My cousin Gene stopped to see us in Texas on his way home to Arkansas from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. This was his decompression time from his recent Iraq tour - he was there right before he went to Wisconsin to see his sister Toni & his Dad.
Oh my...I started to write about Gene and how great it was to see him, and to whine about him not being able to stay a little longer...but then I saw how much he has traveled in the last year and a half.
But I was even more amazed at how small this world had gotten! Or so we thought. Right after my grandmother died, some of my cousins & I went through her diaries. These weren't long sheets full of all her thoughts for that day, but more a list of highlights - maybe one or two items per day, like Tony plowed field, or Gerry went to Kenosha. The latter seemed to be the theme of her years of highlight lists.
She had kept this info since the 1940s and it was full of my family members jumping in a car and going someplace. They visited all the states that bordered Wisconsin, as well as driving out to Maryland to see my Mom and me and to Alaska to see an aunt stationed there. It was like every weekend someone went somewhere!
And I can remember some of this travel with my mom. I remember she had a 195? Cadillac - all black. My Mom, Grandmother, Great Aunt and youngest uncle all piled in that Caddy and headed from Wisconsin to Arizona where an Aunt lived.
We travelled Route 66 - which is all there was then - for a large part of the way. And here's a WOW moment from that time. While we were on Route 66 going through Oklahoma, a bridge builder turned cattleman had recently finished building a house for his wife and step-son, a young boy of about 10 or 11. This house, and his 360 acres, fronted Route 66.
Yup...that young boy is my husband today! I wonder if I waved as we went by?? I wasn't even in school yet though, so I was probably more worried about Grandma's handkerchief that I lost out the window somewhere!
Bob & I met in Maryland, married, moved to Hawaii, and then retired from the Navy to Texas.
Enough of my travel log...and enough of my huh! moments.
About Me
- GloriaJ
- I have a lovely daughter who recently received her MBA. I also have a wonderfully inquisitive grandchild who is in 1st grade and now knows everything! My husband retired from the Navy, from Raytheon, is on Social Security, and now works for me as a volunteer! I own a small printing company with 5 employees - actually, it is more of a "if it can be done on a computer, we will do it" type of company and we just happen to have an offset press, digital presses and bunch of finishing machines!
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