A Warm Up, or is this what they call Spring Training?

Last weekend, I made a trek out to the Pittsburgh, PA area. This was sort of a 'season opener' for longish rides. I think I was ready for it, because I didn't really notice any fatigue or stiff muscles after we were done.

Let me back up a little.

Matt and Lorraine invited Jannette and I to join them for a 'cross-Ohio' trip to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. They were going to support friends Scott and Brenda Henwood. Scott is the pastor of First Christian Church of Beaver Falls. It was a little longer for me, as I started on Friday evening from Fort Wayne to St. Paris, Ohio. That's right at 100 miles. I left the Fort at about 6:30pm and pulled into St. Paris, (prounounced Sahn PaREE by me and nobody else) at about 8:3pm. Normally wouldn't take me quite two hours, but this was the first ride of the season, so I took my time to get reaquainted with Cheeto. (I should mention that Jannette didn't make the trip with me, she stayed home with the kids. It was a change to the plans after we learned that the kids' Mom couldn't take them on the weekend we had planned. But I thank my wifey for being so understanding and urging me to still go no matter what).

Next morning, we got up to get moving, and we were all prepared a little EARLIER than usual. It was truly amazing. We were supposed to pull out around 10am, but we were all ready around 9:20 or so and Bob and Rita pulled up about that time.


We ended up leaving a bit early and we were in Urbana at 10am, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. After a very warm and somewhat windy ride (that was quite pleasant no matter what), and 250 miles later, we ended up at our destination for the evening - The Super 8 hotel in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Quite possibly the strangest layout for a hotel I've ever encountered. Truly a 'you can't get to your room from here' kind of situation. But the rooms were clean and comfortable.















We had dinner at Brenda and Scott's place and parked the bikes safely in their garage. The next day it was Blessing of the Bikes and it was really a blast.















After a very entertaining service, a really swell sermon, and a long blessing (I don't mean to offend, Scott, but I wondered if you were going to thank everyone by name. Individually!) the majority of the audience was off on a ride around the area. Big Rick Hoffman, famous chopper builder, was leading the ride even though he didn't feel well. I guess I didn't realize what a big name he was until after it was all over.






We had all but decided to mount up and leave shortly after the parade of bikes left the lot, but then Brenda convinced us to stay for the early shot at the food. So we opted out of a stop at McDonalds, enjoyed the VERY fine grub at the church and then got ready to make the long drive home.



I'm no math major, so I guess it's no surprise that a 350 mile trip for me took 7 and a half hours. To be fair, the first 250 took about 4.5 hours, then I stopped in St. Paris for a good hour before taking off for home. Matt rode along to St. Mary's (was this place a breeding ground for saints or what?) before he bid me adieu and we both pulled into our respective homes right at 9pm.

My last 40 minutes was a pure bug festival, as I must have hit every bug between Fort Wayne and Wilshire, Ohio. Unfortunately, they weren't the big ones either, but the little, itty bitty ones that tend to 'splat & stick' which makes them a real pain to remove later. My windshield looked like I had been going cross-country in South Africa.

I was delighted to see my wonderful family greeting me at the door as I rolled up the driveway.

750 miles, good company, and the wind in my face (now I know why dogs stick their heads out the window) over 51 hours. Good for the soul! I'm warmed up now. Where we goin' next?!

All the small things...

It's amazing what can happen in as little as a week. I haven't updated this blog in nearly a week, but I thought I'd share what all transpired during that time. It really has almost nothing to do with this Vancouver adventure directly, but it has a lot to do with why so little got accomplished that was directly related to the adventure...

My lovely and talented wife wandered off to Mexico with my sister and my niece to celebrate Spring Break. Normally my brother-in-law would have gone instead of my wife, but he's not much for traveling, and watching a whole bunch of high school kids do things that they probably shouldn't be doing would only help to raise his blood pressure dangerously. That's probably why they didn't ask me along either. Lest you think it was complete pandemonium and chaos, my sister and my wife are really quite responsible and know when to draw the line between 'fun' and 'dangerous'. I had no fears about them being there, other than the rash of violence against Americans in Mexico that had been occurring with increased frequency of late. Again though, it's the prevailing American opinion of 'it could never happen to me' that had the upper hand. I don't know if we'll ever cure ourselves of that habit, but I really wish we - as a nation - would try harder. Or at all.

Anyway, with her gone, it left me alone with the two kids for about 8 days. Not a big deal really, but it certainly makes one appreciate all the things that the other parent does on a regular basis, without any recognition or reward. Somehow, I got through 3 full and 2 half school days for one, 5 full days for the other. (The half days make it harder because my younger one really could still use some extra supervision). I was able to see my daughter's very first high school softball game. Even though the game started at 5pm and was 45 minutes from Fort Wayne, we were able to get there about 5:35pm. Unfortunately, she had suffered a nosebleed just moments before we got there and I didn't see her actually play. I was able to hear her cheering form the bench though and being a good teammate, so it was all good. And the fact that they fell barely short of a victory (losing 20-3), wasn't really all that bad. There will be more games. In fact, this should have been their 3rd, but the first two were rained out. That helped me cope with a long week as a single parent a little easier as well, so there was a silver lining to those rain clouds for me.

I celebrated my birthday (45 already?) with the kids on Friday night at Bandido's, where it's now become a tradition to celebrate birthdays (probably for the free meal for the birthday person).

We also got to enjoy a baseball game with the single-A San Diego Padres affiliates Fort Wayne Tincaps, during their opening home stand and their 9th game of the season (and just their 3rd home game at the brand new ballpark). It was a blast, and the kids really enjoyed it. I'm such a sucker for punishment, I even asked another neighborhood kid to come along because I knew I wouldn't be satisfied trying to keep just two kids from killing each other, I needed more of a challenge. Our seats were probably the BEST in the house - directly behind home plate, 4 rows back.

The Tincaps won in extra innings 6-5 and we got to cheer along with 3,800 of our new, closest friends. You can see how close we were to the plate, and while it looks like the two guys in front were staring at their shoes, they were just looking down at a paper or something. they were in the front row.

We sat about 4 seats away from some of the Tincap pitchers who had the night off, but were doing pitch counts and running the radar gun for the game. They were nice enough to sign Garry's new Tincap batting helmet ($5) with his new Tincaps silver sharpie ($3) and made his day ($priceless). We saw quite a few people we knew at the game (grownups and kids) including one of Rachel's softball coaches, the varsity coach, a South Side High School vice principal and his family (they are family friends) some co-workers from Fort Wayne Newspapers and a handful of other folks. We got there early and stayed late and really enjoyed the game.

Best looking girl in the stands.

That's Garry behind me (NOT the one with the silly hand over his face, that's Garry's buddy).

We did our fair share of shopping too, while my wife was away. Groceries are stocked up, lunch items are in good shape and essentials (tp tissue, facial tissue, band-aids and such) all stocked up. We even took care of a few household items, like putting together a 500 piece puzzle of Paris, and fixing a picture frame that doubles as a key holder. Long story on that one, but let's just say 'it fell'. That's the usual excuse I get anyway.

We rounded out the weekend with a Sunday breakfast out at one of our favorite spots, then some batting practice at the batting cages, and a tad more shopping (and getting more birthday gift ideas, thank you again, Garry). We finished the day with pizza from Papa John's (one of our favorites) and some tv watching while I did the ironing.

Now they are safely tucked in bed, although they don't have school tomorrow, and I heard from my beautiful wife that she is back in the USA and safely at my sister's house in Michigan before she makes the trek back home tomorrow.

So, nothing of any real measure was worked on toward this trip during the last 8 days or so, but you can see I had some really good excuses, and I was able to enjoy some great family time. And now I think I'll go and catch some hockey before I turn in. It's getting late, but the west coast still has hockey! Thank goodness for FIOS television!

Rose Colored Glasses

Sometimes I'm glad my dad and step-mom loved country music a bunch. Most times, I don't. But those times.... For example, way back when (seems like it was before 1979 but I can't find an older trace) John Conlee had a hit country song with "Rose Colored Glasses". I had no idea what that phrase meant. Because of that song, I learned a phrase that I've used countless times. (If you don't know the meaning, I won't spoil it for you. Before you read on, visit this link). While I always thought I was tortured as a child by having to listen to country music, I'm finding that I learned a bunch from those rednecks and hillbillies. Charlie Pride. Charlie Rich. John Conlee. Johnny Paycheck. I also learned what happens when you play a country song backwards: you get your wife back, you get your dog back, your truck back, your mother-in-law back, etc.

Recently, my buddy Myles read through my blog, and caught an entry a few down from here, about him. Myles then used the phrase in an email to me, saying that I must have rose colored glasses about our times in the Army together, because he remembers things differently. He remembers us all being a lot more stupid than I confessed in the blog piece. He doesn't remember being quite as suave with the ladies as I remembered. He doesn't remember his being more 'mature' than the rest of us poor pitiful, young man-boy fools.

It got me to thinking. Do I have a tendency to look back and over glorify things? I mean, it's probably natural to do, isn't it? We all remember our grandparents yearning for the 'old days' when life was easy, crime barely existed, people were so polite, yadda yadda yadda. But weren't they the same folks who also talked about how tough they had it? You remember, they had to walk uphill to school, 5 miles, each way and only one pair of shoes for all the kids to share. And on and on. I caught you rolling your eyes after reading that, just like you did every time they started in on one of those stories!

Indeed, I think Myles is somewhat right. I DO have rose colored glasses about my past. I think it has to do with the fact that I want so badly to be optimistic. I want to always be that 'glass half-full' guy. Not exactly Pollyanna, but I don't wanna be Oscar the Grouch or Eeyore, either. I've been accused from time to time with being pessimistic (we pessimists always counter with "I'm not pessimistic, I'm being realistic!"). I had a great mentor at Fort Wayne Newspapers, Dennis Robinson, who is the poster child for optimism. He is a realist. I so wish I could have that child-like sense of optimism that Dennis always seemed to retain, even in the darkest hours of a project clearly gone off track with disastrous news. For example, when we realized that our Spanish-language publication just wasn't going to be successful, a publication that Dennis 'birthed' because it was truly ahead of its time, he couldn't bring himself to say it was a failure. He could only say, "gosh, it sure reached a bunch of people who appreciated it, didn't it?" I mean, here was a publication that was losing money on every issue, before we even sent off portions to the translators, knowing full well that we didn't have nearly enough advertising revenue to cover the costs, and he was still finding the silver lining. Some folks would call that stupidity. They might say he didn't see the forest for the trees. They might say he just didn't know when to give up. I think it was brilliant. And for the record, Dennis was quite keen on 'when to say when'. The man is still a genius in my book and always will be.

And I think it's because of my yearning to be a positive voice in the wind that I have a tendency to look back and perhaps glorify, or at the very least, sugar-coat the events in my life that brought me a great amount of joy. The birth of my children (including the son that was born while I was on a payphone in O'Hare airport, listening in); my days 'growing up' in the Army; my times spent with high school friends like John Goodwin, who let me get him in SO much trouble, yet still hung out with me after his groundings were over; and just about everyday I spend with my beautiful wife, Jannette. I'm sure there are unpleasant things that have happened between us, arguments, mean, nasty things said back and forth, and such. I just can't seem to bring anything to mind at the moment.

In fact, when I look back at my "life", I have a hard time finding the cloud without the silver lining. I was 'detained' once by the police (okay, more than once), for committing a really, really stupid act while in Army training (after hours). And actually, I was standing next to a guy who was doing all the 'committing' while I kept (an obviously poor) lookout. Didn't matter, we were both picked up. In hindsight, I remember more about the kindness of my Army classmates, my acting company commander, my First Sergeant, and a judge. The judge (and probably many of the other authority figures) spent a few minutes quietly sizing me up. I remember him staring at me for what seemed like an eternity. He asked a few really bizarre (at the time) questions. He asked what I thought my penalty should be. He was sitting there in judgement (duh) and deciding whether or not I was a "good person" and whether or not I should get the book thrown at me or get a break. Thankfully, I got the break.

Even instances like that seem to come back as positive things in my life, not negative ones. My glasses are not just tinted with rose coloring, they are rose shaded, through and through.

I was once in a motorcycle accident in Alabama in 1982. I fell asleep while driving from Pensacola, Florida back to Detroit. I was up all night partying with my sister, Jodi, and her friends, and they were wishing me well as I headed off to join the Army. Jodi even gave me some things to take back to Detroit and sell for money. Or simply to enjoy for myself if I wanted. Anyway, I was carrying these things inside my jacket when I fell asleep and sideswiped a car on the Interstate. Nothing major, I didn't go down, nor get hurt in any way. In fact, the car got most of the damage as my footpeg created a new opening in the driver's side door. In retrospect, all I can think about was how lucky I was to: A.) hit a car at highway speeds and still park the bike in the median while I walked away and checked on the other folks, 2.) Somehow not get a ticket from the State Police, even though I was clearly a yankee, with long hair and really, really, really, bloodshot eyes, and C.) Not get busted for ...well, anything. In fact, I made it all the way back to Detroit from Pensacola, Florida in about 21 hours (including accident time) on about 4 hours sleep the night before. And my biggest recollection? Boy was I lucky to have made that trip! I got to see my sister one last time before leaving for the Army!

And what about all these incidents that probably should be big huge warnings to people (like my children) to NEVER do the things I did? It probably sounds reckless to even mention them in print. I mean, someone will look at these entries and say, "gosh, I dunno. He kinda hints around at the fact that he was kind of a bad boy as a teenager". DUH! My point is that I was - in fact - not the kind of kid that was on a path to MIT or Dental School (sorry Mom!). But I did turn my life around (thank you Sgt. Carnell Snow and the US Army!), actually graduated from High School with honors, went to college, graduated from that with a dual major, got a decent enough job, and a career where at least a few folks respect me (or tell me that they do). And best of all, I am raising two wonderful children, who are turning out to be far better kids than I ever was. And for a father figure example, I didn't have much to go on. I had plenty of "surely you don't wanna do it this way" examples.

Yeah, rose colored glasses. I got 'em. I hope to always have them. I hope I can get rose-colored implants in my eyes some day (or Lasik, which ever is physically possible at the time). I don't make any apologies for it. But if you read something that sounds a little too good to be true. It's still probably true, but maybe the high points have a little rose dusting on them. Don't mind that, and don't try to blow it off of there. Just recognize it for what it is, and understand it. Please?

Just some thoughts on the trip in general

Hey, since I'm still about 14.5 months away from actual departure time, I've got lots of time to think. Good for me, not so good for folks following along. My thinking tends to lead to blog posts, and since this trip hasn't started yet, that means more blog posts about something OTHER than the actual trip. Great if you've got nothing to do, but just plain annoying if you are here to read about this trip. It hasn't started yet, only the planning has.

I celebrated my 45th birthday with the family yesterday (birthday isn't til next week), and got a few things that were designed to be for 'the trip'. Got a nice orange/black backpack that will be the main storage bag for stuff that I need quick and easy access to: camera, laptop (if applicable) Rockstars, snacks, pad & pencil, electronic device chargers and such. The backpack itself, it pretty roomy and looks pretty durable. And it's orange! What a great color!

I also got an emergency tire repair kit, with mini air compressor. I opened it to check it out. I hope I NEVER have to use it. If I do, it was worth getting. If I don't, it was worth carrying along.

I also heard from my FIL that Coca Cola is going to start attaching the Coke name to Monster energy drinks now instead of Rockstar. That's got me in a dilemma. I like Rockstars and I can only tolerate Monsters. Plus Monster just reminds me of Monster the employment website, which is a competitor and is also the work of the devil. Tis far better to use a website that won't result in getting you eternal damnation (*salvation not guaranteed)

Anyway, I've digressed again (that's a pattern you'll see all too often).

So, if I want to remain loyal to Coca Cola (Jannette's dad works for Coke), then I need to switch to Monster. Of course, Marvin doesn't see it that way. It's just another product for him. He couldn't care less what product it is, his job is to deliver it. Period. He doesn't drink competitive products, and he doesn't frown on those who do. What a great way to be: live a good example, yet don't preach it to others.

Just random thoughts that probably need to stop here for today.

A little bit more on the Route Change

Hey kids!
Just a little more to add about the route change...and a reminder or two...
I've updated the overview of the route here (at the bottom of the page) and by all accounts, with weather being perfect and no unexpected delays (mechanical or otherwise), it will add one day to our total trip. Thirteen riding days all told. Now we're at 5,654 miles (give or take a few). That's an average of 434 miles per day, or about 7 hours of riding per day. Since we'll likely start our day around 7am on most days, that means that technically, we could be done with that day's riding around 2 or 3pm. Don't count on it. Kodak moments, meals, gas and rest stops and such will likely have us riding until around 7pm each day. As long as we're off the road before Bambi or Smokey the Bear decide to use it, we should be fine.

More (as always) coming soon!

NEW ROUTE!

Matt and I decided to change the route. Yes, this is bad news for the folks in Utah (both of you), Colorado and Kansas (all 350 of you). This means we'll likely skip visiting your states. However, for the folks in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, you just found yourself in the enviable position to be our hosts for a few days! Lucky you! We'll be roaming your roads, eating your food, using your fuel and breathing your air. And cavorting with your women! (Okay, so not really that last one). But we will be bothering your residents as we make our way through your glorious states.

And seriously, I don't mean any disrespect to the folks in Utah, Colorado, or Kansas. I've already been to Kansas, so I'm not really in a big hurry to revisit that place. And I think I have at least a cousin in Colorado, but more relatives in Arizona (although we're not very close and I don't think they ever cared much for our side of the family). And this might give me the chance to change all that and open up new lines of communication with the rest of the "Given" clan. OR not, depending on how involved they wanna be.

So, while I'm not terribly excited about all the work this re-route will mean, I AM kinda excited about figuring the best route through these new areas that we hadn't considered up to this point. And as Matt pointed out, how many chances are we gonna get in this lifetime to do this? Utah may be a really well kept secret, but maybe they'd rather keep it a secret? No sense having me there, riding and blogging and making a big to-do about all things Osmond. (That's a link for my sister, who is probably wondering why I never blog about her.) And to be really honest, this gives me more time to be anal retentive about all the details of the revised route, so I'm kinda in heaven again!

Watch for an update to the route soon and I'll be making changes on GordonGiven.com as well.

In the meantime, Lemme HEAR ya! Comment, sign a guestbook, or send me feedback. Sheesh, if I wanted you to be a quiet lurker and not have any input, I would have made it impossible for you to give any!

A Whole Mess O' Links

I thought today I would give you some places to wander off too. These are places where the official Vancouver Adventure will be taking us.

Fort Wayne, Indiana - Where it begins! (you only need to visit ONE site for Fort Wayne)
Mauston, Wisconsin - official city site, newspaper,
Grand Forks, ND - official city site, newspaper,
Malta, MT - official chamber site, newspaper, fun stuff
Kalispell, MT- official site, newspaper, fun stuff
Eureka, MT - YOU GOTTA CLICK THIS ONE
Spokane, WA - official city site, newspaper,
Okanogan, WA - county site, newspaper
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - official city site, newspaper, tourism site,
Seattle, WA - official tourism site, newspaper, another newspaper,
Ogden, UT - official city site, newspaper
Glenwood Springs, CO - official city site, tourism site, Chamber site, newspaper
Salina, KS - newspaper site, official city site, Chamber site,
Belleville, IL- official city site, newspaper site,
THE BOOGIE, near Springville, Indiana - Official Boogie Site

Okay, so there's a good starting list. You (and I) have plenty of time to find others that will be relevant to the big adventure, so if you find some really good ones...lemme know!

That's really all I have for today. Just let me know you dropped by so that I know this is going to be worth all the effort!

Great Expectations

As I sneeze and sniffle today (not sure if it's allergies or what), I think about my good friend Myles. I wrote to Myles probably a good year ago now after finding him on the web, and have stayed in somewhat regular contact now.
I originally met Myles in Pirmasens, West Germany (back when there was still an East and West Germany) when we were both in the US Army. He was in a Transportation Unit or something, and I was in a Signal company. We probably met through another mutual friend, Tom Stull (much more about him later). In all likelihood, this was in 1983. And we probably met in a bar, or in Tom's room getting ready to go to a bar.

I believe Myles is just slightly older than I am, and I only think this because he seemed to have been in the military longer than I had. It's not by much though. What struck me as odd with Myles - and what made him a very comfortable and compatible friend - was his calm quietness. It was different than the 'strong silent' type that many chicks thought was so mysterious (and is usually more realistically characterized as 'strong and stupid'). Myles certainly wasn't stupid. In fact, he seemed to know most of the answers, but you had to kind of pull it out of him. He didn't volunteer up advice. That's refreshing nowadays after dealing with countless people who not only volunteer their advice, but hound you until you start taking it.

That's not to say Myles lacked energy. We had a sort of yin-yang relationship. He was quiet and introspective, but could chatter away with the girls in attempts to pick them up. He was very 'smooth' without being fake. Me, on the other hand, had to play class clown, live in the spotlight, and ended up trying more to get laughs from the ladies in an effort to get them to ....like me. (I think we all know what the real goal was for us guys, but there could be children reading). We made a good pair, Myles and I, and as I mentioned before, Myles was quite smooth and more often than not, very funny.

Myles was (and is) from Montana. A little (and I mean little) town called 'Eureka'. (You don't smell so good yourself). That was one of his best ice-breaker lines. Granted, it didn't work all that well on the German girls (English was taught, but not a thoroughly saturated language with them). And to be honest, it sometimes didn't work on the female members of the military that we were trying to make acquaintances with. Why? Well, to put this gently, when Myles and I were in the military, they would take just about anybody. In fact, they ended up taking SO many that I was offered an 'early out' just to help reduce the number of troops and reduce the money spent paying us. So there were quite a few soldiers -male and female- that were of the 'Duh factor'. And remember here, I was in my late teens (18 or 19) and trying to score was pretty much all we thought about. So, if the girl wasn't all that bright, it seemed a lot easier to entertain her with jokes and one-liners. These were the bright, shiny objects that kept them around long enough for the alcohol to take effect and to loosen them up enough to get better acquainted.

Myles was a genius at talking with girls. Unlike most of the rest of us, he had standards. So many times it ended up that he would be trying to get to know the smarter girl and her 'less-smart' friends were considered our conquests. He didn't end up as 'lucky' as us many times, but he ended up with second and third dates, and the rest of us were lucky to NOT get slapped the next time we ran across a previous 'date'.

Anyway, Myles was usually never the initiator of dumb ideas, but he was usually the one who tried (sometimes not very hard) to talk us out of them. He was also usually (usually, the one who would think quickly in order to get us out of the jams and difficult situations that our dumb ideas resulted in.
However, Myles was always up for the fun and many times ended up just like the rest of us, too drunk to walk straight, at 5 or 5:30am on a weekday, staggering back to our unit in order to make it to Physical Training (PT) on time at 6am. After trying to run a couple miles (no pun intended) and only making it about 200 feet before depositing the contents of our stomachs on the side of the road, we would go back, shower and prepare for another work day. In that respect, Myles was no brighter than the rest of us. Sorry about that Myles, but in retrospect, we did some dumb stuff.

Myles and I last saw each other shortly after I got out of the Army. He was still in, although I'm not sure where he was stationed, and I had been out for maybe 6 weeks. There was a sort of 'reunion' party for many of the folks who had been in Germany together at least a year or so prior. Myles was one of the few there that I actually remembered (most of these people weren't in my unit). So we spent most of the time there talking and reminiscing about events that were only about 18 months old. So here we were in New Jersey somewhere, back ON a military base (which I thought was stupid and ironic since we all loved to sit around wishing for the day we would no longer be soldiers). Myles and I kinda figured that we'd likely never see each other again. Sure, we talked about the next reunion, but seriously we didn't think it would really happen. I was pretty sure that Myles, like so many of my Army buddies from the past would just be in the past. It's hard to express, but it's a difficult thing to say goodbye, especially at that young age.

Flash forward to about 2007 or 2008. I track down Myles through the Internet (thank goodness he stayed in Eureka) and we made email contact again. I learned that unlike so many of our pals, Myles is now a successful business owner in Eureka, he went home and married his high school sweetheart (well, it's more realistic than that, she had dumped him before he joined the military, but he met her again at their 10th HS reunion and it was 'on'), and raised three children.

By lucky happenstance, Myles mentioned that he rides a Honda Magna motorcycle, as I was telling him about this trip. Originally, the plan was to just stop and see Myles, meet his wife, learn about his little town that I joked about for so many years, and get on with the trip. After talking with Myles, he's decided to join Matt and I on the Vancouver Adventure at least for the portion through Glacier National Park, Montana, then through the Northern Cascades in Washington state, on to Vancouver and back down and into Oregon. He will likely peel off and visit his sister in Oregon while Matt and I continue the VA.

I am so pleased to be able to spend some additional quality time with Myles. I fully realize that at the end of our portion of this trip together, it'll be another 'until we meet again' moment, but just having the chance to touch base with Myles again after 24 or so years, will be wonderful!