Roads

 We love to road trip. In our 49+ years of marriage, Delores and I have travelled some very rewarding and challenging highways. This Labor Day we added The Dragon (Highway 129 at the Tennessee/North Carolina border - also known as the Tail of the Dragon) to our list of roads conquered. We actually stayed within the 30 mph legal speed limit most of the time. The same couldn't be said for the many supercharged cars and loud motorcycles who apparently took the challenge to drive the 318 curves in 11 miles as fast as mechanically possible. They can claim the title of dragon slayer. We had no such aspiration. This highway is known for its daring drivers and terrifying crashes.

In fulfilling our bucket list item of visiting every state in the USA, we have driven SAFELY on some amazing roads. This blog is about my sharing our favorites.

For scenic beauty a road tripper couldn't beat the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain NP that takes you up to 12,000+ feet. The last time we summited that road we not only saw the awesome vistas but several bull elk resting in the meadows just beyond the highest point.

Going to the Sun Road in Glacier NP is incredibly breathtaking as well. The result at the top is to view the mountain goats and big horn sheep that frequent the area.

The figure 8 road (upper and lower loops) of Yellowstone NP are a favorite. This offers a lot of scenic variety from mountains to flowering meadows and thermal features to waterfalls. Its real claim to fame though is that there could be and often is a very large mammal or group of mammals around the next curve. We have been surprised by bison, elk, moose, black bear, grizzlies, big horn sheet, mountain goats, deer, pronghorns, et al. I have visited this park 18 times and hope to return in 2021. The secret to seeing the wildlife is to get on the road before the sun wakes up and stay there until the sun goes back to sleep. Take plenty of food and water for the day; because, in this time of pandemic, many sources for those staples are closed. It's simply a waste of  critter-spotting time to have to return outside the park between the hours of dawn and dusk.

One of the most challenging roads of my life was the Dalton Highway -- 500 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse, AK. The Ice Road Truckers drive this road on ice in the winter. I conquered this road of mud, gravel, pot holes and frost heaves on my 12,800 mile solo road trip from my home in Columbia, Tennessee, in May of 2011.

Those are a few of the more memorable roads of our travels. We have been on parts of Highway 95 on the east coast, Highway 5 on the west coast, and the famous Route 66 across the country. Additionally we have driven the length of Highway 1 to Key West. We hope for more of the same in the years we have remaining to travel.

One road I do not aspire to drive is the infamous Death Road in La Paz, Bolivia. You can Google that for some terrifying images. 

Best of luck as you travel the roads of your life. Be safe in the realization that wildlife along the forests and meadows of Yellowstone can offer as great a danger as the motorcycles you encounter on the curves of the Dragon's Tail. Wherever you drive, take your time and smell the roses along the way.

Photo of The Dragon from carthrottle.com

Time Matters

As the old hymn implies, "Time is filled with swift transition..." and with many crossroads, points in life for pondering which path to take whether Robert Frosts "road less traveled" or the more trafficked ones. Monumental moments for me were selecting a college and major, marriage and starting a family, shifting careers from high school teacher to principal and lastly college professor, and ultimately retirement. Each phase had consequences ranging from simple to severe. After about two and a half years of retirement, I have come to realize that It's All About TIME!

My perception of the calendar has changed. My wife and I don't get concerned about bedtime these days (or nights). We often stay up until 11 p.m. or later reading, relaxing, or watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. The rationale is we no longer have to awaken by 6:15 a.m. to get ready for work. Time has changed. We joke about our weekly calendar's main evolution. Sunday hasn't changed much. It is still a day of worship, nice dinners, visiting with friends, relaxing, and resting. The other days though...oh my those other days! They have all become like Saturdays. We have a Monday Saturday, Tuesday Saturday, Wednesday Saturday...all the way to the Real Saturday. When we both worked, Saturday was the day for doing...chores, errands, shopping, or even gallivanting around the neighborhood or countryside. Things piled up, to do lists kept getting longer. The limited number of hours in our Saturday caused us to ignore lots of the important and deal with only some of the urgent. Now we have literally six times as many minutes to choose to do or not to do. Yes, we still have routines, plans, and those sometimes dreaded lists; but most items aren't as pressing as when Saturday stood alone as THAT day.

So if retirement is on your near or still somewhat distant horizon, prepare for a cool notion. You will have six Saturdays in every week. It's GREAT! It MATTERS!