Day One of the “Mother of All Trips."

---

Saturday, 10 September 2005
The Chillicothe Inn
Chillicothe, Ohio

Day One of the “Mother of All Trips:”—we are heading for the West Coast, and all sorts of places in between!

The last time we were visiting Lara in Seattle, about two years ago or so, I commented to Janet that the next time we visited her, we should drive out, (since I would be retired,) and take a few weeks and see some things along the way. Mount Rushmore, for instance. Well, she started suggesting things, like seeing Jim and Launa Myers in northern California, and seeing the Grand Canyon. Well, she doesn’t really understand what she’s suggesting, but I agreed to it because I’d like to do it myself! But I told her, “This will be about two months! Not two weeks!” But she said, “Well…” It’s like I said, she has no real idea as to what’s this is all about.

But we decided to do it now that I’m retired, and we settled on the Fall of the year as the time. Actually, I wanted to wait until my softball season was over. And so we set out today. In the style of what Janet likes to do, we haven’t done much planning. We have a general itinerary. Salem, WVA; Chicago, and the German WW-II u-boat U-505 (captured in WW-II on the high seas, in combat, by the U.S. Navy,) and see the Cubs play in Wrigley Field; then Battle Creek, Michigan, and the … cereal, then Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and the Soo ship locks between Lake Superior and the lower lakes; Minneapolis and the Mall of America; Mount Rushmore; Custer National Monument; Yellowstone National Park; Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho (there’s some golf courses there😉 and then on to Seattle. About a week with Lara and John, then on to the Myers in Reading; then San Francisco and Fisherman’s Wharf, the cable cars, and the Golden Gate Bridge; San Diego and the zoo, and Tijuana, Mexico; Las Vegas, Hoover Dam; The Grand Canyon; Phoenix, and Brother Perham and his church, and perhaps the Blouchs; El Paso Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, San Antonio and the River Walk, Port Arthur, and Toni Hallberg; then on to the Gulf Coast, if we can get there. New Orleans, and the Webres, Pascagoula, and the Wixons and Freemans; then on to Atlanta, and rest with Troy and Jess; and then home. If we’re lucky!

Already we’ve had frictions. We’ve had frictions even before we left! Janet has been trying just as hard as she can to make me give up on the things I want to do, and just straight drive out to California. “I’ve never seen anything on the West Coast, and you have! I’m sick, and I don’t think I will ever be able to do it! And etc. etc. etc. In truth, she is sick; high blood pressure, up-and-down blood sugar, bladder infections, and fears, fears, fears. Actually, my first desired stop was St. Louis, MO, to see the Gateway to the West Arch, then “backtrack” a bit up to Chicago. But she really didn’t want to backtrack; she wants to go “straight on.” So, we’ve decided to cut that out. And so, we’re on our way to Chicago.

But then, besides the frictions, there is the already screw-up. Actually, I wanted to stop in Salem, WV and see the Salem Baptist Church. It’s a big old brick pile right on the main street in Salem, right on the sidewalk, and Janet and I visited in it on our last anniversary trip, which was, I think, back in ’93. We passed through this very way, on the way to Cincinnati, OH, and a re-visit to the campus of Miami University. But we drove right past it! On the entire trip, Janet has been sick; all of the above I said, plus, she had gotten car-sick as we traveled out on Route 50 through the West Virginia mountains. I was trying to drive so carefully that I went right past the place, and didn’t realize it until about fifty miles later! So rats! I had kind of hoped to stay overnight and go to church there in the morning. But, ‘t’weren’t to be. Instead, we have done nothing today except drive!
Tomorrow I guess we’ll head for Chicago. Don’t know if we’ll get all the way there, and don’t know how long we’ll stay. I’d like to see the science museum where U-505 is, and it also has a model railroad; and I’d like to see the Cubs play in Wrigley, but I don’t know when they’re scheduled home, and I just know Janet won’t agree to wait until they get back. So, nothing definite for tomorrow.

And this is kind of disjointed, because it’s late and Janet has the TV on, right beside me

---