My swim plan this summer clearly shows even more than sleeping outside in subfreezing temperatures that my common sense is on sabbatical -- but here's the current guess at where I will be.
May 13 - June 3: More training on hang gliders at the Morningside Flight Park in New Hampshire, living in a "platform tent" on the east side of the hill, flying off the west side from increasing heights, and getting higher every day.... Then, a careful and safe low altitude drive back to the Valhalla Ranch to do laundry, pay bills, and hitch a ride down to Pilot, Virginia. Then --
June 6 - June 23: Traveling across the country with my daughter, her son, and their dog, leaving the green hills of southwest Virginia behind for the golden rolling hills and a new home in California. Stops along the way will include a number of unusual landmarks to the nation's history-- Gateway Arch and the Great Salt Lake are the only ones that everyone would recognize, I think. Oh, and the World's Largest Ball of Twine, of course. The stops also include the childhood favorite entertainment park of my grandson's father in Silver Dollar City, so that he can check out all those wild stories that his Dad told him? Rather than staggering back to Virginia (so boring), I may revisit some places in Central California and then head north, where I plan to be --
June 30 (?) - tbd: Hiking the younger (steeper, higher) mountains of the Olympic National Park that have not been mellowed by millenia of wind and water. The first-born sister of my closest friend will be my host there, and will hopefully restrain her spouse from any ageist comments about walkers, wheelchairs, et cetera. When an military flight from McChord AB to Yokota is posted with available space for retirees, I hope to be --
tbd -- August tbd: Visiting Japan? Maybe. Given the number of unresolved logistic questions, climbing Mount Fuji has been taken off of this year's goals; this trip will aim only for advance recon, making connections, and possibly climbing some of the less prestigious piles of rock there.
August tbd: Returning to the ranch, hoping that Thor and Valkyrie still remember who I am!
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