Trip Report

Crossing the Continental Divide in Wyoming. This was on the way up, before they received several inches more snow.

Funny how life seems to turn 180 degrees as you age. When I was young, I needed a vacation to rest from the long days I worked. Now I need long days of rest to recover from my vacations.

I was gone from home nine days. Three days travel time to the Pacific NW, three days visiting family, and three days driving home. Now it’s been another three days catching up on chores and just plain resting, and I’m nearly back to normal.

Making that trip in the fall is actually rather pleasant. Besides the beautiful fall foliage, there is hardly any traffic and the motels offer their off-season rates. With my military discount, Comfort Inns were nearly as cheap as Motel 6, and the accommodations are wonderful.

A real highlight of the trip was my personal version of a pilgrimage to Mecca. I got to visit my old launch officer from my days on a missile launch crew. As I wrote in an earlier entry, next to my father he was the most influential male role model in my life, so it was a wonderful treat to see him after all this time. For several years, I promised myself that I would take the I-70 route across Colorado so I could make the visit, but schedules, or something else, always ruined my plan. This time, Wyoming weather made it the sensible route to take and though our time to reminisce was far too short, I’m glad I made that choice.