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| Logan Valley - South of Prairie City |
What a year Twenty-seventeen was.
There were three Team Rubicon trips (a disaster response organization whose motto is 'Disaster is Our Business, Veterans is Our Passion'), two were training into Wyoming and later
Wisconsin, plus to Operation ‘Hard Hustle’ along the Texas coast after hurricane Harvey,
the year was full with that alone.
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| Operating a 'Case' Excavator - Fun! |
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| Band - Aransas Pass after Harvey |
But then…you add our annual Central
Oregon week, plus my annual motorcycle ride with 'Oregon ABCity Tour', around most of this the ninth largest
state of the union. But why stop there? No, Karen a month in Mexico and I
joined her for three weeks of that, then I continued south to Nicaragua for an
amazing two week journey. That adventure had me traveling west to east and then
into the northeast corner visiting the Miskitu people along the Rio Coco.
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| Up the 'Coco River' |
(Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nicaragua+fall+2017)
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| Baseball in Nicaragua |
The above travels alone cover
nearly 25,000 miles, but … we’re not finished yet. After three years of planning
we were able to complete likely the longest motorcycle adventure that we’ll
ever experience. Deserving a blog all its own (surprised that I haven’t
completed it yet) we were able to put on, wait for it … Ten thousand one
hundred and seventy miles! Along with dear friends, the Cavaliere’s, we
traveled to the southeast into Florida, up the east coast, then into Ontario
Canada and back into the U.S. ending the ride in our own Newport, Oregon.
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| Prairie City - My Favorite Diner |
The above ‘Coast to Coast’ trip
included a few delays and detours, non greater than the death of one of Karen’s
sisters. With this we found ourselves changing our itinerary while in the Black
Hills and making haste home along Interstate 90 and 84. Arriving home on a Saturday morning
we flew out that evening for brief five days of encouragement to family and
friends in New England. Upon our return to Oregon we immediately packed our bags, picked up our loyal
riding partners and finished what we started on May 5th. So on July 1st,
2017, again after 10,170 miles, we made history…at least for ourselves,
completing what was mostly quite the experience.
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| Riding through Custer State Park |
When we add the above numbers
along with several smaller sundry trips around the state, we traveled what
would be nearly two times around this globe of ours. I’m sure for some, that’s nothing unusual,
for us, I don’t imagine that they’ll be another year like it for us.
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| -- End of a 10,170 Mile Ride -- |
So here we find ourselves, already past the 2017 Christmas holidays, and into another year ... what a FULL year 2017 was. And today…I haven’t even
stepped outside. Feels weird, but then again…perhaps it’s OK to just take a
break.
What the above blog leaves out are the lives that we’ve been
touched by and those that we’ve been so privileged to touch this past year.
That along with the protection and provision of our great Creator and Redeemer
God, we will forever be filled by so many recurring memories that this year has
provided.
