"WHERE'S YOUR NEXT TRIP?"

That is a question that Lou & I have become accustomed to happily answering. Our family, friends & acquaintances know that we love to travel & take every opportunity we can to explore our world. Often times we’ll have a couple of trips in the works. Sometimes I think I enjoy the planning almost as much as the actual travel.

I just counted & over the almost thirteen years that Lou & I have been together, we have taken 40 “big trips”. I define “big trips” as those which are five days or longer & are outside of California or Nevada. If you include those two states, the number reaches into the hundreds.

Unfortunately, we have both been asked the “where’s your next trip” question several times in the past few weeks & have had to answer, “Sadly, we don’t have anything planned.” That is due to the fact that we both have elderly parents with numerous health & medical issues.

My father has been fighting poor circulation in his foot that has resulted in six hospitalizations since December of last year currently culminating in a partial foot amputation. Both my sister & I live 100 miles away which makes it difficult at best. I joke that I’m the “DIC” – “Daughter In Charge”.  The day before our last trip to the Super Bowl in late January, he landed in ICU with severe bleeding ulcers from a new blood thinner. Since his life was not in imminent danger, I headed off for New Jersey with his blessing leaving my sister as the “DIC”. She did a great job & I was ready to hand it over permanently but she has adamantly refused!

Even though all of these issues may likely get worse as time goes on, I told Lou we HAVE to get a trip planned! We each literally have a travel list so we started throwing out ideas. It had to be a trip within the United States on Southwest Airlines since they don’t have change fees if we needed to postpone it. We would make hotel & car reservations that are all cancellable. That way we aren’t out any money if we have to change everything.

A couple of days ago as I read the morning newspaper an article in our Sacramento Bee jumped out at me. “Hmmmm!” I exclaimed, “Here is a big article about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Tower in Racine, Wisconsin opening for tours.”

“Really?” Lou’s ears perked up as he replied. That is the last big design of Wright’s that we haven’t yet seen. It was only open for tours one Saturday a month but the tower has been recently renovated & will soon be open daily.

Awhile later after he read it, Lou said, “Maybe we should plan a trip to Wisconsin.” There are several Wright designed homes in the area including an impressive one that is also open for public tours. Our experience has always been that we find way more to do than we have time for wherever we go & I’m sure this one will be no different.

I hopped online & checked the Giants schedule to see if we could work a trip around seeing them play the Milwaukee Brewers. We can! They will play in early August so we are happily planning a week long jaunt to Wisconsin. It is Lou’s job to find all the places we want to see & I do my best to fit them all in. This is the part of being a travel agent that I loved!

So, please, go ahead & ask me, “Where’s your next trip?”

My answer will be, “We’re going to Wisconsin in August to see some more Frank Lloyd Wright sites & the Giants play the Brewers!”

Even though parts of my life may be spinning out of control, at least our travel plans are back on track! That makes things a little more right with my world – & time with my Charley Ellen, of course.

IN AN INSTANT

This will be more somber than most of my thoughts. This morning I planned to take a “me day” – get a massage, shop a little, maybe get my nails done. On my way down Antelope Road I came upon a traffic back up. All I could see initially were several TV news truck antennas in the air & many police cars with lights flashing.

As I approached the scene, a mutilated pile of metal that used to be a car was in one lane, a police car was off the road in the bushes & a slightly damaged pick-up truck nearby. Then I saw the yellow tarp draped over the remains of the car. I knew it was covering a dead body. Someone was driving down the same road I travel at least 2 or 3 times a week having no idea that their life would end momentarily. It totally unnerved me.

As I made my first stop at the post office a few blocks ahead, I pulled out my phone & checked a local news station’s website for details. What I learned unnerved me even more. A high speed chase between the police & some burglary suspects reaching speeds of 100 mph had continued until the suspects crashed into the car. A man & a girl were killed instantly - a father taking his daughter to school.

It was such a sobering moment that I considered skipping my “me day”. But then I decided to go ahead & take care of myself. There was nothing I could do to help those poor innocent victims driving down the street as they probably did every morning without thinking that their lives could be over in an instant. Every one of us needs to take care of ourselves & those we love EVERY day. No one ever knows for sure that we’ll be alive tomorrow – or even in 10 minutes.

It is hard not to wonder what our world is coming to when innocent people can’t drive safely down a public street. The fact that two teenagers trying to escape the police in a botched burglary can snuff out two lives then flee the scene is abominable. Fortunately, the young men were caught & will be charged with homicide.

There is too much violence & too much apathy in this country. I’m not sure what we can do to stop it but something has to change. This was one incident in our neighborhood, but similar tragedies & others occur daily in many neighborhoods all over the United States. As we turned on the TV this afternoon to find more details about what was surely the lead story on the local news, we were stunned to find out that it wasn’t.

A gunman was again on the loose shooting people at Fort Hood, Texas. Three were dead & many injured as the incident continued to unfold. Countless families were locked in their homes on the base, terrified of being shot & killed. This violence, whether with a car or a gun, is all too commonplace in our world.

The most prosperous & advanced country in the world has to find a way to stop this senseless violence, destruction & death. In the meantime, give those you love an extra hug & tell them again & again how much you love them. It could all be over in an instant.