Dianne, count on it! As Smile said, I've been "boomerized!"

And don't leave yet, gals. We've got a few more days. Where shall we go next?

Dotsie should host a BoomerWomenSpeak convention in Baltimore. Smile picks up as many boomer women as she can cram into the RV between Missouri and Baltimore. You ride in on your Harley. I captain New Paint. JJ burns rubber up the east coast with Trixie, scarf flying and leather aviator cap atop her canine head, and comes to a screeching halt in front of the Baltimore convention center. "Boomer Women Speak" in lights on the marquee. And, inside the hall, we plan our great cross-country tour. No dress code. From overcoats to thongs, anything goes.

Gotta get downstairs and turn on the TV. The Jeopardy Ultimate Tournament of Champions. I live for the Geography category.

I just had a thought for another addition to the Boomer Tour. We gotta' go on the tornado tour. They're a real thing. People from all over the world come here to chase tornados. WEIRD!! We have all kinds of storm chasers who chase tornados in pickups and they even fly into them in helicopters and film it. We love tornados. It's kind of like noodlin. Living on the edge. Yep we have to to do it. Lots of margaritas first of course.

Lori, this is a whole new book!!! I have the name. It's The spandex insanity tour."

Yessirree. It'll be great. I'm making room in the van as we speak. Anyone need a ride??
smith
smile

[ May 27, 2005, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: smilinize ]

Smile, have you ever chased a tornado? (Hmmmm...Why do I think I already know the answer to that question....)

Is this around Branson? When we were on our "Ribbons" journey, we crossed north Texas on a small route that brought us through a few hundred downtowns. We traveled from Texarkana to Amarillo. I remember when we got out near Wichita Falls ("Tornado Alley!" I told the kids), I thought how incredible it would be to see a funnel cloud swirling out there on the vast horizon. We had some very interesting weather on the traverse, and some mighty gorgeous cloud formations, but no twisters. When we walked into the Dairy Queen in Saint Jon, Texas, all the talk was about whether the wind that was whipping up would turn to tornado. The collective wisdom of the locals said no -- and they were right.

When I was young, I lived in Illinois for a spell, and tornado season was always eerily fun. When a storm brewed and the warnings went up, my dad would turn the pool table in the basement onto its side and we'd all wait the storm out wedged between it and the basement wall. We'd have Cheerios and board games and radios, and we kids thought it was all great fun.

Two questions: What's "noodlin?" and do tornado-chasers wear Spandex?

Hey Lori,
We're taking off today. Van's loaded and I'm picking up Dan after work then we're on our way. Did you know Yahoo has maps that show free roadside internet hookups? Yup.
You guys thought you were rid of me for two weeks??? HA!

Like about everyone else in Oklahoma I used to chase tornados. Then I caught one and now I just watch it on TV. We had a huge one here a couple of years ago. Wiped out a path about ten miles long and two miles wide. Missed me though. Your Illinois tornado experience is a lot like mine. We had a small community cellar at the school and in the summer it was the Parteee place.
My mom always wore elegant nightgowns and dressed my sister and I in lacy cotton gowns in the summer so we would look nice for the cellar where we went almost every night. (Seems like tornados only come at night) Daddy would try to drive her crazy getting his hair just right as the wind blew and the lighting cracked. Once we lost my sister who went to sleep in the closet.
All the neighbors and their kids would come to the cellar and we would play games and sing til dawn.

Noodlin' is when men dive into the murky water of creeks and dirty rivers with no breathing equipment at all to pull 100 pound catfish out of under water caves. They do it by putting their bare hands in the catfish's mouth and the fish tries to drag them under. Look under the "enjoyable hobbies" topics for a full discussion. There's a show about it on PBS. It's a must see. Fun stuff. Scary too. Especially if you grab a snake or a catfish pulls you under. Whew!!
But my personal fishing preference is for telephoning.

I don't know if tornado chasers wear spandex or not, but Boomers do. For sure.

Did you go to Branson. Ain't that a trip?? We were going there this weekend, but decided to go home for a boat trip and fish fry instead. Maybe we'll stop there on the way home.

Good traveling to you. Keep us informed. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's travel adventures when I get back.

GO BOOMERS!!
smile

I would love to have a convention in Baltimore. It will happen. I'm thinking 2007, if we can wait that long. I'm torn between having a boomer get together for fun and adventure, or having an organized conference. Maybe a little of both.

Somewhere in here smile mentioned always being happy to get home from vacations. Almost like...phew, we made it home alive. I could totally relate to that.

Do any of you have fears when you travel. If so, what do you fear, and how do you manage them?

There was a time when before we traveled I would make sure the house was clean, all the bills were paid, and everything was in order. Just in I didn't make it back home. Plus, I didn't like coming home to a mess. Now I don't have the time for that. Plus I'm a more relaxed traveler. AM I the only weirdo?

Godspeed, Smile. I can almost hear that van idling from here. I am so excited for you I can hardly type. I'll have to tell the book club women tonight about your impending adventure -- and about BoomerWomenSpeak. This is a wonderful place to unwind, have fun, be silly, be serious, learn new things, get good advice, and get and give support.

You definitely need to write about some of your experiences. If I were a fiction writer, I'd want to hang out with you for a few weeks, because there is definitely a full-blown novel character there. Now I know about noodlin! Wonder why my Mississippi friends John and Mac (excerpt a few posts back) didn't tell us about noodlin! Such a tale would undoubtedly have made it from my journal into my book.

I cracked up picturing you getting all gussied up for the trip to the storm cellar. We just put our comfiest PJs on and focused mainly on having lots of good junk food to carry us through the night.

I did not know that Yahoo maps showed Internet hookup sites. My trip was before WiFi and all the other cool communication methods we have now. That's great to know. I'll check it out. I'll be interested to learn how you keep in touch while on your trip. What worked well, what didn't, etc. It's amazing what you can do today. My publisher, Angela Hoy, owner of Booklocker, has a website called www.WirelessTrips.com . She and her family take off all the time in their RV. (Their kids go to school via Internet -- they live in Maine, travel around in their RV, and get e-educated from a school in Vermont). On WirelessTrips.com, she gives tips on staying connected while on the road -- indeed, she runs several business from her RV when she's not home in Bangor.

Alas, no Spandex for this boomer for a while. But once this suspected stress fracture is healed, look out! My orthopedic surgeon once asked me how long I thought I'd be a runner. I answered by telling him I fully expect to be wearing Spandex to the grocery store well into my seventies. "That's my goal, doc, so how do we make that happen?" Now, each time I come in with some new issue, he just asks where it hurts, orders the right tests, and gets me back out there.

Dotsie -- GREAT question about fears when traveling. We've touched on safety issues, and we touched on stress issues when we discussed Smile's eye motion/ground travel theory, but the subject of travel fear is a big one. I'm going to grab some lunch and come back to it a bit later.

(I'm proud of this thread. I think we've left a wonderful trail here for later readers. A little bit of everything, from sublime to ridiculous, interesting to enlightening, potentially useful to immediately valuable. Nice job, ladies.)

Dotsie, sounds to me like 2007 would work.It gives everyone including you time to plan well ahead of time. An organized /fun combo sounds about right. Maybe we could invite Oprah to "come where we are" on one of the evenings as a guest speaker. Maybe she is not booked that far in advance yet. Just a thought.

chick

"Baltimore 2007" I think the boomer convention sounds wonderful. I bet there'd be a lot of interest in such a gathering, both from BWS members and from potential sponsors, media outlets and the like. Terrific idea. Maybe Dotsie'll be on the cover of the next issue that TIME does about boomer women.

Back to the fear factor. You raised a good topic, Dotsie. I began traveling internationally when I was about 20. And, I was fearless, as most twentysomethings are. I went anywhere and tried anything. I'm sure that my fearlessness stemmed in large part from the fact that I had no responsibilities to anyone but myself. Mike and I were together, but I didn't look at being part of a couple as a reason not to go for the gusto in any situation.

I found fear creep into my travels (and I define fear broadly here -- call it caution, planning, extra care, intuition -- many of the things we've discussed in this thread) when I became a mother.

And I think that's the way God planned it. Most of the time, life has a way of making perfect sense.

My non-mother traveling years gave me the confidence and experience I needed to keep traveling once I became a mom. I knew the ropes, knew what I was capable of, knew the incredible life value of venturing beyond my own backyard, knew I had to extend this gift to my children.

But I also knew where the pitfalls, problems and potential dangers might lurk, and I was able to plan, act and react accordingly.

I think this "fear" that came with motherhood is really a protective, defensive mechanism. When my kids are with me, it helps me protect them. When they're not, it helps me protect me, so that I come home safely to them.

A little fear's a good thing. I've come to welcome and respect it. If I'm traveling and I don't feel at least a bit of it, it's time to stop and take a reality check. If I'm too cocksure of everything, I need a dope slap.

Any little Memorial Day weekend road trips planned?

As soon as we roust the kids from bed, we're off to our cottage in New Hampshire. It's on a small lake, and I haven't been there since February. I hear the bass fishermen are already out in force.

We have Internet hookup up there in the woods, so I'll chat from there, but I wanted to share an excerpt from "Ribbons of Highway" that I think is appropriate for this Memorial Day as we honor and pray for those who've put themselves in harm's way on our behalf and continue to do so.

As most of you know, September 11 was the impetus for the 12,000-mile road trip I'd come to write about in "Ribbons," and terrorism, its aftermath, and the strength of our people both in and out of uniform were with us every mile:
---


We passed the cellphone around and called all the people to whom the words, “We’re in Massachusetts!” would mean something. Now they waited for us, while we rolled the final miles down the turnpike, which felt like a long, green exit ramp to home.

But we’d really been home all along. Our whole journey had been a 12,000-mile discovery of home.


Somewhere out west, Dana had asked, “Sometimes you hear people are different. Then you hear we’re all the same. Which is right?”

Both. We have different ethnicities and backgrounds, different ways of making a living, different geographies and climates, different pastimes, different religions and traditions.

But we’re also the same. We love our families and communities. We love our part of the country, but we respect the rest of it. We work hard. We’re independent. We cherish our freedom. We speak our minds. And, judging by the flags, patriotic symbols, and messages of hope and support that we saw everywhere across the land – on ranches and gas stations, logging trucks and billboards, fishing boats and bumper stickers, churches and diners – we share a love for this nation.

America exceeded my expectations. No part of it failed me or left me empty. It’s a quilt of small, fascinating pieces that give great comfort when sewn together. A kaleidoscope of beautiful shapes and colors that amaze when blended.

On any journey, whether short, long, or lasting whole relationships or lifetimes, you can usually find what you set out to discover. You choose what to look for, what to focus on, what to celebrate. I went on this trip looking for good things, and found great ones.

----
Peace.

Lori, you hit the nail on the head for me. That makes so much sense. My fears:

What if something happens-
-to the kids while we're away
-us, while we're away as a couple
-them, while we're away
-any of us when we're together (this doesn't bother me as much)

Realistically I know any of these can happen while we're home too. It's such crazy thinking.

My husband is a diabetic. While vacationing in Punta Cana he had a major low blood sugar reaction. Fortunately we were all together and each one of us played a part in bringing him out of his seizure. I was so grateful we had one another.

This whole blood sugar issue raises fears when traveling. He would like to go to a third world country to do mission work. I rarely put my foot down, but I won't let him do it.

Lori, I remember reading that part of the book. It was one of my favorites. I could picture you connecting with those at home again. It felt good. Maybe it's part of my, "we made it back alive" thinking.

Gotta turn the sprinkler off, run my daughter to work, and food shop. Yippee.

Have fun on your weekend escape.