Dylan

I'll get in trouble for this surely, but the other guy I have not thanked publicly is my 17 year old son Dylan. He was The Navigator, assistant mechanic and the all around great guy this whole trip. He sat in the passenger seat keeping us moving in the right direction, his job was to know the maps watch the road, jump out and crank when we stalled and push when necessary. He was invaluable when traveling on the interstate. He was the eyes in the back of my head. It was only possible to move off the shoulder and into road when he was watching our back for trucks, campers and other high speed motorists.

Dylan plays a mean game of "I spy with my little eye" (which is challenging in the desert), knows most of the words to most of the Beatles songs and all of the dialogue to most Monty Python movies and television shows. He is a great traveling companion. By western Nebraska he knew the sounds of the car as well as I did and could drive it with ease. He understood what needed to be done every day to get going and every night to put the car to bed. And, he accurately judged the amount of Rice Krispie treat needed for a daily fix eating his last piece on the last day. Impressive!

He never complained, well not much. When offered a chance to give up his seat and ride in the comfort of the air conditioned truck with Malcolm stated that he would rather not. He wanted to see it to the end. He weathered rain, hail, heat, blistering sun, rabid grasshopper attacks and driving a few thousand miles with his mother, keeping his sense of humor throughout. What a great kid.

There is another son. Gordi, who kept the home fires burning. He could not join us for this trip. He had commitments (work - bah!) and couldn't work it out. We had hoped that he and his girlfriend Eugenia would be able to join us in Salt Lake but it wasn't to be. But they were with us in spirit and we missed them terribly. Maybe next time....