By traveler 
A lot has happened since I last posted. Most significantly, my mother passed away in March, and I admit I’m still touchy about her loss. Still, I’m very grateful we had the last chances we got to spend time together, including the drive through North Carolina to see the Outer Banks last July.
As for the plans I mentioned in my last blog message, they are still on, just a little condensed. I’m set to spend Memorial Day weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota with a brief crossing into Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower, but I expect the trip to be shorter in duration than I’d originally planned. I’m under deadline to finish a book I’m writing by the publisher’s due date, and any thoughts that I’ll do much writing while on that trip would only serve as an effort to fool myself.
A colleague suggested I add a stop at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. I had first heard of Wounded Knee when actor Marlon Brando refused to accept the Academy Award for his portrayal of Don Corleone in “The Godfather” and announced the massacre as the cause. I had not realized that the site was near Wall, South Dakota, on my previous trip. My colleague warned me that the experience she had was quite powerful, yet this seems like an opportunity to expand my understanding of American history that I should not pass up.
I also didn’t know there was a Hot Springs in South Dakota. Looks like the additional stops make for a return trip through a part of Nebraska I haven’t seen yet. Hmmm….
I really think the downtime will give me the chance to re-center myself and, thus, it would be worth the lost few days. (Still, there’s a lot of open stretches of road along the way with plenty of time to think great–or not so great–thoughts, so I am going to take my computer and some research materials just in case I feel inspired to write.)
Anyway, as usual, I try to upgrade my tech when I can, and this trip will be no different. I just got a DRONE!! Talk about getting a different point-of-view! Now, I’ve got to figure out how to use it and not accidentally fly it into something or somebody.