Up, Down and Around Our Town

Reflections. A great time to take account of the world around you and see if any of it makes sense. That is the joy of spending a couple of weeks away from home; it stimulates the process and gives a lovely sense of perspective. And similarity.

We decided not to fly; the hassle and the uncertainty of the airlines has made that venue one to avoid rather than savor. Not to mention the price. So, with a packed vehicle, we ventured some 3000 miles round trip through some of the prettiest country in the nation. And we decided not to stick to the Interstate Highways. The Blue Highways were a part of our intinerary. You get a different look when you are on the two-lane roads.

Take Elkhart, Indiana. Want an RV? Inventories are at an all-time high. For the simplest of reasons. Filling one of those floating hotels up will approach $400. For one tank and they have never been gas efficient to start. Even if you're just visiting the hometown of James Dean. Which we did.

Geneva, Ohio. Along the shores of Lake Erie, which is now clean and beautiful. Yet, at the B&B where we stayed, we had our choice of about any room we wanted. Why? The normal, annual trade that used to spend two weeks on the lake are now spending less than one. For the simplest of reasons. The cost of doing business.

LeRoy, Batavia and Avon in New York. Beautiful places with spectacular views. Campgrounds that are abundant and plenty, with lots of space available. The reasons were simple and as we interacted with a few of the locals, the song sung was the same one. Less people staying for a shorter period of time. You figure it out.

Our trip was a living laboratory of economics. In Ohio and Pennsylvania, for example, one could save 20 cents per gallon. How? Pay cash. Put that credit card in your pocket and you could buy a gallon of petrol for $3.50. A relative bargain. Like the big boys have said for years, it all comes down to cashflow. And this year's journey was none for the lesser.

The Catskills are gorgeous and we had a wonderful family reunion on the shores of Stissing Lake in Pine Plains, New York. The normal bustle of the crowd fleeing Manhattan were around, but hardly in droves. Even the bus companies admitted that the venerable Greyhounds that made the Friday-Sunday weekend getaways have given way to 50% occupancy and higher costs. It all gets down to economics.

But, sometimes those work in your favor. We decided to venture on the backroads to find some of those hidden golf courses and were not disappointed. Grove City, Pennsylvania offered Pine Grove. Anderson, Indiana offered Meadowbrook and Alexandria, Indiana showcased The Yule Course. The common theme? Discounted rates and empty fairways. All three of these were lovely tracts and we were rewarded with friendly faces and good competition. But the numbers were down.

So what have we learned and what will we do with it all. The Presidential campaign offers some change, but not a lot. John McCain is trying to distance himself from the sitting President and Barack Obama is moving steadily towards the center. The fiscal problems seem to be somewhat backburnered and the Iraq War continues to offer no real solutions. Other than to occupy the place for the next decade or so.

No, we are preoccupied with Brett Favre, the Olympics and the start of school. It is as if we can put our blinders on, pay the extra 15% that it takes to go from day to day and hope for the best. Our vacation taught us several great lessons. Your dollars don't go as far; your options have been limited and somewhere in our brain, we think that $3.75 a gallon is a bargain. Perhaps in retrospect it is. Perhaps it isn't.

But, our desire to be with others and explore this world never has gone out of style. Perhaps the changes will come when we balance the fact that choices will have to be made. Priorities abound, yet prices rise, unemployment is at the highest level in almost 15 years and the cost of doing business continues to rise. Even the simplest of summer treasures - sweet corn and peaches, have seen the rise. Worth it? Certainly, but with limits.

We enter an important time of the year and our future. Political anger will be fueled; surprises will be felt. The real question is this? Are our choices economic or political? What do we need to know and what will we need to know to make it happen. Those pose the most risk and the most reward.

We'll get back to the day to day stuff after we completely unpack and get things in our own normal pattern. Our return offered us the nicest of pleasures; apple cobbler in the backyard of one of our families and the return of our hero from a successful medical visit. All in all, not a bad outcome. We continue to hope for more.

So, till next week and as always, it is nice to be home and I remain....