4,043 miles, 15 days, 8 hotels, 11 different beds and 21 dead deer later...
I got to see my oldest and youngest daughter. Celebrated with mom who turned 89 on Mother's Day. There was a rare moment when she put her arm around me and with a tear in her eye said she loved me. We spent a evening with my wife's Peace Corps roommate and who was the boyfriend of my childhood friend's wife in Samoa. Saw my last remaining and favorite uncle @ 93, a Federal District Court Judge and middle school friend, my two brothers and their wives, my oldest nephew, his wife (due in early June) and their adorable daughter. My goddaughter, her husband and three slightly out of control little boys, and finally my last aunt (Noriko) who turns 87 in August... Yet another Leo in my life.
Finding out my uncle only grew corn and soybeans on his 1,000 acre Iowa farm (I spent a few summers there) raising 600 to 700 pigs a year for decades with a one-day piglet record of 64 was pretty cool. Hearing him recall his fishing trips with a tear in his eye and call me “Big D" was special.
Spending time with my wonderful 86 year-old Japanese aunt and 2nd wife of my mom's brother was great. Learning what it was like working on an American base and being married to an American in post war Japan is a slice of history we are not taught in America. Finding out my Uncle Bill didn't finish his training in time to fly in WW-II, but was instead the lead navigator of 65 B-29 bombing missions over Korea and in 1950 bombed Inchon on Christmas Eve just blew my mind.
DT doesn't stand for Drive Tour. This is likely the last visit to a few beloved members of my family. I'm so lucky to have spent it with my wife who continues to impress me with the depth of her knowledge and wisdom.
From driving through one of, if not the oldest river valleys on our planet (360 million years old), oddly named New River Gorge, hearing Willy Nelson perform live in Cedar Rapids Iowa, visiting three generations of Beemers at the Beemer gravesite in Hampton, Iowa, the Spam Museum in Austin Minnesota, a family reunion at my oldest brother's house in Hudson, Wisconsin, the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, checking out downtown Ottawa, looking over the awesome city of Montreal from Mount Royal while eating a fresh bagel from St. Viateur (not Fairmount Bagel!) to finally driving through the amazing North West corner of Maine, there is no doubt this trip was epic.
