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It was definitely time to get out of the craziness for a minute; time to go country - REAL country... Mountain Goat Country!!  We live in a small town, and our town happens to be growing like a weed.  The commute to work is getting as bad as traffic in L.A. & Seattle - places we lived and worked in eons ago.  People here are certain to become Road Rage certified as the current growth continues like it has the past few years.  It was time for an escape! We went to a place over 10,000 feet above sea level.  We went to a place where there were street signs cautioning to watch for cows that might be passing over the road (and not necessarily at the cattle guards), signs hollering at us to be careful, to slow down.  That busy world we left behind; jobs that pay too little and demand so much, recurring bills that keep circling back to the mailbox month after month, the never-ending list of projects around the house that need to be finished - we happily left it all behind.  In si

  That first time I pulled up... I saw it.  It was flying gloriously from a proper pole right there on a post off his front porch and it wasn't even the Fourth of July!  ... I didn't really think about his proclamation, I guess.   He grew up in a small military town near Death Valley in California.  His father had spent his entire 35 year career working on the base as a civilian draftsman.  Both of his parents were born & raised in that small town where patriotism was taught, appreciated, believed in, acted out and respected.  I had held my hand on my heart  alongside all those other kids going through the public school system  every morning; we pledged our allegiance to it, we praised it's symbolism and we were taught to appreciate what it stood for, because that was the right thing to do.   My  sisters, father and I had to apply for the privilege to call it our own.  We were officially granted, and it is documented that we were bestowed the right on  Ju