Missed Opportunity

 I am an inveterate road tripper and as such, I am on the road two or three times a year for extended periods.  In the course of my hobby, I have often missed out on something that was on my itinerary, or that I just plain missed in the planning stages.

One early example was from a road trip to Arizona that I took way back in 1980s.  I had heard about a really neat church built into the red rocks south of Sedona, and I really wanted to see it up close.  Well, we went driving among those gorgeous rock formations, but I completely forgot to turn off at the road leading to the church.  I didn't remember about it until a day or two later when we were well past a point where we could return to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  Fortunately, I was able to visit it several years later when we again traveled to Sedona with my sister and brother-in-law in 1993.

Another missed opportunity was on my 2009 solo trip to the Northwest United States. I took a right instead of a left near La Grande, Oregon and wound up driving a poorly maintained road for about 40 miles.  My intended drive was over the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.  That one escaped me completely until I was watching Jeopardy! one night a few months later and one of the clues referred to Hells Canyon.  The name jumped out at me and I recalled seeing the sign for it near that interstate exit.

Thanks to Alex Trebek's clue, I flew out to Portland the next spring and drove over to the scenic route, which I spent the whole day touring.  I even had to do it from both ends of the loop due to flooding in the central portion, but it was beautiful scenery throughout.

This week I watched a National Geographic Channel program about Olympic National Park in Western Washington near Seattle.  Now I'm obsessed with getting back to that city and going over to Olympic, which I never attempted on my 2009 trip.  I'll probably fly in and rent a car.

I've been fortunate to have missed a lot of opportunities on the first go-around, but have been able to go back on a do-over and complete the mission.  I hope I live long enough to do it several more times, because you can never see enough of this beautiful country we call the United States of America.