My plans didn't work out. But, no complaints!

By now, I am rather resigned to the idea that we plan while fully ready for the plan to get distorted and many parts of it remaining only as ideas. Yet, we don't get paralyzed into inaction.  I suppose I will keep planning even as old plans don't come true.

I had chalked out a number of stops along the mountainous stretch of the forested Cascades during my drive down to the conference.  It is a remarkably scenic route and one could easily stop every few miles and not get bored at all.

I packed up enough eats for the long day on the road. After all, drives are a lot more fun where there are snacks of my choice.  I packed a grilled sandwich too--with cheese and pickled asparagus.

All those parts of the plan were within my control.  And then there is nature, which, obviously, had not read my plans.

As I started driving, it felt like the last days of Pompeii.  The dark clouds made it seem like nightfall even at nine in the morning and the rain limited the visibility.  This was on the valley floor.  The mountain stretch would be rainy and there would not be any stops by the scenic spots--it would be difficult to even spot the vistas!

Driving in the rain is enjoyable in its own way.  As long as we are in no hurry, of course.  And I had no urgency.  At some places, I was driving so slowly that a young person would have cursed me for being the stereotypical old man on the road holding back a long line of vehicles.  But, I didn't have to worry--most of the time it felt like the entire roadways belonged only to me.

I had reached nearly 4,000 feet in elevation.  It was all clouds and rains and the only stop I made was at the gas station to fill the tank.  The temperature gauge reported that it was only 39 degrees outside.  39!  It was still September!

The road signs cautioned work ahead.  I slowed down and came to a complete stop.  Men at work.

If at all I had any temptations to complain that my plans had not worked out, by now even that remote complaint had been erased.  Why?  It was 39 degrees and raining. And, there were men at work.  Well, perhaps women too among the crew.  I was in a comfortably climate-controlled environment without any urgency. What grounds did I have to even mutter a complaint?

Life is that way.  We think our problems are the more pressing ones, and that we deserve to air out our worries and complaints, when in reality there are a gazillion others with problems of their own and many of them in worse conditions.

I waited for the "stop" to turn to "slow."  It did after a few minutes.  As I passed the worker, I waved out.  S/he waved back. At the other end of the work zone, I waved to the sign-holding person standing in the middle of the road on a rainy, cold, fall morning.

I went over the pass, and was on to the leeward side of the mountain.  The rain stopped after a while.  I was now back to my plan of stopping along the way to enjoy the scenery and take photographs.  I was back to being a man with a plan.