Reflections

Flight miles = 5800, motorcycle miles = 3700, car miles = 800, number of states visited = 12, number of days this all took place = 37.

That has been our travels.  So far.  What I didn't include were the number of hours of sleep which weren't enough.  It has been a very busy month with traveling to get from one place to another due to commitments.  I also didn't include the number of days we spent in our own houses which were probably less than 10.  At this point I really don't care to see another hotel room for a very long time.

What I have discovered on this journey has to do with the terrain and foliage and how long I have been away from or exposed to it.  I grew up in Upstate New York which to many doesn't mean a whole lot.  Most people hear the words New York and they think of the city.  Upstate is where you find farmlands, dairy cows and a very laid back way of life.  And lots of trees, i.e. greenery everywhere.  I lived there for 18 years and didn't know any other kind of landscape.  Then I moved to Southern California.  Not as lush, not as green.  I really missed my green stuff for a long time.  When I would fly back home I would notice that even the air smelled different (and I don't mean smog).  It has a very different smell because of all the types of trees and the odor they give off.  It's a very musky, but great smell.  But I learned to like California and it's differences.  

After a few years we moved up to Northern California (Bay area) and there was a new terrain to learn to be happy with.  Did I miss the New York green?  Sure - especially during the summer when California becomes brown and dry.  Then a few years later we moved up farther north and ended up in the foothills of Sacramento.  Again a different terrain.  It's amazing how different California is as you move up the state.  Anyways, I thought I had found the closest thing to home when we built a house in the foothills area - farm house, land, and some trees.  But as fate would have it we were doing more and more things down in the valley so we waited until Brian was in his senior year then with his approval we moved down to the valley to be closer to our church and friends.  We let him make the final decision because he would have to commute the final year of school.

After Walt passed away and I began a new relationship with Karl we started looking for a house that would accommodate the motorhome.  As it was it had to be stored about 25 miles away and that was a pain when you had to get ready for a trip.  So the search began and we ended up buying in Albuquerque.

At the beginning of this month I flew back to my mom's who still lives at home where I grew up.  My sister, her daughter and granddaughter were also there.  We wold often take drives around the area to see how is has changed - not much, believe me.  When my mom asked if we saw any difference the only thing my sister said was that everything was overgrown.  I never noticed, but she was right.  Except that now, in my mind, the whole "green thing" that I used to love was overgrown.  I was missing the brown, open spaces of the west.  On our motorcycle trip that included all of the western states I loved seeing the desert and the open skies.  And I really missed that while I was in New York.

Now we are back in Washington state and I am back to the "green thing" again.  I guess my tastes have changed since I was a child.  Now I hear Brian wishing to find a place like where he grew up.  It's me I'm hearing all over again.  I have a wandering spirit - my mom will be the first to tell you that - but I always want to come home to the desert that I have grown to love in New Mexico.