Eighteen days and 2,000 miles might not sound spectacular but it kept me busy and I am still getting over the wear & tear. It averages about 110 miles per day but some days the wheels never moved and others they didn’t stop. Our longest layover was four days & nights in Gunnison, Colorado. The longest drive, just shy of 650 miles was the last day. It came with with a late start, me alone on a hot 100+ day, crossing from where the mountains level out in a sea of sagebrush all the way to Missouri. My traveling companion took a (Southwest Airline) flight back to Louisiana. I think she got the better with that, a day ahead of me on the reboot.
I’ve been home two days with 100+ temps setting records but beginning to feel like being up and around. All of my blog writing over those two & a half weeks was about the road trip. Sitting at my kitchen table watching the grass turn brown I have settled into my place in time on the calendar. The world (civilization) is no better off than when we left it behind. I managed to avoid radio & TV news all those days and nights and I didn’t miss a thing. I don’t want to go off on a rant but as I acclimate to the scheme I left on July 2, I get that same old feeling. If God really did create mankind, men in particular, his head (God) was so far up his ass he had to look out through his ears to see what he had done.
I think old people like me fall into one of two categories. Some are angry that progressing old age is robbing them of not only their relevance but their authority as well and someone younger or different must be to blame. So killing your enemies and punishing their children is reason enough to keep on breathing. Long life has taught me that nobody deserves anything. We get what life deals us and we play those cards. If you want someone to blame for all that’s wrong, pick anyone you don’t like. Blame seems to me a two headed serpent that bites both coming and going. Play that game and die young, full of fang holes. We’re all in this together; we need each other. Make love, not war; where did I hear that? Most of the tie/die hippies went on to manage hedge funds or sit on boardroom committees but they had a good idea to begin with. It says something about the power of power and the lust for more. I overshot the hippie generation but not the futility of malice and greed.
Here I am babbling old-man excuses for failing to Make America Great Again. The author of Great Again had his head up his ass too. No, I never want to wallow in popular, ideological quagmires so I’ll not go there. You get days and years to learn that this is all there is. Live now, grow, learn. Don’t forget to love someone who makes you feel important. Love is underrated. Take all you’ve got and give it away. My road trip didn’t do anything to change my mind on why we are here. It just refreshed my understanding and appreciation of geology, gravity, photosynthesis, humming birds, and that all of us, we are just star dust with nothing better to do.
I’ve been home two days with 100+ temps setting records but beginning to feel like being up and around. All of my blog writing over those two & a half weeks was about the road trip. Sitting at my kitchen table watching the grass turn brown I have settled into my place in time on the calendar. The world (civilization) is no better off than when we left it behind. I managed to avoid radio & TV news all those days and nights and I didn’t miss a thing. I don’t want to go off on a rant but as I acclimate to the scheme I left on July 2, I get that same old feeling. If God really did create mankind, men in particular, his head (God) was so far up his ass he had to look out through his ears to see what he had done.
I think old people like me fall into one of two categories. Some are angry that progressing old age is robbing them of not only their relevance but their authority as well and someone younger or different must be to blame. So killing your enemies and punishing their children is reason enough to keep on breathing. Long life has taught me that nobody deserves anything. We get what life deals us and we play those cards. If you want someone to blame for all that’s wrong, pick anyone you don’t like. Blame seems to me a two headed serpent that bites both coming and going. Play that game and die young, full of fang holes. We’re all in this together; we need each other. Make love, not war; where did I hear that? Most of the tie/die hippies went on to manage hedge funds or sit on boardroom committees but they had a good idea to begin with. It says something about the power of power and the lust for more. I overshot the hippie generation but not the futility of malice and greed.
Here I am babbling old-man excuses for failing to Make America Great Again. The author of Great Again had his head up his ass too. No, I never want to wallow in popular, ideological quagmires so I’ll not go there. You get days and years to learn that this is all there is. Live now, grow, learn. Don’t forget to love someone who makes you feel important. Love is underrated. Take all you’ve got and give it away. My road trip didn’t do anything to change my mind on why we are here. It just refreshed my understanding and appreciation of geology, gravity, photosynthesis, humming birds, and that all of us, we are just star dust with nothing better to do.
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