November 13, 2022
There was no plan! There was a general framework, but it was very much a flexible, changing, a day-to-day scenario. When we each left New England, Laura in September and me in October, the idea of meeting out west was only a seed of thought, a possibility, but certainly not a plan. As I said in an earlier post, we kept in touch. That keeping in touch resulted in us meeting at Colorado National Monument, but there was no plan, at that point, or after Zion or Valley of Fire, or even after Lake Mead, to stick together park after park after park.
I would plan a few parks ahead, places I wanted to see and spend time exploring, either hiking or bicycling. For example, after Lake Mead I had set up reservations at Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Salton Sea Recreation Area, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I did this because, largely as a result of Covid, parks were now on online reservation systems. It was difficult to obtain reservations at some parks, and often the sites that were available were only available for a day or two. So planning ahead made sense, even though I wanted to stay flexible. I set these up as options. I was enjoying traveling and spending time with Laura, as was she with me. So, although I had reservations, I also knew I could cancel them.
Laura’s motivation for going to the National Parks was born out of a plan she had to visit all of the national parks over the next five years. I learned of her project in various bits and pieces over the past few weeks. While at Zion, I learned that she had lost her life-partner, William, to cancer. it turned out that William was the "business partner" what she had mentioned to me at Colorado National Monument. She told me she was visiting the national parks because that was something she and William had started to do. It was his intent for her to continue to do that, and she was thoughtfully spreading his ashes at each park. She was dedicated. I also learned that her company, Other Nice People (ONP), was something that she and William had created, with the mission of “Spreading the Good” through stories of kindness they had seen and/or experienced in their travels. Part of her plan was to go to visitor centers at the parks, meet with those who did selection of products sold in them, and try to have her ONP branded products, such as the activity calendar (mentioned previously in the Moab blog entry), made available.
So, the next phase of the “plan” was we would meet in Death Valley. I had reservations for three nights there. We would meet there.
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