We reached our apogee in Elma, six o'clock this morning,
Having risen past Pierre and Sturgis, Billings, Bozeman,
Coeur d'Alene, Tacoma, from the prairie's searing humid
Heat to chilly rain, the standard coastal gloom; Olympian,
A wag might say. Now, we've begun our fall through
Portland, Pendleton, La Grande and Boise, Ogden,
And Cheyenne, to our adopted Elkhorn home. Happy
To have seen the land and visited with relatives,
But beaten, we're no longer young, we'll stagger from
Our vehicle, relieved to have returned to earth again.