Captain’s Log, Stardate 2022.2.8 We loitered, we lollygagged, we laid about yesterday morning. We took our own sweet time getting ready to leave. We ate a hearty breakfast. We admired the alpine beauty of the San Juan mountains and the high desert beauty of the rift valley of San Luis. The snowfall from our visit earlier in the week was still in evidence, and as we drove out, we saw walkers on the frozen river of the Rio Grande. It was a picturesque winter scene but we were leaving.

From there we headed down towards Santa Fe, retracing our steps from earlier in the week. The views were much better this time, when not obscured by snow fog when all you saw was the tunnel of the road ahead. This time there were vistas. As a passenger I got to enjoy them and begin formulating a plan for my return. The thing I did previously when my wife was still alive and I would think on my myriad business trips, she’d like this. But I was alone going and alone coming this time, so the return plan is solitary. But I still can think she’d like this, because she would.

From Santa Fe we headed into Roswell. Earlier in the week, it was the end of the first day’s journey. This time it was the end of the second to last. It was sunset, and the New Mexico landscape was spectacular. I was on the eastern side of the car, however, so all I saw was the reflected beauty of the sky as the western horizon turned away from the sun. But it was still beautiful, almost a rainbow. I snapped a picture, and when I pulled them up to look at them, I discovered an artifact in the sky and you might be able to claim it was a spaceship, because we were heading to Roswell, but most likely it was a reflection in the car glass but a spaceship is more fun. So, I’ll leave it there.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale