It’s rare when I set down to write this column that I am set on a headline. Rarer still is finding multiple fits for the pre-conceived and aforementioned headline.

We just returned from a weeklong vacation centered around a fabulous family reunion and including side trips through both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

We covered a lot of country, laughed way too much with aunts, uncles and cousins, met members of the next generation and that was before we embarked on a driving tour of two magestic national parks.

We had been through Yellowstone before, but took a different route this time and saw different things that just made your jaw drop at the natural beauty.

Joan had been through Glacier when she was a youngster, but recalled the remarkable views to enjoy on the “Going to the Sun” road.

It absolutely didn’t disappoint.

It didn’t disappoint us and presumably the other hundreds of thousands of people visiting the parks on the days we were there enjoyed it as well.

So, what did I not see?

Well, any evidence of inflation causing people worry. Hundreds. Of. Thousands.

The roadway was packed, finding an open spot at any of the pull off photo ops was nearly impossible and every parking spot at every visitor center/gift store was taken. And yes, I drove through the parking lots. In some cases, vehicles were parked along the side of the highway up to a half-mile away from an entrance.

There were obviously no concerns of the future. Entrance to national parks is $35. Less, we found out, if you are of our advanced age.

Staying at lodges in national parks is expensive, as are camping spaces. And the campsites we could see were pretty darn full of sleek and shiny campers, many of which were pulled by a heavy-duty pickup, adorned with kayaks, bicycles, with perhaps a four wheeler as well.

My point is that nobody would be able to argue that inflation was guiding their thinking, as they were pumping $4.50/gallon gasoline into their $80,000 pickup or $180,000 motor coach.

A teacher in high school was the first person who used “Like teaching a pig to sing,” similie. I think about that when I read some of the incredibly goofy ideas that sprout from someone’s thought process. Or lack of one?

First - “Biden has gas prices higher.” Really? Gas here is $3.02 (with enthanol) and I paid up to $3.89 in Montana.

Seriously, if a president had the power to change the power of gasoline...or anything for that matter...why isn’t gas at $1.99 as we approach the election?

Again, I just don’t see it.

The idea that the president - any president - can control what companies charge for goods is just goofy.

Try this instead. Take a pandemic and use it to justify raising prices. Then continue to raise prices...just because you can...and get rewarded by your board of directors (whose bank account you are increasing) by getting paid an obscene amount of money.

Finally, a friend and I were visiting about the first debate and how the president had been unimpressive, when he mentioned that “of course, that wasn’t really Biden. Biden died in 2019 and that was not him.”

I had not heard that one, but will quickly concede that we rely on widely divergent sources for our information.

So, I Googled it. Yep, it’s a story with Google hits that totaled....one.

But my unsaid thought was “So Joe Biden died and he was replaced...and this was the best they could come up with?”

I just don’t see it. Sometimes it seems logic is lacking.