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This trip was like so many others I've taken in
the past, except now it is much harder. I used to travel light and alone,
pack my bag on Friday morning, then, after a stressful day, shed the stress
and traffic as I left town. I'd drive as far as I could each day, and when
time would allow, drop in on aging relatives and friends.
Now it is different--much harder. I call this
my Grand Tour because I planned to see so many family and old friends.
It had been five years since I visited
Wisconsin and many years since I'd seen some of the people I planned
to see. I may not be able to take such a trip again. Diann Massingill,
a custodian in our building, had expressed her desire to travel with me.
Beh was pressed with her business and couldn't go. So, I decided to leave
July 14 and plan enough time so, with Diann's help, I could see everyone.
Beh suddenly decided to go, moving the trip up two weeks, and I rushed
to contact everyone. To my surprise, the trip fell into place quite well,
and we were on our way. |
| 7/2/00 |
It was cool and traffic was very light
through Memphis. Beh began driving when we left Nashville. At Bowling
Green, I plotted a course north on scenic 259. It took some doing, but
we found 259 by taking several other roads. As we drove up and down
through farms and villages, it reminded me of West Virginia. The cemeteries
were adorned with fresh flowers and little houses close by the roadside
presented a mural of rural America.
The connecting road to 88 was shorter than
I thought. Uncle Bruce Hull's place was just ahead on the left--or so I
thought. Three miles later, we stopped at a bait shop/gas station to ask
where Decker Road was. An old pickup, spewing steam and water, pulled up,
and a group of blond occupants spilled out. I yelled out for help,
and a blond guy with no shirt, a drawl, and an inbred look, said he didn't
know, but went inside for help. Shortly, he came out and told us to go
the three miles back.
Sure enough, where I'd seen Scruggs Road,
Decker Road split to the right a half block from 88. We were looking for
442. We passed 500, then, down around a barn to 800; so, we turned
around.
Back at 500, we met a pickup. The guy in it said he lived there but
didn't know Bruce Hull. He said that Decker Lane was the third blacktop
road to the left. We headed back where we'd come and soon arrived at the
bait shop again.
I called Uncle Bruce on Beh’s cell phone--got
him twice--got cut off both times. |
Diann Enjoying Roger's Lawn
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Diann decided to go in to call. She came back
with directions to the opposite side of 88. Back the way we'd come to a
side road, left to Decker Lane, then Bruce's mailbox told me where they
were. My MapQuest maps were good, but I should have known when the computer
changed Decker Lane to “Road”. We lost an hour, but got reacquainted
with my surprised Uncle after 25 years.
He and his wife, Nancy, are retired eight
years from Chicago. His thirteen acres comprise a project with garages
and sheds joined to his mobile home with decking all around. He has an
ATV, small bulldozer, rust free '54 Plymouth, pontoon boat, and his son
Larry's dragster for projects. His son, Alan, has Ryder's syndrome (cartilage
deterioration) and stays in a small house on the property. |
Diann Descends from the Back Deck
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We arrived in Louisville to a spacious Motel
6 room with a tub--I couldn't take a shower. I called Behram Randelia again,
but no one was home.
We found something to eat and settled in for
the night. Daraius called. He was house sitting for his parents,
who were touring China for ten days--my bad timing.
They almost hadn't gone. Xerxes was married
in June. His bride is Russian. He has a degree in English. Both are continuing
on to graduate school. Soon after the wedding, Daraius felt weak and couldn't
breathe. He had an inverted heart at birth, heart surgery as a baby, and
now, at 29, a pace maker inserted. He may have to get a new heart valve
in the future.
Cyrus, a civil engineer, has spent the last
two years in Alaska working on projects and pursuing his loves, hunting
and fishing. |
Beh Enjoys the Lush Lawn
While Roger and Friend Carry My Ramp
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| 7/3/00 |
We got a good start the next morning and arrived
early to Cincinnati. As we passed Riverfront Stadium on I-75, I urged her
to pull off into the river front area so that we could see the pig sculptures,
but Beh pushed on to a gas stop with no pigs.
We arrived a my cousin Debbie Goessel's home
in Dayton at 11:20. Debbie had emailed me that she'd have lunch for us.
She wasn't there. We waited in intermittent rain for over an hour. After
talking to two neighbors and following one to her workplace, we left. Debbie
emailed us after we got back that she forgot we were coming and went grocery
shopping.
We had good road through the Indiana countryside.
Watching one dark storm cloud, we passed what appeared to be a funnel
cloud extending from it--I'd never seen that before--watched it for a few
miles. We arrived at Roger and Sue's in 5 o'clock traffic. Roger
used a folding table to get me into the house, then onto the deck where
they had been playing cards with another couple.
They decided we should go for a pontoon boat
ride, so it was down off the deck on the table top, then down the lawn
to the boat. The table was too wide; but with a little push, I was floating.
It was a gorgeous evening as we followed the shoreline and Sue and Roger
described the houses to us. Some of them belong to Sue's family. We saw
Sue's son, Robert, and his new jet boat, capable of over 70 mph.
Roger pulled the glass doors off the guest
room shower and Sue found a plastic chair for me to sit on in it.
Everything worked well until I got up to transfer from the chair to my
wheelchair. The plastic chair flipped upside down, making a terrible
racket. Sue came running, wondering if I was all right. |
Rob, Sue's Son, Shows off His New Boat
Beautiful Homes Line the St. Joe River
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