When the idea of the Epic 50th Anniversary Grand Adventure Road Trip was born, it really appealed to Randy and me. One of the main reasons for the adventure was to visit forever friends we’ve made over the years in the Air Force, and other people we care about a lot from childhood or post-Air Force years who are scattered all over the country. In this post you’ll be introduced to some of them.
A lot of the family portion of visiting was satisfied when we went to Wisconsin for a month in June to help move my mom. Almost all of my family lives there, and a lot of Randy’s family as well. We made the effort to connect with some of our high school friends since we were there for such a long time.
If I had to quantify the number of forever friends we have, I’d say there are about 10 at the top of our list. We also tried to contact the 2 people (formerly married to each other) who stood up to our wedding. Since it is our 50th anniversary, we thought it would be great to reconnect with them. Sadly, we tried to track them down and thought we had a few good leads, but we never did receive any replies to our inquiries. We’re not even sure they’re still on this side of the grass.
We renewed our wedding vows on our 30th anniversary in 2005, and Lynn and Dave “stood up” for us then. So being travel buddies on this adventure means a lot to us.
We made some of our best forever friends at Chanute AFB, Randy’s first assignment after he went back into the Air Force after we got married. Those friends, Keith and Carla, are the ones responsible for us living where we live now in Florida. We see them often. We became forever friends with another couple at Chanute, who we were also later stationed with on Guam. Pete and Kay have both made their permanent move to heaven, but we saw them quite often over the course of our marriage because they lived in Illinois while we lived in Missouri. Kay was a prolific and dedicated snail-mail letter writer. We miss them both.
Also, while at Chanute we met our great friend, Bill, who has the best laugh and who we enjoy laughing with—a lot. He married a wonderful woman, Kay, after he left Chanute. When Bill and Randy ended up stationed together on Guam in 1980, the 4 of us because steadfast, forever friends. We see them fairly often too as they now live in North Carolina not terribly far from Randy’s sister. On the third leg of this Grand Adventure Road Trip, probably in early November, we’ll make a point to visit them.
After we left Guam, we spent 12 years at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA. This is where we made another really special group of forever friends. Brian, who we visited the day we passed through Salt Lake City, is one of them. Brian is battling pancreatic cancer so we were particularly glad that we were able to see him on this trip. He’s a guy who we always have deeply intellectual conversations with, and who we also laugh a lot with. On Saturday we met him at a restaurant he recommended in Tremonton, UT. After dinner we went out for ice cream. My one scoop was so big tettering on a tiny little sugar cone that I asked for a bowl and it nearly filled the pint container they use for those who don’t want cones! We had a nice long time sitting outside that cute little shop with a band playing to the Saturday night small town crowd. We didn’t solve the problems of the world, but our diverse views gave us something to really ponder. It was a great visit, and I think we convinced Brian to visit us in Florida this winter…depending on his health. He looked great for what I know he is going through so I’m hopeful we’ll see him again.
Another forever friend, who also gets my BFF (Best Friend Forever) designation is Cindy. She and I served together in the Air Force, and I’ve written about her before. You’ll find that post, titled Broads in Space, linked here. Cindy lives on the shores of Loon Lake a bit north of Spokane, WA. You may recall that visiting her and her husband, Dan, in conjunction with our Alaskan cruise was a primary spark of inspiration for the Grand Adventure Road Trip. We arrived at Cindy and Dan’s on Wednesday, 13 days after we left Lynn & Dave’s home in Missouri.
This is the first time we’ve visited Cindy and Dan since they built their new forever home on land on the north shore of Loon Lake that’s been in Cindy’s family since 1947. Years ago, while Cindy’s folks were still alive, we visited this same site, but it was truly a simple, rustic vacation cabin. When she first started coming up to the lake as a child, there was no sink, no plumbing, no running water in the cabin. In the mid-1980s, her dad built a 2-story addition that added a bathroom with indoor plumbing, kitchen, and an upstairs bedroom. That cabin, and Loon Lake, holds a boatload of wonderful memories for her (pun intended).
Cindy began to pay the taxes for the lake property more than 35 years ago. The agreement in the family was that since she had no interest in the family holdings in town she would inherit the lake property. Her dream was always to live at the lake full-time, and she saved money for years to make that happen. As a degreed interior designer with years of ideas on how to improve the houses she lived in, she planned exactly how her forever home would be built.
Cindy and Dan started to tear down the legacy cabin in 2017 and began the long process of building that dream of hers while they were still living in the Seattle area. They moved into the house in November 2019, just before the start of Covid. Cindy says that house, the yard, the property are always a work in progress, as are most home ownership experiences.
They welcomed all 4 of us and made us feel completely at home. Sitting on the deck of their home last night, cocktails in hand, was a wonderful, peaceful, epic experience for all 6 of us long-time friends.
Randy, Lynn, Dave, and I leave tomorrow to head to Seattle for our Alaskan cruise which starts on Saturday. After the cruise we’re coming back to Cindy and Dan’s. Lynn and Dave will start back to Missouri after the cruise, but Randy and I will be staying at Cindy and Dan’s for another week or so before turning south to California for more forever friend experiences.
Since we’ll be on the cruise with basically no internet access (Yay!!) there won’t be new blog posts until sometime after September 20th. When I return, I’ll tell you about the day we spent taking hundreds of photos in magnificent Glacier National Park. That’s another park that should be on everyone’s bucket list if spectacular scenery is your thing. I’ll share some of the best photos I took, but I’m sure you’ll find better ones on-line somewhere. I encourage you to look that up.
P.S. My mom’s in the hospital. I covet your prayers for healing for her. It’s not life threatening, but still. You all know how much I love my mom.
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