{"id":627,"date":"2009-06-05T17:09:54","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T21:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=627"},"modified":"2009-06-05T17:09:54","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T21:09:54","slug":"summer-travels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=627","title":{"rendered":"Summer Travels"},"content":{"rendered":"

photo-2-small.JPG<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cA journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.\u201d <\/p>\n

—Tim Cahill
\n__________<\/p>\n

Used to be, years ago, that I could pick up on a whim and travel cross-country on some wild goose chase or another. For any reason or none. Maybe there was work somewhere in another state. Or I was heading off to college. Or just visiting a friend. Whatever the reason, I packed my duffle bag, counted my meager hoard to make sure there was enough money for gas and food, and headed out. Often, in those days, I\u2019d set out in the evening, so as to avoid excessive traffic. Drive all night, my eyes propped open by cup after cup of strong black coffee. Ah, those were the days. <\/p>\n

Not so much anymore. I\u2019m now a certified homebody. Guess it comes with age. The idea of a fast and loose trip, like those in my youth, tempts me not at all. Wearies me, in fact. I\u2019m quite content to stay in my unglamorous little home, to follow my bland daily routine. Work, gym, a couple of hours writing at the computer in the evening, with a baseball game on TV off to the side. Then off the bed, and do it all over again tomorrow. <\/p>\n

Now Memorial Day has come and gone, with all its solemn observation, cookouts, and merriment. The official summer kickoff weekend. And the way things are shaping up, this staunch homebody is going to be doing some serious gallivanting around in the coming weeks. \t\t<\/p>\n

This weekend comes the first summer adventure. With a small group of brave friends, I plan to camp out in a motor home inside the oval at the Pocono 500 Nascar race. How redneck is that? Now that little trip I AM looking forward to very much. I\u2019ve only done something similar once before, back in 2000, when my brother Nate and a few of his South Carolina friends treated me to an excursion. At the Charlotte, NC Raceway. It has been my greatest Nascar experience to date.<\/p>\n

Maybe not for long. This inside-the-oval camping stuff is for the real junkies. Hard core race fans. It\u2019s like a little city in there. Redneck city. Row after row of motor homes, vendors, food and drink stands, all kinds of flags waving (including Dixie), and loud splashy T-shirts. <\/p>\n

And, of course, the race itself. It\u2019s ear-splittingly loud, it\u2019s unbelievably fast, it\u2019s a true-blue redneck experience. Slurp, slurp. Watching on TV is nothing, compared to seeing it live. There is simply no comparison. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll cook out, hang out, sit on top of the motor home on lawn chairs and watch the races with binoculars. Busch race on Saturday, the big one on Sunday. I\u2019ll take plenty of pics. To those who watch the race: look for the guy in the blue lawn chair waving wildly from atop a giant motor home.<\/p>\n

Then, a few weeks after that, after barely regrouping and returning to my normal routine, I\u2019ll take another trip. My first visit to Holmes County, Ohio. I\u2019ve never been there. In all my wanderings over the years, never even came close. Don\u2019t really know why. Guess I just didn\u2019t have a lot of contacts there. And it never was on my path when traveling from one place to another. <\/p>\n

Now I have at least one contact. One who seems to know everyone who is someone, which I guess includes about everybody. My buddy John Schmid. John has graciously volunteered to host me. And set the entire agenda. I\u2019m just showing up. He\u2019ll take it from there. Hopefully after that trip, I\u2019ll know a lot more people, including a lot of new friends. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to expect, so probably the best thing is to have no expectations. Or as few as possible. That way, whatever happens is good. From what I\u2019ve seen in films and pictures, Holmes looks to be hilly, with lots of little farms dotted about. And lots of tourist-trap places. <\/p>\n

And then, a few weeks after I\u2019m home from what will surely be a wild and exciting experience in Holmes, I\u2019m off again. No rest for this homebody. This time it\u2019s to a family gathering in Mays Lick, Kentucky. <\/p>\n

I have ten siblings. Five brothers and five sisters. We haven\u2019t all been together in the same place as a family for more than thirty-five years. Back when I was about ten years old. It\u2019s never worked out since then, as for decades the Amish siblings have refused to host those of us who aren\u2019t, or attend non-Amish events. <\/p>\n

I could say something trite, like, how sad. And it is sad, but it\u2019s also ordinary people living their lives as best they can, as best they know. Doing what they think is right. I respect that, or try to. <\/p>\n

Thankfully, the situation has been changing slowly, as the passing of years forces each of us to face our own mortality. Age seems to mellow people somewhat. Usually, anyway. But not always. So we inch ever closer to the possibility of all being present. We\u2019ve come close a few times, with only one or two absent, but haven\u2019t quite been able to make it. There\u2019s always the logistical issue of assembling from various points in the country to one place. At the same time. So I\u2019m not sure we will this time either. As they say about such family dynamics, it\u2019s going to take a funeral. But it would be great if we could get it done before it comes to that. <\/p>\n

So that\u2019s my travel itinerary for the near future. Lots of miles, lots of places. What with the gas prices inching up, I might park Big Blue again, and rent some little jitterbug, at least for the last two trips. I hope the rental won\u2019t be a hybrid.<\/p>\n

*************
\nAnd now, a brief update on the Heathen post from a few weeks ago. I had decided last week that I would not expound further on the matter. Heathen is still garnering the occasional comment, and the conversation may continue there for as long as it will, as long as you the readers have something to say. <\/p>\n

But some instinctive prompting made me decide to let it rest, not to expound further on it for now. There\u2019s only so much one can say. And I\u2019ve said my piece. No sense beating a dead horse. <\/p>\n

When I got back to the office after the Memorial Day weekend, a letter waited on my desk. From Joe\u2019s publishing company. I sat and peered at the envelope with some trepidation. Then opened it. <\/p>\n

It was a personal note from Joe. He had been stunned and deeply affected by my reaction. And, no doubt, by the reactions of my readers. He\u2019d pondered the issue, done some soul searching. In the letter, he apologized sincerely for the personal rejection and the pain he had caused. <\/p>\n

I felt a little bad. Other than the verbal exchange, it never was really about Joe. As I wrote in the post, he served as an unfortunate trigger, the guy who broke the last straw. For me, and for a whole lot of my readers, from the unprecedented number of responses. <\/p>\n

It went so much deeper than him. It was much more about my breaking away from a culture that, well, makes it tough to break away. A lot of latent pain surfaced. Stuff I had not confronted in years. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not fair to blame it all on Joe. It\u2019s wrong to hold a grudge against him. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s made it right. I respect that. I accept the apology. I want to let it go. Move forward. And wish him well.<\/p>\n

And since I so publicly excoriated him, I wanted to let my readers know he did the right thing. Which took some courage. It couldn\u2019t have been easy. <\/p>\n

When I evaluate honestly my own reaction to the incident, I confess to bristling a bit overmuch. I responded with \u201cDon\u2019t Tread on Me.\u201d Right or wrong, part of that response was coldly deliberate. As a warning to others. You can criticize my writings. Reject them for any reason or none. Comment publicly on the blog or send a private email. I can take that as part of the conversation. <\/p>\n

Just don\u2019t make it personal, don\u2019t talk down to me, and don\u2019t preach at me. <\/p>\n

Or I may write about it to the world. At least my world.<\/p>\n

Joe and I both learned from the experience. I\u2019m confident of that. And if that phone call happened today, the conversation, as well as the aftermath, would surely be quite different.<\/p>\n

And you all wouldn\u2019t have to hear about it. <\/p>\n

Thanks to all who commented, mailed and emailed their condolences after last week\u2019s post. I thought at the time that it\u2019s too close; I should just let it go. Not write it for a week or two. But I couldn\u2019t. The grief and melancholy closed in, and that\u2019s one way, the only real way, I deal with it. Write. Last week, any other subject would have been obviously contrived. Because my heart wouldn\u2019t have been in it. <\/p>\n

With some Amish friends, I attended Ben\u2019s viewing the night before his funeral. And on Tuesday, I attended Allan\u2019s memorial service. A small core group of old friends from way back, including me, spoke publicly, sharing our memories of him. Expressed our sadness that he had slipped away so quietly, with so little warning. <\/p>\n

That provided the necessary closure for them both, the formal farewells. Released a lot of grief. I\u2019ll still think of them and miss them, especially Allan. But I\u2019m good. Ready to move on, and live. For as long as I am blessed with life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.\u201d —Tim Cahill __________ Used to be, years ago, that I could pick up on a whim and travel cross-country on some wild goose chase or another. For any reason or none. Maybe there was work somewhere in another state. Or I was heading off to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}