ON THE ROAD

A WIDENED VIEW

        The Willie Nelson song On the Road Again is an anthem for those of us who have spent years of our life working "out there" somewhere.  Part adventure, part drudgery it has the cumulative affect of stretching your view, in what you see, of people and how you think.

        I was hooked from the time my father set up a Buick Roadmaster with a folding cot between the front and back seat.  Not only were cars large in those days, but there was additional room for a cooler, water and additional blankets which would convert the expansive back seat bench into yet another bed. My brother and I had our own capsule as we spanned from the Midwest to the Rockies. I've been traveling since.

NOW HERE IS A ROLE MODEL

       Around Kings Canyon, which is roughly between Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks I saw this unit and knew, here is traveler.

       I've been remote enough to immediately recognize a well equipped unit. This one made me envious.  Turns out it belongs to a Frenchman who has been pretty much on a world journey for several years.  He's shipped his Defender over oceans and then charts a route, with little thought to "when" he will get to the last spot he has marked on the map.

       On this leg of his travel he was working toward Alaska from deep in South America. See what I mean by envy?  Take a look at where he's been so far, marked by the dark line. 

As you can see, he's traveled some tough, remote and war torn areas.

He had a serene, confident, calm about him. It is the kind of "mellow" I have 

seen in others who have seen much of this terrestrial sphere. It is the kind

of behavior I admire and respect-the product of a widened view.

SPEAKING OF A WIDENED VIEW

Here is a good piece of analytical journalism that flies in the face of some of the screeching voices you hear today. It is another sample of McClatchy enterprise reporting. This time public employee pension plans are in focus.

DAY BOOK

KINGS CANYON

      The views of the Canyon along the Kings River are majestic, enough so that our French  explorer noted above put it on his world tour.

      See you down the trail.