The big Ford lumbered with a particular deliberation around the turn, the turbo whining. Then the truck paused, the window rolled down, and… “Well, hey!”
The six year old at the wheel grinned back.
Mountain Time
Big Meadows was calling again. The sunny Friday beamed down, and northward I rolled, telescope, backpack, and the power point clicker in tow. A few hours, and a few vistas later, I crept into a secluded parking spot by a lonely trailhead, and snuck a quick nap. A bumblebee buzzed in through the open window, hovering a moment. “Wake up, slacker!” Then hikers rolled in next to me. Can’t a guy take a nap? Turns out the new arrival was in charge of dark sky programming an hour away. Note to self: no more snoozing in public.
There was an excellent if jittery hike (dig the photo above), a tasty dinner, and then, what?! A clear forecast? The people started arriving. It was going to be a real star party. “My bucket list is to see Saturn and Jupiter!” enthused a twelve year old girl. “I think we can do that!” I assured her.
Darkness fell. Vega emerged, a leading lady sparkling in a blue dress, twenty five light years away. The International Space Station photobombed the festivities.
And then…Saturn.
Oh, the hula hoop champ. Glowing golden and steady, a tiny ring in the eyepiece. “No…did you paint that on the telescope?”
“Oh WOW! There it is!”
The line stretched out. “Grab my arm, not the telescope” I urged as some of the smaller fry tottered on the stepstool.
When I get to introduce Hendrix or The Beatles to a guitar student, well, that’s an honor. This is fifty times that. “You’ll love it! Step right up, step right up!” Who ever thought I’d be a carnival barker for a planet nearly a billion miles away?
Even in the midst of this magic, things can get hectic and earth-bound. “Did you get a turn to see it? Oh, it’s moved? Hang on, let me re-center the scope.”
Suddenly, “Ethan” showed up. He looked at Saturn in reverent silence, shaky on the chair. Then he looked at me, clutching my supporting hands. He must have been about six. “Do you see it?” I asked.
“Uh huh. And the thing next to it.”
“The ring?”
“Yeah…!”
We stared at each other in the dark, beaming in delight. “What an awesome thing, huh?”
“Yeah!”
Now this is “what it’s about.”
An Unusual Uber
I was wandering around the next day, lost. There was a wrong turn, and the campground all looked alike, and where was the lodge? Suddenly, a big Ford growled around the corner. The window rolled down, and there was Ethan, driving, sitting on his dad’s lap. “Nice program, man!”
“HEY! YOU were the guys from last night!”
“Need a ride?” his dad asked.
“Yeah, that would be great!”
“As long as you don’t mind a kid driving.”
“Not at all!”
I remember doing this with my dad once upon a time, too. What a blast! Ethan had the wheel, dad had the brakes. “Now buddy, since we’re going this way, we’ve gotta commit.”
“Yeah man! You’ve got the turbo! Punch that thing!” (I pride myself on advice. It’s not always good, but it’s advice.)
The trip to the lodge was a bit shorter than the voyage to Saturn, but equally appreciated. He even parked that big ol’ truck right next to my car (and didn’t even come close to hitting it.)
“Five stars, buddy!”
It sure is good to be an Earthling sometimes.
Saturn is widely considered to be the second most beautiful planet. Here’s a nice shot of the first.