An 1882-Mile Family Adventure that Peaked in Palisade, Colorado...
This is
simply a “Chapter” in a potential novel of many unwritten chapters, of two
14-year old boys that met in 1976 on a school bus in Reno, Nevada! My motivation to write this chapter is the
5-day trip I just shared with my family to Palisade Colorado to attend an event
that so profoundly impacted me visually and emotionally it inspired me to begin
defining just how incredible this friendship has become. Understand however, this story is only one of
hundreds of chapters that could have been written.
Whatever it was that sparked this diatribe, is truly a culmination, in my
brain, of the engaging memories I have experienced in a 43-year
friendship.
A brief
backstory of Brent and myself; the two 14-year old boys from 1976 mentioned above. A
backstory providing you a brief idea of the possible chapters that could have
been written. Brent and I shared our four high school years in the late
70’s, went to college and received degrees, built careers in various
industries, Brent served our Nation in the Air Guard, I introduced many to the
underwater world, we both got married and divorced then found the loves of our lives, each got married
again to two very incredibly patient and loving women, planted ourselves in our
local communities as respected businessmen, built a strong family with our
wives, each reared three children, saw our
beautiful spawn through school, college and well into their 20’s (one in her
30’s), saw them all find love, our families traveled to spend time together and all this was done while we lived 800 miles
away from each another for over 35 of those years. Friendships work when you work for the friendship.
As we built and strengthened our close relationship - He would call me, I would call
him. He would come visit Reno, I would visit Grand Junction - our priority all along was in building the
relationship among ourselves into that of our growing families. This "goal" and as evidenced by the love, fun, joy and
dynamic interactions I experienced during our recent visit for Brent’s youngest
daughter, Nicole’s, wedding, I realized visually, mentally and physically that we most definitively have succeeded in obtaining our goal.
This all began in July of 2017 when we got a call from Brent's daughter Nicole telling us that she and her boyfriend of many years, Caden Woods,
wanted to come visit us here in Reno. After
this amazing visit which included Brent’s sister Gina and her children, Evan
and Skylar, Nicole’s Aunt and Cousins, Kim and I looked at one another and
said, “a proposal is near!”
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| 2017 |
Well... come September
12, 2017, a mere 2 months following their visit, Mr. Caden Woods did in fact
propose marriage and not shortly after a save the date for June 1, 2019 came
and the McClellan Clan began the planning for this family adventure! Of course, in this era of "The Facebook" (as it was originally known), our
children already had their vision of this adventure in mind. Independently, each of them contrived a mass family
trip – Kim, Myself, Elizabeth, Tayler, Alex and of course their significant others (William, husband to Elizabeth, Kyle, Fiancé to Tayler and at this time, Alexander’s plus one was still
unknown) would be included.
Now the full plan had not yet been set but during a visit (another potential chapter in this novel) to Palisade in February of this year, 2019, due to weather, Kim and I were forced to drop south of Salt Lake City on our drive to Palisade. This landed us in Salina, Utah; a town where Kim spent her high school years. As she and I departed Salina on I-70 heading east, we were reintroduced to the beauty that befell the north and south sides of this interstate between Salina and Palisade. It was at this point, Kim and I knew; we were going to plan this June trip so we could hit this drive. Motel reservations were made, a house was rented in Palisade big enough for the eight of us and centrally located to Brent's home and the wedding venue, rental vehicles were reserved and the plan finalized around mid-February. We would make the 541 mile push to Salina so that we could enjoy a whole day cruising into Palisade, Colorado seeing the sights along I-70.
Here is how we envisioned it: May 30, departure from Reno at 0800; a big travel
push of 541 miles to Salina, Utah; overnight at the Super-8 (they have waffles for breakfast!); May 31, depart
Salina 0800 and spend the day traveling the last 220 miles visiting the “view
points and vistas” along I-70, detouring down into Arches National Park (Moab, Utah) and
then into Palisade, Colorado for the Rehearsal Dinner at 1830 hrs; June 1, Wedding Day;
June 2, rest day and frolic around the base of the Grand Mesa in Grand Junction
and Palisade; June 3, depart at 0700 for the 14-hour push of 900 miles
back to Reno, Nevada.
It worked! About as close to the plan as one could possibly expect. What follows is a photo-essay
of:
“A Family Road Trip for Nicole Goff’s (soon to be ‘Woods’) Wedding;
Chapter 99 in the Prodigious Story of Brent Raymond Goff and Martin Major
McClellan”.
The joy of a road trip - Martin, Gina, Evan and Skylar
As the noon hour approached, we found ourselves at the Toiyabe Cafe (best fries ever!) in Austin, Nevada...
Our planned day of sightseeing began at 0800, on 31 May and while the vehicles were getting gassed up, Kimble and I took a minute to add to our collection of selfies at the intersection of Highway 50 and I-70 that would lead us later in the day into Palisade, Colorado...
Along I-70 there are some incredible views hosted by "vista" exits and our plan was to stop and take photos. This would be our first time stopping at these viewing areas and we had no idea just how beautiful these sights would be or what memories they would provide...
Time to simply take in the views...
take some fun selfies...
and see some incredible sights!
An incredible group image of our "Crew" under the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park
As our time for sight-seeing came to a close, and way too fast I must say, the best part of the day was still to come. Our arrival into Palisade for the "Rehearsal Dinner" and the gathering of the Goff/McClellan Clan for the first time, in our entirety, in over 20 years. It was an incredible experience seeing all our grown children...grown up!
We arrived in Palisade about 1700 hrs and got settled into "The River House" a 4 bedroom VRBO right on the Colorado River. An excellent accommodation and at 1900 hrs we were summoned to the Goff Estate for the Rehearsal Dinner. I do remember, with a certain amount of clarity, the dinner was a blast.
Caden Woods and Nicole Goff - Not yet hitched!
Neil (Papa) Goff, the Patriarch of the Goff Family, and I enjoying a Scotch and a Cuban Cigar!
I did learn however, don't let go of your iPhone for you may find suspicious images the next day (especially after 4-5 nice tumblers of Rye Whiskey!).
One of the most important treasurers for me are photos! Photos of the adventures that allow me to not only create stories such as this but to ponder and remember how blessed Kim and I are to have such a wonderful family and great friends like the Goff Clan! My level of photo happiness on this adventure did not disappoint!!! As you continue, I think you will agree!
The Bride and Groom:
Nicole and Caden Woods
My very "Bestest" good friend, Brent Raymond Goff and his family core (L-R): Kim, wife; Deanne, eldest; Nicole; Brent; and James. A family that my family is proud to call family!
The McClellan's of Northern Nevada [Reno, Sparks and Carson City]
Father and Bride - June One, Twenty Nineteen
My children and their "Significant Others" (L-R): Tayler and Fiancé, Kyle; Elizabeth and Husband, William Stanley; Alexander McClellan and Jasella
Kim and I with the Matriarch and Patriarch of the Goff Clan, Rose "Debe" and Neil Goff. An honor to share this image with such inspirational role models of husband and wife ( 62 Years ), parents, mentors and family. My second set of parents since 1976!
Saturday was truly a most memorable day for all. Mr. and Mrs. Caden Woods put together an incredible and enjoyable wedding but realize, when I say Mr. and Mrs, I mean the love, compassion and respect that all their families and friends possess for these two vivacious and lovable young adults, were major contributors to this very special wedding day and... for the future of this young married couple. We thank all those involved for your LOVE shined very brightly this day.
We called it a day about 2200 hrs as we had a full day planned for Sunday (continued below) but word had it that the Wedding Party did not end until 0100 on June 2! So happy and proud to be part of such a successful event.
Sunday June second was a chill day for McClellan Clan for we had 900 miles to drive the next day. Once all arose and coffee was had followed by sustenance , we decided to utilize the fleet of bikes available at the River House and ride to the Distillery for the absolute best Bloody Mary on the western slope of the Rockies.
After our mid-morning cocktail, everyone wanted Ice Cream so James and his wife Ariel (Brent's son and daughter-in-law) picked up our little ones, Evan and Skylar (Brent's Nephew and Niece), swung by and grabbed us and we all headed across the valley to the Graff Dairy. I abstained as I am watching my sugar intake and let me tell you that was no easy feat!
It was then time to head back to the River House for lunch, an afternoon of relaxing on the Colorado River, family chats, games and an evening pizza party where several of our combined families joined in. BUT...
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| The View from the back yard of the River House |
I had one more photo vision that needed to be attended to so i asked Tayler, a professional photographer, to recreate a photo that we took on a visit to the Goff's in 1999. Her recreation turned out most spectacular! My photo goals for this adventure exceeded. Thanks baby girl!
Kim and I could not be more proud to be the creators of this phenomenal family. A family that began some some 35 years ago!
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| 1999 |
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| 20 Years Later |
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| PLUS...Three wonderfully incredible personalities in William, Kyle and Jasella |
There are going to be many more chapters in this story but unfortunately, many will go unwritten but those that do hit the print, we all know will be grand!
I END WITH THIS...
THE COUP DE GRAS
OF THE WEDDING AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF MARTIN AND BRENT...
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| A PHOTO 43 YEARS IN THE MAKING |
My Love to All!
What a fabulous collection of photos, memories, and commentary! Made me smile,laugh, and even tear up a little. Thank you so much for the time you put into this! Love you, bro! Kim
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