For a variety of reasons... I seem to be traveling this
fall... off to Nevada, no less than three times, the first over the last
weekend in Sept... that for research...
then after a weekend at home, back to Carson City for a conference... home on Sunday,
then off to Nevada again on Thursday for a long planned camping trip... back
Sunday then off to Colorado on Monday for two weeks... home on Friday 10/31,
then off to Florida late on the 1st... only returning and sticking around at
home the second weekend of November...
Back in 1967 Mom took my brother and I on a European
vacation... including a bus tour of the continent starting in Belgium... Soon after there was a book "If this is
Tuesday this must be Belgium" followed by a movie, then a made for TV
movie... Previously there had been a New
Yorker cartoon, (if this is Tuesday this must be Sienna) and a CBS News documentary... There is a long tradition of parody about
modern travel and the rush from place to place...
My fall schedule was something of an accident... long
planned activities that seemed to pile
up on the calendar on the page entitled October... then spilling out into September and November...
I have long attended an annual fall conference on railroad
history in Carson City... the conference has morphed over time... once under
the wing of the State Railroad Museum, now under the auspices of a independent
historical society... but generally the 2nd week of October finds me in Carson
City... I had committed to giving a
presentation at that conference... so, two weeks before a trip to Reno and the
library at the University of Nevada was needed... two weekends down...
A group of friends has an annual camping trip to Ft
Churchill... We intentionally move the
date from year to year... seeing the place in spring, summer, and this year's
date, chosen several years ago is in the fall... One more weekend down...
I occasionally do consulting on issues of railroad
preservation... one of those projects in Colorado... and we (our team of three)
needed to go to Colorado to complete our work there (at least for now.) that
trip was added to the calendar, right after the camping trip... (with less than
24 hours at home between the two trips)
Finally, the lovely Tina (aka the wife) received email from
our travel agent... offering several cruises... one caught her attention... a
music festival at sea... "Women Who Rock..." featuring female Grammy
winners... including Emmylou Harris and the Indigo Girls... I have been known
to go to music festivals, and may be a
fan of Emmylou and the Indigo Girls... I
like music festivals but Tina doesn't like porta- potties, but on a ship that
isn't an issue... It fell immediately
after the Colorado trip... and as it leaves from Miami, it offers the chance to
visit the son, who lives in South Florida...
After a round of "this might be fun", "are we crazy"
and "oh, no schedule conflicts", and "its just 4 days"... and
"we can afford this" and "it falls over our anniversary"
(34 years)... we booked it... So, over 7
weekends, I find myself traveling on 6 of them...
There will be some variety... in places, in reason for
travel, and in traveling style... The
first trip found me sleeping on a friend's couch... working in a library and a
museum... the second in a casino hotel (but there might have been a day of high
Sierra dirt roads on the way home, with aspen starting to turn)... the third
camping in a tent in the desert (with some remote dirt roads included, and
likely peak aspen color on the way over Carson Pass)... The 4th in a motel...
but working in an unheated building in the San Luis Valley of Colorado at about
7,800' in the south San Luis Valley, (expecting to see golden aspen) with the
last aboard a cruise ship with stays in nice hotels at each end...
A history conference is very different from a music
festival... In the process I am managing
to find some remote dirt roads to explore... but also walking about in downtown
Miami... I have seen mule deer in the Sierras, and expect to see alligator in
the Everglades (both of which taste delicious...)
So, today is Wednesday, between trips 2 and 3... I am making
two pots of chili for desert camp... pulling down camping equipment, checking
stoves and lanterns, and packing two suitcases... one for the desert, the
second for Colorado...
With more travel will come more blogging... for now goodbye and good travels, Randy
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