What relationships have had a positive impact on you? (Jet Pack Prompt -12/30/24)

“I want the people to understand my character, my weaknesses, the kind of person I am.” (Jimmy Carter)

I  read with sadness that ex. President Jimmy Carter passed away at age one hundred yesterday. During my college years, his plain speaking, friendly manner as Chief Executive seemed to resonate with me as a believable role model to follow for how I should act with my students as a teacher. I respect him as well for being one of our few Presidents in my memory who volunteered vigorously for spread of truthful engagement of peace and  human rights causes around the world after his term ended. To honor his legacy, I’ve also taken time on our road trips to visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta and his home town of Plains. Thus I express my hope in the following photos that we again find leaders who portrays those positive qualities Jimmy Carter meant to me. 

How do the ordinary doings of life most impact your travels?

“Day to day things, the mundane, are what keeps the motor running. How extraordinary the ordinary really is – a tool we all use to keep going, a template for sanity.” (Cecelia Ahern)

After living over forty years of my life in the same home, we finally decided to move. In the process of doing so, I suddenly noticed my attention being redirected to the immense power of the mundane. Such a stunning thought, uncharacteristic  for me as a person, began when most of our material possessions lie boxed in various rooms, ready for conveyance to our new condo a few days later. It’s important to reveal as well that we’d moved our heavy furniture around some, creating spacious open space in this unit.

So with our condo now relatively empty, I noticed unusual hypersensitivity to commonplace sounds and sights that I’d rarely paid much attention to before. In this regard, a twisted array of electrical cords, clicking ceiling fan, unbalanced sway of our vintage rocking chair and an annoying drip of a multifunctional shower head come vividly to mind.

What I’m trying to suggest today, might we learn to better manage those ordinary tasks in life that practically matter if we limit our materialistic wants that’s seemingly over complicated our lives at times over the years? For I’ve been given a fresh chance to re-examine how much stuff we really need in our new home.

Upon further reflection, I might elaborate some practical benefits of a relatively simple lifestyle we’ve strived for in our 2024 travels. So take a look at the following photo collection which reveals some of those  mundane moments we’ve appreciated on the road. 

A hungry farm horse enticed me to pleasurably pet him (her) in exchange for a tasty pellet. (Colorado Springs, Colorado).  

 I watched with interest some young kids engaging  in innocent water play at a harbor side  fountain. (Norfolk, Virginia)

Entering a local diner, I noticed regular customers feeling “right at home” as they grabbed their personal coffee cup on a side wall. (Las Vegas)

A simple text during morning brunch downtown became a favorite way for me to connect with my cousin. (Durham, North Carolina)

Ruth noticed a rainstorm storm approaching by staring beyond this vast field of corn. (Hamden, New York)

Round and round on the carousel we played like children again. (Burlington,Vermont)

A “hunk of car junk” on the prairie  made a nice place to savor artistic beauty. (Amarillo, Texas)

Cook’ em, smell’ em with smoke’ em and we’d eat ‘em at a local grill. (Sedona , Arizona)

Some doors at a peaceful Asian  park made it easy to enter for all. (Norfolk, Virginia)

We never sat on a dirty bench where a seagull landed at the Pacific Ocean. (Morro Bay, California)

I picked out  a pumpkin at Walmart envisioning a way to carve out my favorite Halloween smile. (Avon, Colorado)

An unobstructed viewpoint of a westward sunset provided current traffic information to and from the Rocky Mountains. (Denver, Colorado)

 

How might you make the study of Geography more useful for your travels?

“Geography is the art of the mappable.” Peter Haggett)

If you have ever studied Basic Geography as a student in school or in college, you’ve probably encountered plenty of practice with map reading skills. Most likely as well, you’ve needed to rely on such spatial information you’ve  learned in more practical ways to navigate between places locally and on vacation. Thankfully, your “GPS” device can usually manage such map reading tasks normally while driving with minimal effort on your part. 

Yet when such devices respond incorrectly in mapping your route, you might end up in the wrong place, face adverse driving conditions or simply miscalculate the required distance and time to and from destinations. Thus, any obsessive dependence on such electronic tracking might not necessarily be the right choice for you. Alternatively, you should realize that a trusted map can be your geography friend if you study it precisely as you once did to pass that subject’s class requirements..          

So take out  those dusty old “AAA”  road maps and figure out where you might drive in recognition of the kinds of landform barriers like mountains and water bodies you might encounter along the way. Tune into “The Weather Channel” and examine any storm projections with greater attention.  Dig out your compass from your glove compartment. Then turn it  around to face  the direction your city map tells you should be currently going. Getting creative, might even playfully spin an earth globe around a few times and see where your poked fingers randomly lands to gain a geographic” feel” for new destinations in your future travels. 

As an added challenge in this entry, give your map reading skills a powerful boost as you examine some puzzling travel situations I’ve previously faced, each with photo accompaniments below.

Ex. 1 – I’m traveling cross country America by car from South Florida. What’s my safest route to combat adverse weather conditions?

Ex. 2 – I need to follow the Mississippi River road corridor going north when winter transitions to spring. But emergency flood warnings are happening along this overflowing watershed and I need to find the safest area to stay for the night. What towns should I avoid because of these rising waters? 

Ex. 3 – I’m stuck in the Northern tundra interior of Canada with no road signs to direct me to the nearest town or city. In what directions should I head to find gas and shelter? 

Ex. 4 – I’m going to Rhode Island today from Massachusetts on my New England road trip tour. At what point of entry to the state would be the most direct way to travel? 

Ex.  5 – I’m moving by car northward in Michigan to the Canadian border. What lake (s) do I cross by to make sure I get there? 

Ex. 6 – Wait a second! I thought I knew where familiar towns and cities on this American road journey were located. Show me why I should have known otherwise. 

Ex. 7 – That stranger at the gas station told me told me that some illogical state name adjustment involving direction must be made to reach West Virginia. What did he mean? 

Ex. 8 –  How can it be possible that I’m told to drive north and then west from my Los Angeles home to vacation at a Reno, Nevada casino? Wouldn’t that route put me in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? 

Ex.9 – My Panama Canal cruise route from Florida seems to be going the wrong way. Why are we heading east to the Pacific Ocean?

Ex. 10 – Relax! I’ve flown long distances across the United States many times. How much harder can doing the same in Africa cross country be?

What object(s) in your home most provide memories you cherish at the end of this year?

“Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain  thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.” (Haruki Murakami)

Ruth and I adapt well to traveling independently in various places around the world and in this country. So I figured that quality would help us immensely if we ever decided to move from our present condo in Fort Lauderdale. Well the time has come to put that conclusion to a reality test as we have decided to buy a bigger and newer condo unit in a quieter community a few miles north of where we live now. With the assistance of a reputable real estate company, we’ve thankfully expedited the closing date to move in before the end of December. But that means most of the moving task per se must be accomplished relatively quickly on our own. Consider as well whether we are psychologically prepared for this transition now? 

In this regard, it seems natural to imagine that the current clutter of boxes, file cabinets, and furniture lying around everywhere resembles a gigantic road trip preparation. But unlike such travel occasions, it’s very difficult for me, in particular, to grasp the permanency that we will not be coming back after forty some years living in the same place. Thus I seem overly sensitive now to relive those fond memories that happened during that large chunk of our life span in this home.

Feeling definite heartaches then, I await the inevitability of those final days as our personal possessions slowly disappear. For I will soon be staring at nothing but empty rooms. But wait! Thankfully there will be a last object standing by my choice alone in the living room on moving day. It’s our decorated holiday tree filled with colorful hanging ornaments intended as a last chance to reminisce about those good times we experienced  living in this home. So I’d like to share several of these tree decorations with you in the photo set below with brief captions describing their personal meanings. Happy Holidays.

Many soothing naps were taken while listening to quiet music in our spacious bathtub and comfy easy chair.

Why would you most and least desire to attend a school reunion?

“Enjoy good memories. But don’t spend your remaining days here looking back, wishing for the good old days.” (Randy Alcorn)

I’ve attended a class reunion before and it felt distant and awkward to me in the presence of my former classmate peers. I mean, did I really need to be reminded how old everyone looked as we chatted fondly about “The Good Old Days” of high school? But as a graduate of the 1974 class at the University of South Florida (USF), this “Golden Guard” Appreciation Day at the Alumni Center on main campus in Tampa, for me, felt completely different. For while I had  returned to my academic past once again, the intelligent “buzz” circulating around the conference venue before and during this ceremony felt for me truly liberating.

To clarify further, I knew immediately at the time of my arrival that the stage was set to conduct an honorable purpose for this planned gathering. For all attendees had been asked beforehand by email to prepare a brief ‘bio” that focused on their defining qualities as a person along with their overall career accomplishments. Each inductee would thus be publicly recognized today in their own words individually for keeping the USF model of academic excellence in mind as a major springboard for obtaining such past success. In essence, we were being treated as esteemed dignitaries with welcoming handshakes, enlightening speech praises and even “Rocky, the college mascot there, to add a youthful campus spirit of “now” energy to the crowd.  

Definitely the highlight of this showcase happened as Ruth and I came to the podium to receive our respective gold gilded medals with a handshake and photo taken with the current Dean of Academic Affairs. Upon further reflection of that moment, I realized that I’d obtained an important practical meaning for this 50th year token of graduate appreciation. For  I would hang this insignia in the most conspicuous place I could find to remind myself daily of the importance of spreading truth and wisdom to combat these seriously turbulent times in my country. Enjoy the photos of this event. 

What visual images in your life best promote solitude?

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” (Pablo Picasso)

You might imagine what it’s like for me to live in South Florida during December when mass throngs of casual vacationers arrive to begin our winter tourist season. Know then it’s damn crowded even before they arrive with over six million people living on this narrow expanse of former swampland about one hundred miles long from north to south and between five to twenty miles going horizontally across. In particular, this holiday period considerably worsens our traffic “gridlock” conditions on I-95, the Palmetto Expressway, and the Florida Turnpike.  Average vehicle commute times during “the season”, traveling  one way, between South Florida’s three counties accordingly stretches often up to an hour or more as well.

Nonetheless, I considered it a privilege this year when I received “VIP” tickets to attend the prestigious “Art Miami” opening event, twenty miles south of our Fort Lauderdale home in the big city downtown.Thus, I would strive this year to obtain an inner sensation of peace and quiet from such maddening crowds by  indulging for a couple hours in such showcases of expensive, contemporary art. So I present for your interest below, several art-pieces from that iconic holiday happening that most appealed to me from such a solitude perspective. In similar fashion, as the time tested phrase goes, let’s hope for more “peace on earth” this holiday season. 

How do you best celebrate the authentic spirit of the December holiday season?

“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” (Henry Ward Beecher)

Kudos to my Kundalini instructor this week for inspiring me to do more than normal to express my gratitude for human and animal kind during this holiday season. Understand then why she invited her students last Sunday to explore sources of positive energy this week in accordance of what she called “The Real You.”

For in typical astrological fashion, she noted that the end of 2024 coincided with what’s called “Mercury Retrograde”, when planetary shifts in our solar system in combination with a new moon trigger a period of spiritual expansion involving new actions and state of mind. In fact, I am actually feeling such heightened energy sensations in Kundalini class now as we go through exercises involving  repetitive body movements combined with calming meditative music and spoken mantras in class.    

Try one of those Kundalini classes for yourself. Click on the following video link.

https://youtu.be/I082zKdGzgM?si=RujO6mZnOS7Jrqed

So this hectic holiday season involving a labor intensive move from our present home to a nearby location, especially represents the right time for me to accentuate my appreciation for life by reaching out to look naturally happier, listen willingly more and “lighten up” conversations with laughter. Thus I share with you below ten actions of positive gratitude that I will experiment with in the coming days along with some of our past travel photos that further inspire me to do so. Do any of these self cleansing behaviors appeal to in your own life situation now?    

1. Show more empathetic  regard for a struggling person.

2. Listen more when seeking help from others. 

3. Acknowledge young people’s contributions to society more. 

4. Allot more “quality time” for fun with close friends.

5. Let personalized talk replace habit prone texting. 

6. Stay a bit longer to make a friend.

7. Notice inner beauty potential more.

8. Dedicate meditative silence to all humankind.

9. Choose a new animal to nurture.

10. Lighten up” human contact more with humor.

How do you typically deal with unexpected problems encountered in overland travel?  

“Colorado has always been a good place to find out what you’re made of.”(John Hickenlooper) 

I  try to forget what tourist  brochures say that you can simply “chill”with “luxurious, winter vacation skiing in the mountains of Breckinridge, Aspen, or Vail. I also disdain any thoughts of that spectacular mountaintop like Pikes Peak to look out from will be easily obtained. And that cowboy boss image that I see so often stereotyped on television and movies portrays less information about how to survive in this harsh land than I thought. You see, whenever I’ve been traveling in Colorado, I’ve found it likely to be harder to do so than it seems.   

So let’s take a look at some of those unexpected hazards I’ve less than satisfactorily encountered from previous sightseeing adventures in Colorado. For one, I’ve learned from experience that the majority of the state’s population lies in densely packed, plains communities east of the Rocky Mountains. Yet being buffered from such mountainous terrain in the Denver environs, per se, has not diminished my sudden exposure in various seasons to torrential windstorms, long lasting drought, fast spreading forest fires or “whiteout” blizzard conditions. When heading into the long distance treks through the Rockies by car as well, I confess I’m relatively uninformed about “chaining up” my tires in blizzard conditions, using four wheel drive on muddy back roads and how to interpret detailed topographic maps when my GPS gauge fails to function in steep mountain areas. In cases of facing an animal intruder on those wild wilderness trails, I also would not be prepared to injure or kill a potentially threatening creature like a wolf or bear with a gun. 

But on the positive side, let’s just say I appreciate the opportunity of experiencing the present moment amid Colorado’s adverse conditions in the best way I can.Take for example our recent road trip excursion to the famed Royal Gorge Bridge, adjacent to the historic Gold Rush town  of Canon City, in the southeasterly sector of the state. In the following blog section, I imagine then that on this frigid morning”, I’ve desired  to set out as a prospective mining rush digger from Royal Gorge in the manner of one who arduously explored the area in the mid 19th century. In order to potentially strike it rich in this terrain, I must deal with this steep canyon ridge crossing over a fast flowing river far below. 

Brrrr!, I’m freezing. Where can I seek some nearby shelter from the elements to rest up and prepare? Those shacks in the distance would probably do. Tomorrow, I’ll lighten up my pack for the long walk over that flimsy looking, foot bridge to search ahead. What a spot to capture a keen eye view then for what rock layers lie below, especially along the sides of the canyon! But be careful for those gaps in the wood planks or you might fall through. I also hear a shrill whistle of an incoming steam train that’s certainly following along the river below. With surrounding walking trails unclear in the distance, I might consider risking a hike down to the nearest  railway station as the best  manner of transportation to scan the potential wealth of this vicinity. So why am I so happy today? It will not be an easy time to find my way around.     

Enjoy my photos of this simulated adventure. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Key Sources:

http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Royal_Gorge_Bridge

https://royalgorgebridge.com/majestic-landmark-of-history-at-royal-gorge/

https://royalgorgebridge.com/about-the-park/

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How would you best describe the spirit of the Wild West?     

“Have you any idea of what a man must endure who leads such a life? No one can unless he lives it for himself.” (Frank James)

The true meaning of “The Wild West” always seems a fascinating enigma to me. Ever since my childhood days in Ohio, I’ve kind of idolized the heroic image of the macho American cowboy as exemplified in such old time television westerns as Chuck Conners in the Rifleman, the masked marauder in the Lone Ranger and James Garner in Maverick. Perhaps that longstanding cowboy fetish has fueled my desire to travel on roadtrips so frequently westward. For I’ve deeply desired then to confirm how cowboy settlements actually functioned during pioneer days in the mid 19th century as well as re-adapt my actions to their continued existence in present times.

So our latest driving adventure within Colorado in autumn 2024  provided a plethora of opportunities to actually observe for myself to what extent this longstanding invention of the Wild West remains alive and well. In doing so, I provide photographic evidence below that I suspect demonstrate that  the rugged cowboy individualist might have had other ideas on his(her) mind than living hard with gun battles involving outlaws/Indians, and forming their own definition of law and order. 

So let me my start as Ruth and I entered Colorado south of Interstate Highway 76 in the historic town of Sterling. A one hour tour there at the Overland Trail Museum revealed a  prairie community that evolved over half a century into a quiet country town with all the materialistic comforts experienced back home. These eastern based pioneers evidently lacked the will or simply underestimated the hardships that they would endure to press ahead for precious mineral searching or open range ranching that attracted so many who migrated westward during that time period. 

Moving south on I-76 to seven miles northeast of Denver, we took the auto drive route around the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. You might wonder how a cowboy mentality could exist amid prime prairie land occupied by endangered buffalo, prairie dog holes, and more than 330 species of other wildlife. Well in fact it could not be so. For this former military site used in World War II for chemical weapons manufacturing would ultimately become a government owned land for environmental protection in 1986 and therefore a forbidden place for any “Wild West” living.

Many visitors to the Denver area long to visit as we did the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheater near the town of Golden to take in its spectacular vista in the adjoining Rocky Mountains. But in order to obtain a heavy dose of western cowboy history in this vicinity, we felt also compelled to ascend the short drive to nearby Lookout  Mountain, site of the Buffalo Bill Museum and gravesite. My main focus of this visit then centered around his renowned popularity as a cowboy icon during  the mid to late 19th century which culminated in his famed exhibition tour around the country of a “Wild West Show”. So I took a firsthand look at several gallery exhibits showcasing  promotions of  bronco riding, Indian competitions, cattle roping, fancy shooting and other cowboy antics that once took place in such a theatrical show environs. In doing so, I solidified the idea in my mind that Buffalo Bill sought to convey the Wild West in America mainly as an exciting time of endless freedom to do as one wished to pursue fun filled times.

All three of these previous point of views observed on this vacation about the image of the Wild West thus distort the reality of how difficult the hardships of settlement westward would be and still exists today. For I can personally attest from our frequent visits to Colorado that extreme weather conditions, long distance travel times and arid/mountainous landscapes predominately exist in this state and throughout the American west, which provides a more accurate picture about what the cowboy mentality in the Wild West really means.

I might note in this regard that while driving along icy slick, side roads south of Steamboat Springs on this vacation, some manly cowboy thoughts frequently entered my mind as my hands tightly gripped the steering wheel as I tried to keep my vehicle from sliding off in catastrophic “fishtail” fashion off the road over the next mountainous cliff. Let’s just say as a history buff, I am truly humbled that I got a chance to experience the Wild West in the more correct way.  

“I may not have ended up where I intended to go but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” (Douglas Adams)

How does an “eye on the sky” benefit the road trip traveler?

On our most recent road trip  from South Florida to the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, I decided in one brief moment to take a break from writing road trip blogs on the road for a change. Why was that?  For starters, I recall stressfully listening to media reports about the widespread wrath of Hurricane Milton on our first day out of Fort Lauderdale. So being more cognizant of our routing schedule with those long, drives ahead of us each day, I shifted my focus from prioritizing my literary talents to being a safe driver, keen weather observer, and potentially a more warmly approachable person instead. Thankfully, my longstanding habit of researching and photographing places extensively, seemed to compensate for this writing loss by maintaining interest in my desire to learn. 

In fact, at several points on this trip, we faced a series of three, adverse weather conditions in various regions requiring some  alterations to our original routing plans. But in each case, we adapted well to such unexpected change. Due to wind and rain conditions from tropical disturbances in the coastal Deep South, for example, our trip shifted further east at various times. But in doing so, Roanoke, Virginia and Birmingham, Alabama now became new places for extraordinary mountainous exploration. With Texas twisters potentially brewing amid ominous black clouds in the Texas “Panhandle” prairie as well, our one day stop in the town of Lubbock led us to enjoy NFL football games on Sunday at a local sports bar. Lastly feeling stuck on the truck filled, Interstate Highway in hazardous winter conditions that had emerged in Colorado, I noticed that taking the opportunity to veer off onto those uncrowded backroads to Steamboat Springs and Colorado Springs seemed to diminish my fears of managing such slick, icy roads in the Rockies.

With a greater allotment of time to write at my leisure back home in South Florida, I hope to post future blog sessions about my favorite travel experiences along with plenty of photos from this most interesting vacation. In the meantime, I keep an “eye on the sky” as I share with you today some striking vistas that I witnessed on this journey. Also, take a look at a photo shot showing the back of our vehicle filled with visually appealing stickers I bought at so many places we visited along the way.