Reflections

Reflections So Far – May 9, 2011

I have been on my road trip adventure for 18 days now since leaving on April 23^rd. So far I have been to the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Sequoia National Park, and San Francisco and now am encamped just outside Yosemite National Park where I will spend the next three days. I have met some interesting people along the journey so far from locals where I was at to folks as far away as Alberta Canada, France, and England, Holland and China as well as various states in the US. It has been a good trip overall so far.

My first week was somewhat hectic and challenging and I was tired a lot. Some if not a lot of that was probably due to the physically and emotionally challenging ten days I spent in Houston on a family emergency that I had not planned on. But then you can’t plan for emergencies, you just have to deal with them when they come. In this case it came right as I was preparing for my trip.  That event then put me behind schedule from my original plan and I had to cancel  a couple of stops I had planned on and to hurry to get things together in one day upon returning to the Dallas area and leaving the next day to make it to the Grand Canyon for Easter to get back on schedule.

Then there were some challenges with the campsite at the Grand Canyon getting it set up and then taken down, from which I have learned. There were also some challenges at Death Valley taking down the camp site in a wind storm, but in both cases I made it and was able to get on down the road so to speak. At Sequoia and the KOA campground things went a lot smoother, but still took longer than I had thought it would to break camp. But I have learned a few things that I will try to apply on the next camp site which will be at Bryce Canyon National Park at another KOA site. Currently I am in a tent cabin near Yosemite. Fortunately it has electricity so I can use my little electric space heater to take the chill off at night I hope.

My impressions of the sites I have seen so far:

The Grand Canyon – Majestic as advertised. The awesome grandeur of the formations is really indescribable. I could just stare at them for hours. If I had more time I would have spent at least one more day there exploring the west end of the canyon. My helicopter ride was fun but not as spectacular as I had hoped. I only booked the 30 minute flight and it took us out toward the west from the park and I thought the formations were not as colorful as those in the park. But the view from above did provide a different perspective than that from the rim. Being there for Easter was a great time to experience the vastness of the canyon. The chasm that spans from the south to the north rims reminds me of the chasm that separated us from God because of our rebellion. But, God in his infinite love and great mercy provided a bridge for that chasm in our hearts by sending His Son to stand in the gap for us and provide a way for us to be reconnected to our Creator.

Death Valley – I expected a lifeless, arid landscape and was not disappointed. There were some oases in some places such as Furnace Creek and Scotty’s Castle. However, I was not prepared for Mosaic of colors in the mountains surrounding the valley. The various hues of browns, pinks, green, black etc. were really surprising. An area of several miles on a loop drive called “Artist’s Drive” exemplified and highlighted the myriad palette of colors in those barren, treeless mountains. Truly beautiful. From the heights of Dante’s view over 5000 feet above sea level to the salt flats of the Badwater Basin 282 feet below sea level provided contrasts that make up Death Valley. Scotty’s Castle was an interesting oasis on the north end of Death Valley with an interesting set of characters that made it a reality in a barren land. Sometimes when driving the roads touring Death Valley and the vastness of the place I felt like the theme from the movie Big Country should have been playing on my iPod!

Sequoia National Park was breathtaking as well but in a different sense because of the magnificent Sequoias and the forested mountain sides. A trip down into Kings Canyon was a fun filled drive, negotiating hairpin turns at break neck speeds. OK so only about 45 mph, but driving my car in manual mode and up shifting and down shifting gears to adjust for speed and curves was a lot of fun. The Kings River that ran through the canyon was amazing to watch, but I had to keep my eyes on the road as it ran parallel to the highway for about a third to half of the 35 miles down into the canyon. It reminded me of a Larry Dyke print I have of a mountain stream.

San Francisco – What can I say; being with my west coast grandchildren was a highlight for me. I had not seen them since Thanksgiving and that only about 2 days, so it was good to be able to spend some time with them. Oh and my daughter and son-in-law too, so they don’t feel left out. It was good to be with all of them. My youngest daughter, Katie, and her husband flew in for Mary Judah’s birthday so we all got to spend time with them as well. It was sad to leave and those kids had sad faces when I was trying to leave. But it was time to get back “on the road again” to see some more or our beautiful country. They also needed to get back into a regular routine for school, family life, etc.

So those are my impressions so far and I will reflect on the others down the road.