Yes, just to see this...

"You came all this way just to see this?" 
That question was posed by a tall blonde woman who had a bit of a blue tongue and too much foundation when we were chatting briefly in Centralia, Pennsylvania.  It seemed incomprehensible that I had just ridden my motorcycle 11 hours for "this."  Although, she had talked a friend into going four hours for the same purpose and I can only imagine that they were headed home that same day.

2014 finally ends with my last of that year's vacation consumed.
"but what can you expect these days? ... Company policy." - Mugwump

It is amazing how much clarity comes form several days of not working.  I supposed I get used to five days in, two out, but the last 8 days have been like mental floss; cleaning the detritus that can't get cleared by the typical weekend.

"Your're missin' the whole point, Ed." - Lewis
The day in, day out, year in, year out creates a numbness, too easy to get caught up in the eddy currents.  Things seem like they are moving at a rapid pace, but in reality not much is going anywhere.  My time at work has a cost; they pay me to be there and I try to do the right thing while I'm there.  My time outside of work has no cost since it would cost too much - there is nothing more valuable than my time that is really mine.
Tomorrow I'll be back at work for one day, before restarting a full week a few days later.
"There's no end to it." - Bobby

I ended my time off with a bang, by going target shooting for a while.  It was another amazing late spring morning and surprisingly, I had the range to myself.  It just doesn't get much better than that, especially when the targets all seemed to be in the right place.
My eight days allowed me time to do everything I was hoping to and then some.  Sometimes, life smiles and things can work out.
Now, desparately fighting the natural neural tendencies to think ahead to what is coming...
"But the race is over." - Hotelier
"Not for me it isn't!" - Raoul Duke

I think I told her I was looking for an excuse to go to Pennsylvania coal country, but I should have proudly told the woman standing on a destroyed section of PA-61 covered in graffiti, "Yes, I came all this way just for this."  But, that would not have been entirely true.  The destination wasn't nearly as important as the act getting there.  The clarity of a few days out of work, riding a motorcycle hundreds of miles through cold temperatures, rain, warm temperatures and sun make the destination one that everyone should go to.  Because it is there and because more of life should look squalid to the outside world.

"Actual Happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery." - Aldous Huxley