Redirection and Resolution

Our lives continually demand redirection and resolution. That's the very nature of LIFE. Regardless of a person's professional or academic proclivity, the demand remains constant.

This trip that Sister Jo and I are on has turned out to be an excellent example of the Principle of Redirection and Resolution. When we began, we were determined to see the country our way and do it as inexpensively as possible. Our goal was to tent across America. Somehow I don't think the Universe agreed with our plans.

From the first hour on the road we were driven by the weather.

Well, YEAH! you say. You began in the middle of December, for pity's sake.

That's very true. The problem wasn't that so much, though, as La Nina. That little Missy has been our bane since the beginning. It didn't help that this was the worst La Nina in over 50 years. What hurt was that we hadn't anticipated it.

We didn't take that little weather pattern into account and we got stuck with its effects.

We didn't get to see Oregon or California (with the exception of the few days we visited with my friend, Mikki in Central California.) Two hours after we left Mikki's place, the deluge hit the coast and the slides began. We fought that wind and rain all the way to El Centro. And it didn't end there.

The cold followed, and on and on.

Our Redirection came in the form of what we didn't get to see and what we found instead. The Resolution came in enjoying what had been given us to take the place of desired and planned sights.

Along the way we saw and learned things that would have seemed too mundane prior to our trip; too ordinary to be of interest to catch our attention and cause the "AH" effect.

We wouldn't have learned some of the Texas history, or seen Holly Beach, Louisiana. We wouldn't have known about Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, AL with its Korean War Memorial and Avenue of Flags. We wouldn't have listened to locals in unforeseen stops along the way and heard the soft southern drawls that changed with each new region we traveled. We would have missed the concerns of those locals as they discussed the projected weather reports and the crops that might lay in the balance.

One thing I've always paid attention to has been the reality than no road is traveled without encountering pluses and minuses. They tend to balance each other. The trick is to allow the pluses to take precedence. Many times a person has to look hard to see the pluses, but they are always there for the finding.

Writers know that a story doesn't always drive the same road that's been intended for it. The plot will begin to wander because a character decides to see a new sight, make a different decision than the one planned, and so on. These deviations lend complexity to the story when allowed to flow naturally from the character's viewpoint.

Resolutions evolve from those drives along unanticipated roads that move into new territory and require a different sort of ending. Not all endings are happy ones. Some endings are unexpected, on-going.


Our trip has become this type of storyline. It will be on-going for an unknown time into the future. Our direction may have shifted because of budgetary concerns and the weather, but the intent is the same. No true resolution has taken place yet and won't until we have no further need for adventure.


Our book has its new intent, its new aspect.

 For the next few months, Sister and I will continue to see new places and new attractions. We have more friends and family to visit along the way. There are many more unforeseen tidbits to study and stories to write. During this time, I will share some of those tidbits with you, the readers, as I have been. Hopefully, the sharing can be more constant and frequent.

 Until then, take care, all, and God bless.

 Claudsy and BJ