The Chance to Stay Connected with Friends
After being on the road for 100+ days, it is always nice to see familiar faces
Last Friday marked 100 days since launching the Radical Sabbatical and our extended road trip. One hundred-plus days since Debbie and I placed most of our worldly possessions in storage and began a road trip without a firm expiration date. This adventure will end when I accept a new job and we decide to choose a community that will embrace us as much as we will embrace it.
For now, the journey continues. The time has given me the opportunity to reflect on the importance of family and friends. Being on the road for nearly 30 percent of this year, the chance to see familiar faces in person provides me a sense of comfort. Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting new people. If you really know me, you know I talk with everyone, from the checkout person in the local supermarket to the former corporate real estate person now selling soap on Daufuskie Island. That’s part of the joy of travel - meeting people, learning about their culture and breaking down barriers.
There is also something to be said for seeing and visiting people you know and know well. It could be long-time friends, college pals, former co-workers or industry colleagues.
When it comes to travel and I know I am abut to visit any city around the world, one of the first things I do is see who I know locally. This has been my tactic for years. It is a habit I don’t think I’ll break anytime soon.
During my time in the Southeast, I was provided with an opportunity I could not miss.
Thanks to an invite from Wendy Olson Killion and Nan Marchand, I recently joined my favorite industry Conference (ESTO) for one day in Savannah, Georgia. I was asked to participate in The Great ESTO Debates along with friends and colleagues in the day’s final session.
During my day visit with industry friends and colleagues, I relished catching up with San Francisco’s Lynn Bruni-Perkins over lunch during ESTO and also had a terrific and honest chat with Destination International’s Don Welsh.
Later, I joined Jay (Visit Anaheim), Kelly (Visit Huntington Beach), Chuck (Visit SLO Cal), Leonard (Visit Indy) and Adam (Tourism Economics) for dinner before heading back to my wonderful wife Debbie and Hilton Head Island.
It his hard to express in words how much I enjoyed being back in the mix with industry friends. I shared part of my current adventures and listened and laughed to their stories. We also celebrated Adam one of two winners from the day’s Great Debates.
It was great to be among friends and do not need to explain much. It is how this entire trip started.
After Debbie and I departed Northern Nevada and began this trip, we first returned to Orange County. Before arriving, I rounded up my long-time college friends for a terrific dinner by the sea in Dana Point, California.
Soon after we completed a great dinner, I was meeting 10 more friends for lunch. This group is from the same era. It included my days working for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Angels Baseball and UC Irvine Athletics. Not everything goes according to plan and the guy who loves taking photos forgot to ask for a group picture. I did manage to snap this one photo with former Dodgers beat reporter and buddy Steve Dilbeck who was part of lunch at Silky Sullivans. As you can see in the photo below, there’s a good reason Dilbeck was properly nicknamed “the Beast.”
Debbie’s friend Maxine, now mine as well, joined us for dinner on a different night when we were in town. I only wish we had a few more days to see even more friends. Knowing that our time in each place is limited, we will reach out to more friends when we return to The OC for our next visit.
We were also lucky enough a few of our kids were in town and we enjoyed a day with them in San Diego at San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park.
Speaking of home, I was grateful that Debbie and I were able to have lunch with our amazing friends at Visit Anaheim, a place I called my work home from 2014-2020.
Thanks to my father and is wife Debbie, Arizona became our temporary home for a few weeks and we made the most of our time together. Despite the heat, we cooled off in the pool, played a fair amount of pickleball, visited Sedona and Scottsdale, took daily walks and even visited a desert botanical garden. Also, one of our other kids, Tal, joined for a weekend. Just to be clear, our new green friend below is not a member of the family. Not yet anyway.
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We have connected with many friends so far in this journey. I thought it best to create a collage from our experiences to date. You know who you are. As for others I have dropped the ball and forgot to take a photograph. For example, we saw our friends Daniel and Michael in Savannah, GA, visiting from Israel, and have nothing on the camera to show for it.
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I missed seeing Scott and Allison in the Sarasota area when Debbie became ill and missed an old friend from UCI, Chris in Hilton Head, when he had something develop at the last minute. Don’t even get me started when I let it slip that Erin and her husband were in Sarasota at the same time and I goofed and dropped the ball.
I actually wanted to a few more photos in his post but the program said it would be too long for a blog post. Even this platform said - enough - . it is never enough for me.
The road continues. We have finished our stay in Hilton Head, have been to Washington DC, briefly, and are now in New York. More about those stops later this week.
For my family, old friends, and new friends, I look forward to seeing you somewhere soon.