Kat,Thanks.
When Carol and I left Chicago with an untrained German Shepherd puppy and a cat named Running Bear plus books and LPs, we looked all over the way/road West to find a place where we wanted to settle. Just moved until we stopped---in Depoe Bay, Oregon. A couple of years later, when we went back to Chicago, we travelled for three years and camped out in our VW bus all over the USA & Canada. We, in fact, retired FIRST, and now I'm truly glad we did as we no longer have the strength to climb mountains (and neither is very old). What do we have to show for it? Just wonderful memories---and 1800 slides. Even then I knew that the Westering I was enamoured with was disappearing quick. Going East regularly, singing on tour, by bus and car, showed me that the teeming East IS (at least along the ocean) paved and developed with private property all the way from Florida to North of Boston. Sure is hard to keep to natural stretches along there. There's no wilderness at all, but if you aim your camera carefully you can isolate beautiful vistas in the East. When you turn around & look the other way, it's urban sprawl everywhere. Yeah, the more things change, the more they get different. By the time I'm ready to leave this best of all possible worlds, I'll be resigned (if not happy) to hand the brave new world to the brave new generation. And yes, flying can produce hard times that lead to insigts too. I'll never forget almost crashing once. The serenity I crave now can't be found in airports and horror stories of luggage lost. (see below)
A friend of mine went to the airport for a flight and asked that one of his bags go to Chicago and one go to San Francisco and one go to Boston. The ticket agent told him they couldn't do that. He responded, "Why not? You did it yesterrday!!" ;-)
Like the Big Bopper---"I know what I like." ;-)
Was that a border collie flying with you and the kids?? I sure do hope there were no cats in the luggage compartment with your dog! (They are wonderful dogs! But quite territorial.)
Our German Shepherd mated with a domesticated coyote during it's first heat out in Oregon. The shepherd turned vicious to the point that she tried to kill her daughter and we had to give her away for a guard dog. But that half coyote--half shepherd mix named Rebecca was the best dog we ever had!!!
I'd truly love to see the East coast at the time of the Pilgrim's landing--when they say a squirrel could climb a tree on the coast and jump from tree to tree without needing to descend until it got to the Mississippi River.
THAT was really GOING TO THE WEST!!
Sorry, Kat, for mixing the threads.
I gather that you're a writer. If so, I'd love to read your work! Please, let me know (privately or here) titles etc. so I can order some.
All the best,
Art Thieme