An update from yesterday’s journal entry: Post-Tropical Cyclone Ian continues to lash South Carolina and is expected move northward into North Carolina and Virginia before dissipating. The storm is still packing 50 mph winds and torrential rains. While flooding is projected in many regions, including parts of Florida, as a result of the storm, our daughter and her family are away from the most devastating effects of the storm. They experienced a few flickers in their electricity, but still have power. There has been wind and rain, but not much damage. A few small branches have blown out of trees and there is a tiny amount of yard waste to clean up, but remain safe and secure in their home.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, we are back in our home in Birch Bay. Our trip involved driving nearly 3,000 miles, with about a third of those miles pulling a trailer. The box of the truck was nearly full for about half of the miles. We delivered items from our family property in Montana to my sister’s storage area in Oregon. And we got to re-visit some truly beautiful country. We drove through a few rain showers, but for the most part our trip was in summer-like weather.

Last evening, after returning home to a meeting and enjoying supper in our own home, we took a walk down to the beach. The sun was setting and the waters were calm. We could see a few boats out on the bay fishing. The scene made it hard for us to imagine the destruction and disruption that the southeastern states are experiencing.

It is a long ways away. Last summer we took an epic road trip from Washington to South Carolina and back pulling our camp trailer. We have first hand experience of the distance that separates us from that part of the country. Having said that, both Susan and I enjoy a good road trip. That trip was a lot of fun. We saw some new country, drove on some roads we’d never before driven, camped in interesting and inviting campsites, and experienced the size and scale of this country.

In the afternoon yesterday we were talking with one of our neighbors and she was surprised at how much we had traveled in the last week. We could tell by the way she reacted to our trip report that she is someone who doesn’t travel as much in the way we travel. We know that as we grow older, we will travel less and the days of really long road trips pulling a trailer are probably nearly over for us.

It is good, however, to return home. We are fortunate to live in a good place surrounded by natural beauty. We can experience snow-capped mountains and the ocean close to home. Our home is a place of peaceful beauty and quiet away from the rush of the highways and business that sometimes is a part of our lives.

Just because our place is calm at the moment, however, does not mean that we are exempt from storms and dangerous weather. When we walk to the beach, we pass the tsunami evacuation route signs. We know that the bay and the waterfront homes down there could be places of high waves and dangerous conditions. Our part of the world experiences more earthquakes than many other places. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan demonstrated the devastating destructive power of tsunamis. Should a tsunami of that size occur in Birch Bay, the water would rise to nearly the level of our neighborhood and buildings only a half mile away would be destroyed.

Mount Baker, with its seemingly-calm presence is a snow-capped sentinel of the North Cascades. However, it is considered to be an active volcano and is one of the most seismically active mountains of the region.

No place on earth is completely isolated from dangerous conditions. We don’t pretend to be isolated from natural disaster. At the moment, however, it is a peaceful place and a good place to rest and recover from our travels.

Of course, we won’t be simply resting. We rushed to Bellingham yesterday so that I could attend a meeting at the church. We have responsibilities to help with the care of our grandchildren today. There are a few items to unload from the pickup at the farm. We have a busy schedule of events at the church tomorrow. We won’t be bored. We are fortunate to have meaningful work and an engaging community.

And we are fortunate to have time for quiet walks along the beach and time to sit and think. I admit I haven’t spent as much time on the porch swing as I expected, but it is very pleasant when I do have time and there will be more time for that later. This is a good place for a balance of activity and contemplation. It reminds us of how privileged we are. We had the resources to choose the place of this phase of our lives and to pick up and make the big move. There are a lot of people in this world who have been forced to move from their homes who have to head out with very few resources and with no idea where they will find a safe place to rest.

On our trip we saw a lot of rental trucks and trailers heading both east and west. There are plenty of people on the move, seeking new possibilities for their lives. I’m sure that there were others, who don’t have enough possessions to fill a moving van, or who don’t have the resources to rent a trailer. We’ve seen cars packed so full that their windows are blocked. We notice the people asking for help at busy intersections. We understand that we are among the most fortunate people with abundant resources and plenty of supportive community.

We will continue to remind ourselves of our connections with those who are recovering from the devastation of the storm. We are linked to those who are grieving so many losses. We are all in this together, and we need to keep pulling for each other.