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.
