Valvoline Oil Change

Charlottesville

December 28, 2024

I got the oil changed in Hi Ho Silver this morning — tires rotated, too. Last oil change was an expensive one in Kalispell, Montana.

One of the technicians asked me about my “Going To Paris” sticker on my back window. I gave him the 30 second version of the story — 68 in US, 1 in Canada France, 1 more in Canada, 24 when I started. I’m always interested that I’m not often asked why. I’d like to think I would ask why.

There’s been a cloud over me and I have not celebrated in my mind what I accomplished. Actually I probably need to write down what I think I accomplished. Probably something to do with endurance, commitment to goal? Diving in the deep end?

Today I’m reminded of a very rainy and dreary weekend in Crescent City, California. Not a showcase of a place. Redwood National Park is close by but not much else is. It rained so much that it wasn’t worth visiting the national park until the weather improved. That weekend may have been the low point of the walkabout. No reasonably nice hotel to check into. Just a dreary weekend in Hi Ho Silver listening to the rain bounce off the roof.

But I’m also reminded of a taxi driver in Bermuda named Samuel Matthews. After hearing my belly aching about days of rain during my vacation, he said the immortal words, “you bring your weather with you.” Great insights sometimes come from unlikely places