Vacation recap
01/09/16 05:16
We arrived home from our travels to discover that our yard needs to be mowed. Considering the length of our trip, things look pretty good and we’ll be back in the office and working today. I don’t remember my lawn looking this good at the beginning of September any of the other years that we have lived in Rapid City. After a very dry spring and early summer, things recovered in the second half of the summer. It is, as they say, an unusual year. But then again, every year is “unusual” in some way or another.
The vacation we just completed was unusual for us. The part about going to visit our grandchildren wasn’t unique. We make that trip as often as we can figure out how to do so. We enjoy having our camper and a couple of boats to share a couple of our favorite things with our grandchildren. What made this particular vacation unique was the size of the expedition at the beginning. We were entertaining four guests from Australia and our daughter and son in law in our home prior to the trip. That meant that the departure had to include transportation for six additional people. We took our camper and a canoe and a kayak for the Washington portion of our trip and two small creek boats to paddle in Montana. We had a portable barbecue grill and propane to cook for the large numbers of people. We departed with both our car and our loaded pickup pulling our camper. In Montana we met our son and grandson who flew in for a couple of days, expanding our group to ten. We hosted a barbecue for extended family in Montana. It was a good thing we took the portable grill.
The second part of our vacation was a bit trimmed back. We left our car, the creek boats, the portable grill and a stack of bedding in Montana when we headed west.
Returning home yesterday, with the car and all of the extra things was a pleasant trip, not too rushed with a few breaks to talk and snack.
We put over 3200 miles on our pickup and nearly 1000 on our car. We towed our camper nearly 3000 of those miles. We experienced temperatures that were significantly above normal, which meant operating air conditioners for much of the driving. Both times we crossed the continental divide it was over 90 degrees at the summit. High temperatures combined with the steep climb for problems for some other motorists and we saw a number of tire and over heating problems along the way.
We, however, had a remarkably easy trip without any mechanical break downs or big problems. I monitored tire air pressures carefully and tried not to over stress the vehicles, but we worked them hard and were glad they performed so well.
Our first evening at home preparing for the backlog of work that will greet us at the office today was filled with the usual post-travel chores. After unloading the vehicles and the camper and wiping down the refrigerator and other interior surfaces in the camper, the camper had to be washed on the outside. You can imagine the number of insects that a trailer collects on such travel through agricultural country in late August. Scrubbing the bugs off of the end cap of the camper was a chore, but the cool overspray from the hose felt kind of good in the early evening heat.
Boat had to be unloaded and put away, paddles stowed, life jackets and other equipment stored. The washer was running full time all evening and soon the dryer was operating as well. There were sheets to change on beds and clothes to put away. The refrigerator that was nearly empty in our absence was filled with the things from the camper and we began a shopping list for items that we’ll need to pick up today.
Fortunately today has relatively few meetings, with a funeral at the church tomorrow and a wedding rehearsal on Saturday, worship and a wedding on Sunday and the newsletter to get out next week, we’re going to be busy. I’ve been away from email since Sunday so that chore alone will take extra time. Then there is the regular mail, phone voice mail and the stack of notes from church leaders who have been working hard in our absence.
We won’t be bored this week.
Then again we’re seldom bored. There are always plenty of things that need to be done.
I’m never quite sure how to answer when people ask me about our vacation. It was wonderful and spending time with family was great. It involved a lot of work, frankly, but it was work that was freely chosen and things that we wanted to do. We didn’t exactly return rested. It simply wasn’t that type of a trip. But we did have a wonderful change of pace.
Earlier in my career, I would have found this type of vacation daunting. Our work is so intensely focused on people and relationships, that I often wanted to get away as much as possible. My ideal vacation was to go off into the mountains or to the sea shore and just be alone. Being with my family involves many of the same activities that being a pastor requires. I have to listen carefully to the wants and needs of others, be sensitive to feelings that occasionally get hurt, respond to others in a positive way. I spent a great deal of this vacation doing what I do everyday, serving others and focusing my attention on what they want and need. Somehow, that doesn’t bother me in the way that it once did. I think that because I am able to have work that is what I choose, enjoy and love, the fact that vacation is similar to work isn’t such a problem. My life is filled with the things I think are most important and worthy of my time. In that I am a very fortunate person.
So it is back to work, but not back to the usual. There is no usual in my routines. Today will be exciting just like the days of our vacation.
The vacation we just completed was unusual for us. The part about going to visit our grandchildren wasn’t unique. We make that trip as often as we can figure out how to do so. We enjoy having our camper and a couple of boats to share a couple of our favorite things with our grandchildren. What made this particular vacation unique was the size of the expedition at the beginning. We were entertaining four guests from Australia and our daughter and son in law in our home prior to the trip. That meant that the departure had to include transportation for six additional people. We took our camper and a canoe and a kayak for the Washington portion of our trip and two small creek boats to paddle in Montana. We had a portable barbecue grill and propane to cook for the large numbers of people. We departed with both our car and our loaded pickup pulling our camper. In Montana we met our son and grandson who flew in for a couple of days, expanding our group to ten. We hosted a barbecue for extended family in Montana. It was a good thing we took the portable grill.
The second part of our vacation was a bit trimmed back. We left our car, the creek boats, the portable grill and a stack of bedding in Montana when we headed west.
Returning home yesterday, with the car and all of the extra things was a pleasant trip, not too rushed with a few breaks to talk and snack.
We put over 3200 miles on our pickup and nearly 1000 on our car. We towed our camper nearly 3000 of those miles. We experienced temperatures that were significantly above normal, which meant operating air conditioners for much of the driving. Both times we crossed the continental divide it was over 90 degrees at the summit. High temperatures combined with the steep climb for problems for some other motorists and we saw a number of tire and over heating problems along the way.
We, however, had a remarkably easy trip without any mechanical break downs or big problems. I monitored tire air pressures carefully and tried not to over stress the vehicles, but we worked them hard and were glad they performed so well.
Our first evening at home preparing for the backlog of work that will greet us at the office today was filled with the usual post-travel chores. After unloading the vehicles and the camper and wiping down the refrigerator and other interior surfaces in the camper, the camper had to be washed on the outside. You can imagine the number of insects that a trailer collects on such travel through agricultural country in late August. Scrubbing the bugs off of the end cap of the camper was a chore, but the cool overspray from the hose felt kind of good in the early evening heat.
Boat had to be unloaded and put away, paddles stowed, life jackets and other equipment stored. The washer was running full time all evening and soon the dryer was operating as well. There were sheets to change on beds and clothes to put away. The refrigerator that was nearly empty in our absence was filled with the things from the camper and we began a shopping list for items that we’ll need to pick up today.
Fortunately today has relatively few meetings, with a funeral at the church tomorrow and a wedding rehearsal on Saturday, worship and a wedding on Sunday and the newsletter to get out next week, we’re going to be busy. I’ve been away from email since Sunday so that chore alone will take extra time. Then there is the regular mail, phone voice mail and the stack of notes from church leaders who have been working hard in our absence.
We won’t be bored this week.
Then again we’re seldom bored. There are always plenty of things that need to be done.
I’m never quite sure how to answer when people ask me about our vacation. It was wonderful and spending time with family was great. It involved a lot of work, frankly, but it was work that was freely chosen and things that we wanted to do. We didn’t exactly return rested. It simply wasn’t that type of a trip. But we did have a wonderful change of pace.
Earlier in my career, I would have found this type of vacation daunting. Our work is so intensely focused on people and relationships, that I often wanted to get away as much as possible. My ideal vacation was to go off into the mountains or to the sea shore and just be alone. Being with my family involves many of the same activities that being a pastor requires. I have to listen carefully to the wants and needs of others, be sensitive to feelings that occasionally get hurt, respond to others in a positive way. I spent a great deal of this vacation doing what I do everyday, serving others and focusing my attention on what they want and need. Somehow, that doesn’t bother me in the way that it once did. I think that because I am able to have work that is what I choose, enjoy and love, the fact that vacation is similar to work isn’t such a problem. My life is filled with the things I think are most important and worthy of my time. In that I am a very fortunate person.
So it is back to work, but not back to the usual. There is no usual in my routines. Today will be exciting just like the days of our vacation.