Looking Back

I know I will not complete 50,000 words this year. It's disappointing but not a disaster.
The true value of my attempt this year surrounds my computer. I have the notebook from my mother with three sets of trip logs in it. My notes from our trip are open on the computer as are the pictures. Memories of the trip are teasing my mind. Details long buried are now fresh.
Without the pressure of making the word count, I can relax and savor our trip. Some of the details stop me like the cost of a soup,salad and sandwich for lunch: $.80! Others are so unique like the Frazier House near Galesburg, IL. An eccentric named Frazier who never wore shoes and rode a bicycle everywhere built it with free, discarded over-fired bricks. It included a solarium for his consumptive wife that forced warm air through changing all of it every minute even in winter. This was done in the early 1900s I think.
The real value of this trip is seeing the differences and the similarities of the different states. The real value of writing about the trip comes in the memories.