2 in the bottom of the fifth to tie it again. In the 6th, The Pitcher ~ perhaps still smarting from the pregame collision? ~ walked the first 3 hitters and was relieved. With 2 outs, we were ahead 8-7 when Sam came up again, and delivered another infield hit to make it 9-7. Our ace struck out the side in the bottom of the 6th, and our 3-11 team, is now 4-11, and undefeated in the playoffs ;-). Go CM&B!
But the Fates had some wily tricks up their sleeves last night. The Pitcher apparently had a pre-game collision during warm-ups, and didn't start on the mound. (He was still the leadoff hitter, and smoked one over our CFer's head, but, in a moment full of portent, was thrown out trying stretch it home after he was safe at third but the throw got by our team's thirdbaseman ... we don't need to name who was playing third then, right?)
Anyways, it was 5-5 after 4. Our team was away, and The Pitcher came on to start the 5th. The parents groaned. "Here's comes Papelbon" quipped one. It felt like a moral victory to me: we'd forced the other team to use their best, when it seemed like they were trying to save him for the next game, hoping to beat our squad without using him up (the league has strict rules about pitch counts allowed by age per week).
With one out, Sam came up. After a couple of pitches, he swung, and bounced one to the right of the mound. Did I mention The Pitcher is a great fielder too? Well he is, but this time, he couldn't quite get a clean handle on it. Sam ran hard down the line, and beat out the throw by a whisker. He looked back around after crossing first, and was visibly surprised ~ maybe even stunned ~ to see the umpire had called him safe.
Long story short: Sam scored the go ahead run that inning as we went ahead 7-5. But the other team touched our ace reliever for 2 in the bottom of the fifth to tie it again. In the 6th, The Pitcher ~ perhaps still smarting from the pregame collision? ~ walked the first 3 hitters and was relieved. With 2 outs, we were ahead 8-7 when Sam came up again, and delivered another infield hit to make it 9-7. Our ace struck out the side in the bottom of the 6th, and our 3-11 team, is now 4-11, and undefeated in the playoffs ;-). Go CM&B!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Preparations
I am a fundamentally naive person; I admit it, some might even accuse me of relishing it. I imagined that a cross-country trip would be right out of Normal Rockwell. Pack up the car, and whoosh!, off we all go, riding into the glorious western sunset with visions of cowboy boots and Old Faithful glimmering on the edge of sight. A real adventure! New vistas every day: generous helpings of culture, history, and archaeology all at once.
I hope I don't lose that dream; it is energizing and delightful. But let's face up for a moment here: the preparations required are astonishing. The dousing provided by "who mows the lawn, and maybe it should be a professional service for legal & safety reasons" was bad enough, but it was overmatched by the crestfallen feeling of "how does the VISA get paid while we're gone" and "sorry Charlie, you have to pre-pay two months of those painful COBRA fees right now".
And I'm only handling a fraction of the tasks! I have contributed very little, other than opinions (wanted or otherwise) to the day-to-day logistics involved in creating trip itinerary, route planning, accomodations, sights and ~ much, much more to the point ~ ensuring that said itinerary et al is properly booked and reserved in advance, so that it actually comes off in some fashion vaguely resembling the original ideas! That's the Mom's province, and I'm enormously grateful that Marcy has (a) some prior experience at this kind of travel; (b) the mindset to organize and prepare; and (c) that she seems to enjoy it all. If this realm were left to my tender mercies, we'd be grazing from one Golden Arch to the next while Super 8-ing across this tender land of ours. As it is, we have a range of delightful experiences awaiting us: adventures varying from rafting to digging for dinosaur fossils; accomodations from campgrounds under the shadow of Devil's Tower (I hear they show "Close Encounters" every night) to fun cabins and the occasional classy hotel as well.
And I haven't even begun to think about what things are going into the Ravioli, and where they might actually fit. (I did have a good idea about a rooftop storage device; I think one of the kids could probably fit in there.) Thank heavens for the Mom!
Speaking of which, let me offer public congratulations to Marcy for her receiving her Masters in Counseling Psychology, which was officially award last Sunday by her school MSPP (Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology). She did brilliantly, a perfect pointy 4.0, and has a great future rife with exciting promise ahead of her. She means to change the world for the better, and is going to do just that. Well done Marse!
I hope I don't lose that dream; it is energizing and delightful. But let's face up for a moment here: the preparations required are astonishing. The dousing provided by "who mows the lawn, and maybe it should be a professional service for legal & safety reasons" was bad enough, but it was overmatched by the crestfallen feeling of "how does the VISA get paid while we're gone" and "sorry Charlie, you have to pre-pay two months of those painful COBRA fees right now".
And I'm only handling a fraction of the tasks! I have contributed very little, other than opinions (wanted or otherwise) to the day-to-day logistics involved in creating trip itinerary, route planning, accomodations, sights and ~ much, much more to the point ~ ensuring that said itinerary et al is properly booked and reserved in advance, so that it actually comes off in some fashion vaguely resembling the original ideas! That's the Mom's province, and I'm enormously grateful that Marcy has (a) some prior experience at this kind of travel; (b) the mindset to organize and prepare; and (c) that she seems to enjoy it all. If this realm were left to my tender mercies, we'd be grazing from one Golden Arch to the next while Super 8-ing across this tender land of ours. As it is, we have a range of delightful experiences awaiting us: adventures varying from rafting to digging for dinosaur fossils; accomodations from campgrounds under the shadow of Devil's Tower (I hear they show "Close Encounters" every night) to fun cabins and the occasional classy hotel as well.
And I haven't even begun to think about what things are going into the Ravioli, and where they might actually fit. (I did have a good idea about a rooftop storage device; I think one of the kids could probably fit in there.) Thank heavens for the Mom!
Speaking of which, let me offer public congratulations to Marcy for her receiving her Masters in Counseling Psychology, which was officially award last Sunday by her school MSPP (Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology). She did brilliantly, a perfect pointy 4.0, and has a great future rife with exciting promise ahead of her. She means to change the world for the better, and is going to do just that. Well done Marse!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Opening Thoughts
The Characters:
The Son: Sam, age 10, looking forward to the fossil dig in Wyoming
The Daughter: Gwen, age 8, budding park ranger and natural performer
The Mom: Marcy, just awarded Masters degree
The Dad: Dave, enjoying first real summer vacation in 11 years
The Ravioli: our Toyota RAV4, tasked with doing all the hard work
The Plan:
Take a real, live, long, family vacation. How often are both parents actually free in the summer? Not just for a week or two of vacation, but truly unattached professionally? It's certainly our first time since the Son and Daughter were born. So off we go: 6 weeks of wandering through the hinterlands of our country.
The Story:
The story that will take shape from this trip is intriguing. Will we find our nation's heartland still beating strongly? Will the kids' sense of wonder and discovery be forever expanded with life-enduring experiences? Will the adults find inner harmony? Will we find our natural landscape, and native American heritage, being well-respected? Will we survive the first 4 days of constant driving without going crazy? These are some of the questions on my mind.
For me (likely the principal author of the blog) the journey will doubtless be one of heart and mind as well as space, as I rebuild my world- and self-view. After more than a dozen years of running an Internet start-up, I am now changing careers, with the aim of using my technical skills to further my creative visions. In particular, I am aiming to become a professional creative writer. The writing part is fun and challenging; making it a profession is what's really puzzling and scary, but I'm determined.
The Travel Plan:
Leave June 21, right after the half day of school. Like a bullet, we will speed westwards for 4 days, slowing down finally in the Badlands area of South Dakota. I'll post detailed itinerary in days to come, but highlights will include a couple of days each in Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park; visits with friends in Idaho and Wichita; and as many of the various, incredible national parks in the southern Utah region as we can fit it.
I will duck out for a week away from the rest of the clan in late July, meeting up with a friend who lives in Wichita, KS, plus 2 other friends from Germany, and the four of us will play a week long World War 2 game, World in Flames. The Mom meanwhile will lead the charges through Colorado, eventually joining the crazy gamers in Wichita, from where we'll head back eastwards.
We expect to be back home in eastern Massachusetts by the first week of August. All in all, it will be a summer to remember!
The Son: Sam, age 10, looking forward to the fossil dig in Wyoming
The Daughter: Gwen, age 8, budding park ranger and natural performer
The Mom: Marcy, just awarded Masters degree
The Dad: Dave, enjoying first real summer vacation in 11 years
The Ravioli: our Toyota RAV4, tasked with doing all the hard work
The Plan:
Take a real, live, long, family vacation. How often are both parents actually free in the summer? Not just for a week or two of vacation, but truly unattached professionally? It's certainly our first time since the Son and Daughter were born. So off we go: 6 weeks of wandering through the hinterlands of our country.
The Story:
The story that will take shape from this trip is intriguing. Will we find our nation's heartland still beating strongly? Will the kids' sense of wonder and discovery be forever expanded with life-enduring experiences? Will the adults find inner harmony? Will we find our natural landscape, and native American heritage, being well-respected? Will we survive the first 4 days of constant driving without going crazy? These are some of the questions on my mind.
For me (likely the principal author of the blog) the journey will doubtless be one of heart and mind as well as space, as I rebuild my world- and self-view. After more than a dozen years of running an Internet start-up, I am now changing careers, with the aim of using my technical skills to further my creative visions. In particular, I am aiming to become a professional creative writer. The writing part is fun and challenging; making it a profession is what's really puzzling and scary, but I'm determined.
The Travel Plan:
Leave June 21, right after the half day of school. Like a bullet, we will speed westwards for 4 days, slowing down finally in the Badlands area of South Dakota. I'll post detailed itinerary in days to come, but highlights will include a couple of days each in Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park; visits with friends in Idaho and Wichita; and as many of the various, incredible national parks in the southern Utah region as we can fit it.
I will duck out for a week away from the rest of the clan in late July, meeting up with a friend who lives in Wichita, KS, plus 2 other friends from Germany, and the four of us will play a week long World War 2 game, World in Flames. The Mom meanwhile will lead the charges through Colorado, eventually joining the crazy gamers in Wichita, from where we'll head back eastwards.
We expect to be back home in eastern Massachusetts by the first week of August. All in all, it will be a summer to remember!
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