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06/14/2008: "Family Reunion"
My sometimes over-the-top brother thought it would be a good idea for the family to get together in Montana before I leave for Korea. He suggested that he would drive from Oregon to Great Falls around the time that I arrive there and, subsequently, he would rent a vehicle or two and pay for rooms at a hotel/motel near Glacier National Park, everything on him. Who am I to argue with that? 
He also emailed my brother in Texas to ask if he would be able to join in on the festivities. Yes, he can. The upshot, then, is that the family is having a reunion, the first time that all my brothers (minus one) and I and my mother and some assorted nieces will be together in a long time (since 1992, according to my Mom). I'm looking forward to the occasion.
Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge only one of my brothers, the one still living in Montana, is a Yankee fan, but, also unfortunately, he's a Republican fanboy. The Oregon brother, though having more progressive leanings, is, equally unfortunately, a Detroit Tiger fan. The Texas brother seems to be neutral, though I suspect he's a closet Texas Stranger and Dallas Maverick aficionado. Me? I root for, besides the Yanks, . . . ? 
Anyway, it should be a great, but short, reunion. I want to be in Missoula on July 20th, so we're probably going to have to leave early on the 19th, perhaps tour the park that day, stay overnight about an hour away, then get an early start on the 20th for the 3- to 4-hour drive to Missoula. Of course, the timetable will have to be flexible enough to take into account the intense traffic to the park, despite high gas prices. It's not hard to understand why people will still drive long distances, paying $4 a gallon for fuel, to visit Glacier. It's one of the most beautiful locations in the U.S. and the world.
My time here is certainly winding down rapidly--after this week, only 4 remain. I'm beginning to feel the pangs of leaving the baseball camp and the country. It's been a fantastic experience, but something new beckons, just over the horizon. Ameliorating my sadness about leaving is the knowledge that it won't be long before I get to return to Thailand and Laos, and, later, South Korea. And farther down the line? Well, who really knows? More later.
