Preparing for the Unexpected

We decided to take a trip on the first week part of July. Now our trip process, or my process at least, will go something like this.


First, I will determine that this trip will be the greatest trip ever. It will be filled with staying in great hotels, eating in the best-recommended restaurants, and seeing the wonderful and breathtaking sites of the area.

Then we will have the “figure out where we are going to vacation” phase. There is a lot of pressure at this stage. If it is going to meet the above requirement of the “greatest trip ever”, the “where” part is critical. This is a very simple yet complicated undertaking. Complicated in the sense of listing all of the possibilities. Simple in the sense of the eventual obvious result. I must confess that this stage begins two to three months before the actual trip date. This time, like always, it seems the possibilities are endless.

We will throw around, in the beginning, the grand trips. Colorado? Alaska? The Mid-West to see family? Or, what about the East coast? And then the elimination and options that will be most practical and cost efficient enough to fit into our budget, but still have a great time.

So the choices now become directional. Do we go north or south or east or west? And it can’t be too far of a travel time. That will give us more time to enjoy “the greatest trip ever”. Is it going to be north to Seattle or the San Juans? Enjoyable? Yes. Have friends there? Yes. Expensive? Yeah, a bit. East to the mountains or Bend? Now that would be fun. Haven’t been there too much. Great restaurants. Good views. But T. was just in that area for a work retreat, so we will try somewhere else. How about south? The Roseburg area? The last time we were there this town fascinated me. It seems to be a fusion of blue-collar working atmosphere and fashionable urban trendsetters. Again, it wasn’t too long since we wee last there. So, no.

There is always the old standby, west. Lincoln City or Newport? I will never tire of going there. But we can always go there for a weekend, so at this time we will pass. But it is the coast, and if given a choice, I love the coast and like to go to the coast. I would, in a heartbeat, live there. And we have our favorite places to stay, eat, and go after many trips there.

Then T. suggested the Southern Oregon Coast with a tour of the Redwoods. That’s it! I think that I have only been there once in my life, so in early May our trip destination for the first week of July was now settled. This could have been an easier selection process, since I generally gravitate to a 200- 250-mile maximum travel trip. And usually the coast is involved. Now all that is left are the details. This includes the reserving of the hotels, the review checking of restaurant choices, and the itinerary of site seeing and photo op extravaganza. This will involve “Tripadvisor” and similar sites to research best options for us and what has been approved by many a traveling commentator. I live for planned spontaneity.

And everything went as planned. It was a great trip, but not the “greatest trip ever”. That is an unattainable medal. We never do as much as we think we are going to. There was nothing bad about this trip but trips can never live up to the hype of one’s own fantasy and imagination. But along the way of our well thought out vacation there were three unexpected but life impacting encounters that weren’t planned. At least by us. But it was good and meaningful that we got to be a part of those encounters.

Sometimes, as we move along on our journey, something happens. Life. Life happens. And out of that life happening, we got tastes of the unexpected. And sometimes, the great moments and great lessons that come our way, happen while we are planning our life, and these my friends, must not be missed. Three encounters. One was by a river. One was in an art gallery. And one was at our motel. Curious?