battery running low got to rush . travel and travail are derived from same root.
picture taken by couple from boston that i saw on hiking trail
Friday, August 31, 2007
heading west
battery running low got to rush . travel and travail are derived from same root.
picture taken by couple from boston that i saw on hiking trail
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
from Moab Utah
staying at a KOA campground in Moab with WI-FI. unbelieveable! weather was great yesterday. its suppose to be a dry 93 today. toured Colorado Nat'l monument yesterday.
here are a couple pics.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
update
i've discovered WI-FI is not always easy to come by- also i could not find any cell phone signal within rocky Mtn nat'l park. i never had a cell phone or a laptop until this year so i can't complain - oh i guess i can but it shouldn't count. anyway i will
to do a summary update since this is the end of first week of trip.
August 22nd: re-visited Wichita where i grew up and attended school thru college at WSU and then moved to DM in 1974. a driving tour by my friend (and school mate from 4th grade thru college) Clark Ensz revealed that Wichita has really been revamped and is now a very attractive city. We ate at a very nice Indian resturant called Passage to India.
After spending the night i headed west stopping at the Lincoln Perk coffee shop in Hesston KS. I told the woman working there i had heard it was the best coffee shop in the Kansas. She said she had just returned from Seattle and they didn't have any better there. i told her i would check that out for myself.
August 24th:
castle rock colorado.
We (thats the Royal We , me and ol Blue- the prius is now named Blue by default)
made to friend Vladimirs arriving in thunderstorm with hail. I had to
pull off road because i could not see anything. The pea size hail
didn't seem to do any damage to ol Blue contrary to the evidence of
the terrible pounding I heard.
My friends have been treating me Royally- I hesitate to point out that
i'm not The King Arthur as they seem to think. Oh well maybe i can
tolerate just a little more guilt in that respect.
visited the very impressive Denver Art Museum(DAM) . Its newly completed extenstion
is totally futuristic. We ate at an excellent Indian restaurant called the Clay Oven-
(do i detect a theme emerging on this trip?)
August 25th:
drove to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park on a beautiful colorado day. drive thru Big Thompson Canyon evoked memories of first travels to the rockies in 70's and 80's.
had a pleasant day seeing the sites and doing a couple short hikes though the altitude did not show me much respect. it was a very crowded day in the park so
vladimir and i dodged tourists in estes park until we found place to eat. he headed
home to castle rock and i settled in at aspenglen campground. it was very quiet and
the clear sky made for some good star gazing.
August 26th:
Hung out all day at the park. found a quiet pinic area with a mountain stream running
thru it, read and lazed about. typical afternoon rainstorm moved in and out suddenly.
August 27th:
decided to go to Moab and see Arches and Canyonlands Nat'l parks- add 2 more to the list- i bought an annual pass for $80 - its a $20 entrance fee for each park so i will soon get my money's worth. it was cloudy and overcast as i packed up and
remained so as i drove over Trail Ridge road. It started to rain as i left the park
and rained almost all the way to grand junction where more rain was forecast for the night so i got a hotel with WI-FI so that concludes the 1st week of the blog.
The only insight(and certainly not a great one) that i recall is when i broke a finger nail and wondered "what did Lewis and Clark do about fingernails?" but then i
bit off the broken piece with my teeth and said "Ah Ha!
to do a summary update since this is the end of first week of trip.
August 22nd: re-visited Wichita where i grew up and attended school thru college at WSU and then moved to DM in 1974. a driving tour by my friend (and school mate from 4th grade thru college) Clark Ensz revealed that Wichita has really been revamped and is now a very attractive city. We ate at a very nice Indian resturant called Passage to India.
After spending the night i headed west stopping at the Lincoln Perk coffee shop in Hesston KS. I told the woman working there i had heard it was the best coffee shop in the Kansas. She said she had just returned from Seattle and they didn't have any better there. i told her i would check that out for myself.
August 24th:
castle rock colorado.
We (thats the Royal We , me and ol Blue- the prius is now named Blue by default)
made to friend Vladimirs arriving in thunderstorm with hail. I had to
pull off road because i could not see anything. The pea size hail
didn't seem to do any damage to ol Blue contrary to the evidence of
the terrible pounding I heard.
My friends have been treating me Royally- I hesitate to point out that
i'm not The King Arthur as they seem to think. Oh well maybe i can
tolerate just a little more guilt in that respect.
visited the very impressive Denver Art Museum(DAM) . Its newly completed extenstion
is totally futuristic. We ate at an excellent Indian restaurant called the Clay Oven-
(do i detect a theme emerging on this trip?)
August 25th:
drove to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park on a beautiful colorado day. drive thru Big Thompson Canyon evoked memories of first travels to the rockies in 70's and 80's.
had a pleasant day seeing the sites and doing a couple short hikes though the altitude did not show me much respect. it was a very crowded day in the park so
vladimir and i dodged tourists in estes park until we found place to eat. he headed
home to castle rock and i settled in at aspenglen campground. it was very quiet and
the clear sky made for some good star gazing.
August 26th:
Hung out all day at the park. found a quiet pinic area with a mountain stream running
thru it, read and lazed about. typical afternoon rainstorm moved in and out suddenly.
August 27th:
decided to go to Moab and see Arches and Canyonlands Nat'l parks- add 2 more to the list- i bought an annual pass for $80 - its a $20 entrance fee for each park so i will soon get my money's worth. it was cloudy and overcast as i packed up and
remained so as i drove over Trail Ridge road. It started to rain as i left the park
and rained almost all the way to grand junction where more rain was forecast for the night so i got a hotel with WI-FI so that concludes the 1st week of the blog.
The only insight(and certainly not a great one) that i recall is when i broke a finger nail and wondered "what did Lewis and Clark do about fingernails?" but then i
bit off the broken piece with my teeth and said "Ah Ha!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
did i make this up?
How many retired people does it take to change a lightbulb?
Nevermind, i'll do it tomorrow.
So far so good i'm in Kansas City at the downtown public library using thier free WI-FI
its 95 degrees fortunately i'll be staying at my friends Galen and Maries and they have
air-conditioning.
picture of parking garage across the street from KC public libray :
Rocinante, Ghost Dancing and the Prius
it occurred to me this morning before i hit the road that there is a tradition of naming the vehicle that you take on any extended road trip. Steinbeck named his pickup camper Rocinate after Don Quixote's loyal horse and least Heat-Moon named his van Ghost Dancing to reflect his native American heritage. What should i name my blue prius?
Toyota choose the name prius from the Latin meaning "to come before" or "precede" to
indicate i guess that the hybrid technology would precede the next generation of new
energy resource innovation. maybe something like fusion ( i heard a story about that on NPR yesterday- the joke is Fusion is the energy resource of the future and always will be) . Maybe i should call the blue prius BLUE with a nod to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell who have great songs Tangled up in Blue and Blue ( a favorite album of mine).
or how about Maggie from "I'm not gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more" hinting at a true embracing of retirement. Not to forget the Beatles how about LIBby from (Let It Be -a stretch?) a suggestion of the "winging it" nature of this trip with an implied acceptance of things as they are. or leaving music i kinda of like WALDO after Where in the world is Waldo and the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson because i like his worldview or the great pantheist SPINOZA. I won't name it Arthur after Schopenhauer though i like his Eastern influenced philosophy where he references the Brahman phrase Tat Tvam Asi meaning Thou art that or You are that too suggesting the unity of all things. It reminds me of the Buddhist phrase "where ever you go there you are". Calling the car Arthur may cause me an identity crisis. Or i could call it Walt after Song of the Open Road Whitman.
The pruis is what they call a smart car. It has key less entry, shuts the gas engine off when stopped and (if you name it) will come when you call. So being that i could call it Edison or Einstein (famous smart guys). Is there a joke with the punchline "any more bright ideas, Edison?"? Hopefully not.
Maybe I should follow the native American way of waiting and watching then let the prius choose its own name or perhaps i should follow the contemporary fashion and decide by Internet polling.
OK! Here are the choices :
1) Blue
2) Maggie
3) Libby
4) Waldo
5) Walt
6) Einstein
7) Spinoza
8) open for suggestions.
note: i immediately dismissed Roy Rodgers side-kick Pat Brady's car name because i can still hear his annoying voice cry " don't fail me now Nellie Belle".
Toyota choose the name prius from the Latin meaning "to come before" or "precede" to
indicate i guess that the hybrid technology would precede the next generation of new
energy resource innovation. maybe something like fusion ( i heard a story about that on NPR yesterday- the joke is Fusion is the energy resource of the future and always will be) . Maybe i should call the blue prius BLUE with a nod to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell who have great songs Tangled up in Blue and Blue ( a favorite album of mine).
or how about Maggie from "I'm not gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more" hinting at a true embracing of retirement. Not to forget the Beatles how about LIBby from (Let It Be -a stretch?) a suggestion of the "winging it" nature of this trip with an implied acceptance of things as they are. or leaving music i kinda of like WALDO after Where in the world is Waldo and the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson because i like his worldview or the great pantheist SPINOZA. I won't name it Arthur after Schopenhauer though i like his Eastern influenced philosophy where he references the Brahman phrase Tat Tvam Asi meaning Thou art that or You are that too suggesting the unity of all things. It reminds me of the Buddhist phrase "where ever you go there you are". Calling the car Arthur may cause me an identity crisis. Or i could call it Walt after Song of the Open Road Whitman.
The pruis is what they call a smart car. It has key less entry, shuts the gas engine off when stopped and (if you name it) will come when you call. So being that i could call it Edison or Einstein (famous smart guys). Is there a joke with the punchline "any more bright ideas, Edison?"? Hopefully not.
Maybe I should follow the native American way of waiting and watching then let the prius choose its own name or perhaps i should follow the contemporary fashion and decide by Internet polling.
OK! Here are the choices :
1) Blue
2) Maggie
3) Libby
4) Waldo
5) Walt
6) Einstein
7) Spinoza
8) open for suggestions.
note: i immediately dismissed Roy Rodgers side-kick Pat Brady's car name because i can still hear his annoying voice cry " don't fail me now Nellie Belle".
Saturday, August 18, 2007
PeeWee's Big Adventure
the day of PeeWee's Big Adventure is rapidly approaching. I will be leaving DM Tuesday August 21st. We got the famous Iowa State Fair under our belts(literally). I ate enough porkchop on-a-stick,funnel cake, rootbeer float and drank beer enough for anyone who might read this. i ate my very first porkchop on a stick
ever and it was so good that i had to have a second one (a few hours later of course). the 2nd one was not as good. i wondered if that was pyschological or if there is some existenial condition that prevents us from recapturing the moment( law of diminishing returns- maybe its economical). The ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus said it best " you can't eat the same porkchop twice". (he may not of said that exactly -college was a long time ago- but i'm sure that is what he meant).
ever and it was so good that i had to have a second one (a few hours later of course). the 2nd one was not as good. i wondered if that was pyschological or if there is some existenial condition that prevents us from recapturing the moment( law of diminishing returns- maybe its economical). The ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus said it best " you can't eat the same porkchop twice". (he may not of said that exactly -college was a long time ago- but i'm sure that is what he meant).
Sunday, August 12, 2007
more influences
Days and months are travellers of eternity. So are the years that pass by. Those who steer a boat across the sea, or drive a horse over the earth till they succumb to the weight of years, spend every minute of their lives travelling. There are a great number of ancients, too, who died on the road. I myself have been tempted for a long time by the cloud-moving wind — filled with a strong desire to wander. . . .
Basho(1644-1694) Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
(The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Among my many probably ephemeral ambitions as i travel through retirement is to learn how to compose haiku hence i quote from one of the japanese masters Basho.
My first trip is now taking form. It looks like i will leave DM on August 21st
and pass thru Denver on 23rd then spend a couple of days in Rocky Mtn Natl Park
before continuing west thru Utah and Nevada. I hope to stop in Great Basin Nat'l
Park, Lassen Volcanic Nat'l PArk and Redwood Nat'l Park before driving up the oregon coast into Washington and then stopping at MT Ranier. Nancy will be flying to Seattle on September 7th so I just need to be there to pick her up then. Otherwise
i'm pretty much "winging it". By the way I learned from CarTalk that the term "winging it" was derived from the theatre. Actors on stage who didn't have all thier lines memorized would rely on queues from prompters behind the curtains in the wings.
The unplanned aspect of this trip leads one to expect many errors and wrong turns. Error I learnt from Least-Heat Moon comes from the middle english word erren which means "to wander about" such as a knight errant. It came to mean "going astray" and then evovled into mistake which is derived from the old Norse and once meant "to take wrongly".
The annals of scientific discovery are full of errors that opened new worlds . . . If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are part of the same process, and he is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).
Basho(1644-1694) Translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa
(The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Among my many probably ephemeral ambitions as i travel through retirement is to learn how to compose haiku hence i quote from one of the japanese masters Basho.
My first trip is now taking form. It looks like i will leave DM on August 21st
and pass thru Denver on 23rd then spend a couple of days in Rocky Mtn Natl Park
before continuing west thru Utah and Nevada. I hope to stop in Great Basin Nat'l
Park, Lassen Volcanic Nat'l PArk and Redwood Nat'l Park before driving up the oregon coast into Washington and then stopping at MT Ranier. Nancy will be flying to Seattle on September 7th so I just need to be there to pick her up then. Otherwise
i'm pretty much "winging it". By the way I learned from CarTalk that the term "winging it" was derived from the theatre. Actors on stage who didn't have all thier lines memorized would rely on queues from prompters behind the curtains in the wings.
The unplanned aspect of this trip leads one to expect many errors and wrong turns. Error I learnt from Least-Heat Moon comes from the middle english word erren which means "to wander about" such as a knight errant. It came to mean "going astray" and then evovled into mistake which is derived from the old Norse and once meant "to take wrongly".
The annals of scientific discovery are full of errors that opened new worlds . . . If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are part of the same process, and he is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).
Friday, August 3, 2007
influences and inspirations
while imagining what retirement would be like i spent much time dreaming of road trips to National Parks and of waking up in a tent in the open air amidst scenic vistas. I believe that three of the greatest attributes of America are the National Parks system, national public radio(NPR) and Public television. my wife nancy and i made a goal of visiting as many of the Nat'l parks as we could when we went on our honeymoon to Rocky mnt Nat'l Park in 1980. While she was an art teacher for 21 years summer vacations were the highlights of our year. We planned so as to visit different parks every year. In the process we visited every state and nearly 50 parks not to mention many Nat'l monuments. Now I want to relive some of those memorable visits.
So i'm taking to the open road like John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley and William Least-Heat Moon in Blue Highways.
(The sub-titles of which are In Search of America and Journey into America.) i plan to reference both these classics as i go.
What is the goal of these trips? is it just to check off a place from a list? been there done that? is it to discover , find or learn something about nature? about self? is it for adventure, to satisfy the urge for going? is it a spiritual quest? a journey to find the source or to learn to accept our existenial condition? or is it to go away and return to better appreciate home? I don't know i'm just asking.
Whitman's Song of the Open Road has inspired many travelers . For years every trip of mine has been initiated by rereading from that great poem:
AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, 5
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 10
...
I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all great poems also;
I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles;
(My judgments, thoughts, I henceforth try by the open air, the road;) 50
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me;
I think whoever I see must be happy.
From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute, 55
Listening to others, and considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.
So i'm taking to the open road like John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley and William Least-Heat Moon in Blue Highways.
(The sub-titles of which are In Search of America and Journey into America.) i plan to reference both these classics as i go.
What is the goal of these trips? is it just to check off a place from a list? been there done that? is it to discover , find or learn something about nature? about self? is it for adventure, to satisfy the urge for going? is it a spiritual quest? a journey to find the source or to learn to accept our existenial condition? or is it to go away and return to better appreciate home? I don't know i'm just asking.
Whitman's Song of the Open Road has inspired many travelers . For years every trip of mine has been initiated by rereading from that great poem:
AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, 5
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 10
...
I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open air, and all great poems also;
I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles;
(My judgments, thoughts, I henceforth try by the open air, the road;) 50
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever beholds me shall like me;
I think whoever I see must be happy.
From this hour, freedom!
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master, total and absolute, 55
Listening to others, and considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.
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