“Well, my b
ags are packed, I’m ready to go…”
John Denver, songwriter
The above is from the song, “Leaving On a Jet Plane”, which John wrote, and it was a hit for Peter, Paul, and Mary, somewhere back in the sixties. Well I’m not leaving on a jet plane this time, but my bag is packed in the back of my van and I am just getting ready to leave my place in California and head out north, then further north, then east and way out east, as I begin my semi-retirement.
I don’t even know why I use the term “semi-retirement, because I really don’t plan on retiring anytime soon in the sense that I will stop writing, or doing shows, or making videos or whatever else it is I do. And I will be back here to Central California by September to work on some projects, but for now I’m heading north, up to Bend, Oregon for a few weeks and than east back to New York City where I was born.
Once I get back east, I’ve am lucky enough to have all kinds of family and friends to visit with, and I am so excited about that. So why am I driving? Because even though in my younger days, almost 45 years ago now, and either by myself, or with friends, I crossed the USA , north, south , east, and west, and had many great times of discovery and great experiences. Seeing the mountain majesties,Mississippi, or Chicago, or parts of Texas, Arizona, California, Yosemite, the beaches etc. and so many other places, for the first time, was 99% of the time, a great thrill.
That’s why when I decided to take this trip, and why I decided to drive it like the old days. I mapped out some of the places I had never made it to back then. Sometimes I wonder how I missed places like these. Like after a few weeks in Bend (which I know and love already), I’ll be visiting Jackson Hole, The Grand Tetons, the Snake River, and Yellowstone’s Old Faithful, (all in Wyoming) which I remember hearing about back in St. Joseph’s Grammar School on Long Island.
This long trip will also include other places like Thunder Bay in Canada (above Lake Superior), Indian River, Michigan, which is about 20 miles from the Canadian border (to visit with Pat and Jane McGuiness of McGuiness Sports, whom I worked with for years in California, and then on to Montreal and down to Boston where the family and friends start. So it’s going to be a very long trip and I am sure looking forward to it. Haven’t been this excited about a trip since I went to Alaska last year. (Don’t get me started on that.)
So anyway here goes. I plan on checking in along the way and I hope everyone has a great summer. I will be missing my friends at Cocola Broadcasting Companies, and even though I am not retiring for a long time from now, I am looking forward to this kind of jaunt back home. I will surely miss my kids and their families and that is why this trip won’t be a real long one.
Take care everybody. Big thanks from me to Jose Arreguin for helping me put this website stuff together and organized.
