Exit Brief La Grande: I departed La Grande a couple of days sooner than I was actually scheduled to but I did not want to travel on a Friday. So I left La Grande, Oregon on Wednesday the 20th of August. Now I will be all settled in at my new "home" in Meridian, Idaho before the weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 month stay in La Grande, Oregon and will do it again some summer in the future. I enjoyed going around the various parts of the Grande Ron Valley seeing all those places I used to visit when I was a teenager before I left for the real world by joining the Navy.

What totally surprised me about the La Grande area was how little it had changed. With only a few exceptions everything looks pretty much as I remember it. I saw no real increase of companies that would increase the jobs available in the valley. Now some people would see this lack of growth a negative. I do not, I see it as a comfortable place to live. Too much change to fast is very unsettling to me.

In my various travels I have seen so many places that have just grown beyond belief. Boise, Idaho is just one example of this. You can't go anywhere between Boise, Meridian, Nampa and Caldwell without seeing a new housing track, strip mall or other construction underway. What used to be fields tended by farmers are now asphalt and buildings.

On several occasions I drove around to other parts of the valley and into the surrounding mountains. The scenery was even more spectacular than I remembered. I attribute part of that to the fact that I am now more sensitive to the beauty of the world than, I was back then. I am sure it was just as beautiful a valley in those days as it is now. I just see it with more appreciative eyes.

I met only one former school mate and that was Lynn Wagoner who was a few years younger than me but I remember him for several reasons. The biggest reason is the school I attended, in Imbler only had 202 students in it. And that total included all grade from kindergarten through 12th grade. For example my graduating class, the class of 1965, had 14 graduates.

This size of school had those of us attending the Imbler High School and Jr High all passing each other in the hallways and using the same classrooms, not at the same time, and having lunch at the same time. So even though our classes were small the school social community encompassed as many as 5 grades.

As I write this posting I have now been back to Meridian for a few days and have settled back into some sort of routine. When I say routine, I mean one that has included the continued watching of the Olympics which ended yesterday. Starting today I will shift my routine back to a more normal one with less television and more work.

I spent Saturday with my granddaughter Ellery and son Ray. She is, of course, continuing to grow and become even more beautiful. She has her grandpas heart.

I plan to stay here in the Boise, Idaho area for about two months and then begin my winter migration back to Arizona. I have spent the last several years blowing through Utah, but this time I plan to spend a couple of weeks in the vicinity of the Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. After Utah I plan to head over to Nevada and spend about a month in the Las Vegas area. From Vegas I will head South to Quartzite, Arizona for a week or so then on to my winter quarters just North of Phoenix.