Hi Lowell,

Actually I don't need an earthquake to want to go to Parkfield. It is a metaphor for the work that has been accomplished and what lies ahead. To go there again reminds me of how little I've been able to do and know that in rest, the push to go forward will continue in earnest for Don and I.

I was telling Don earlier I've never been to Middle Mountain where the little reflectors for the laser are installed, or stood near the epicenter of some of Parkfields larger quakes. I'd like to stand there and check the ethoes and see how it feels. You never know when inspiration or ESP might just kick in and "bingo" a new idea has been born.

Of course there is the work of the future that may one day begin in EarthScope. Who knows what promise lies in that work. Could be nothing, could be the method of determining the magnitude of the next quake that Don is looking for.

In realizing the promise of a new day, new research, new ideas and hope, one must go where the first American earthquake prediction project was born, to see the past, contemplate the future and sense the proportions of what could be with a little help from Mother Nature.

Yes, the Rockies have been there and will be there far longer than I shall be here, but there are a few people I'll want to meet someday in the future and I hope they will still be there then. For now I have my memories of looking out over the State of Colorado from Mt. Manitou and seeing Kansas in the distance, flat as flat can be. But you don't know what I'd give to enjoy a whiz banger of a thunderstorm. There's nothing I enjoyed more when I was there.

Petra