Friends: The “Family” you get to pick yourself.

There are happily few “regrets” on this entire odyssey. Not being able to personally visit some of those myriad first cousins in this part of the world falls into that category. So, Dennis and Marilyn, and Joyce, know that we we would have loved to stop and visit your southwestern homes, too, if limited time and conflicting schedules had not intervened. You are precious to us, too!

Past adventures have spawned a new family of “friends” for us. My 30 plus years of riding Iowa’s premier bike ride, Ragbrai, has added great length to our annual Christmas card list! As you faithful Blog readers will recall, this ride started “on the road” with Jackie and Richard from Miami. At this end of the continent, LONG time biking friend, Norma Jean has come from LaLa Land to Iowa on numerous occasions to ride and stay with the Conway Clan. I was able to interrupt her still busy professional day to enjoy coffee, conversation and conviviality with her before her own “Gramma duties” pulled her away. Thank you for the wonderful time of reminiscences, NJ!

With mutual, albeit convoluted, connections to the Camino de Santiago, Jennifer de la R. and the Conways have become “family” type friends (definition: you can count on a meal and a bed if you’re in the vicinity 🙂 } Jennifer has/is a Blog author herself, and I chose the WordPress site for my blog in large part based on her experience with it. California Freeway driving in a motor home is not for the faint of heart, but we arrived in Simi Valley at Jennifer’s home none the worse for wear. She, and Angus, the lovable guard dog, welcomed us enthusiastically. We had to split the visiting agenda, based on time constraints, so Cathy and Jennifer were off to the Getty Gardens and Art Museum, with big emphasis on the Garden, for Cathy.

The evening was delightful with the arrival of two of Jenn’s “forever friends” from high school who wanted to meet these vagabond biker farmers. A super meal and produce from the vintners and brewers of California kept the attitude and atmosphere marvelously merry!  Thank you, Rebecca and Becky, for enlivening our evening!

I am putting this to the “publish” mode, and will add more pix when they become available. Thanks to all you Family of Friends!

We are off to the the magnificent Parks of the Southwest, with planned visits to Antelope Canyon, Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon Dam and Arches National Park. We will be using up megabytes by the gazillion with pix.

Stay tuned!