A Senior’s Observations, Opinions and Rantings
Senior Moments
A recent conversation with our adult children went something like this:
Us: Our friends invited us to their son’s wedding in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Them: Nice, do you need a ride to the airport?
Us: No, we are going to drive.
Them: To Colorado? Are you sure? Do you know how far that is? You know, you’re not kids anymore. Why? How long will you be gone?
Us: We are sure. It’s about 2,000 miles. We are not kids, so we can do whatever we want. Why? I’ll tell you why. First, we would have to drive to the Philadelphia International National Airport, one of the worst in the country, then make our way to the check-in with our luggage. After that, we get in the Disney-like Magic Mountain lines for the TSA procedure, and I do mean procedure, as in a medical exam.
If our flight is not cancelled or delayed, we get to share an aluminum tube for over four hours with the unwashed masses, some dressed as if they are going to a sleepover. After landing, we are corralled into the baggage area, where retrieving your luggage is like a contact sport. Don’t they know that if they missed their bag on the first pass of the conveyor belt, their luggage doesn’t go into the great beyond? Wait, wait… oh, here comes the bag again.
Now we get to take a shuttle to the rental car company, where they probably have given away our midsized car and only have a FIAT 500 available, just like the one they gave us in San Francisco. I could practically drive from the back seat.
Now comes the three-hour drive from Denver to Steamboat Springs. What makes this better is we would have to do the same thing on the way back. No, thank you. We have the time. America is a beautiful country. We love the people we meet and the towns we visit, and we embrace the solitude of road travel. We will be gone four to six weeks.
Them: Where have you made hotel reservations?
Us: We haven’t. We will do it on the fly.
Them: Oh, my God. Will you at least share your location?
Us: (shrug) Have you?
Them: ??
So, on August 13 we began our third trip out West. We stopped in Virginia, West Virginia, and Indiana to visit friends and family before crossing the Great Plains, driving the Santa Fe Trail, and marveling at cornfields, sorghum, and wind turbines stretching out to the horizon. We stopped in St. Charles, Missouri, where Lewis and Clark began their expedition; Keeneland Horse Park and Churchill Downs in Kentucky; and Dodge City, Kansas, where homage is paid to their Western past with statues of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Marshal Dillon from “Gunsmoke.”
As we continued west, we felt the effects of the increasing altitude. Steamboat Springs has an elevation of almost 7,000 feet. Of course, the wedding venue is at the top of the ski run, which is almost 10,000 feet. The tip-off that the altitude might be challenging was the fact that the wedding family put small oxygen bottles in the gift bags. People we came in contact with from various parts of the country were amused when we told them about our altitude in Ventnor.
“The altitude of my living room is 10 feet above sea level. 10 FEET!”
Ten thousand feet might be a problem. The puckering gondola ride to the venue at the top of the mountain took an agonizing 13 minutes for an elevation gain of 3,000 feet through thick grey clouds and a misty rain.
But blessings do happen. After the ceremony, the clouds parted, and we witnessed one of the most beautiful, glowing mountaintop sunsets one can imagine. The nighttime gondola ride down was amazing with the lights below shining like diamonds on a black velvet background. Overall, we were gone for almost six weeks, stayed in 14 hotels, stopped 17 times for fuel, and ended up driving over 5,600 miles across 15 states.
America is a beautiful country, and such a trip puts one in touch with people of diverse personalities and backgrounds.
This is our third trip out West. We always return with a renewed perspective of what this country really represents, and it is always encouraging.
We didn’t even have to go through TSA to experience it.
Charles Eberson has been in the newspaper business for over 25 years. He has worked as a writer, advertising executive, circulation manager and photographer. His photography can be viewed at charles-eberson.fineartamerica.com
