Spring Road Trip Details

Ready for a spring road trip...

After a cold winter we decided a road trip to places with warm and sunny weather was what we wanted so we started thinking of a trip to southern destinations. To start developing a plan we sent messages to family and friends with rough details about our proposed road trip. With a tentative schedule planned we went to Google Maps to finalize the plan and that is when we realized what a big road trip we had scheduled, over 8,000 miles! We were excited about the trip and eagerly packed and left Hansville the middle of March with the first stop in Vancouver WA to see Brett, Kasey and Cecilia as well as Roy and Suzanne. Then it was on to Eugene, OR to start my treatment as well as do projects around Mom’s place. Our plan was to use the 5 weeks between treatments to travel. We began the REAL road trip on March 20. With nice weather, we headed further south to Modesto, CA where we visited with Nancy’s sister and family (Jan, Al and Tara). Had a nice dinner at Chevy’s on Saturday evening for their anniversary and went to church on Sunday. On Monday it was time to head further south and east to Henderson, NV for a brief visit with Jo and Ed Hiramoto. We were glad to share some time with them but also glad we were able to have a longer visit with them last fall. We did have a very nice buffet dinner at South Point Casino and walked around the new “M” Casino, where we did some wine tasting (automated system, using a “credit card”) and saw beautiful views of Las Vegas at night from the view terrace at the top.

Jo and Ed Hiramoto enjoying the desert

The next day it was time to move on. On Jo and Ed’s recommendation, we drove to Bullhead City and went on a scenic back road to Oatman, an Old West town, where we saw a staged gunfight (we HAD to see it because the road was blocked until it was over), and saw wild burros. We drove a section of the old Route 66 through beautiful rugged country, enjoying some desert wildflowers and an interesting old cemetery There was a wooden cross for “Jimmy Hoffa”. Ray insists it must be authentic since it said “UAW”! Because of the winding roads and stops to see things, we were late arriving in Surprise, AZ where we had a nice but short visit with Diane Barr and her son Bruce.

Nancy, Ray with Diane Barr
Surprise, Arizona

It was nice to finally see her home and catch up on news of mutual friends. We had a good dinner at Olive Garden. In the morning we enjoyed a delicious quiche and helped her pick grapefruit and lemons from her trees. Then it was on to Las Cruces, NM to see Ken & Diana Knapp. In the morning Ray went walking with Ken, his sister, Judy, and Casey, the dog. We loved exploring the area with them and relaxing at their home overlooking the Las Cruces valley and the rugged mountains surrounding it. The historic downtown area of Old Mesilla was quite interesting and we enjoyed learning about the history of the area. Also were surprised to see many pecan orchards. We went out to breakfast at a great place called The Shed. Before we departed Ken shared some well known Hatch peppers and a recipe to share along our trip.

Ken Knapp at home in the kitchen

Las Cruces, New Mexico

It was a long day traveling from Las Cruces to Austin, TX to see my brother, Greg and his wife, Geri. Texas is a huge state which takes a couple of days to drive across. We enjoyed the hills and formations and blooming yucca. While in Austin we enjoyed visiting with family and their friends and neighbors, as well as exploring some of the area. We drove out in the Hill Country to Cow Creek, where we walked and found interesting rock formations with crystal geodes imbedded in them, and found numerous “Devil’s Toenails”, which are fossilized shells. On Sunday we attended the Orthodox Church where we became educated on some of the origins and practices of the church. After brunch, we drove to Barton Springs (very cold spring water). We just looked, and remembered Ray diving in years ago on a very hot day and gasping for breath because it was so cold! Also climbed up to Mt. Bonnell, at 775 feet the highest point in the area. Enjoyed seeing blooming Bluebonnets along the roadsides and in fields.

Greg and Geri
Austin, Texas


It was another long day across the other half of Texas to Gulfport, Mississippi, where we met Bob and Pam Goodman for a short but fun visit. We were amazed at how much damage is still visible in the area from Hurricane Katrina. There is some rebuilding along the coast - expensive looking homes and Casinos, which can now be built within approximately 800 yards (can’t remember the exact distance) of the water, instead of having to be on boats off the shore. There were still empty slabs or cement pillars with no longer a house on top. We also saw a few lots of FEMA trailers or “shotgun houses”. Of course we enjoyed some very tasty sea food at a nice restaurant while in the gulf coast area.

Bob and Pam Goodman

Gulfport, Mississippi

We had another long day into Florida, a state we had not visited before. Late in the afternoon we arrived at Clearwater to see Mary Anne and Philip Caltagirone. An added treat was seeing their daughter, Anne Marie, just before she departed for a business trip to California. While having dinner on their deck overlooking Clearwater Bay we were entertained by flamingos flying by, pelicans diving for fish, and other shore birds. They have a beautiful view of Clearwater Bay, the city and the curved causeway bridge across the water. During our stay, with excellent tour guides we saw beautiful botanical gardens where we saw an alligator, and a lovely old neighborhood with huge oak trees draped with dangling moss. In that area we saw Hulk Hogan’s mansion, and the classic old Biltmore Hotel complex which is being renovated. We stopped to walk on the Clearwater beaches and had a lovely lunch at a café on the bay where we saw egrets and pelicans mingling with fisherman on the dock. Have seen many types of birds which we have enjoyed. A warm sunny day added to the ambiance. Phillip grew up in the area so it was fun to see it through the eyes of a native.

Mary Ann and Philip Caltagirone

Clearwater, Florida

All too soon it was time to drive across Florida to Merritt Island where Pat & Patty Fitzgerald live with their four little Maltese dogs. We did not have time to see Cape Canaveral which was nearby, but we did enjoy seeing Manatees feeding and playing in Manatee Cove. Touring the area we saw another alligator and then had a great meal with them at their favorite restaurant. What a fun evening we had visiting while in their hot tub. It had been a warm (83 degrees) and slightly humid day with a little rain, but still very pleasant. In the morning Ray couldn’t find his socks, which he’d left in his shoes. He and Pat had a good laugh when they found the socks in Bella’s favorite hiding place where she likes to stash her “treasures”!

Watching Manatee
Ray and Patty Fitzgerald
Merritt Island, Florida

We then turned north and traveled to Fayetteville, NC to see Cindy Vargo. We decided that South Carolina may have the cheapest gas prices but also the worst roads. The cell phone proved valuable to find her place, because we were in the area, but made a couple of wrong turns, even with our Google map printouts. Maybe we need to get a GPS as well. We enjoyed dinner at a German Imbiss restaurant that made us think we were back in Germany. We only had a short time with Cindy but knew we were going to be stopping back by in a few days. We did enjoy seeing her nice condo with a back deck which looks out on a waterway with lots of trees, birds, turtles and other wildlife. We stayed up late visiting.

Cindy Vargo and Nancy

Fayetteville, NC

The next day we needed to get to Chester, Virginia, to see long time friends Marilyn and Gordy Slifer. We can trace our friendship back to BC (Before Children), 40 years ago in Heidelberg, Germany. We laughed a lot as we reminisced about our years of memories and talked about our grandkids. Their daughter, Sara, and her husband Peter and 1-year-old Jesse were staying with them until they move into a rental house and we enjoyed visiting with them, too. Unfortunately Marilyn had to leave for a trip the next morning, but we continued to enjoy our stay in the area. We enjoyed seeing the place where Peter and Sara will be living and in the evening loved seeing and hearing a first class Easter Cantata at the Baptist Church where Peter was a member of the choir. Had a nice dinner all together and stayed up late talking with Gordy. Before we knew it we were on the road again to Suffolk, Virginia, to see Bill and Kitti Schmitz.

Bill Schmitz with his 1966 Mustang

Suffolk, Virginia

It was a stormy day but we enjoyed exploring historic Smithfield on the way. We enjoyed a great spaghetti dinner that night, prepared with Kitti’s famous spaghetti sauce. Enjoyed a walk in their neighborhood in the evening. Unfortunately Kitti had to work the next day but we loved touring with Bill in their 1966 restored Mustang convertible. Too bad the weather was too cool to have the top down. Stopped for lunch at a Virginia Barbeque place. After Kitti returned we enjoyed dinner and another walk in the neighborhood. The next morning we had a special bonus of visiting with Sue Johnston who we also knew from Germany. She had just flown in from visiting with her daughter in Hawaii. Soon it was time to say goodbye and we headed south for Fayetteville and a longer visit with Cindy Vargo. After dinner we walked around her pretty neighborhood and loved seeing the blooming azaleas, wisteria, dogwoods, etc. She had to work the next day so we had a lazy morning and then went driving in the area. We decided not to try to find the apartment where we had lived in Spring Lake in 1967/68 when Ray was at Fort Bragg, so drove out into the countryside and found two historic old towns of Carthage and Cameron. Took pictures of a couple of historic old churches and had a picnic on the wooded grounds of the old Presbyterian church. Came back through Pinehurst and Southern Pines which are famous for golf courses. Met Cindy and had a nice dinner in old downtown Fayetteville which has been restored nicely. Walked around town and a nice park and then back home for another good night of visiting.

Anne, Jane, Arianna and Mikaela Seeman

Marietta, Georgia

As we headed southwest we passed through Augusta, GA while the Masters Golf tournament was being played. We are not really golf fans but did find it interesting and found ourselves paying more attention to the tournament. We reached our destination of Marietta, GA for a visit with Anne Seeman, her girls and mother in time for wonderful home cooked dinner. It was interesting to spend the evening watching the live news coverage of tornado watches in the area. Technology made reports very interesting. Nancy and I had never experienced being in a tornado watch area before. Fortunately they did not come close to Marietta, but we got a call from Deanna Lawson that they were having tornados in Tennessee also, including a terrible one which hit Murfreesboro, about 30 miles north, which devastated many homes and killed a young mother and her 9-week-old baby. Deanna had been holed up in Walmart with a bunch of people until the danger had passed and she wanted to let us know they were okay. While in the Marietta area we had a mini DODDS reunion hosted by Dave and Carolyn Douglas. It was great seeing them as well as Dan and Gayle Parker. On Easter Sunday we were honorary Catholics for a day at a large catholic church. It was packed and we found ourselves comparing the service to the Orthodox, Baptist and Methodist services we had attended along the way. The day we left, Monday morning, there was added excitement, because a huge old oak tree in Jane’s yard was blown over by high winds, blocking the street and making quite a mess. Luckily the tree did not come down on the house!

Bill and Deanna Lawson

Manchester, Tennesee

Once the tree was cleared enough that the road was passable we were on the road to Manchester, Tennessee, to visit Bill and Deanna Lawson. While in Tennessee had a great time discovering new nature hikes and water falls that were flowing full with recent rains. One was Burgess Falls, which was the biggest and most impressive falls. The other area was called Fiery Gizzard, and had a beautiful stream with several falls. One day we helped medicate cows on the farm. During the process 10 calves were separated from their mothers and you can bet we heard a lot of bellowing. Nancy had a fun time mowing the large yard with the rider mower. Just as she was finishing, a big black snake poked its head up from behind the steering wheel to look around. It had been riding in the mower for over an hour when that happened. She vacated the mower in a hurry! Unfortunately we did not get a picture of the nearly 5 foot long hitchhiker. On Saturday we enjoyed a visit from our niece Tarah (Farman/Yurchenko) and her husband Michael and his mother, Nina who was visiting from Russia. They enjoyed a tour of the farm, especially when Bill called the cows for a treat. We returned to our Methodist roots by attending church with Bill and Deanna that Sunday. In the afternoon we had a good visit with Michael and Lisa Lazalier (Charles’ & Kari’s long-time friends) and little girl, Elsie. They surprised us all with the announcement that Elsie was expecting a brother or sister. Reluctantly we had to leave, knowing we had some long days driving ahead of us.

Michael, Tarah and Nina

Manchester, Tennessee

The first day we made it to Kansas City, Missouri. We celebrated Nancy’s birthday with nice dinner at a restaurant the motel suggested. The next morning we were up and headed west making it to Cheyenne, Wyoming for the night. It has snowed the week before and there were still some traces of snow in the area. The next day we enjoyed traveling through desert country and saw many antelope. The end of another long day brought us to Wells, Nevada. The next morning we experienced snow in the desert as we traveled on to Reno to spend the night with long time friends Carol and Lou Brewer. It was a much shorter and easier drive on to Modesto, California, with a nice stop to visit with Gerry Green and Ralph James in Nevada City, California.

Passing through the wide open spaces...

We had now gone full circle and enjoyed sharing our road trip adventures with Jan, Al and Tara. We enjoyed being Methodists again on Sunday before heading north Monday to Eugene. There we helped with some projects as well as started my next treatment. Then it was on to Vancouver to connect with Brett, Kasey and Cecilia and also spend some time with Roy and Suzanne. Before leaving the area we enjoyed an afternoon in the Portland zoo with Brett, Kasey and Cecilia. We enjoyed having Brett ride with us to Hansville to recover his car that had been left there. That evening we arrived back in Hansville bringing our road trip to a close. Brett spent the next day doing a few projects around the house before picking up his car and heading back to Vancouver in the late afternoon.

Ray and Bertha with Cherry Tree

Eugene, Oregon

Now that we are getting settled back in Hansville we calculated we that we had actually covered over 9500 miles in 7 weeks! That reminded how huge a country America really is. There is so much to see and we only scratched the surface of the areas we passed through. We loved the adventure but had a lot of work facing us after being gone for 7 weeks, The out of control lawn and piles of mail were begging for our attention. We are enjoying a new stove, dishwasher and hot water heater that our landlords installed while we were away. We do have a good landlord (our son Brett and wife Kasey). Living in Hansville is like a vacation every day and we enjoy taking mini road trips to explore this area!

Another Hansville sunset on Hood Canal

Ray turning GREEN

tackling the lawn