Unusual Experiences
When I am trying to go to sleep, I don’t count sheep, I visualize some of the unique experiences my husband, Lloyd, and I had in our travels.
Lloyd’s college major was history and his interest continued throughout his lifetime. After he retired, he studied for a MA from the University of Colorado, specializing in events of the western United States.
A primary interest was the Oregon Trail, a migration of covered wagons, pulled by oxen, from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City. When the 150th anniversary of the start of the trail was celebrated, we drove a route adjacent the trail from the western border of Nebraska to Oregon City. We had a book that showed the relationship of the trail to our highway. Often across a strip of prairie we could see the ruts left by the hundreds of wagons.
Also, we had copies of diaries kept by some of the original travelers. We could stop at a location and compare what we were seeing with what they described a hundred years before. We chuckled when in Idaho, we read one diarist’s comment that it would be a good place to grow potatoes.
Lloyd often commented he’d rather have an experience than money.
Okay, that explains why the piggy bank is empty.
Wilma Gundy
Merci pour vos messages et les recherches historiques conduites avec votre mari.
I well remember your Oregon Trail trip. Also, I remember the surprise party we gave for him when he retired. We had it my house and put some of the wine bottles in a snowbank near the kitchen door. Later, one spring morning, I remember being so surprised to see a bottle of wine joining the flowers that appeared in the thaw of a sunny morning. Your trip, Lloyd’s retirement, our surprise party— all good memories to enrich a sleepless night.