[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Jeff, I don't have the answer. I can't really leave my wife much and no one seems to be available to take her for a bit. Her kids, 50 and 55 are too busy to accommodate their mom. A few years ago we went to Mt Wilson and she was dicking with her phone for the most part, even when we stopped at a look out point.

A little later in terms of months I needed to make a trip down south. We got as far as Huntington Beach and she was car sick. Had to come home. She might be better now but I don't take the risk.

Now all of that sounds like I'm blaming her (or the nasty meds she takes) but I'm really not. I could find a way if I had to. However, going to Griffith alone is not so appealing. Completely out of nowhere last year the daughter got tickets to the Greystone and the 3 of us went. I drove. I had a wonderful time. I'm sure I saw 10 times as much detail and interesting things there. I don't take pics when I visit places, I just soak everything in. I don't need pics to remind me of what I saw and did.

But guess who was asked to take pics of mom and daughter? I think that's fine. The daughter someday might look at the pics when her mom is gone. It took my wife a few days to recover from that outing.

So those are the circumstances. She's tough to travel with, even locally, and I'm not keen about setting out alone. I used to be always on the run to see everything. Maybe I burned out. Traffic and crowds seem to be the biggest problem anymore.

And costs. These days we live on a fixed income which is not enough so retirement savings are being drawn down monthly. I can still work but not 8 hours on a construction job. Can't be gone all day anyway. My work as a restorer has come to a halt just like construction did on '09 and '10. Those days I spent my mornings in a donut shop with a group of regulars. They are all gone, mostly died. That's over.

So if I want a tank of gas, I either have to earn it or draw from savings. When it costs the better part of a hundred dollar bill to fill up, I just stay parked until I have to get groceries.

However, in spite of what I just said, I still maintain that after 60 years of traveling around the state when it came up, that I've seen quite and bit even though I've missed a few iconic landmarks. Maybe that is because I don't gravitate to the most popular spots favoring more interesting lesser known places. If you find my thread "Back in Black" where I brought my '88 Carrera down from San Jose, I stopped at some great places and had an absolute ball. Everything was extemporaneous. Not a plan whatsoever other than to keep moving south.

That kind of thing I can do alone. But the circumstances mentioned above prevent me from doing so. But I will state here and now, that if I were to reprise that trip from SJ to home, I would not take the same route. Once seen, I've BTDT and need a new route. If I marked every road in CA that I've traveled in red, you'd see a lot of red. I've done a lap in AZ too and I think I saw what they have to offer. No need to go back and retrace those steps. Sedona is Sedona. If I need more Sedona I'll look it up on Google. Didn't really do that much for me when I was there.

Enough. I'm done here so yeah, get off my lawn. I haven't been stuck in some little place all my life and not seen a lot of this country. I hate Long Beach but I can't live in Santa Barbara. And I wouldn't live in 99% of the places I've been out of state.

And then there are my wife's kids. Ball and chain. I'm devoted so I do what I need to do.

Milt, I think that sums it up. It's funny I tend to not take pictures either. I'm trying to change that. It brings me alot of joy though, sometimes a little sadness when i look back on them.

I imagine you have a lot of interesting stories of your travels around the country. Like GSXRKEN said. Not that you need it or care, but much respect to your dedication to your family. That is what a real Man does.