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Peter |
I stayed in Bowling Green, Virginia with son Peter and his family for three weeks, getting to know the babies better, resting up, and getting repairs to the RV. Then I drove up to Baltimore to visit a friend I had met in Scotland, and met her great group at Foxwood. I stayed another day to visit David and Darcy, who had just flown in from Cairo. |
Rachael & Gena |
| At last I headed for Raleigh, N.C. and a great reunion with Carol Schroeder, a friend and suite-mate from college, stopped by the 95 potteries in Asheboro, and went on to Asheville, to see brother George and friend Maryanne, Uncle Lawrence, who is 88, and Cousin Georgina. Then on to Atlanta for Carol Gaudin's birthday party, and a visit to the OFCCP office to renew friendships with many old friends. Although just going into a Federal Building was traumatic, it was a great visit. | ||
Maggie & Berne's Horses |
Then I returned to North Carolina, visited Maggie Osborne & Berne Collins, who are building a house and barn in a lovely spot near Tryon, N.C., where I was born. Lucy and Riley were in dog heaven there, because they could run free and horse manure was plentiful. I got to ride Bern's horse Chieftain, who was perfect for me: lively but never out of control. | |
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Contemplating Buying
Maggie |
In the meantime my brother persuaded me to take a detour with him in the RV to Michigan to look at a house he subsequently bought. While there I got reacquainted with niece Amanda, and family Chris, Maggie and Michael. We arrived back in North Carolina for Thanksgiving, and the wonderful turkey George and Maryann baked, and then I headed for Florida. I missed my Peace Corps friend Julia in North Georgia, because I had frittered away so much time elsewhere. George, Amanda, Chris Riley and Lucy |
George's Michigan Farm |
In Orlando we parked at Turkey Lake Park, a wonderful city-owned campground near my old friend Alice Webster. I met her beautiful and talented daughter Dawn for the first time, although I have known her by long distance since she was born. |
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From there we went Titusville, where we parked at Manatee Hammock on the Indian River while I visited Luisa Rodriguez and Leroy Scott. Luisa hasn't aged at all since I left Orlando 20 years ago. Serendipitously, there was an evening launch of the space shuttle while I was there. Then across to Tampa to eat incredibly delicious seafood with John Albertson, another old work friend. |
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| By now it was about December 11. If I wanted to make it back to Colorado for Christmas, I had to hurry. So the dogs and I packed up and headed to Tallahassee and I-10. From there we drove through Mississippi and Alabama, around Lake Pontchartrain, past Baton Rouge, and across the Atchafalaya Swamp. The road there is built up on pilings for 90 miles or so. Then on to Houston, where my awning deployed on the interstate in a storm, and north to Copperas Corners in the hill country, to see my niece Kathleen. She is an extraordinarily good cook, and treated me to home smoked ribs and other gourmet delights. | ||
| The next leg of the trip was delayed by a problem with a leveling jack, and I couldn't make it to Fort Worth to see Brenda Joyce. her prediction that I wouldn't see her until after Christmas came true. Then on across the flat land of the Texas Panhandle and into New Mexico, driving until exhausted and impinging dark made it hard to find a campsite. We spent one night in Santa Rosa, and on across Raton Pass into Southern Colorado. I just failed to outrun the weather front, and the last little bit was a horrible drive through high winds, expecting to be blown off the road at any minute. But we made it!!! Christmas with the children was wonderful. |
April at Christmas |
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Cody, Ron& April |
It's hard to imagine a more eventful year. I certainly hope each of you had an equally exciting year, and I wish the best for each of you in the future. I think I am going to more or less live full time in the motor home for a while. So if I missed you this trip... I'll probably be there soon. Happy New Year to Everyone. |
Sunrise on the Red Sea |
