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Retirement Talk for Boomers, Seniors, and Retirees

Episode 126 Road Trip Part 17:  The Road to Denver

We have spent most of our lives west of the Mississippi river and knew that the vast spaces and lonesome roads would encourage ‘making time’. Compared to our usual pace we flew. Starting even earlier, west from Jackson, Mississippi the road runs straight and flat. The next three days saw us covering over four hundred miles each day. That was a record pace for us. We were out of Mississippi within a couple of hours and then across Louisiana in even less time. We had lunch at a truck stop in Texas. It was one of those instances when it was the only plaice around when the urge hit. It had a good salad bar and the drawl of the elderly hostess made the stop memorable. “She could really talk”. (Texas drawl)

This is Retirement Talk. I’m Del Lowery.

We found the East Texas terrain pretty flat and nondescript. We rolled into Greenville, Texas just in time to work out at a local health club and then have an unforgettable dinner. The health club was a serious place; all of these young hard bodies. The guys all looked like high school or college football players. The women were all in spandex and in serious training. At one point I looked around and became aware that we were by far the oldest people in the club. It always takes me a while to become aware of it, but I rarely feel out of place. Perhaps I should. The club had Matrix strength training machines. We had never seen them before, but they were great.

We inquired of the desk clerk concerning locally owned places to eat. She recommended Tony’s Kitchen. It was one of the best meals of our entire trip. These brothers from Albania had a restaurant in New York City and then moved to Greenville. They claimed that it was a lot easier to make it in the restaurant business in Greenville. They made all of their own pasta, bread, sauces, and dressings. The Italian food produced was unbelievable. They took us back in the kitchen and straight into the freezer to see some of the fresh produce they used in their cooking. They were ‘so’ friendly and exuberant - as only Mediterranean people can be.

The road ran flat, west, and a bit north to Amarillo. We made miles. And then we launched into our third straight day of travel to reach Denver. We passed through the Oklahoma panhandle and eastern Colorado. It was very flat, very windy, and very nondescript. This is cattle country and oil country. But mostly we will remember this for the wind. It blows.

Martin and Wanda Brotherton live in Denver. Martin and I were friends in ninth grade. Fifty two years have passed since then and we remain good friends. We seem to be able pickup the conversation up right where we left off no matter the time and distance between visits. They live in the Highland neighborhood. It is just on the edge of the city limits but surrounded by Jefferson County and hundreds of thousand of people.

Martin and Wanda love to travel. They have an RV. Higher gas prices have limited that type of travel. They do continue to fly to exotic places – Africa, Australia, Croatia, etc and enjoy a foreign experience. They also bicycle. Martin has ridden in several RAGBRAI rides across Iowa. He has biked in Minnesota, North Dakota and several other states.

Their neighborhood was the best we had seen on our trip. They can walk to three different small commercial areas within ten minutes of their house. These areas are filled with friendly local businesses: restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores, coffee shops, books stores, and most every kind of store you might want.  A bike trail lays just a few blocks away. There the possibilities are endless. We took a twenty mile ride with them that included biking downtown, along Cherry Creek which runs right through the city. We stopped at the beautiful new Art Museum and walked our bikes down the main walking street of the city. We crossed over the three pedestrian bridges that span railroad tracks, river, and then the highway and provide easy access to enter or exit downtown proper. We sat outside in the sun at a Deli and enjoyed a great lunch. Later that afternoon we walked the neighborhood.  Our “dogs were draggin’” at the end of the day, but Denver became a favorite city. If we ever decide that we want to move it would be high on the list of possibilities.

Martin and Wanda volunteer in an attempt to help those less fortunate than themselves.. They’re retired teachers and now spend a lot of time taking care of elderly parents, an older sister, and some time helping care for grandchildren. They also have three organizations that they work with through their churches. As a matter of fact, the night we arrived at their house they left us to go sleep in their church with the homeless. One week every three months their church hosts a group of Denver homeless. Martin and Wand volunteer to spend the night with them. The group is known as IHN or Interfaith Hospitality Network. It focuses on families; there must be children involved. It provides shelter – a safe place to sleep, two meals, and transportation to and from a day site.

A Mennonite volunteer project Wanda works with is Ten Thousand Villages. It encourages art and craft industries in third world countries and then markets them in the United States. They establish gift shops and stock them with only projects from these cottage crafted businesses. She works four hours per day, two days a month, helping staff a store in Denver.

There third project is called Direct Assistance. It helps people who need assistance paying rent or utility services. This is a project run by her small Mennonite Church. The project is only for people in their neighborhood who have eviction or shut off notices. Martin and Wanda not only give money to this cause but they work in the office filling out forms, interviewing and just talking to people who request help.

Retirement has been good for Martin and Wanda. They both read extensively. They live in a great neighborhood in a big city in a beautiful geographical location. They walk, they bike, they ski, and most importantly - they are healthy. Life is good.

We left Denver around nine in the morning and drove through the mountains on snowy roads. We descended into high desert and quickly pulled over on a nondescript road and parked; time to bike. We spent the night in Green River, Utah. We were beginning to feel like the horse that is drawing close to home. We just wanted to head to the barn.

The following day we drove through Utah and on up into Idaho. A friend we tried to contact in Boise was not around and so we decided to head for home. By five in the evening we were tired of driving and decided to spend the night in Kennewick, Washington. The next day we drove through beautiful Washington State – home at last..

This is Retirement Talk.