6000 Mile Drive # 3

After a week in Indiana and many meaningful gatherings,  we headed for Texas.  We decided to arrive on July 4 since all the grand kids and greats would be there!  It was our joy to meet Evan and Annie for the first time! and of course the three  raunchy rangers of the Rio Grand!  Roly and Candy cranked up the food supply in the kitchen and on the patio grill!  With 95 degree weather,  most everyone spent time in the lake and the kids in a delightful backyard pool and slide. On July 4 we all had ring side seats overlooking the lake as Blake, Joel and Tyler lite up the sky with fireworks.  Everyone got in the act with sparklers!.  If this display were tried back in Oregon,  we all would have been arrested! Fire hazards go year round here!
We then headed home, spent time with friends in Colorado and our final stop with Chris and Carlon in Rocklin, California and enjoyed one of the nicest nurseries we've seen anywhere.  As we neared Oregon,  we began to wonder where our home was!  (Click on photo to enlarge)

6000 Mile Drive 1 - Redo

I accidentally erased this July posting which was the first stop in our family reunion tour.  We stayed with Ruth and Joe and shared many memories with Jim's,  Ruth's and Betty.  We met with first cousins,
nieces and nephews and friends.

After a week,  we headed for Indiana and met Diet Eman,  a dear friend in Grand Rapids.  She is author of "Things We Couldn't Say." and has stayed with us in Oregon several times.  In her nineties,  she still ministers to those in need as a RN and translator for doctors.  Michigan was grand beginning for our travel tour!

6000 Mile Drive # 2

The second leg of our journey was Indiana.  We stayed a week with Forrey in Wakarusa. (Pictured with Phyllis Bacon at Hubbard Hill)  We met Jane and Larry in Waky and spent our first day with Dave and Brenda and on to Ft. Wayne to meet with the King family.  Met with brother Phil and Sharon at the Baugo Cemetery.  It's always lots of mello memories that surround you there.  We walked among the tomb stones recalling the lives that influenced who we are today.  A sobering thought!  The next day, a dinner with the Class of 49 in Goshen.  If that wasn't enough,  then met at Tammy's place in Wakarusa for a Freed gathering pictured above.  A wonderful time with great memories remembered!  To top it off,  I went to a new building in Wakarusa where once stood my High School.  This reunion pulled together all ages and folks I hardly remembered and not seen in over 50 years!  It's a fearful gathering. . .the fear of forgetting!  I survived and stuck close to my high school buddies just in case I needed help!  Indiana almost seemed like home again! Another installment to come.  (Click on photos to enlarge)