Category Archives: Travel

Family, Travel

Today: Miss Rodeo Utah

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Wmter               Waxing Cold Moon

Though I chose the Cold Moon name for this full moon, Colorado isn’t.  Cold that is.  Here in the Mile High City the temperature yesterday was 58. Confusing to this northern boy who had on too much clothing.

At Smashburger yesterday, I sat waiting on my hot dog.  Smashburger is a new franchise, at least to me.  They fry their burgers.  Which seems like gilding the lily, so I went for the hot dog.  They fried the bun.  Anyhow, while waiting I got that on vacation feeling, an unfamiliar place in unfamiliar weather. It was a surprise because I consider these family visits just that, not vacation.

Jon thinks the Vikes are gonna get clobbered.  I can see why he thinks that, but I prefer to see the  8-0 at home record and the last six quarters of their play.  The Saints picked up where they were just before they lost three in a row.  I don’t see why we can’t.

My second breakfast here at the Marriot.  Seems hotels have gone the way of the airline industry.  No more free breakfast. Now it’s buffet with a price tag.  Still, I’m a captive audience since I want to come back up to the room and write.  This morning I dined near Miss Rodeo Utah.  A blond-haired beauty with teal colored cowboy boots and real tight jeans.  And, you guessed it, a big belt buckle.

Travel

In Denver

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Winter                          New Moon (cold moon)

4 am came surprisingly early.  A bit bleary eyed I walked down the driveway, too steep apparently for the super shuttle.  As the next hour and a half passed, the driver treated me to a dark and winding tour of the northern and northwestern suburbs as we picked up two other early fliers.  I got to be first!

Checking in and security were fine, almost like days of yore, back when I enjoyed flying.  Over the last few years, especially in airports, I have had occasion to use my anthropological training.  The dark suited male with colorful tie and dress shirt has the tendency to act out dominance behavior.  These latter day masters of the universe strut and fret and have their day upon the stage and then blessedly fade away.

When I worked for the church, I used to fly a lot and I remember the sense of self-importance the whole airport, travel to different cities, meetings with folks in hotel conference rooms gave me.  It was an illusion of course, but like most illusions almost impossible to stumble onto when you’re in the midst of it.

When I got to the hotel, I discovered I was at the wrong one, so I had to drive a bit further.  Geez.  This  is the second time I’ve screwed up hotel reservations here.

Anyhow a nice desk clerk, a woman from spain, got me into a room right away, around 11:00-11:30 so I could take a nap.  Which I needed.]

Got up and have spent an hour so writing on the new novel.  Jen just called, so I’m going over there soon.

The Stock Show folks are every where with livestock trailers, fifth wheelers, cowboy hats and at least one pair of lizard skin cowboy boots.  Leather accessories with silver decor also seem popular.

Friends, Travel

Going Wild Hog

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Winter                                   New Moon

Sheepshead tonight.  Better cards so I ended up in positive territory.  Felt good.

I get up at 4 am to take the super shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning.  Yikes.

Ancientrails will be on the road for the next six day, reporting from the Stapleton Doubletree on the very northern outskirts of Denver Colorado.  Look for regular information about cows, cowboys, cattle, horses and things Western.

Yee Hah.

 

Dogs, Travel

Busy Day

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Winter                                Waning Moon of Long Nights

Final travel arrangements for Denver finished.  Car.  Shuttle reservation.

Business meeting this morning.  Money fine.  Next week for Kate planned. Looks good.

Slept badly last night, so a long and hard nap this afternoon.  Got up, wrote for two hours.  Worked out, watched a bit of TV.  Read.

Vega and Rigel killed a rabbit and a squirrel this morning.  Doggy pride in a kill matures them.  Vega guarded both critters with careful attentiveness.  Sitting in the path that led to the rabbit.  She needed no barking or growling.  Her presence was confident and brooked no intervention.  This from the dog who usually occupies low spot on the canine totem pole here.

Both Vega and Rigel went round with their tails held high, a bit of a swagger.  I’m a dog, yes I am, and I can’t help but being a dog.  Yup Yup.

When I come upstairs after exercise, Vega rolls over and thumps her tail.  She puts her paws around my neck, licks my hand and thumps her tail some more.

Garden, Great Work, Politics, Travel, Weather +Climate

With Thoughts of Green, Growing Things Dancing in My Head

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Winter                                Waxing Moon of Long Nights

We’ve warmed up to 0.  Midmorning’s brittle sunshine diffuses in the hazy, partly cloudy sky.  The whippets go outside, pee, turn around and come right back inside.  Rigel, unphased, continues to hunt around the machine shed, staying on the hunt for hours at a time.  Sometimes she comes in after midnight, too.  Vega prefers the comforts of home, a couch, a bone, heated air.

A subtle change has occurred in my inner world.  I have begun to wonder where the seed catalogs are.  I have one in hand but I didn’t like their seeds so I’m waiting for others.  This year’s garden will benefit from last year’s mistakes.  In particular I’m going to make a real effort with leeks, have a better onion crop (sets), plant fewer greens and harvest more regularly (in general), beets, beans, one squash, not many tomatoes since we stocked up this year.  I’ll plant potatoes again, too, but this time I will store them in the basement rather than outside in the garage stairwell.

It is  time, too, to get back to work on legislative matters for the Sierra Club.  I got a call last night from Josh Davis about a meeting of the Club’s political committee next week.  No tours for the time being, just fine with me.  After Sin and Salvation followed by the Louvre, I can use a rest.

In the middle of January I head out to Denver for a week to take in the Stock Show with Jon and Jen and  Ruth and Gabe.  This is a premier event of the western US.  I’m going just to see what it’s like.

Travel

An Interesting Comment on Travel Insurance

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Lughnasa                            Waning Harvest Moon

Found this on the Economist website and thought it’s common sense made it worth sharing:

“maenad2 wrote:
September 3, 2009 14:13

There are three kinds of medical problems you may have while on holiday.

The first is a simple need for cheap stuff, such as antibiotics for an obvious infection. You pay for this yourself – either by buying an (expensive) policy which covers EVERYTHING, or by paying the costs directly.

The second is a mid-level problem, such as a broken wrist. Insurance to cover an accident like this is not expensive, but equally, you can risk not getting it: you don’t have to mortgage your home to pay medical costs if you have to.

The third is a serious problem, such as damaging your spine. In this case the insurance pays for itself, but these cases are very uncommon. Insurance companies very seldom have to pay out for major accidents.

There is no point in buying the first type of insurance, because it costs as much as it is likely to pay. The second type is your call – if you are willing to risk a $5000 medical bill because you know you are a careful tourist, it can be a good idea to not pay for this insurance.

Everyone should have the third type of insurance. Insurance with a $5000 deductable can be as little as $10 a month. It won’t cover you if you break your leg, but it will cover you if you break your spine.

Unfortunately, many shoestring travellers don’t understand this. They either give their hard-earned cash to insurers, or they go without altogether – like poor old George.”   (George had a fall in India, became a quadriplegic. W/o insurance his tab for the hospital is $28,000 plus another $55,000 to get him back to Australia.)

Aging, Travel

Traveling Together. How?

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Beltane                         Waning Dyan Moon

Speaking too soon.  Right after I posted the last entry Kate got sick.  She lay on the couch in our deluxe room, sweating and feeling miserable.  This concerned me, both for her and for what it might mean for our travel together.

I felt we had established the train as a good means of transportation for the both of us, then this sudden onset.  Perhaps it was dietary, perhaps motion sickness (to which she is prone), whatever it was, it seems to rule out the train, too.

Traveling with Kate is so much more fun, more pleasurable in a lot of the big and small ways you might expect.  The shared burdens of travel:  watching luggage, listening to announcements, finding the right exit become easier.  The shared joys of travel:  people watching, running commentary, being together also multiply.  So, I wanted the train to work.

My reaction to her illness was complex.  Of course I felt concern for her and empathy, but, too, I experienced disappointment, upset, some anger.  Just when I thought we had the travel thing licked, here she was, sick again.  Not fair on my part, no.  But, it was what I felt.

Not a pleasant moment for either of us.  Our job now, today, is to work out new wrinkles, perhaps scopolamine patches or different dietary choices.

Here’s the overall problem.   A difficult and painful ride back from Turkey six years ago, in which Kate suffered agony from the long haul, tipped me over from a reluctant flier to an only if absolutely necessary flier.  The thousand small insults of air travel combined with Kate’s difficulties to make me say, enough.  That was when I resumed taking the train, a practice begun long ago and abandoned for a time in favor of air.

A trip to Denver last fall made it obvious that Kate can’t take long rides in vehicles, either, so that ruled out car, truck or RV as modes of travel.  Note that none of this is her fault, underlying health issues from degenerative disc disease to an intolerance for certain motion stimuli just cause problems.

It does however leave us with diminishing options for traveling together, something  we hope to do more when she retires.  We’ll just have to see where this goes.

Aging, Travel

Only 2 more hours

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Beltane                  Waning Dyan Moon

Empire Builder, Winona, Minnesota around 8:00 pm

We just ate dinner with a couple who retired 5 years ago from IBM. They’re headed for Glacier National Park, then onto a cruise up the Northwest Coast to Alaska, thence to Denali. All the retirees we’ve met have said how much they enjoy retirement. Positive news for us with Kate’s impending retirement.

This trip, a quick one, has only 2 more hours to run. It has however established the train as a means of transportation suited to Kate. We pulled out the beds and napped our way between Chicago and Milwaukee. Before supper Kate lay down, then while we ate we had the cabin steward restore the seats. There is a toilet and a shower in this unit. That would make a longer trip more fun.

The Mississippi flows just to our east with the ridges of southern Minnesota and Wisconsin lifted up from the river valley. We just passed the Billy Carneal, a barge tug (even though it pushes), with 9 barges in tow (even though they precede rather than follow the tug.) There were waiting on the tainter valves to drain a lock.

The eastern sky, toward Wisconsin, has a pink blush. This long summer day gives more time to see the river on the ride home. In the winter night has fallen by Winona and the river passes by in the dark.

Travel

Lounge Lizards

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Beltane           Waning Dyan Moon

Metropolitan Lounge, Chicago, Illinois

Once again in this pleasant wood lined lounge with comfortable chairs and internet access.  Here they check baggage until your train boards, have treats and drinks.  They also guide us out to the train by a back route before the boarding of coach passengers.  It is a civilized addition to train travel.  It is superior to the Acela Lounge in D.C. on the criteria of friendliness, user services and comfort.

Kate and I ate lunch up in the food court.  I had my necessary Italian beef  with hot peppers and extra juice.  In Indiana I also had three pieces of sugar cream pie, an indulgence only available commercially in the south.  It’s on my list of things I can cook, but I don’t make it often.

After lunch we went out on the plaza and watched traffic on the Chicago River, one of the least appealing water ways in the US.  Straight across the river from Union Station the Sears Tower rises 104 stories.  Once the tallest building in the world it has not held the record for quite some time.

Our train boards in the next 45 minutes or so.  Kate seems to be a convinced rail traveler now, so we might end up seeing more of the US and Canada by train.

Family, Travel

Went Down the Sunday Throat

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Beltane Waning Dyan Moon

Amtrak Cardinal north of Renessalear, Indiana 8 am

Kate and I woke up at 4:30 this morning, showered and finished packing. We headed around the corner to the train station. As we got there at 5:15 or so, the station master had just begun to announce boarding. We walked up the double staircase. The door to our car opened right at the top of the stairs. We went up three steps, went forward as the car attendant asked and sat down. Less than 10 minutes after leaving our hotel room, we were in our seats and ready togo. Try that at the airport.

We had a discussion of Hoosier phrases with Diane yesterday. When somebody chokes, we would say the food “went down the Sunday throat.” We also ate supper, not dinner. I referred to one of my aunts as being “a caution,” a phrase the others had not heard.

As the train now heads north, I find, as I always do, that I’m glad. The north refreshes me, invigorates. Mostly, it is home. Indiana is where I’m from and a place that holds the precious memories of childhood, but it is no longer home, except in the sense of that familiar place where I grew up.

We ate breakfast today with a former Marine corps A6 Intruder pilot and his wife, a librarian. He was not a person I would have chosen for conversation and that made this another wonderful moment. We found both him and his wife delightful company. He expressed a keen interest in the Kindle. They are on their way from Lynchburg, Virginia (they are Episcopalian) to California where his lt col son will hand over command to another officer.

The pace of the train, the sound of its whistle, plaintive and sometimes forlorn and the comfort of the seats combine with good company and friendy attendants to make the trip a joy.

Next stop, the Metropolitan Lounge in Union Station, Chicago.