January 24 Without the two oar bags to check we had no trouble or stress at check in and security. Our concern was more about how we were going to get from the airport into our car in the frigid temperatures we had heard persisted in New Hampshire. All the layers I had with me added up to be appropriate for the 37 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale but not below zero and windy. Arriving in Manchester after an easy flight we found the temperature at a balmy 20 degrees and the sun was helpful in addition. Never have arrangements worked as well. One often forgets that sometimes things do go the way they were planned.

We arrived in Thornton Gore to the welcome of our two corgis, three cats, three spiny mice, a turtle and two small fish that seem a small zoo indeed when compared to the wildlife we have seen during the past three weeks. Though reentry from a long vacation seems like it should be difficult, it is always wonderful to be home among familiar surrounds again. We have had the best and longest vacation I ever remember and it has caused me to think about what made it so.

For years I have made comments about our vacations which have amounted to much time spent in cars just looking and seeing things but not really doing anything physical and experiencing what we saw. They have been enjoyed and, of course, never regretted but this trip has taught me that setting out to do something like what we have done gives purpose and much more satisfaction. Among the benefits I must list the two holes in my belt that I have been able to take in, the great feeling of being in the best shape physically I have been in for years and the calluses which will remind me of the rhythm of the approximately 90 hours of rowing in 14 days on some of the most beautiful water I have seen. I would encourage anyone who has had the endurance to read about this trip to try a vacation in which you do something you love to do intensely.

Some have asked why I would want to undertake such a trip and I have thought much about my answers to this question. First, I must counter "Why not?" But there are some semiconscious reasons I must admit to:

Last year I turned 65, an age that I have dreaded for a long time. So many think that this is an age when one should think of retiring. I resist that notion and, though would like to realize more dreams like the past three weeks, I feel like formal retirement is the beginning of some kind of end. I have met too many "retired" men that seem to be just waiting for the real end. Such an idea scares the daylights out of me and spurs me to think of ways to renew my vigor and seek other challenges.

As an oarsman in college I had a very bitter disappointment when I was told that because I had married I was ineligible to row on the crew. Things were different in 1958 than they are today. I accepted it with the offer to be a coach of the Yale freshman lightweights but must admit that it has always caused me to feel unfulfilled and a bit resentful. I never had the chance to accomplish my dream, I suppose, so it has been a purely personal goal of mine to prove to myself that I could accomplish an athletic goal. So long distance rowing has been that goal and my feeling of accomplishment over the past weeks has been satisfying.

But I do not feel any need to prove anything to anyone. I have had a wonderful life and look forward to years more of adventures like the one I have just had. Heather’s sharing this with me, even as a passenger, has given us a new outlook and confidence that the next thirty years of our marriage will be even better than the last!