Senior Tripping

    Did you ever spend hours planning and then executing those plans for a trip? 

       Well, we did just that. We needed to go to 4 places, in 4 different states, over the period of about 4 weeks, coming home between each visit, and then hitting the road again for another. 

   We came home between stops to get our mail and keep the grass mowed to a reasonable length. We also got to sleep in our own bed for a few nights and renew our energies. 

   When we began this odyssey on a Thursday in mid-May we rejoiced in good health, a good travel car, and enough energy to pull it off. When we finished the last trip, to Blacksburg, we were still grateful for the health to do it, and the car which performed well, but wondering about the energy required.

   Let's run through our ports of call, the people we interacted with in these 4 places, and some realizations that came to mind as we came home from the last one.

       First trip, to Conway Arkansas. Leaving on a Thursday, spending 2 nights in an Airbnb, and driving home on Sunday.

   Our purpose was to celebrate the graduation of Cady Gray Murray, daughter of Noel and Donna, from Conway Senior High, with honors.

Noel, Cady Gray and Donna

     One fine day we explored Petit Jean State Park located on a small mountain just west of Conway. It was a nice day, no tourists, and a quiet time looking over the Arkansas Valley with the river flowing    through. 

After spending two days in Arkansas, it was back in the car, driving back home for a week before heading out again.      

Next stop Cornelius, NC

Our purpose here was to visit with Dwayne and Karen and then to attend an 8th grade graduation where we presented a scholarship, named for Mayre, to a rising 9th grade Woodlawn student, Claire Kendall.

   Karen and Carolyn 

Claire and Mr. B

One night in Cornelius then in the car to go back home for a few hours. After a day and a half, we were on the way to Atlanta to spend the night then to Georgetown, SC for a wedding. Rusty and Joan's youngest son was marrying his sweetheart, Eleanor, in a 300 year old church in Georgetown on Saturday with a reception held on an island just north of there. Jack is Carolyn's grandson and most of the Benton clan were in attendance.

Georgetown was nice, too, with a 200 year old Courthouse

Then home again on Sunday, cut grass on Monday and leave for Virginia on Tuesday. Doug and Dawn were off on a 27th anniversary trip to the Dominican Republic, and Carolyn and I were the grandparents in charge of the 3 teenagers left to guard the homestead. 

and the Dog, Maggie who must have longed for his parent guardians to come home. Although, to their credit, Lucy, Laken and David (left to right) took great care of the 4-legged member of that family.

We had traveled a couple of thousand miles, seen all of our 3 families, and safely arrived back home. We had God's protection on us and on those we were with. We had been blessed and were grateful for the time and opportunity.

Then as we traveled home, reflecting on how were truly blessed people, one phone call with a friend in Blacksburg made us pause and think. True we had been blessed, but we were not "special people". There were folks that we knew that would have loved to be healthy and to be making visits to grandkids and others, but their physical bodies would not allow it. My friend Bruce, could hardly get out of bed. We had been tennis buddies and golf buddies, too, when we lived in Virginia now we could only talk on the phone for a few minutes while passing through.

A portion of our Boy's Group of old men with wives back when.

Makes you stop and think of what Life is all about.