Grandma

Margarita Gonzales, born April, 1915, died today.

She was my son's grandma, and is missed and was loved by many.

Grandma prayed more than any person I've ever personally known. I feel that I owe a lot of my success in life to Grandma - not only that, I'm not sure if I'd even be alive without all the prayers she sent up for me.

I can't write well enough to do her justice in my little blog. I'm so honored that the family let me be a palbearer today. It was truly an honor, and a priveledge.

Grandma, I know you're up in heaven, looking down on us, and praying for us still. I don't really see how I ever deserved to recieve so much kindness from you.

However, I thank you for everything.

Love, Rick

Rhode Island Highpoint

Most of my Highpoint trips begin with a trip to the airport; a flight to a city near the highpoint, a rental car (which sometimes gets thrashed a little) an overnite in a nearby hotel, or, camping near the trailhead.

This one was different - it began with a 2,000 mile motorcycle ride. I love taking long trips by motorcycle. This one had additional points of interest: Kris (my son) was moving to Worcester, Ma to work on his PHD. A good thing, from a parents point of view! Throw in 4 possible high point opportunities, and, well, sounds like a mini-adventure to me!






Left to right: scooter, Pig, Rick, Kris.

Kris wanted to take his car and motorcycle, so I jumped on board when asked to accompany him on the move. He was kind enough to let his old dad do all the motorcycling. I'm not to keen on long car trips, so he did all the boring, sleep inducing car driving.

The drive through Virgina, W.Va, NY State, & Pa. were incredible. I took off from work early on Wed, and we arrived in Worchester on Saturday. Since it had been a hot August in Houston, I was expecting to be a little miserable with the heat. Not so. From Tennessee to Mass. it was cool, even chilly at times. Life is good.


Due to poor planning on my part, I missed one H.P. opportunity in New Jersey. About an hour after we passed nearby the Jersey H.P. on the freeway, I noticed it on the map. We weren't going to add 2 more hours to the 2000 mile drive, so, after some confusion, and backtracking, we continued to his new apartment.


Drive to the highpoint, viewed thru windshield.

The next morning we set out (in his car) to "bag" the Highpoint, which is a "drive up".


Going by the Highpoint Adventures suggestion, we were taking photos along the highway near the radio tower. Then we noticed a young lady pull up on a scooter (along with a stuffed pig) and snap a few photos nearby. It turns out she was a member of the "Something Awful" web-group, and was participating in a motorcycle rally as part a group function. They're transporting the Pig you see in the photo across the country and photographing it at different location. A well traveled Pig, for sure.

I'd have to say this was the easiest highpoint ever, as some driveups have been much more difficult to locate.