When we came home from Spain in March 2020, we huddled in our house thankful of having little contact with a COVID-affected world. While my teaching resumed at IWU thanks to the internet, we were effectively restricted from further travel. The two weeks stretched on.
We considered and paid for a cruise from Buenos Aires to Santiago over the New Years break in 2022-2023. That trip would have taken us through the Straits of Magellan and around South America. However, COVID spiked again, and the thought of dealing with Carolyn’s decreasing physical abilities put paid to that trip the morning we were supposed to drive to Chicago.
Thus, our international explorations had come to a halt, but I asked Holly Eden, a Scout mom and travel agent, if she could recommend a cruise for people with limited abilities.
She found the Mississippi cruise, and it looked perfect for us. Minimal air miles, somewhat familiar (and somewhat unfamiliar) domestic sites, and an opportunity to venture out.
As we turn 83, in declining health, we may have taken our last trip. I hope not. In any case, it has been fun to reflect on the thirty some years recorded in this book.