Just finished a fast trip to El Paso, a mere 440 miles from where I live, for a council meeting. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared as far as traveling goes as I had a book on CD and multiple phone calls to keep me occupied.
One serendipitous moment occurred when I stopped at Van Horn to check out the Club there. It is relatively new and I had met these folks at the last Southwestern Regional Conference. The building isn’t finished, still waiting on funding, but there were kids inside having fun. Went to supper with the crew, talked for hours about fund raising, staffing issues, challenges, etc. when they asked if I was going to go all the way to El Paso that night. I told them I thought I would but then they offered to put me up for the night in one of the gazillion hotels that Van Horn has. I made a phone call and then took them up on their offer. It was a wonderful room!
In the morning I grabbed coffee, watched the sun rise over the mountains, drove around the small town to see how much it had changed from the last time I spent time there, about 23 years ago. It was somewhat different but for the most part, it hadn’t changed much. Most of the people I knew there 23 years are gone but isn’t that they way life is for the most part?
The next morning I rode into El Paso with this group of folks and rode back with them after the meeting. It was great for several reasons; the conversation, learning about the country/history, and I didn’t have to drive in downtown El Paso.
I’m back home, very tired, but pleasantly surprised the trip turned out so well. Now I think I will lay back down and take a nap.
