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Post date: Feb 01, 2017 8:8:5 PM
Moving forward with a rather fluid itinerary for this trip has had its advantages and disadvantages. My internal directive had today pinned as the real start of the adventure. Today was the day I was going to leave the safety and security of my family in southern California and head east towards parts unknown. This plan has now been delayed due to the passing of one of the most real, grounded, honest, and genuinely good human beings I have ever known, my uncle Edward Steven Wineman. He passed here in Oxnard last Sunday and service arrangements are being made that will keep me here in California for one more week.
On the positive, this delay will not disturb the trip too much, as things were not set in stone as far as early dates go. Waiting one more week for winter to pass is not a bad thing, even though the weather right now is beautiful throughout the southwest and storm clouds are expected to be approaching later this week. The main challenge this brings is less time to make it across the country to Florida where we have already booked air travel at the end of the month for my wife to meet me. In practice, the week delay will mean a speedier trip across the southern part of the country and so less time for sightseeing and college visits. Once on the east coast time should be caught up and things can slow down.
The other consequence is that I will now have one more week to wait at the starting line. In 2009 I was fortunate enough to accompany a friend to the land speed trials in Utah at the Bonneville Salt Flats. We were there to try and go as fast as he could on a vintage motorcycle in an attempt to set a land speed record for his motorcycle category. While the goal was to go fast, the salient feature of the trial was the long wait at the starting line. Of course I found it very enjoyable being in an almost surreal salty and flat environment in the sweltering sun. Being serenaded by the sounds of multifarious internal combustion engines throttling at the gates. I am not so sure waiting with my family will be the same. I have nothing to do here in suburban Southern California, and I am looking at a long stretch of road ahead of me. Today I am the driver, not the pit crew and when the light turns green I will be the bullet. I have psyched myself up for a running into the unknown, and there is a good chance I will drive my parents nuts (or vice versa). I hope to occupy myself with something, and as the funeral arrangements come into focus, perhaps I will be able make some day or overnight trips to more California Colleges in the area.
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