Hey, I'm back in Redding after ten days in Colorado to visit the most awesome People alive, my Children and their Children.  Zedidiah, my youngest son (22 yrs.) flew into Sacramento where Kathy & Kelsey (wife & step-daughter) rode with me to pick him up on 2/22.  Zedidiah and I climbed into Ol' Blue the next morning and headed south on I-5, back through Sacramento, to catch that long black ribbon, I-80, east to I-25. 
I spent my whole life with my Children in Colorado, moved to Redding June 2009 to be with Kathy. Eventually, we will return to live in Colorado.  Kathy and I drove to Colorado and were married at De Ciccio's in Arvada on September 6th.  I went just the tweaky side of berserk in the days, weeks, and months after we returned to California, missing my Children.  Kathy, good and attentive wife and lifemate that she is, gave me a 5 month old long-haired German Shepherd puppy in October (an early Christmas present) to keep me busy in between writing projects and time with her. 
Christmas, all those hundreds of miles away from my Children, just about did me in.  I had spent the past 40 Christmases with them and found myself picking bugs in my brain.  Kathy came up with the idea of trading my Durango for a pickup, finding an old camper, enabling me to drive to Colorado when we could afford the gas and time.  This was our first trip, me and that hairy dog.  It was fun and exciting, harrowing at times.  Having Zedidiah along was special indeed since he and I have spent his entire life together. 
We came very close to being hit head on by a car driving down the wrong side of I-80 at 2am, blew a radiator north of Fort Collins, and limped into Arvada where Zedidiah lives.  All five of my Children and their spouses, life-mates, significant others, came to the rescue.  They got the truck towed and saw to its repair, fed me and made me welcome every moment I was there.  Later in the week we found a camper on Craig's List, a 1976 Mitchell, old truck, old camper.  I joked with my daughter that Ol' Blue looked like an old man's truck.  Then it hit me, it is an old man's truck. 
Kathy and I communicated every day and night while I was gone, missed each other and coped like a well adjusted couple should.  She's optimistic and calm.  I'm critical and edgy.  We're a good match and can't wait to live with my Friends, my Children and their Children in Colorado where she and kelsey will join the Sterner clan in a physical sense. 
To friends and loved ones I didn't contact while in Colorado, I apologize.  Most of the time I was without wheels and stressing over the repairs to Ol' Blue.  I wasn't a fun guy to be around but my Children are used to putting up with me in that and any other condition.  I'll try to do better on future visits.
Hey, if you see Cinder and me heading east or west on I-80, north or south on I-25, lost in the perimeter, sideways, upside down, give us a wave.  We're on the road and learning our way.