The Trip to Yellowstone

Does everyone remember their first family vacation or is that just me? Maybe you can let me know. I was 8 years old and we were headed for Yellowstone National Park. By today's standards it probably would not even compete with a Disney vacation. How could thermal geysers, white water rapids, Rocky Mountains, giant waterfalls, wild bears, wolves, buffalo and camping in the woods be better than a roller coaster and a run-away train?

I remember all kinds of stuff from that 1961 vacation. My dad had borrowed everything; tent, camping stove, lantern, sleeping bags.....maybe even the money for the trip. I'm not sure about that last part. Somehow he got it all packed into our two-tone blue 1958 Chevrolet. It was a Biscayne.

I sat behind my dad. I don't know how that became my place but it just always was. Maybe there is some unwritten rule about first born males being awarded that seat, or maybe it was just easier for a dad to reach back with his hand right before "one more time and I will pull this car over!" Anyway, it was a great trip.

There are three things from that trip that are still with me today. Things that are applicable to my current journey with life. Sitting behind my dad on family trips, I was always studying maps. I don't remember us ever having an atlas but we always had those state maps that you pick up at the Welcome Center; open them up, and then pray you will be able to figure out how to fold it back so that the picture is on the front. I always wanted to know where we were, where we were going, and how we would be getting there. That back seat is where I became a navigator. Today I find myself doing the same thing. The map has been replaced by the Bible and I try hard to turn over the navigation to the Holy Spirit; but I'm looking at where I am, where I need to be, and how to get there.

The second thing I learned came from my mom's passion to avoid at all costs those incredibly fast paced, almost super-sonic raceways known as interstates. We didn't do our family vacations on dirt roads but we avoided the risk of "busy highways" and stayed on state and US routes where the other cars were coming right at you and maniacs were trying to pass you at any moment. Talk about risk! Looking out the car window I wanted to know what it would feel like to get on the interstate, to take the risk. I think I am still feeling that as I consider the next step in my life.

The final thing was not really something I learned, it was just something that became a part of me. As we travelled west across Iowa, Nebraska and finally Wyoming. I would see the large hills [well maybe not in Nebraska] and finally the incredible Rocky Mountains and there was always the desire to climb to the top of each one that I would see. You might call it a sickness but it was something that was inside of me. I wanted to climb, to experience the feelings that came with it, and capture the view from the top. I wanted to climb because it was there. It's still a part of me. It's why I go to Colorado and climb 14,000 foot mountains. It will be a part of the next adventure in my life.

It's truly amazing what you can learn from the back seat of a 1958 Chevy on the way to Yellowstone. What are you learning?
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