Johnny, you posts brought back a lot of memories. One was in 1969. I was born and raised in KC. I'd traveled a bit to the east coast and even eastern Canada, but never west. I had finished Tech School in Wichita Falls, TX, and was on my way to my first duty assignment at Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, NM, from home in KC. I was young enough in those days to routinely drive all night. I entered New Mexico around sunrise and started driving into the mountains as the sun was getting higher and brighter. As I looked around in awe, something suddenly hit me, basically a blinding flash of the obvious. To this day, I remember say out loud in amazement, "My God, the mountains really are purple!"

Still today, I enjoy nothing more than my occasional drive-abouts when I can see someplace new, be it PA Dutch country, the Upper Peninsula, the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore, or Crawford, TX.