A Crazy Dream

Last night, as I reached age 74, I had a really crazy and vivid dream! It was like I flew all over the place, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and always featuring me and Christy. I don't know why or what triggered it, and it took me by surprise when I clearly remembered it this morning. It didn't leave my head and kept popping up in my thoughts during the day. This is what I dreamt:

After I dropped off my paid rider at Albuquerque, New Mexico, I turned around and went back to Seattle, Washington, met up with Christy on a date, and got her to agree to come with me, visiting National Parks on the way to my home in New York. She agreed. Together, that night we let her parents know what we wanted to do, basically sightsee our way across the USA to New York. There was a good deal of resistance on their part but after I gave them all assurances of good intentions (with Christy chiming in too), my ID, my parents phone number and address, etc, and assurances that I'd take good care of their daughter, they finally, reluctantly agreed. Besides, Christy was already 19 years old and wanting some freedom from home.

Graciously, they also agreed to let me sleep over in their house for the night. (I think they also wanted to give Christy time to think about this huge step in her life.) Next morning, they quizzed both of us and we both independently still wanted to make the trip back East. So we had a great breakfast, talked and hugged the parents a bit more, and then off we went, quickly heading south from Seattle. We were pretty nervous but it was great having Christy to talk to while driving. I could tell she was a bit nervous when we started on the way, but who wouldn't be? I could have been a clever axe murderer for all she knew!

Crater Lake National Park and Lassen National Park

We headed down the Pacific Ocean coast, first along HWY 101 South, then cut inland below Dunes City, Oregon to I-5, stopping at Pacific Ocean beaches and sights along the way. In my dream, it was interesting that Christy was pretty quiet and subdued while we were driving in Washington State, though as soon as we crossed the Oregon border three hours later, that was not the case as I found out at the first rest stop we came to in Oregon! In my dream, that's when the kissing began and I had to put a stop to it so we could get going again. The first National Park was 424 miles away/8.5 hours driving, Crater Lake, which absolutely stunned Christy with its beauty. After we set up our tent, we made a call to Christy's parents (when she told them that everything was fine) and had dinner, then we watched the sunset on a bench overlooking the lake, and then finally retired to our tent. My dream did not cover that night, other than we did not get much sleep. The next day we did the tourist boat on the lake, then touristy stuff the next day, like the several hour drive around the beautiful lake and then headed south again on I-5 the day after.

We headed back to the Oregon/California coast so we could go to Redwood National Park, on the California Coast. The tall trees were so amazing, taller than any trees in Washington State. A couple days there and then another short 5 hour drive to the quiet Lassen Volcanic National Park. We climbed Mt Lassen (an active volcano) the next day. Christy felt so good after the strenuous uphill mountain climb and standing on what felt like the top of the world. When she was out in nature her wonderful internal beauty came shining out and was so amazing to me to see.

I couldn't help falling even more in love with her. After that hike we then "rested" (if you call making out and more in the tent, etc, "resting") before dinner. We saw some black bears around the campsite that evening, and they left us alone but scared Christy. We did a bit more the next day by going on a hike to Bumpass Hell which was a unique geothermal area featuring constantly boiling and hissing mud pots, steam vents, colorful mineral deposits and soils that were vibrant hues of orange, red, and blue from the sulpher that you could smell, and finally the Big Boiler, the central steam vent in Bumpass Hell that can reach temperatures of 320 degrees Fahrenheit. This area was an otherworldly experience for us! Christy made another "okay" phone call to her parents. We decided to spend the night at Lassen before heading south again.

Note that a lot of these events were just quick flashes during my dream and that in my dream, we were traveling slowly. I'm surprised at how vivid the dream pictures were from so many years ago.

Yosemite National Park

Aaahh, then Yosemite National Park (also a total stunner), a six hour drive. We stayed there for a week, resting up and seeing all sorts of sites and doing a lot of hiking. We had our first "fancy" dinner at the Awahanee Hotel where Christy got her first experience of being on a date and freely drinking wine (as did I also). LOL, I'm not sure how I managed to drive back to our campsite but I know the Park speed limits are pretty low. That fancy dinner was a first for both of us. We had a great conversation about how different it was than our night in Kalaloch, WA (with hiot dogs for dinner). So much more relaxed!

The next day Christy also told me how much she was enjoying this trip and seeing all this beauty she'd never seen before. I felt so good about that, my apprehensions about taking her on this trip disappeared. Every day it seemed like we were getting closer to each other, at least that was what the dream seemed to convey to me. These were feelings in my dream. We did a bunch of other hikes, enjoying the outdoors exercise. Since we were in Yosemite for a week, it seemed like we were adjusting to each other more, sharing jobs in camp, and laughing/joking a lot more and always looking at the scenery in amazement!

Christy's call to her parents while we were in Yosemite NP was not just an "okay" message, but she told them more about our trip, how she was enjoying it so much, and more importantly, how much she was enjoying being with me and with the way we were handling everything. She let them know that she planned to continue on the trip with me and probably wouldn't be checking back by phone quite as much. LOL, my dream showed us digging for change to put into the rotary dial pay phone!

From that point forwards in our trip we sometimes called her parents and sometimes we sent them a letter. (We also did the same for my parents.)

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

After the wonderful time in Yosemite, we packed up and headed South on the short 3 hour drive to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, just a bit farther south in California. We spent four days there seeing the fantastic, huge Sequoia trees and doing a lot of hiking and climbing steep trails! It was also nice and cool, which was a relief for us. We also had to chase black bears from our campsite a couple of times. At camp, we met another very nice young married couple and had a shared dinner with them one night. It was so interesting talking

The next part of our trip was a bit difficult which the Dream flashed through with some vivid pictures. To get to our next park, Death Valley National Park, you basically have to head west, down out of the mountains, then south and then east across some small roads going up into the mountains again to get to Death Valley. My little underpowered VW Bug wasn't exactly made for high mountain travel.

So we headed down Hwy 198, the very narrow, curvy mountain route along the river out of the Parks, then south on Hwy 99, until we got to Bakersfield, then back into the mountains via Hwy 178 along the river and to Lake Isabella, a manmade lake, and finally to HWY 395 northward. We went up to Lone Pine, were awed by Mt Whitney which is 15,494 feet in elevation, the highest point in the U.S. outside of Alaska. We couldh't help comparing it to Mount Rainier in Washington, which has an entirely different look with it's large snow cap. We then visited the Manzanar NHS (where US Japanese citizens were held during World War II) which gave us a new feeling about our Country.

During my Dream, I had been driving almost all the time. But at Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Christy let me know she'd like to share in the driving time. So, after a few VW Bug driving lessons & experience building short trips in the Park, she drove us on the trip out of these parks. That was a very new experience for her and in my Dream, it appeared to really build up her self-confidence and feeling of independence.

Already during our travels over the length of Washington, Oregon and California - 1,293 miles from North to South - we had driven through every terrain imaginable: snow-capped mountains, verdant meadows, rolling vineyards, soaring Redwood forests, vast farmlands, and arid desert. It was an amazing study of our Country's natural diversity and opened Christy to so many new experiences. So much of this land was unlike anything in Washington State! Every day her self-confidence and maturity seemed to grow with me helping her with my New York experiences which we talked about.

Death Valley National Park

Then, all of a sudden, Death Valley National Park was an almost unfathomable place, 3.3 million acres of a totally new experience for both of us! It was awesome in its out-of-this-world desert beauty, the heat, the amazing panoramas, and the history. Christy was totally awestruck, she had no idea such places existed here in the USA and that you can visit them. The temperatures alone (over 100 degrees!) were almost beyond her belief! We spent two weeks there, going on hikes and seeing all the major sights. We snuck into the pool at the Inn at Death Valley, the ritzy, luxurious and historic Death Valley hotel, feeling very naughty and adventurous. I might have been a bad influence on her breaking the rules!

Amazing things we saw/experienced in Death Valley NP - snow on Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet elevation, the below-the sea level Salt Flats brilliant white at -232 feet below sea level, freezing temp's at night, wide open scenery, trails with no one else on them, night stars, mountain-size sand dunes, mysterious singing & moving rocks, colorful sandstone serpentine canyons, amazing creatures, a volcano, and the totally amazing night stars!

My Dream flashed through the 20-Mule Team & Wagon and Harmony Borax Works, the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (where we played and rolled down the sand dunes like little kids), the Pup Fish, the colors of the Golden Canyon, Badwater Basin, Zabriskie Viewpoint, Artist's Drive, Dante's View, the Charcoal Kilns, the Titus Canyon Road, Ubehehe Crater, The Racetrack, the Natural Bridge, Rhyolite Ghost Town, Mosaic Canyon, Darwin Falls, Devils Golf Course, Keane Wonder Mill and Mine, and Scotty's Castle. We were busy little beavers!

The Dream seemed to slow down to show that amongst all our sightseeing in Death Valley, something else happened. With some of the pictures of us that my Dream flashed through, it hinted at this change. I don't know how a dream could explicitly show it. I'll explain.

Before Death Valley, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. But over our time in Death Valley we transitioned from that to being a couple. This had a lot to do with us meeting and talking with other young and old couples, our growing knowledge of each other on many, many different levels, and our growing sense that not only did we want to make this trip together, but just maybe we were beginning to make our trip through our entire lives with each other. It was going from something fun to something very, very serious and somewhat scary. We were so young! We didn't really know how to outright talk to each other about this though, but we certainly were beginning to.

Little did we know that "LIFE" still had some tricks up it's sleeves!

In my Dream, we talked about where we wanted to go to next - there are so many National Parks in the West. I'd been to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon before with my family, so I suggested that we visit those parks next and explained why. (I surprised her with all the geological facts and history about these parks that I knew.) We decided to start heading East. LOL, we were beginning to wonder if we'd ever make it back to New York.

Also at this point I was beginning to wonder how lucky can a guy be, traveling with a beautiful, frisky woman that he loves, having adventures every day, and getting to see stunning, absolutely gorgeous National Parks! Every day made me fall more in love with Christy and with life. I remembered how when I started my trip from New York three months ago I was basically a lonely hermit totally inexperienced in life. But now, I'd been on the road long enough to be forced to handle many of life's challenges. I knew that we couldn't keep this National Park Trip going forever. NOTE: I don't have any pictures of Christy (we didn't have a camera back then) but this AI image is close. And yes, in the Death Valley heat, she stopped wearing a bra completely....it was a thing in the early 1970s.

So we headed southeast on Hwy 190, through Pahrump on Hwy 160 into Las Vegas, a short 3 hour trip. We spent some time gambling (Neither of us were true gamblers, it was just a fun short-term experience), seeing some of the outdoor shows and weirdo people, having a nice dinner, and then a Casino Spectacular Show, "Vegas". Below is the description we saw AFTER we got into our seats. I will never, ever live this gaff down with Christy, she still kids me about it! Especially the character "Ernie", the caretaker of the Show Girls.

She was greatly astonished and somewhat amused by the variety of breasts we saw that night.

Zion National Park

After I drove us out of the crazy Las Vegas traffic, Christy took over and drove us (about a 3 hour trip) up I-15 to Zion National Park, which I knew would be a stunner since my Mom took us kids there back in the mid 1960s. And it was. The colors, the amazing canyon walls, the thrilling hike up the The Narrows. Christy thought hiking this narrow gorge, with walls a thousand feet tall and the river sometimes just twenty to thirty feet wide, was unbelievable. Who hikes in a river where you can't see the ground you are walking on and you have to look up a thousand feet just to see the sun? We did this as an all day hike. It was a blast! We even stayed in the same campground as my Mom & kids which brought back quite a few memories. One was that us kids were playing in the stream by the campground and narrowly avoided all being killed by a flash flood from a thunderstorm miles away!

Christy comment that she would be sad if that happened, as then she would never have met me. She thought we were crazy kids and was beginning to see that sometimes I did crazy (to her) and wild things . . . . but they were fun experiences!

We hiked the 4.3 mile/1,500 feet elevation gain hike on the renowned Angels Landing Trail that was cut into solid rock in 1926. Sometimes we had to hold onto chains attached to the wall so that we wouldn't fall to our deaths!!! It lead us to a narrow spot that provided a fantastic panoramic view of Zion Canyon. A number of sections on this trial make you wonder just how crazy you are to be doing such a heart-thrilling hike.

My Dream flashed through so many Zion NP images in my head, it was very hard to pick out a few to show you. I've also omitted all the smooching, etc pictures.

Christy and I had a wonderful three days there and then made the short 86 mile drive to Bryce Canyon National Park. I drove so Christy could see more of the sights between the two parks.

Before we left, we went grocery shopping in Springdale, Utah. That was interesting to see what we liked and didn't like to eat. Of course, refrigeration was an issue as we only had a small ice chest. However that didn't stop us from buying and sharing a pint of delicious Dutch Chocolate ice cream.

Aside: Some of the roads Christy got to drive on, unlike any roads in Washington State!

I also told Christy that we had to stop at a bank and cash some Travelers Checks, my only source of money. That led us into a discussion about money, and then on to other household traditions/work items, etc in our respective families. Her family was fairly conservative where the girls only did "feminine chores" and the husband ruled the roost, brought money home for the family, and did the "hard chores". Christy and her sisters were just at the stage of testing their freedom as they were heading towards adulthood. When I described my family, and how many non-traditional things my Mom did, and how us kids were pretty free to rule our own lives (starting at about 16 years old), she was shocked. She asked a lot of questions about what we could do and was again amazed when I told her that I/we could take one of our boats out for a sail or water skiing as long as we informed Mom that we were going and when we expected to be back. Sometimes that would be for the whole day.

I also learned from this that Christy loved to sail! That earned her big points in my world.

And I was shocked when Christy told me that her Dad had given her $3,000 for the trip. I figured that maybe most of that was for the contingency of us not working out and her having to get back to Seattle by her own means. I doubted that was going to happen based on the way our relationship was developing.

Ahem, re:relationships, such as this little trip to Bryce Canyon National Park. I noticed that Christy was wearing her light "three-button" shirt (as I called it) which made sense because the VW Bug did not have air conditioning and it was pretty hot out in Utah. This shirt also had a connection to a picnic we had in a Seattle park and she asked why I was laughing so much at her shirt at that picnic. I then had to explain that the way there were three buttons in a row somewhat close together, then a space of no buttons for the same distance, etc was a design made for a guy's roaming hands.

She gave me a quizzical look and said, "Show me!". LOL, the first space between buttons was right at her breast level, so I slid my hand across her shirt, giving a commentary along the way ("The traveling hand approaches the cave. What could be lying inside??? Entering the cave, the hand finds a soft mountain and begins to climb."). She was hilariously laughing and encouraging further exploration by asking, "What does the hand find next?".

Needless to say, it was a fun day in the park.

But back to this trip to Bryce Canyon NP. As I drove, and Christy got hot, she started to unbutton the sets of buttons. The first set was interesting, the second set was distracting, and the third set, the last buttons, had me wanting to pull over as soon as I could. Before I got to do that, she opened her shirt to show everything. I almost ran us off the main road, looking for a side dirt road. Our trip to Bryce took a bit longer than initially planned..... and the dream showed this in a fast flipping of memories.

Bryce Canyon National Park

But we did make it to Bryce Canyon National Park. In Zion NP, you are at the bottom of a canyon so you are always looking up. In Bryce NP, you are at the top of a canyon, so you are always looking down. The Dream showed this with a few quick pictures taken as if you were in an airplane and zooming through the canyons. It was weird.

Bryce Canyon, as always, was another stunning, beautiful park. We went to the South Campground and set up our tent after stopping at a few of the viewpoints. I knew that walking to Sunset Point that evening would be fantastic and it was!

For the next 4 days, we hiked the trails, marveling at all the beautiful rock formations that we were seeing, went into town to do shopping, and just relaxed, being in such a beautiful place. We also spent some time talking about "us". That is, what do we want for the future, how should we treat each other (relationship-wise, money-wise, and family-wise). We each got to tell each other about a lot of things that we needed to learn. At times this was a bit rocky, but overall we were pretty compatible. We also each had a lot of things that we didn't know the answers to. The Dream showed this with "good weather" and "bad weather" type scenes. Inside our heads, I'm sure both of us were thinking about and evaluating what we heard from each other.

Most of the time we were sighting-seeing at the overlooks, hiking the trails, visiting the Museum and town, and cooking meals, cleaning up, and finally crawling into our tent for the night. We spent four days in Bryce Canyon and once again came out with a greater appreciation/love/understanding of each other and having advanced our relationship. We knew that the camping life plus National Parks was not a normal lifestyle but we also knew if we survived this as a couple, then a normal lifestyle would be easier.

In retrospect, it's clear that we were very young and very, very inexperienced in life.

Oh, and Christy started tying her shirt across her tummy with all the buttons undone and without wearing a bra to stay cooler. (That's not what it did to me....)

Moving on....

Grand Canyon North Rim, then Rocky Mountain National Park

Just before we left Bryce Canyon NP, since we had been gone for a month, we called the parents again to let them know where we were heading - The Grand Canyon. It took about 3 hours to get there through some beautiful country, all on small highways (US-12, US-89, and then the straight Hwy-67). We stopped at Jacobs Lake for lunch and it was fun, quaint, and hearty. We saw wild Bison on Hwy-67, Christy's first ever sighting of Bison. At the North Rim we got camp set up in short time, then went for a walk to the rim to see the stunning view into the Canyon. Later after a camp dinner, we went down to the Lodge, got coffees and sat in the outdoor chairs to watch the sunset and for the dark night sky stars to come out. Those were spectacular because the air was so clear!

The Grand Canyon is sublime, amazing, mind-blowing! To experience the Grand Canyon's vastness and beauty, with viewpoints like Point Imperial (the highest point on the North Rim) and Cape Royal is just something else! The North Rim is known for its stunning views of the canyon, including the Painted Desert and the eastern end of the Grand Canyon. Christy was awed by it! So was I even for the second time seeing it!

The next day we got up before sunrise and drove to Point Imperial to watch the distant rising sun gradually spread a blanket of warm red and gold light across the giant walls of rock and the singular spire of Mount Hayden. Oh wow! We even heard the evocative song of a canyon wren rising and falling in crescendo, a clear eight or 10 clear notes each time. That was a most memorable bird song of the West that neither of us had ever heard before.

The dream played this particular scene out in slow motion.

Later that day we drove the scenic Cape Royal Road, stopping at multiple viewpoints along the way such as Point Imperial and Cape Royal. We also hiked the quarter-mile, paved walkway to Bright Angel Point which has with spectacular views of the distinctive and oh-so-colorful canyon buttes and rock temples. We also went to the Toroweap and Point Sublime where we could see all the way down the mile-long slit in the earth to where the Colorado River runs. Seeing all these awesome sights is a life changing experience!

The next day I asked Christy if she was up for an adventure that she would never forget. I told her that ever since I first saw the Grand Canyon at age 15, I'd wanted to make love to a woman on the edge of the canyon with it's lovely views and while the sun was setting. LOL, she just gave me a look like, "Are you crazy?". Then a few seconds later she asked, "Do you have a place in mind?" I told her that the Vista Encontada Viewpoint looks out over the Walhalla Plateau and you can see all the way to the Painted Desert in the east, take in Brady Peak, and see the upper Nankoweap Creek. Also it would likely be bursting with the orange and yellow colors of wildflowers and possibly prickly pear cactus flowers. There are a lot of Ponderosa Trees in the area so we can just wander away from the picnic area and nobody would be around. Plus not many visitors go out there because it's off the main road.

She took this in and said, "I'm not fooling around in the dirt." I laughed and said, "We are bringing a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag and a blanket with us. And a bottle of champagne." Then she laughed and said, "Ok. And you owe me...".

The dream shows we did just that but gets all hazy with scenery views after we got there and headed into the woods. The dream did have us stay there until the night stars came out. Good thing I brought a flashlight also.

The next day I treated her to breakfast at the Roughrider Saloon and dinner at the North Rim Grand Canyon Lodge. When camping, eating out at a nice place was a luxury indeed. She understood that I was doing what I could to pay her back.......

The next day after that was interesting in regards to our relationship. Christy started a discussion about our money situation and how we'd been camping a lot. (All true.) She asked if we could afford to stay in a cabin for a couple of nights. Money-wise (which we discussed thoroughly) it was okay, but I thought it was unlikely there would be any cabins available. However, we planned to stay only two more days, so that would be nice. We went to the Lodge to inquire and, lucky us, there was a cabin due to a cancellation a few minutes before and we could have that cabin for $50 a night. We took it immediately!

After being on the road and camping in a tent for a month and a half, Cabin #115 felt like a luxury mansion to us! It had running water, all the hot water we wanted for showers, a big SOFT comfy bed with pillows and blankets, and a table with chairs to eat meals at!

After we moved into the cabin, the first priority was to shower. Christy got her things ready and then said, "Ernie, you shower too....with me." Whoa, you never saw me move faster to get ready too. As we showered together, I couldn't resist the impulse to touch her butt, stomach and her breasts. She laughed and lightly brushed my hands away (sometimes), but never really stopped me. However she did say this to me, "Mister, you are going to be in big trouble when we get done!"

At this point the dream sped up quite a bit. Like Blink, Blink, Blink ..... But it did show Christy standing in the middle of the room with a towel wrapped around her and her hair wrapped in another towel while I was still in the shower finishing up. Then it showed her standing there as I got out of the shower room with just a towel wrapped around me. Next it showed her reaching up to take the towel off her hair. She then reached up again to fluff up her hair and shook it out. Next it showed her dropping her body towel to the ground around her feet. Naturally my towel instantly formed a tent so I dropped my towel also. Christy ran at me, almost jumping unto my hard manhood. Then she just said, "Bed!".

Instantly after that the dream went totally black and resumed with us checking out two days later and it resumed running at normal speed with the Grand Canyon receeding in the background.

Initially we had planned to drive from the North Rim to the South Rim Grand Canyon, do a days worth of sightseeing and then head on towards Arches NP, camping in one of the National Forests along the way. (Side note - The average distance across the canyon is only 10 miles, however, the drive between the park's South Rim Village and the North Rim Village is about 212 road miles and takes about 4 1/2 hours to drive. It takes time, planning, and effort to visit both rims in one trip. End Side Note.)

Monument Valley

Christy was tired and feeling a bit off, so we didn't do that North to South Rim trip - but we promised each other that we would in the future. So we just took another last hot shower in the cabin, packed up, and started the long 392 mile trip to Arches National Park via shorter stops along the way on the small roads in this area without much traffic on them. We had another nice big breakfast at Jacobs Lake, then onto the Fredonia-Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Rd (US-89-ALT) for 53 miles East, over the Colorado River at Marble Canyon, then a big "u-turn" on Hwy 89 up to Page, AZ where we took the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon tours which I'd read about. These were slot canyons with absolutely stunning colors and shapes! We also stopped at "Big Bend" and hiked out to the overlook for this famous place to see the Colorado River. Finally we camped at the Wahweap Marina somewhat near Page, AZ for the night as we were both tired.The next day we headed back down (south) on HWY 89 to get to HWY 98 which went through the very desolate Arizona Desert. We got to Native American Women Veterans Hwy (US-160) toward Kayenta (which has a nice Burger King with Navajo Code Talkers displays for our lunch stop) and finally headed East again. All this was in Indian Country so we stopped at several Trading Posts. The Native American Artwork and jewelry was beautiful. At one store I saw Christy eyeing and handling a silver and turquoise bracelet so when she went to another part of the store, I bought it for her. Meanwhile she bought a dream-catcher that I was eyeing without my knowledge. We were both very surprised that night when we gave each other our surprise gifts! We also laughed at it too, as we learned something about each other.

Along the way it totally blew Christy's mind at how much open, natural land there was. She grew up in Seattle where homes would be 10 to 20 feet away from each other. Each street had hundreds of houses on it... and it went all the way like that to the city limits five or ten miles away! And then there was another similar town/city! While traveling to Monument Valley, we could drive for 20 minutes/~25 miles with seeing only one or two homes. There was so much to see and none of it was manmade - all natural geological formations. For a city girl, it was a totally new experience! It was fun talking with her during this driving time about my travels and experiences coming from New York and how I was amazed and surprised at it also.

A little ways up US-163, we started seeing the famous Monument Valley scenery and our next campground, the funky Mustang Valley Campground. It was an interesting place! We made sure to see the sunset that night and the sunrise the next morning - the light on the monuments was so awesome and fantastic! We would have loved to stay at Monument Valley for a while, but it was hot (which made it hard to sleep). We saw some lovely sights that day and more the next when we headed North-East again on US-163 (about 100 miles), known as BIA-6430 within the Navajo Indian Reservation. We drove somewhat slowly because we were looking all around and made a lot of short roadside stops just to look and take in the scenery. It also got us talking about movies we liked and didn't like as there were many old-time Western Movies made here.

Arches National Park

We turned North at HWY-191, almost a straight shot up to Arches National Park, only 80 miles away! The whole trip from Grand Canyon, North Rim, was about 400 miles. We were sad to leave Monument Valley behind though. We finally got into some real mountains again and when we finally got to Moab, it was a quaint little town filled with hippies and real cowboys, and our next camp spot in Arches National Park. It took 4.5 hours on these small roads to get to Arches National Park. We just hit the sack after setting up camp, making dinner, and seeing an awesome sunset.

The Dream showed us visiting a number of different Arches and then going into town. Wandering around there we splurged on ice cream for our missed lunch whereupon I found out that Christy liked ice cream as much as I did. It also triggered the memory of us having ice cream at Fredinand's in Seattle. I joked with her about the trauma I was going through because we didn't have a freezer in the VW Bug.

At Arches NP we got to exercise our legs again because you had to walk to see the arches and to go around them, over them, and under them. We saw the highlights like Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch, Balanced Rock, the Devils Garden Trail, Park Avenue Trail, the Fiery Furnace, and the Windows Section. Both of us liked hiking and I got to tell Christy that I felt like I used to be an old-time Mountain Man in a previous life. I told her about some of the adventurous and crazy things I'd already done in my life. On her side, her family did go camping and hiking but they (the three sisters) were kept from doing any adventurous things by their Dad. She was looking forwards to seeing all these new places and the large diversity of our camping experiences and told me that was one of the things that attracted her to me - potential adventures.

The Dream showed that as we hiked, we talked about all sorts of subjects. Christy was an "A" student as was I. We both liked doing puzzles. We both intended to go to college, etc. We both loved animals and wanted pets in our future life. We both were "savers" when it came to money. When we spent money, we looked for bargains, discounts, etc. We both liked sailing and other water activities. There were differences also - she wasn't very mechanically gifted, I could fix almost anything. But she could cook while my cooking skills were at the cave man level. I told her about Long Island (with her laughing at my accent), and she told me about Seattle and Washington State. We found it easy to talk about all sorts of things, so that was a very good sign for us in my opinion.

Somehow we even squeezed in a visit to Canyonlands National Park, which was nearby. We loved the Island in the Sky at Canyonlands.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado

After five days of whirlwind activity we said goodbye to Moab and headed North on Hwy-191, then onto I-70E for the long 426 mile drive through the mountains to Rocky Mountain National Park. Since we expected this drive time to take at least 8 hours even if we just drove straight through and made no stops (unlikely because we made lots of sightseeing stops, gas stops, and stretch & go to the bathroom stops every time we made a long trip), we decided to stop and camp for one night somewhere along the way. We had another financial discussion and quickly figured out we had plenty of money to get us back to New York. I asked if she liked hot springs and she said she'd love that at this point. I had seen some billboards for Glenwood Springs, Colorado, so we decided to make an overnight stop there. What a great decision! We checked in late that afternoon at Glenwood Hot Springs Resort which had lodging, a restaurant, a river tube ride, and the world's largest hot springs pool. The water source was the Yampah Spring, which produced over 3.5 million gallons of water per day at 122°F.

Boy did we need that rest! It was like heaven not having to set up the tent and sleep on the ground, and not cooking & cleaning dishes, etc!

We decided to add another day to more fully get relaxed. We took full advantage of the various hot pools. While soaking in one of them someone told us about another hot spring, not in a resort but at a National Forest site, where clothes were optional and the local nudists liked it. With a wink, I asked Christy is she'd be game to go there for a few hours. She said to me, "Well my bathing suit's getting a bit tight lately, let's try it!". Then she winked back. So we did and we liked it, liked the folks we met there, and had a good bit of fun. And it was free!

Rocky Mountains National Park

After a nice breakfast we were on our way again to Rocky Mountains National Park, via I-70 and then US HWY-40, about 180 miles (four hours driving time) away. We went through Vail, Colorado and Christy got a big kick out of that as she is an avid snow skier. (Something else I just learned about her!) Christy was feeling a bit nauseous this morning but now felt better so she volunteered to drive first. The dream showed us heading into mountains that were getting larger and larger. An hour later Christy asked me to take over, she wasn't feeling well again. I asked about this and she just said she was feeling "off". As I drove I mulled that over in my mind. When we got to Hwy-40 North, we took that as it led to the Trail Ridge Road Scenic Drive which is a lovely introduction to the park.

The Trail Ridge Road is one of the most spectacular drives in the United States, taking us to an elevation of 12,183 feet above sea level (higher than Christy had even been) where we saw the mountains stretching out into the distance to our North, South, and West, a lot of Elk, one black bear, and some other wildlife, and some spectacular alpine wildflower fields. These mountains were so beautiful to see. But we had an important (to me) stop coming up - the Continental Divide. The dream showed the land falling away on both sides of the mountains as we got closer to it. All that was in just 48 miles, but it took us a while to go through - it seemed like we stopped around every turn on the twisty road.

We made the Continental Divide our lunch stop. After we ate, I looked at Christy and said, "I'd like to have a serious talk with you here." I told her that from here, water flows either to the West or to the East. It is a dividing point that splits the USA into two parts. I said, "Christy, you come from the West and your family lives in the West. Likewise, I come from the East and my family lives in the East. Ironically, we each live on the coast, so we are as far apart from each other as possible. Who would have thought we'd meet! But we did."

I continued, "This is an important place for us also I think. Are we sure we still want to head East? Or do you have any reasons to want to head back West? Oh, and by the way, I suspect sometime we will have to decide where we want to live - and that won't be an easy decision. I want to be sure you have every opportunity to choose what we do next." I was trying to be very careful with what I said. I knew we were both new at relationships and how to communicate about the very important life decisions. When I finished speaking I watched Christy for her response.

To my great surprise she broke out in laughter and couldn't stop for a minute. Then she looked me straight in the eyes, laughed a bit more and said, "Oh, you silly boy! I never know what goes through your head at times!" (I was getting a bit worried by this point....). She continued, "Ernie, I love you! I'll follow you to the ends of the earth if that's what you want. Every day you've shown me such beauty and every night such loving. Every day is an adventure with you!"

"Yes, I know we have some decisions to make, so I'm glad you brought that up. We will figure it out in time. So tomorrow, let's get on the road and go see your parents!"

I just about fell off the log we were sitting on. That made Christy laugh some more. Let's just say you could have knocked me over with a feather at that point!

Boy my head was spinning and I had a huge smile on my face.

I thought she was done, of course I was wrong! Again she continued, "Ernie, I do have something serious to discuss with you. I've been holding off telling you this to try to be sure but I've missed two of my periods now and I think I might be pregnant." As she said that, she pulled up her shirt and showed me her little baby bump and put my hand on it. (Christy was thin so it actually showed even though it was early in her pregnancy. I had noticed it earlier also but didn't comment on it to her - I thought we were just eating too much.) So what she said really got my instant attention!

She continued, "Can we find a free clinic in Denver and get me checked out?" Gulp, I said "Yes, we'll do that. First thing in the morning." and "I love you!". Then I hugged her and kissed her, it was all I could think about doing at the time.

We talked a lot more after that, each of us expanding on our thoughts about our future and what possible steps we should take next. There was a lot of back and forth exchanging thoughts and ideas, explaining our limits/boundaries, etc. It was so much deeper than I'd ever talked to anyone else about and especially any other girl. It was hard and somewhat strange for both of us but somehow we muddled our way through. I found it easier to do the more we did it. By the time we went to bed in a small campground way up high in the mountains we were much closer to each other in our understanding, feelings, and possible future plans. We did a lot of hugging and not anything else since we didn't know enough about Christy's possible pregnancy (and we were pretty young and not at all knowledgeable in that area.)

The next day on the outskirts of Denver we found a free clinic and Christy had a pregnancy test done. Doctors had just learned how to do a "quick (3 hours)" test by using a woman's beta-subunit hCG. So by Noon we knew she was pregnant. I made a very simple marriage proposal to her (no ring, flowers, etc) and she felt very honored by this, but turned me down with the comment, "We still have some time and you're not off the hook yet, buster." Now my head was really spinning!

Originally we had roughly planned to go to St Louis, Missouri to visit the Gateway Arch, then maybe Nashville Tennessee for some music, next up to Kentucky to see the Mammoth Caves and how could I pass up the Daniel Boone National Forest?. From there we'd head north through the Great Smokey Mountains, then up more and eastward to Washington DC for a week or so, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for another few days. We now knew this was not going to happen.

We talked some more in a park about what we should do and we basically decided to quickly hightail it to my parents house. We made phone calls back to each of our parents informing them of the situation and our plans, and thankfully they were both okay with this (with hints that there would be more questions when we saw them each in person, gulp!). Fortunately I-70 then I-76 and finally I-78 would take us right to New York City and from there I knew the roads out to Amityville on Long Island where my parents lived.

We blew through the rest of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri (stopping for a couple of hours at the St Louis Gateway Arch), Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and finally New York. We covered the 1,780 miles (26 hours driving time) with each of us driving in three days.

I would be remiss if I didn't say how much we listened to the great 1970's songs on the radio as we were driving and how much they positively affected us. When we were near a big city, we could get songs on the radio for hours as we drove. In between the big cities, sometime we could get a town's radio station for a few hours. Sometimes we would sing along with the songs, other times we'd talk about how that related to us. In general we liked the love songs the best because that was the big thing going on with us at the time. It was a great way to pass the time and not be so bored with the mile-after-mile of emptiness in the middle of the country.

Here are some of our favorites in no particular order: "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, anything from the album "I Feel the Earth Move" by Carole King, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by the Bee Gees, of course "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver, "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" by The Temptations, "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin, "You've Got a Friend" by James Taylor, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by Joan Baez, "For All We Know (1970 song)" by The Carpenters, "Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Roberta Flack, "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot, "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Sammi Smith, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" by Cher (and many other of her songs), "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)" by The Hollies, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" by Carly Simon, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar sung by Helen Reddy, "Stay Awhile" by The Bells (a favorite of both Christy and me), "Sweet City Woman" by The Stampeders, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" by Lobo, "If", by Bread, "Never Ending Song of Love" by Delaney and Bonnie, "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" by Andy Williams, "Wild World" by Cat Stevens, "If Not for You" by Olivia Newton-John, "Lonely Day" by The Bee Gees, "Trapped By a Thing Called Love" by Denise LaSalle, "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" by The Partridge Family, "If I Were Your Woman (song)" by Gladys Knight and the Pips, "Love Her Madly" by The Doors, and probably a lot of other songs.

Wow, so many famous artists in this list!

The Dream did a very interesting thing for this last part of the trip. Unlike the somewhat detailed explanations/scenes above, it was all quick flashes of pictures, signs, significant buildings, us driving, stopping at Howard Johnson's to eat, Holiday Inn to sleep, etc. The Dream faded out and ended with a view of my parents home.

So The Dream ended with us having reached my family's Long Island home at about 4 pm. While the Dream did not cover this, in my mind and heart, I know what would have happened next. So, continuing on this is what I'd say likely happened:

Initially to my parents, Christy was pregnant and we were "just" boyfriend and girlfriend at that time. My parents knew nothing about Christy, how we met, what our future plans were, what did she bring to our relationship, did she have a good moral character, etc. I let them know after a sorta short conversation that we were both exhausted and wanted one, a shower, and two, to crawl into bed. LOL, but that wasn't going to happen until we talked to my parents a bit more. They warmly welcomed us home with big hugs and kisses (for me anyway). My family let us know that they were so happy I had met a great girl and were happy to see a new family member soon to arrive (the baby). Then they suggested calling Christy's parents (what a good idea, it had slipped our minds) which we did to let them know we arrived safe and sound. My parents told us they had a dinner just waiting to be cooked (and thankfully it was a quick and easy to cook meal) and had the upstairs room all ready for us. They told us to go shower and relax. We did that and felt so much better. Oh, and Christy put on a bra and buttoned up her shirt, darn!

As we ate my Mom's delicious dinner, they peppered us with questions, wanting to know more about us and a little about our trip. We had a good conversation while trying hard not to fall asleep in front of them. During that Christy learned that my Mom was not just a nurse (as I had told her), but also an extremely experienced Registered Nurse (RN) who knew all about babies (LOL, well she did have six kids herself!) and pregnancy and that she planned to help and take care of Christy as much as she could. That was great to hear. My Dad learned that Christy, like me, was intelligent and had a good personality. Along the way my parents picked up that Christy and I were a lot more serious about each other than just Boyfriend and Girlfriend. That was news to them (but I prefered telling them that in person).

Yes, Christy was being judged. She passed with flying colors and everyone warmed up to her. Finally they sent us off to get some sleep. We crashed and were asleep within a minute and didn't wake up until 9 am the next morning.

So just like that, we were "family" and would be taken care of. We talked a lot more with my parents and they gave us their blessing. That was a relief! We had a quick civil marriage so our baby would have a Mom and a Dad before birth and started planning for a "real" marriage. (Note that this wasn't simple with parents and friends on both opposite coasts - we joked that we should find a church in St Louis, MO so everyone would have to travel an equal distance.) LOL. We also both got jobs and started talking about and planning for college. After a bit we decided that Washington State University would be affordable and would be a good place for a new family with a kid. Both my parents and Christy's (whom we called regularly) said they'd help with college expenses, which was another huge relief for us.

Every day we fell more and more in love with each other. We learned the small but important things, like I could fix almost anything around the house & car and she could cook like a professional cook. And the big things - we deeply cared about each other, we were respectful to each other always, even when steaming mad, we had ambition for excelling in jobs and life, and we both wanted children and a family.

After that life went on with us occasionally remembering and talking about the big cross-country trip with very fond memories.