The Friends Along Our Passportless Loop

This road trip is a passportless loop through the friendships that shaped my life — and now Jay’s too. As we follow the highways of the West, we’re revisiting people from every chapter: friends from my early workdays, friends we met together while traveling abroad, and friends whose stories have become part of both our lives. Each stop is a reunion, a memory, and a reminder that the best journeys don’t always require borders — just the open road and the people waiting along it.

In Dayton, Nevada, we’ll visit Elizabeth and Ben. Elizabeth and I worked together at Alta Bates in Berkeley years ago, and after she retired we lost touch for a little while. But thanks to the power of social media — and a lucky moment on LinkedIn — we found each other again, picking up our friendship right where it left off.

Next, in Mountain Home, Idaho, we’ll visit Ellen and Tim. Ellen is my oldest friend in America, not by age but by how long we’ve known each other. We met back in the 70s while working together in a nursing home in Concord, and she’s been part of my life ever since.

Further along the loop, in Vancouver, Washington, we’ll reconnect with Opel, Monette and Sean, friends Jay and I met together during our travels overseas. They’re the kind of people who become part of your story instantly — easy, warm, and full of shared memories from places far from home.

Our final stop will be Ashland, Oregon, where we’ll visit Mark and Cindy. The three of us worked together at Kaiser Walnut Creek, and those years built a friendship that’s lasted through moves, changes, and all the chapters that followed. We’re really hoping to see their daughter Ellie this trip as we missed her last time.

These are the people waiting for us along the way— each from a different part of our lives, each ready to welcome us back as we make our passportless loop through the friendships that shaped us.