FEBRUARY 2008
Greetings! For all of you who have been waiting with baited breath for an update of our blog, here it is! A lot has happened since we left Graham, WA on February 1. We are SO sorry it’s taken us so long to get it together … but, better late than never!
First and foremost, we are THRILLED to report that our Grandson, Logan James Lewis is IN REMISSION as of April 7, 2008!!! As many of you know, Logan was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma on July 26, 2007 at the age of 5. Since that date, he has undergone many chemo treatments, two surgeries, a stem cell transplant, and radiation. We stayed in Puyallup to assist Logan and his parents from July through January, 2008. Logan’s little brother, Peyton, was born while Logan was undergoing his first week of chemotherapy last July. Needless to say, our prayers have been answered. Logan is one amazing guy – he has weathered all of this trauma with strength and commitment that were an inspiration to all of us. His parents, Jason and Kelly Lewis, have been so dedicated and amazing – we are SO very proud of them! We love you Jason, Kelly, Logan, and Peyton!! You are our inspiration every day! Logan is continuing with some experimental and preventive treatment that will hopefully prevent the Neuroblastoma from recurring. He will not be finished with this treatment until early August. As a special “celebration”, Jason, Kelly, Logan, and our daughter, Kristi, will be headed for a week at Disney World in Orlando toward the end of August. Our son, Patrick and his wife, Traci (who have also been an amazing support system for Jason and Kelly) will be taking care of Peyton so Logan and family can really play! Peyton has brought joy to our whole family – he’s happy, energetic, and full of love! He has just started crawling, so is keeping everyone busy who’s around him!
OREGON & CALIFORNIA
We reluctantly “re-started” our journey in February, prayerful that Logan was going to get through his stem cell transplant successfully, and with daily phone calls to Jason and Kelly. We traveled to Portland, OR where we watched the Super Bowl with our sons, Larry & Chris, grandson (Jackson), Chris’ Mom (Ann) and daughter-in-law, Megan and enjoyed some of Megan’s really good cooking. From there we went to Eugene and Ashland, OR. Had a great dinner with Fanci Bernest & Dick Emory and then on to Northern CA. We skirted the snow and made it safely over the mountains into Northern California. We visited with a number of old friends in Redwood City (where Kathy had worked at Sequoia Hospital) and Sunnyvale, and spent time with daughter Julie & family, dinner with Kathy’s ex-boss Glenna & husband Frank. I passed all of my physicals albeit with a 15 lb. weight gain and 4 inches in the waist from up North! We then went to San Juan Bautista for a couple of days and dined with Dean and Janice Judd.
It was on with our journey. We spent one night in Bakersfield next to a train switching yard. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough because of the noise of the trains and the people in the trailer next to us fighting most of the night.
BORREGO SPRINGS
The next day we went to Borrego Springs which is about 25 miles west of the Salton Sea. What a beautiful place. Jim & Marion Jordan have a winter home there and invited us to visit them. Jim and Marion entertained us royally during our time, and caused us to fall in love with the Southern California Desert. We stayed in a really nice RV park with a 9 hole golf course. Borrego Springs has no stop lights or fast food restaurants. Someone asked about getting a taxi and was asked why? They said they were going to have a few drinks and were concerned about getting a DUI. The local said not to worry about it as the sheriff went home at 6! We liked it so much spent 2 ½ weeks there and we reserved the month of March next year. Besides the time we spent with Jim & Marion, my Brother Leroy and his wife Mary came down from Riverside and spent 3 nights with us and we had a great time. We also spent time at Carley’s (a local bar), and had fun singing karaoke. Kathy did a great job on “Stop in the Name of Love” with assistance from some of the local women. We also visited with our old friends Denis & Joyce Girouard who are staying at the Salton Sea.
ARIZONA
On March 9th we went to Salome, AZ for a night and stopped in Aguila, AZ the next morning for breakfast. I had hitch hiked from Long Beach, CA IN 1947 with my high school friend, Eddie Biggs, to Phoenix where our high school was playing a football game. We were stuck in Aguila and the 2 of us spent the night sleeping outside of town in the desert in a 1 man sleeping bag. I just had to see it again. Not much has changed since 1947.
From there we decided to go to Sedona, AZ. It was a memorable trip. We went from Prescott, AZ over 89-A which is a very narrow, twisty and winding 50 mile run over the top of a mountain, through the mining town of Jerome, AZ which is 5000 ft up on the side of the mountain through streets about 1 ½ lanes wide. This was done in our 34 ft motor home towing the car. Kathy was a basket case by the time we got to the bottom of the mountain. She made me stop and she walked up to a highway patrolman to ask some further directions. He immediately asked “are you OK?”. She had 2 margaritas in Sedona and felt a little better. We stayed in a nice RV Park where Blue Herons were nesting in trees right over our heads. We played a round of golf and took in the scenery. Sedona is very pretty but very touristy.
Our next stop was in Mesa, AZ in an RV park with 1100 spaces, mostly full. Nice place but too busy. We had a nice dinner with one of Kathy’s old high school friends, Tom Lebold. We saw a couple of Spring Training baseball games (Giants and Mariners). We then went on to Tucson, AZ and stayed in a nice park, played golf and visited the huge PIMA air museum. They have over 200 airplanes including the SR71.
TEXAS
On March 26 we went to Fort Stockton, TX. We did visit Pecos and Saragosa which were featured a looong time ago in a beer commercial that my Brother and I still mess around with. We also, at the urging of our friends, Maynard & Linda in Waco, did a day trip through the Big Bend National Park that is all the way down on the Rio Grande. It covers 800,000 acres with some spectacular views. From El Paso to Kerrville is about 400 miles and Kathy agreed with me that there wasn’t much to see.
Next stop: Kerrville, TX about 60 miles west of San Antonio. There is a very famous jewelry maker here by the name of Frank Avery. I was lucky enough to get Kathy out of his studios without buying anything. While here we went to Fredricksburg. A lot of Germans settled in Texas in this area. There is also the Admiral Nimitz museum and park honoring World War II soldiers and sailors. On one wall was a plaque for the 68th Fighter Squadron. This is the same squadron I was stationed with in Japan. Small world.
We went on to San Antonio on March 31. On April 1 we had a very good time touring the Alamo, Japanese Gardens, missions and a boat tour ride along the River Walk. Delicious chili rellenos there for lunch!
April 2nd, on to Waco and a memorable visit with Maynard & Linda Miller. We were fed in grand style and Kathy was able to spoil Griff, their basset hound, and we put on some more weight. We had dinner at El Chico’s (THE BEST chili rellenos) with Linda & Maynard, Bill Johnson, his friend, Dorothy, and Lynn & Howard DeOrnellas.
We visited Crawford, TX and the Bushes and while we were there. I had a basket of gizzards.
We also went to a long horn cattle ranch and got very close to the herd (awesome!).
We toured Lake Whitney where we saw some interesting motor home/park home combinations. Thanks, Linda and Maynard, for a fabulous time with you – we loved it!!
We worked our way across Central Texas to Houston and spent a great week with Arley & Lonelle Walters. Managed to see the Houston Astro’s and the St. Louis Cardinals one evening, had a personal special tour of the Big Thicket where Arley grew up, and a visit to the Johnson Space Center -- not to mention the excellent dinners at the Walter’s house – especially the homemade pecan pies ….yum! Thanks to Arley & Lonnelle too – what Texas hospitality – we were spoiled every day!!
This is Arley, Lonnelle and Kathy at the home where Arley grew up in the Big Thicket.
We toured through Livingston, TX, which is the home of our "Escapees.com" facility. Escapees comprises many acres - everything from RV parks to permanent living sites, to a nursing home on site. It's also the place where our mail is collected and forwarded to us on demand. While there, Kathy decided to use one of the restrooms in their community building. She came out chuckling ... instead of the usual "Please don't flush tampons down the toilet" there was a sign that said "Please don't flush Depends down the toilet"!!! We knew we were definitely in a retirement facility!!
LOUISIANA & MISSISSIPPI
From there we drove to Shreveport, LA where Kathy had her 1st taste of alligator and she liked it. We then went for a few days to Vicksburg, MS where we toured the site of the Civil War siege of Vicksburg. It’s a really good tour and includes one of the iron clad boats that was sunk during the war. It was Kathy’s first glimpse of the Mississippi River – it was over flood stage (winter snow melt, etc.) so was quite a sight. Unfortunately we didn’t make contact with Othel & Caroline Mendrop because a BIG tree fell on their house and their phone was out. A lot of damage occurred and they are currently living in an apartment while their house is being rebuilt. We only found this out after we arrived in Tennessee. We'll catch you next time, Othel & Caroline!
TENNESSEE
Our next move was to Memphis, TN where we were fortunate enough to connect with my half Brother Lynn Peters and his wife Sherry and daughter Kelsey who I never met before. For those of you who don’t know my background (this is Dave speaking), my Mom left my Dad when I was a year old, and she was pregnant with my sister, Dixie. She moved from Portsmouth, Ohio to Southern California so she could be closer to her family. Dixie and I knew we had a Dad in Ohio, he had been born in Roanoke, VA, and had worked for the railroad as an electrician. That was all we ever knew about our Dad. Three years ago, Kathy and I went to Portsmouth in search of information about my Dad. We learned that he, in fact, had lived in Portsmouth up until his death in 1998 at the age of 97! We also learned that his widow, Dorothy Peters, still lived in the Portsmouth area. We called her, and she was pleased and excited to finally learn about David Peters. We had a memorable visit with her, and got to meet one of her two sons, (David’s half brother) Don Peters. We knew that Lynn lived in Tennessee, but that was about all we knew at that time. So, on this journey, we were determined to continue to put the Peters Family puzzle together. We called Dorothy, and she got us in touch with her other son, Lynn. We spent a whole day with them including dinner at their home in Friendship, TN. Great visit! Lynn has continued to stay in touch with us, and as you’ll read further, we have also had the good fortune to meet his other four children, who live in the Cincinnati area.
This is Lynn, Kelsey and his wife Sherry
We went to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and watched the march of the ducks from the fountain in the hotel lobby across a red carpet to the elevator and up to the Duck Penthouse. We spent a few hours on Beale Street and probably wouldn’t go back there.
From Memphis we went to Manchester, TN for the specific reason to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg. It happens to be a dry county and you can’t sample their wares (!) but we bought a bottle of “Old No. 7” and enjoyed the tour very much. Tennessee has spectacular countryside – and all the wild dogwood trees were in bloom – both in Tennessee and Kentucky. Wonderful time of year to go through!
We spent the next few days in Nashville including going to the Grand Ole Opry, touring the Ryman Auditorium (the mother church of country music}, Country Music Hall of Fame and spending time in the bars listening to country music. The 2800 room Opryland Hotel was also quite a sight to see.
We stopped for a couple of days in Clarksville, TN so Kathy could see her previous hairdresser, Ronda, from Tacoma. We met Ronda’s husband, Mac, and saw her daughter, Melissa. Ronda gave Kathy another perfect haircut, and then helped her “design” her special hat for the upcoming Kentucky Derby. They treated us to a delicious T-bone steak dinner at their house as well. Thank you!
KENTUCKY
April 29 - Next stop: Louisville, KY for the Kentucky Derby, courtesy of our good friends Cliff & Sherry Rompf.
They really know how to show you a good time. We started Thursday evening with cocktails at their house and then dinner in a great restaurant. Friday morning we were at their house at 9:00 AM, very early for us RVer’s. We had brunch with Cliff & Sherry and Janice & Tom at a very nice (old) men’s club in Louisville and then off to the Kentucky Oaks races. This event is always the Friday before the Derby and features all fillies. The races were really good and we managed to win one bet the whole day. It rained cats & dogs toward the middle of the day and the track looked like a small lake. We started the really tough task of completing our set of 8 mint julep glasses. To make sure our julep’s were of the right consistency we carried extra small bottles of really good bourbon in our socks and bras. I wasn’t wearing a bra, that was Kathy’s job. That night we had dinner at Cliff & Sherry’s country club and made it home to bed around 11. It didn’t stop raining until around 6 AM on Derby day.
At 9:00 AM we were back at Cliff & Sherry’s and off to brunch at the men’s club again and then to the Derby. We again brought extra bottles of good bourbon, stuffed into our socks & bra’s and through the gates we went. What a spectacular experience!! They had the 2nd largest attendance in history, approximately 150,000 people. The outfits we saw were amazing. Both men and women were dressed to the nines and the ladies hats were something else. Some of the younger women wore strapless dresses and I had a wonderful time taking pictures with my new "bazoom" camera lens. We completed our set of 8 julep glasses and I think maybe a few more. The races were phenomenal and the track was in perfect condition in spite of all of the rain the night before. When the pack broke from the gate they came by us as a group and the sounds of their hooves sounded like thunder. The Kentucky Derby was everything we expected to be and more and we can’t thank Cliff & Sherry enough for inviting us. We finished the day at their house where we had dinner and were back at the Crazy Coots Coach and in bed by 11 – pretty worn out.
At 9:30AM Sunday Cliff & Sherry and Barbara & Tom (their daughter & son-in-law) picked us up at our place and we went back to Churchill Downs “back side” of the Track to a restautant that's been there since 1922. We then went to the paddocks and saw Big Brown (the Derby winner) from about 15 ft -- he is a very handsome, big horse. We then went and fed peppermint candies to Cliff & Sherry’s 2 horses. We finished the visit by touring them thru our motor home and collapsing for the rest of the day.
ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU CLIFF & SHERRY FOR INVITING US AND FOR SHOWING US A GREAT TIME AT THE DERBY AND IN LOUISVILLE!
On May 7th we left Louisville and headed for Frankfort, Kentucky. While there, we went on a tour of the Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery – it was great – and the distillery is located right in the midst of many beautiful thoroughbred horse ranches.
OHIO
Next destination: May 9th in Cincinnati, Ohio! We went to their Appalachian Festival (Bluegrass music and other fun stuff) and then on Sunday (Mother’s Day) we met David’s four nieces and nephews who are the children of his half-brother, Lynn Peters that we just met a few weeks ago. What a meeting with these members of our extended family!! We also caught a Cincinnati Reds baseball game while there.
The Appalachian Festival had good Bluegrass music! One group played 2 songs at my request that my folks used to play way back in the thirties, “Over the Waves” and “Under the Double Eagle.” Both brought back good memories of when the family would get together and have fun. We found some really good natural foods at the fair.
Scotty Peters, my nephew, arranged with his sisters, Lori, Jodi and Traci, and his Mother, June, to have us over for a real Cincinnati dinner on Mother’s Day. It was one of the best times we’ve had and what a family!! There were a mess of kids, husbands & wives and excellent food and they even had gifts for us. They accepted us with open arms and they now want to meet all of their other cousins on the West Coast. Lynn & June can be very proud of their children. We felt very blessed to have met them and developed a new friendship.
That’s Scotty, Traci, Me, Jodi, Lori and my beautiful wife Kathy
That’s Scotty, Traci, Me, Jodi, Lori and my beautiful wife Kathy
Scotty arranged through a friend of his to get us tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game on Monday and we had great seats between home plate and 1st base in row 11. It was a great game and the Reds won 8 to 7 over Florida. Ken Griffey did drop an easy fly ball in right field that almost cost them the game. At Scotty’s urging we left the game and drove over the Ohio River and then turned around and drove back toward the City skyline. The view of Cincinnati from the top of the hill at night is spectacular. They are very proud of their city – and for good reason.
On our last night in Cincinnati we once again went to dinner with Scotty and his wife Cathy and sisters Lori, Jodi and Traci. We met at Scotty’s and saw their beautiful home. We were wondering if they could add an Old Uncle & Wife apartment onto their basement! The basement is a sight to see and includes a separate room to practice putting as well as a full bar and pool table. Cathy gave us a video she made of the family getting together and of my Father where I can hear him speak. Thank you Cathy!
We are now just north of Columbus, OH where we plan on visiting the Amish country and then on to Cleveland and then Portsmouth, Ohio for the Roy Rogers Festival.