Matt Best arrived about 5:15 on Monday evening, February 24, 2014, to have dinner with Al and I as the first stop of his drive to Utah to spend two weeks as a Forest Ranger at Canyonlands National Park near Moab.

He vacated his apartment in New York City, and the moving van is on its way to Rochester, NY to store his furniture until his return from the Peace Corp.

Since our great trip to Yosemite in 2012 he has wanted to spend time in the West, and this interval in his career was the perfect opportunity.  He expects to be in Chicago later this week, and reports on Sunday March 2 to begin life in a trailer without electricity. Afterwards he plans to spent about two weeks visiting friends on his way home by the southern route. On April 28 he will leave for 27 months in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia close to where the Sochi Olympics were held.

When he left after dinner he drove to Camp Hill to visit Ray and Stephanie Smeriglio there. Today he posted these photos on Facebook:

He said this is his new best friend, Sparky.

It is fun to have a grandson with so venturesome a spirit, and we wish him the best of luck in all that encounters along the way.