On Visiting Friends

We set off on this trip for the announced purposes of seeing the fall colors in New England and the memorials in D. C., and, in that sense, it has been a rousing success -- seeing sights we had never seen before has been both interesting and exciting.

But sights of physical phenomena pale alongside the other opportunities we have had on this trip [it had occurred to us in our trip planning that we would, of course, try to drop in on friends if we passed in their direction, but the list below of stops along the way is lengthy, to say the least]:















1) Visiting a good Unitarian friend now in New Jersey but originally from Texarkana, TX, where Unitarians are a variant of "Yankee," than which nothing is more despised in that area . . .
2) Visiting a college room-mate that we haven't seen for almost fifty years and renewing old acquaintances, taking up politics, science versus religion (AKA ID vs evolution) and other such topics virtually non-stop for two days and evenings, most of the time sipping wine or scotch or some such, almost like in college days (except for the wine and scotch) . . .
3) Visiting three cousins (and in-laws) in the old original family stomping grounds, and learning some new (old) family secrets . . .
4) Getting to the SouthWest (where we have spent most of our adult lives) so that we can continue the visiting-old-friends phase of our journey
a) Carlsbad, NM – Jim and Sally – met in McIntosh, NM in 1979 and knocked around with until 1989, including a hike down into the Grand Canyon in 1986, and an unforgettable hike across the Sandias, also in 1986
b) Sierra Vista, AZ – Jim and Linda – met in Albuquerque, NM in 1979 and socialized, camped, hung out until 1989, have traded visits since – in Arizona along the Colorado River and in the Phoenix area
c) Corona de Tucson, AZ – Jim and Judy – met in Tucson, AZ in 1967 (my God, can it be that long ago?) and socialized, hung out, discussed how to raise kids, until 1976, have traded visits since – in the picture, that's Judy profiled in front of one of her paintings
d) Tucson, AZ – J.D. and Margot – also met in Tucson, AZ in 1967 (my God, can it be that long ago?) and socialized, hung out, discussed how to raise kids, until 1976, traded visits often since then, had Margot up in Las Vegas (in 1996) to help the UU group focus on getting a building, saw J.D. in Seattle just last winter for a conference, and all three (including Athena) in April for the Big O's party
e) Las Vegas, NV -- Jerry and Linda – the relative newbies of the old friends category, only since 1994, were in Seattle in April for the Big O's, camped up and down Vancouver Island together this past July, house-sat, drank good wine together, argued politics and investments . . .
f) Las Vegas, NV – Ed and Sheral – more relative newbies met at the UU group in Las Vegas back in '94, Clara's "crafty friend," telephone-chatting buddy and assistant chef for Big O's
g) Lancaster, CA – Kim Monette – a Las Vegas friend who has (twice) moved on since then, but still a dear friend, together with her new partner Cathy, and Kim's son Randy, wife Michelle, and sons Zack and Nicholas
h) Bakersfield, CA – Opal Ratzlaff, Clara's 95-yr old aunt, the only surviving member of her mother's immediate family (of seven sisters and a brother), surprisingly spry and energetic despite a recent stroke
i) Walnut Creek, CA – Ron Ellis, recently deposed as our most long-time friend [see 2) above] – we met Ron and his wife Darcy (sadly no longer with us) when the erstwhile tax assessor came to our apartment (fancy name for the middle section of an old Army barracks) in Lincoln, NE in 1962, or thereabouts. He has since then fallen on hard times, having had to turn to work as a psychologist . . .
j) Rossmoor, CA – Arnie and Ellie Gilbert, our second visit with old friends from Texarkana days [see 1) above], met them in the context of the Texarkana "rebels" group – those who didn't fit in with the local Church of Christ/Southern Baptist culture – they took us to a "discussion group" where we were by far the youngest in attendance but the discussion of the Democratic Presidential candidates was lively and loud, to say the least . . .

This trip then has constituted a mixture of sights never before seen, educational experiences on our history and heritage, and social interactions with new friends met along the way and, as noted at length above, much time spent with old and treasured friends, also note from the pictures that Clara slipped in some extra time for some new four-legged friends. You could say, if you were wont to think in those terms, that our trip has constituted both a metaphor for, and a microcosm of, life itself. As that great philosopher of the Far North has said "Lutherans have as their anthem the hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!" while Unitarians, who speak reverently of life as a journey, have as their anthem "A Mighty RV Is Our God!"