5,000-mile Safari Successful
Wow -- the little Westie took us 5,000 miles to a series of workshops, demos, presentations and shows across the Southwest with only few problems: suffering one little breakdown (thanks to the mechanics at Gary's in Des Moine!), getting a flat tire in Arizona, being caught in a flood in Colorado, being fogbound overnight at Big Sur, and having a clamp needing to be tightened in Monterrey, California (thanks to Mark Shuler, a handy man with pliers as well as bullwhips!).
The 12-day tour was called a Bullwhip Safari because a safari is a journey of both exploration and hunting -- and I was doing both. I saw parts of this country that amazed me and humbled me; Mary took 2,000-plus pictures; and I was able to track down old friends and to make a lot of new friends.
Woo in Wichita was a superb host with a basement full of a strange sea creatures; in Denver the enthusiastic folks treated us to a marvelous after-workshop meal; in Albuquerque, I saw the biggest banana split I'd ever seen in my life; in Tucson, I was most grateful my hosts Jefferson and Lois had more integrity than the Radisson Hotel there and helped the weekend turn out to be a true treasure in time; we stood on the shore of Monterrey Bay and looked out to where the USS Macon met its end (on Feb 12th all those years ago, coincidentally my own birthday but not quite as many years ago); we sailed the Great Salt Flats and met the truest salt of the earth in Salt Lake City, dear folks who reminded us why we enjoy doing this; we saw the amazing stone colors of Wyoming's mountains, the high plains and the sky full of stars at every turn, every night. Wow!
We'll probably do something like this again next year. We're already looking forward to it, and this time I hope we can include the Pacific Northwest!
Thank you to the many people who made this a memorable time. I hope it was as good for you as it was for us.
The 12-day tour was called a Bullwhip Safari because a safari is a journey of both exploration and hunting -- and I was doing both. I saw parts of this country that amazed me and humbled me; Mary took 2,000-plus pictures; and I was able to track down old friends and to make a lot of new friends.
Woo in Wichita was a superb host with a basement full of a strange sea creatures; in Denver the enthusiastic folks treated us to a marvelous after-workshop meal; in Albuquerque, I saw the biggest banana split I'd ever seen in my life; in Tucson, I was most grateful my hosts Jefferson and Lois had more integrity than the Radisson Hotel there and helped the weekend turn out to be a true treasure in time; we stood on the shore of Monterrey Bay and looked out to where the USS Macon met its end (on Feb 12th all those years ago, coincidentally my own birthday but not quite as many years ago); we sailed the Great Salt Flats and met the truest salt of the earth in Salt Lake City, dear folks who reminded us why we enjoy doing this; we saw the amazing stone colors of Wyoming's mountains, the high plains and the sky full of stars at every turn, every night. Wow!
We'll probably do something like this again next year. We're already looking forward to it, and this time I hope we can include the Pacific Northwest!
Thank you to the many people who made this a memorable time. I hope it was as good for you as it was for us.
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