Day 4 - Glacier National Park

For Tuesday, September 6, after Labor Day

Traditional summer is over. No crowds, right?

Views from the camp site:

The morning in Glacier National Park was a little breezy. As I was in the bathroom, my new tent blew away a short distance into some weeds. I had mostly emptied it and was letting it air out a bit. Even though the weeds were thorny, no damage was done. Hey, if everything goes smoothly, what would we tell stories about? Really, it was no big deal. It was just another footnote in the “adventure” so far.

Today was the day to travel to the north end of the park. But first I checked out some nearby trails with a small river and Baring Falls waterfall.

Goose Island

Stream in woods

Baring Falls
I did not see anything bear or bare this morning. Relax and imagine feeling the spray.

In open range country, you may encounter cattle on or near the road at any time.

On the north end, I had tentatively picked out the Iceberg Lake trail while researching trail options at home. Only later did I learn that this trail had been closed for over a week due to too much Grizzly Bear activity with fall berry picking. The trail had just reopened yesterday afternoon.

It was a warm day. But I figured it should be cool by the icebergs. So I kept long pants on. That was a mistake. I thought two water bottles would be enough for that distance. But I could have used much more. And I think the altitude had some effects too. So the fun hike did not feel all that great physically.

As recommended, I was noisy most of the way singing and talking and making up little song phrases. This really felt strange. I prefer to be quiet. But the noise is a preventative measure to avoid surprising bears or other animals. I did have bear pepper spray with too.

It is wise to stay on or near the trail at some points.

It was a nice hike with a variety of scenery. The waterfall was mostly hidden with no great view of its height.

The waterfall in the bottom center is only a partial view. It appeared there was no fairly safe route to see the entire waterfall.

But the tiny little Iceberg Lake next to a glacier was a nice spot to stop and rest a while and visit some of the other hikers of all ages. The alpine flowers were putting on a nice show.

Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. There was still a little bit of ice left in September. The view is way too big to get it all in. About ten other people joined me sitting by the lake. Recorded 6 September 2011. Music by Ron Hedberg.


Chillin' by Iceberg Lake. Recorded 6 September 2011. Music by Ron Hedberg.
Relax by the lake for a little bit.

Alpine flowers

Back at the parking lot, I was thankful I had purchased some Gatorade mix. After a couple water bottles of that, I felt much better.

In the parking lot, I met John. He is a therapist/counselor moving from New York for a new job. Unfortunately, he did not get the job out west for which he interviewed. So he wasn’t sure what will be next. Funds are short. After a fairly long talk, I asked if I could pray for him and what’s next. He refused. He is an atheist. I told him God might surprise him (in a good way). Feel free to pray for John, his job situation, and his potential source of hope for the future.

It was getting late and all of the park campgrounds were full. I needed to make progress west. I got back on U.S. Highway 2. I found plenty of campsites in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Summit Campground is on the Continental Divide. Here I saw the need for trains with multiple engines. This is the chosen route for most northern trains. Grain and other goods move west. Cars and other Asian goods move east.

There weren’t too many trains during the night. And road traffic was light. So the $10 campsite served me just fine.

Day 3 - Glacier National Park

For Monday, September 5, Labor Day

Waking up in Cut Bank, Montana I was surprised to see that I had slept very near a large statue of Jesus on the cross. That was cool. The statue overlooked the highway.

Cut Bank, Montana campground

Seeing the Rockies in the distances, for the first time in many years

On the way to Glacier National Park, the engine light was off. But then it came back on while leaving an overlook near the park, similar to the situation the other two times. But the car seemed to be running fine.

Overlook east of Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park was my first national park visit in years. I was hoping for some nice scenery. It was fairly warm for September with no chance of snow soon.

I got a nice campsite #19 at Rising Sun Campground with a view of mountains on two sides. And I got introduced to bear country. I had read about it beforehand. But now I was truly in a place where food had to be put away. And tents should stay mostly fragrance-free to minimize attracting bears.

I took the famous Going to the Sun Road. I would have appreciated the road being a few feet wider. But we all got through. Driving a wide RV on that road could be quite stressful. I did okay driving a car along the cliffs above and below me. Even with the driving challenges, it was fun to be back in the mountains.

Small glacial stream coming down the mountain

On the way back to camp, at the continental divide, I stopped at the visitor center area.

One big horn sheep was acting pretty tame near the visitor center. As I envisioned and predicted, it truly did spend the most time checking out the Ram pickup.

At the campground, I listened to the ranger program, near my site. Dinner got to be late. But, in most respects, all was well.

Day 2 - North Dakota and Montana

For Sunday, 4 September 2011

In Williston, North Dakota, I woke up in plenty of time to clear the parking lot before normal shoppers came around. The car started fine. I went searching for auto repair shops or even auto parts stores that might be able to determine the seriousness of my Check Engine light.

On one of the side streets I found a photo opp. I like things and signs that potentially have a bit of a teaching lesson in them. The big buildings labeled “City Elevator” caught my eye. Let us all raise our cities to new higher levels. While taking a few photos, an older guy came out of his house with his dog. He mentioned that the elevator buildings were for sale. I’m not too interested at this point. He was helpful in pointing me in the right direction for an auto parts store open on Sundays.

I wandered about town a bit. The auto parts store wasn’t going to open until after noon. I was tempted to just move on down the road. But I stuck around town. Since I had some time to wait, I went for a very rare restaurant breakfast. Yeah, it was only McDonalds. But it was still a treat for me. But the bigger treat was that when I started the car again, the Check Engine light was off. All right!

I knew the schedule was tight to head west. But I decided to spend a little time at Theodore Roosevelt National Park nearby. On the way I tried to get some photos of the fields. At one point, I stopped on the shoulder going up a hill. The pictures were mediocre. While leaving, the Check Engine light came back on once again. Bummer! At least it had been off for 37 miles.

Fields we don't see in the suburbs

I was already close to the park, so I continued south. I got to see some interesting rock formations and a couple bison at the park.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

I saw a couple bison by the Visitors Center. I thought I'd see a bunch more. But those few seconds were it, for weeks....



Cannon Balls (sort of) that form from hard rock with soft soil around them. Occasionally they roll down.


Is it a whale looking left? Or maybe it is a bird looking right?



Sometimes the land sinks and slides a little sideways.

On the drive south of Williston, I got a taste of the current environment around there. There were all kinds of ad hoc “RV Parks”. It seemed anybody with a half acre or more, electricity, and running water was opening an RV park for extra income. There were little parks of RVs and tiny mobile housing for all the oil workers.

Temporary (months now) housing for workers at the oil wells and related businesses

I got back to town after noon to see if I could get the engine analyzed. The auto parts store no longer has an analyzer available for temporary use. It was broken/stolen/some story.

At 1:15 p.m. I finally left Williston. I was disappointed that my delay gained no information about the Check Engine light. So I headed west with many miles to cover.

I enjoyed the open areas of eastern Montana. It just feels “big” when you can see for miles without a bunch of building clutter. Because of the engine issues, I mostly behaved on the open roads. And the locals drove much slower than expected.

I did stop for one photo opportunity. It was harvest time at a large field. The farmer said it would take four days for them to finish just that one field with two combines. It was a fun break. And I got some potential stock photos for any harvest-related teaching later.

Montana wind turbine farm:

As I passed through Shelby, Montana, I thought of a creative young relative named Shelby. In the evening, I found an RV park in the small town of Cut Bank, Montana. The city had a couple auto dealerships, but none that would be open on the holiday weekend. At the campground, it was kind of noisy by the road and train tracks. But after a couple of short nights, I was plenty tired and slept pretty well. I was getting close to the Rockies.

Day 1 - Leaving Minnesota

For Saturday, 3 September 2011

Oh boy. This was challenging. I knew I had lots of stuff. I had stayed up after midnight trying to get things ready. And then I got up around four a.m. to complete loading the car. It did not take long to figure out that not everything was going to fit in the car. Expecting all kinds of weather, camping nearly every night, cooking most meals without electricity, and other gear, it all added up.

I played the odds and left some car things behind. Out of the potential paid ventures, I decided I would only bring equipment and clothes for a potential mountain bike rental. And still the car was stuffed, with no passengers. It was so full I contemplated postponing leaving for several hours and getting the roof box out of storage and put on the car. It would be helpful. But gas mileage over several thousand miles would really suffer. So I rearranged things until “good enough”. Even with the back window blocked, that wasn’t any worse than most trucks and vans that require dependence on the side mirrors. But I was able to keep a small area behind the driver’s seat open. And I had a pretty good view to the right rear passenger window and a bit of the right rear window. Those are key for safe lane changes.

Trying to put the frustrations of the past hours behind, I finally headed out the driveway. After a quick car wash and gas fill, I was able to finally leave Burnsville by 10:00 a.m.

I headed up I-35E and I-494 over to U.S. 61 south of Saint Paul. Born in 1961, I took 61 through Saint Paul and up towards my old stomping ground. Fortunately my mood was now better and I was adjusting perspective. So I was able to do a few drive-by prayers along the way for a random funeral, a great church in Saint Paul, and an office that takes quite a stretch to love. Since I moved, I haven’t been in Forest Lake much. So I stopped a block off 61 at the park by the lake. There are plenty of experiences and emotions associated with that town. But no profound insights came to mind in my very brief stop there.

I continued on up to where U.S. 61 officially stops now in Wyoming, Minnesota at I-35. I took 35 (former U.S. 61) on up to Duluth. There was road construction on the way. The only twisted “highlight” on this stretch was seeing a renegade corn stalk growing in the ditch near Hinckley, as I sat in traffic. I went to the north end of Duluth to be on Minnesota 61 and also see the lake. I haven’t been up to that area by Lake Superior for nearly two years. That is unusual for me. So I enjoyed a few minutes at the lake on a cloudy day. I also ate some old-time Cracker Jack snacks I had received from my sister. But I could not linger long. It was time to head west.

From Duluth, I took U.S. 2 west. The plan was to follow 2 to the end in Washington. I had been on much of U.S. 2 in Minnesota. But there were some new areas near Duluth and most of the western end in Minnesota.

Because part of the trip goal was experiencing a wide variety of landscapes, I decide I had better take at least one photo from near home with several trees. So this photo is from north central Minnesota. Yeah, there are plenty of tree-lined roads in the North Central states. But many of our fellow Americans never get to travel a road like that.

Over by Crookston, I discovered something pretty unique. Along the road were little couple cutouts. One or two would be interesting. But it turned out to be one every quarter mile or so for at least 30 miles. I still do not know for sure what they signified. I did not notice any other signs. But it is possible they were supposed to be a pro-marriage statement. I’m not sure. I searched the Internet and found no answers to the mystery. They may have just been up there for a fund-raising walk one day.

I passed through Grand Forks, North Dakota and on to parts of North Dakota new to me. On a holiday weekend Saturday, I did not notice any military jets by the Air Force base. I miss having those military jets around like we did in Virginia.

Unlike some people, I kind of enjoy the opportunity to drive through open areas where you can see for miles. So North Dakota was fine for me. There were some lakes near the highway. And heading west in late afternoon, I notice some potentially interesting lighting with the clouds. Well, it looked interesting a few minutes earlier. So I pulled over for a photo or two. That is much easier, and is even legal, when not on the freeway.

Pulling back on the road, I was surprised to hear the engine sounding a little strange and have the “Check Engine” light come on. Okay. That isn’t welcome any time. But I especially did not appreciate it on the first day of a long trip. I had tried to be fairly diligent spending around a thousand dollars to get the car ready. And now this comes.

It would be really handy if the light gave a little clue about the seriousness of the situation. But the few times in my life I have seen it, there is no hint. It was now after 6:00 p.m. on Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Even in a larger city, there may not be any shop open to check on it. And out here the odds were very poor. So I continued on.

Added to this was some stress with annoying car alarms going off several times, even while I was in the restroom at a rest area. The alarm problem only seems to be an issue on trips. After a while I figured it out. When a stuffed car has pressure on a door, the alarm system thinks someone is trying to pull the door open. So the alarm goes off. I learned to be more diligent to keep a tiny bit of space between the stuff and the doors after that.

I did stop in Rugby for the geographical center of North America. I did not turn the car off. Hint: the marker is not where all the signs point to the museum. It is probably more obvious in bright daylight or later when the lights come on. But I found it at sunset time.

The next significant city was Minot. I wandered around some trying to see if they might have a Mazda dealer. I found none. But as I was driving around in a strange city, I did hear a bit of The Black Eyed Peas benefit concert at the state fairgrounds for flood victims.

I paused and pondered next steps. According to the map, it appeared Williston was about the same size as Minot. So perhaps there was just as much chance to get an auto repair there. It was after 10:00 p.m. by this time. But I still felt pretty awake. So I continued on towards Williston. Along the way it was fun to see the new oil rigs all over there. The big flames were lighting up the night. About the only other traffic late at night were petroleum semi trucks heading to refineries (or somewhere). And there were lots of trucks. I guess oil doesn’t shut down for holiday weekends. It was good to see this part of the country prospering.

As I pulled into Williston well after midnight, I knew sleeping options were limited. I hadn’t noticed any campgrounds on the way. And the oil boom has every motel full continuously (well, mostly). So as I drove past a large parking lot, I checked out one possibility. I joined the people in at least 15 other vehicles already sleeping in the parking lot of a large popular retail store. There were cars and trucks, RVs, and some semis. It was fine. We all parked far from the entrance so no overnight business suffered. And the lot was well-lit with security cameras. So it was fairly safe, if not comfortable.

Other than the few seconds when the Check Engine light came on, the car seemed to be working fine. But I had not shut it off since then. As I turned it off, my hope was that the car would start in the morning. Sweet dreams…

Trip Preparation - The Inspiration and the Destination

Continuing a series about a recent trip...

I anticipated that something special was possible with an extended time on the road. At a business meeting a few years ago I met an elderly pastor who had written a book about an earlier adventure in his life. He and a friend canoed the Mississippi River from northern Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico. His wife met them at landings along the way. Viewing the world from a river or trail or back roads can give you perspectives unavailable on the main roads. And he wrote about some of the small towns and cities along the way. A trip like that sounded fun to me.

Last fall I had the opportunity to see some Christian artists I had hoped to see and hear for decades. Mike Roe was from the Seventy-Sevens. Terry Taylor was formerly with Daniel Amos, Swirling Eddies, and for this occasion he was with The Lost Dogs. The Lost Dogs were putting on a cheap concert locally in Stillwater, Minnesota.

The latest album by The Lost Dogs was based on a trip on old Route 66. They had written songs about their journey along the way. Some of the songs compared the journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land, the Okies traveling to California, their land of promise and hope, during the depression and the Christian journey towards the heavenly Promised Land. Many of the songs are about specific people and places along their journey. It is a fun album celebrating life off the interstate freeways. It sounded like a fun journey I might want to take some time.

Learn more about the band and their trip at http://www.thelostdogs.com/.

The Destination and Journey

With the possibility of going somewhere for over a week, the next decision was destination. Where should I go? Since I was born in 1961, U.S. highway 61 was a possibility. At least historically, that goes from Canada, through Minnesota, following the Mississippi most of the time down to New Orleans, Louisiana. I have been to some parts of the eastern United States in the past 20 years, including living out there. But I hadn’t been out west to see the Rockies in over 25 years. And even then I only drove through on trips to California. I had never seen most of the west.

As I looked on the map, I saw that U.S. 50 went through some of the areas of interest. And I wanted to mostly stay off the freeways anyway. So highway 50 was a good candidate for my 50^th year.

As I researched possibilities, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that many activities stop and places close after Labor Day. But I found a few interesting events in Nevada. Those became the only places with fairly specific dates attached. Otherwise it appeared the rest of the trip was flexible. I didn’t decide until a day or so before leaving what route I would attempt the first few days. In most respects, several routes were equal. And almost everywhere would be a new experience and discovery.

Heading west became the destination. The primary destination became the national parks in southern Utah. But the route there was not going to be very direct.

This was all new for me. I had never gone for over ten days. Some of this was an experiment. Hopefully most things will turn out all right. An adventure awaits.

Trip Preparation

The next several articles are based on a recent long trip. I am hoping at least a couple items will be interesting. I start out with a little background information.

Prepare to Go

A long driving trip requires a somewhat reliable vehicle. My car is getting old with nearly 200,000 miles. But it has been pretty dependable so far. I cannot take credit for that.

It was time to perform about $1,000 on some long overdue maintenance on the car. Once upon a time it was quite simple to replace spark plugs. But now some engines require taking half the engine apart (slight exaggeration) to change spark plugs. Fortunately, spark plugs last much longer these days. But it was past time to spend the $400 on that. And the engine did idle more smoothly after that work.

Various fluids were past due for flushing and filling. Brakes were improved, although they were in better shape than they sounded. Tires were still good from this past winter’s big purchase.

I replaced the air filters. So that’s where the cabin filter is! That one was bad, bad. And there were other things that got some attention.

Knowing I would be far from many radio stations, I considered replacing the antenna. Due to car washes and other things, it was worn, rusty, and loose where it screws into the car roof. By the time I determined I might be able to include that in my trip budget, there wasn’t much time to find a used one. I don’t even know where the junk/salvage yards may be around here. So I asked the dealer for the replacement part cost. I wasn’t sure what to expect, nor how much I might be willing to pay. But if it was going to be over $50, I would probably skip it. Actually, I probably wouldn’t have gone over $30. But I thought I should at least find out the price. Instead of looking up the part at the service counter, the guy walks away towards the back. A few minutes later he comes back carrying a similar antenna, without packaging. He gave it to me. When I asked about the price, he said it was free. I am guessing it came from some other vehicle on the sales lot. But anyway, the unknown cost turned out to be free. And the slightly different antenna did fit on my car roof.

I do realize that other people occasionally get good deals. But for some of us, some of these random unexpectedly blessings are best described as “favor”. God does good things for his kids. In addition to the free antenna, there were other unexpected cost savings. As I got to the point where I needed to do some of these large maintenance items, a day or two before the planned appointment, discount coupons came in the mail to save me several dollars.

And in the end, the car was the most ready for a long trip that it has been in years.

Prepare to Do

Sitting in the car driving does not take a whole lot of preparation. But seeing creation at its best often involves actually going to where the good stuff is. And that can require a hike. I am just fine with a little exercise now and then with good scenery. So I prepared to hike.

I’m going for a walk. Big deal. That is pretty simple. Well, around here it usually is. But longer hikes in heat and at higher elevations require more planning for adequate water and other things. Over and over I read about not hiking alone, especially out west. But I have no choice. So I needed to compensate somewhat.

It sounded like I should probably get some hiking boots. I have survived without them so far in life. But it is nice to have a bit more ankle support. And the stiffer soles minimize feeling rocks and thorns with each step. I learned to appreciate the boots. And I also learned that good boots can be expensive. But as I was about to put down several dollars for one particular boot model at REI, I saw a very slightly used related model for about half the price. So I was able save a lot there.

I skipped buying trekking poles which can be especially helpful if you twist an ankle. I did buy bear spray which is almost required in some grizzly areas. And I had some other emergency things with, if needed. It all adds to expenses and carrying weight. So much for the simplicity of just going for a walk.

The plan was to camp most nights. For that to happen, I had to invest in a tent and some lanterns that work. The little Black Diamond lanterns work great with a slick design. The little one is light enough to hang from your tent ceiling. And the larger one is bright enough for meal preparation and reading. </end commercial> I stuck with the ancient heavy sleeping bag and sleeping pads I already had. My experience with tent camping is limited. But it is definitely one of the cheapest ways to travel.

Prepare to See

I quickly learned there are many, many interesting things to see in the western part of the United States. I spent numerous hours investigating the possibilities. In addition to the National Parks, there are state parks and other attractions as well. For some parks, I did look at their information enough to pick potential hiking trails. But I tried to avoid many of the photos on the web sites. That way the visit experience can include discovery and surprise.

One of the top goals of the trip was photography. To that end, I bought a mid-priced camera back in January. The plan was to take lots of pictures and get familiar with the camera before any trip. That was partially fulfilled. But there is so much to learn. I have nearly zero experience with the video functionality.

Despite having some months to practice, I have created numerous poor photos. Not knowing what might be the camera’s fault and what is mine has been frustrating. Exposure and focusing are always potential issues with cameras. But it is appearing that camera movement by me is the primary issue. I am working on that. For stability, the tripod is dragged along more than I would like. But I did get a lighter one for the trip. My old one from 1984 still works mostly too. But it is heavy, which happens to be an advantage in windy weather. But carrying a tripod for miles favors something light that can still hold the weight of a camera and zoom lens. A tripod is especially useful for video too.

Lots of photos require storage space. If your camera creates RAW or TIFF formatted photos (in addition to JPEG), you understand. Video eats card or disk space quickly. So I bought bigger, faster memory cards that can hold a full day’s media. I had to buy a cheap notebook computer just to have a place to offload photos from the camera. Yet another expense… At least I can use all of these purchases beyond the trip.

I invested many hours and dollars just to prepare for the trip. We’ll see how it all worked out.

An Eventful Year

This past year or so has been more eventful than usual for me. Sure, events in other years have had my attention for a few days, or perhaps a few weeks. But generally, life on the surface is fairly steady. Most of the big multi-month things in the past 15 years have been work projects. Especially in the consulting world, life is organized around projects.

After some major transitions, I have made some efforts towards whatever is next for me. The future is not crystal clear (at least in my view). But it has been a good year of discovery and experimentation. There are things in the works and some projects and potential projects in progress.

In the summer of 2010, I moved to the south metro to be closer to church and work. That has been beneficial in most regards. So, related to the move, much that summer included sorting through boxes of stuff that may not fit in my new home. There has been some success in getting rid of stuff. But more work remains.

Late in the fall of 2010, I had fun experimenting with music mixing. Even though my music knowledge and skills are very limited, it was still fun to play and experiment creating unique sounds. In whatever media, the need to occasionally create is strong for many of us.

January through April of 2011 was mostly concentrating on Perspectives. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (www.perspectives.org), is a highly regarded course to learn about what God is doing around the world and how we can join in. I took the class in the early days in 1985. It was time for a refresher. Well, actually it was very much overdue. But it had been postponed due to money constraints and time commitment. This was the year to finally do it. Although the course can be taken as an audit, most people take it for certificate or college credit. Each level has corresponding homework assignments.

Much of the material was review for me as I occasionally read mission-related material. But there were new things to learn. And, over time we have learned new perspectives and techniques in various situations around the world. It was a good course. But it did involve lots and lots of reading. I’m not a speed reader. And, at the time, I needed new glasses badly. So this venture occupied many hours for me each week. But it was worth it.

In the end, many of my previous thoughts regarding my role in missions were confirmed. But there were no specific steps of direction.

Pretty much as soon as the last homework for Perspectives was complete, I switched to preparation for the June event I will explain soon.

Concurrent with Perspectives, I took a short class in discovering our life purpose. I was with a fun group of people from church. Part of figuring out what you should do is to first discover who you are. There are various tests and exercises to help us see our strengths and personalities that make us unique.

Most of those tests confirmed things I already knew about myself. But there were new insights too. When we are doing what we do best, and those things that match how we are “wired”, then we do our best work and are able to contribute the most to the benefit of the world. And, and this is important, when we do those things that match who we truly are, we will enjoy it. Conversely, if we find ourselves doing numerous tasks that do not match our strengths, it is often frustrating.

Examples of differences among us are: relationship focus, task focus, teaching, fixing, creating, analyzing, organizing, helping, caring, communicating, structured, unstructured, etc. Most of these categories can relate to a wide variety of careers and service opportunities.

Ideally, we spend at least 80% of our time on the top things that match well who we are and our passion(s). That is how we contribute the most value, with pleasure. It wasn’t a huge surprise for me to learn that I rarely get to use my top skills in my current job role. So that is certainly something to consider for future plans.

So I learned some things during that class. But still, in many ways direction is still vaguer that I would sometimes like. But then again, it is nice to have a variety of good options. Freedom is good.

Sometime around early May, I was asked about a party for my 50^th birthday. Unexpectedly, I was confronted with the question “What would you like to do?” I hadn’t thought about it much. But after a short while, the imagination took off envisioning a unique event that could include some fun activities for all ages. And in some ways, I would be sharing part of who I am and some of the fun things I do that might be new experiences for most of the family.

Most of May and June had me doing all kinds of creating, organizing, preparing, researching, and discovering for the party. Some parts of that turned out fairly well.

Immediately after the birthday party at the end of June, it was time to switch concentration to the next big thing for me. That was my first vacation in years. And this would be the first vacation over ten days in my life. As I will explain later, this particular trip leads to many hours of research and a variety of purchases and preparation. Pretty much every day in July and August included some trip preparation activities.

These big events are where I invested much of my time and resources in the past year or so. With a variety of inputs, insights, and experiences, it is now time to see how the trip might guide me closer to the paths to the next destinations for me.