I had my pacemaker checked on Tuesday, all was well, thank you, packed my bag and took off on Wednesday with my wife, Joyce, to drive to Massachusetts. Before our return to South Carolina a week later we would log 2,794 miles, the last fifty or so in a driving rain storm that at times almost wiped out road visibility.
We visited Joyce's family and I met her oldest son and his wife and son (in Douglas, MA) for the first time since our marriage in March. The second son and I met earlier in the year while he was visiting in South Carolina. Joyce's brother and his wife welcomed us to their home in Andover, MA., and this was another first meeting. A visit with my sister and her friend (No. Chelmsford, MA) was a reunion as we had all been together in The Villages in Florida over Christmas.
Joyce and I took turns showing each other where we had been raised, went to school and worked in our early years. We had lived about an hour's drive from each other (me in Lowell and Joyce in and around Douglas) but never knew each other until we met on-line last year. In my case, I showed Joyce parking spaces where two of the houses I grew up in once stood. I wanted to take her inside St. Patrick's church in Lowell where I had been an altar server for several years but the church was locked tight. Thievery is so common churches are locked except when in use. A sad commentarry on the times in which we live.
Joyce's house of many years in Rehoboth, MA, was sold when she moved permanently to Moss Creek about 12 years ago. It has been rental property for several years and sad to say, shows it. A pool cover was in place and according to the current tenant had not been removed in years.
For many people driving up the East coast on I-95 is a nightmare of congestion, road construction and repairs, heavy truck traffic and boring landscape. We tried to temper this by going up I-95 to Columbia, then to Charlotte on I-77 and eventually all the way through North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut to the Mass Turnpike, using I-81 and 84. The scenery was much improved and although there were some minor delays for construction, the road traffic was lighter. We returned using most of the same roads, except we detoured into the Washington, D.C., area to visit one of my sons. We completed our return via I-95 picking it up South of Washington.
We had planned a couple of tourist type stops on the return trip (Natural Bridge in Virginia, Hyde Park - family home of FDR, and Croton Dam in New York - a recent beautiful Bing screen saver on my computer) but rain dampened our enthusiasm and we had to leave these side trips on our bucket list. While we were in Massachusetts we visited Fall River and viewed the heritage harbor and World War II era ships moored there. The USS Massachusetts and USS Joseph P. Kennedy are the among the vessels in the harbor.
It is good to get away occasionally, to see relatives and even better to return home.
Pictures are a part of every trip. Some out of whimsey, some because we could and some because we wanted to record the happy moments.
Complete blog here.
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