May the giving spirit of Christmas dawn on your life each day of the New Year

    This has been another good year. If you remember last year's Christmas letter, we had finished remodeling the kitchen during the Christmas of 2004, and I was remodeling the hall bathroom myself throughout most of 2005. This was fun for me, but a drag for Lona. (see http://webs.lanset.com/packwood/Xmas2005.html) This year both of us had some fun. Lona has pretty much regained her fitness after recovering from the back surgery that corrected the severe leg pain (sciatica) which caused 9 years of relative inactivity.  Her problem caused us to have little incentive to travel. This year we took three great trips, the last being a marathon 5 week; 12 state; 25 motel; 6530 mile road trip in our Toyota Prius; touring 16 national and state parks, monuments, recreation areas and memorials; and visiting 3 sets of old friends. Yes, we averaged 45 mpg including our 75 mph dash through WY and NE to get to the Drury in Columbia in time for "happy hour".
    In February we enjoyed a great trip back to Colorado. My nephew, Jim, got married to a terrific young woman in a beautiful church in the mountains near Golden. We are so pleased for them. They seem like a perfect match. While in CO, we were able to visit many of our friends from our time in Fort Collins. The only downer was that the month before, I tore the meniscus in my right knee on a very normal 7 mile run, so I could not ski with Jim. After the tear, I limited myself to bicycling and race walking to give my meniscus a break. It feels normal now, and the Dr. says he sees no reason why I can not ski with Jim this year.
    In May we took a great, 3-week trip to the 4-Corners area exploring ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) sites. We thoroughly explored
Canyon de Chelly Nat. Mon., Mesa Verde Nat. Park, Hovenweep Nat. Mon., and some of Canyons of the Ancients Nat. Mon. There were many other sights to see on the way out and on the way back. See: Desert Southwest Trip Report for more pictures.
    This year I organized my third career symposium and panel discussion for the Physics students at MU. As usual, it was well received by students anxious to know what they face in the real world. The MU support meetings were much earlier this year, so Lona and I, in a moment of over exuberance, decided to combine the Missouri family/MU trip with a driving tour of the northwest before winter set in. We had never been to The Badlands nor Mount Rushmore, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Every available space was stuffed in that little Prius for our trip. We needed dress up clothes plus informal, casual, hiking, and driving attire. The temperatures ranged from 95^o F in MO to 17^o F in Jackson, WY. We needed everything we brought, and brought everything we needed except tire chains which we bought in Cody, WY when the weather turned on us. I was put out that there was no room for my golf clubs, but as it turned out, my MO golf buddies were not available for a game anyway.
    After our May trip, which turned into a study of the Native Americans of the desert southwest, we thought this trip would just be scenery. There was a vast amount of that, but early on it turned into an extremely interesting study of the Plains Indians. We found it quite moving to be standing at the grave of Sacajawea (Indian guide on the Lewis and Clark Journey of Discovery) in the Wind River Shoshone Reservation in Wyoming. That experience led to some incredibly interesting research over the web about her life. Sacajawea almost certainly died in 1812 despite what that tombstone says, but the Shoshones believe this was really Sacajawea.
    After 5 weeks on the road, we had finally had enough and were glad to be back home. No doubt you have had more than enough by now as well, so we will just close by wishing you the best during this happy season and throughout the coming year.