Today Is The Full Moon

I have been waiting for this day for almost six months.  Not because it's the full moon, which is an interesting coincidence, though.  Today I leave on a journey back in time.

My parents married in Portland, OR, in I believe 1946.  They had met working in for a shipyard that made boats the Navy would use in World War II.  They could launch them on the Columbia River and they could float right out to the ocean.  The Columbia is a big river.

For some strange reason, they moved away from there and ended up in Ogden, Utah.  I am sure there was some family issue that was never explained to me.  The story went that my dad and a friend took a drive through Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, and liked the Ogden area the best.  They went back to Portland, got their wives, and went to Ogden and opened up a Texaco gas station.  In any event, it wasn't done on a whim.  I might never know the real reason.  Maybe this week I might find a clue or two.

I have been wanting to visit both Costa Rica and Ireland for some time now.  Now that I'm 55 years old, I have decided it is time to start getting some of these things done.  Earlier this year I was thinking about it and decided I am going to take two weeks off every summer and do something big.  This year I decided to go back in time.

When I was a kid, we used to visit relatives in Portland and Eugene, Oregon.  My mom also had a brother in Boise, Idaho, who we would stop and see, and a sister in Kennewick, Washington.  My dad also had a sister in Walla Walla.  When I was 14 years old, in 1970, my dad was suffering from arthritis and some friends had recently moved to Arizona and said they loved it.  After talking it over with the family, we decided to sell the house and move.  The house sold in days and by May 10th, 1970, we were on our way to Arizona.  The move really did help my dad, too.  But we never visited relatives up that way again.  Very occasionally one would be in town and stop by.

I have great memories of those trips.  Sometimes we would go out of our way and drive down the coast, visiting Tillamook, OR, where my dad graduated from high school.  The school team name by the was was The Cheesemakers since Tillamook is known for its cheese.  We visited the Coastal Redwoods, even went to Disneyland when it was only 4 or 5 years old.  I saw Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente play baseball.  I remember Willie McCovey hitting a ball over the right field wall in Candlestick.

So I decided this year I would visit these family members that I haven't seen in 45 years and drive down roads that are distant but vivid memories.  I will visit relatives in Lincoln, CA, Eugene, OR, Kennewick, WA, and finally visit friends I've known since I was a kid in Ogden, Utah when I grew up.  I will see friends there that I haven't seen in 40 years or more.  I will also spend 3 nights camping in the coastal redwoods.  I will visit my 90 year old uncle, the final survivor of my dad's siblings.  Maybe he will have a clue about the reason for the move.  I will also get to see the son of my cousin, who is now 47 years old, plays with his band.  That is quite a trip!

As you read this I will already be on my way.  It will be 3000 miles, but I will make a lot of connections with my roots.  I have also never gone on a trip this far by myself.  And I can't help thinking about seeing the same places and people from what seems like another life ago. 

Costa Rica and Ireland will have to wait.  This year I revisit my youth.