In the summer of 1979, I set out to have a summer adventure the sort of which it is easier to have when you are younger, and — as I am now learning now — when you are a certain degree of older.

The spring before that fateful summer I had seen an flyer on a campus bulletin board announcing job interviews. The job in question — working at Disneyland.

I called the number on the flyer and arranged to meet the representative on the campus where I had seen the posting. After a brief interview, I was offered the opportunity to work as a “cast member” at the park, landing a position at an E ticket attraction: the now defunct Country Bear Jamboree.

That summer, like this one, I was relatively carefree, and when I was not collecting tickets and asking people to throw out perfectly good popcorn they had purchased while waiting in line, I met new people, did new things, and added a line to my resume that I have been asked about at every job interview since.

This summer, however, the adventure is tied to the travel. I have flown, I have driven, and next week, I am setting out by train.

I like the rhythm of a train, the sense of moving forward to my destination while going back in time. Looking out the window and watching the landscape pass, I can let my mind wander in a way that I haven’t been able to since I learned to drive.

To prepare for the trip, I have focused on the many lightly textured crochet squares I disentangled from the former “yarn slug.”

I started with the first twenty-eight squares I had unearthed:

and started joining them:

But before I could finish with that, I found twenty more crochet squares:

Then, averting my gaze from any other crochet rehab temptations, I managed to join then into twelve four-patch crochet squares:

As they were a half-inch shy of the required size, I added a border:

And with this stack of crochet squares that has more than 100 ends to be woven in, I and my crochet are ready for a summer adventure.