Our Support Team
May-December 2005
During our trip around North America, we provided several reports to everyone about WHAT we had been seeing as we went along, but we only hinted at a separate thread interwoven in our journey, i.e. WHO we had been able to see. Any trip off this magnitude requires a bit of a "support team" to accomplish. Our "support team" consisted of the many friends and family members we were able to visit along the way. These folks, drawn from all areas of the country and all parts of our lives, made our journey infinitely richer as we had a chance to reconnect with them, sometimes after as much as 30 or 40 years ... and in one case just 4 months shy of 50 years!
Some of our internet friends who we had known for a decade through an internet discussion group Ray is involved with ... nicknamed CAS ... we were meeting face to face for the first time.
Not only did we reap rewards of good fellowship and and renewed memories, but the chance to relax with old friends and relatives gave our trip a personal flavor that could never have been achieved alone or with strangers and newfound friends encountered along the way. They literally "made our day" time and time again.
Here are the honored members of our "team," beginning with ...
Mike and Allison of CAS in Northern California who opened their home to us one afternoon. They had patiently awaited our arrival for several days after our trip got off to a rocky start when we lost out transmission along the road the day after we left home.
Carol, in Alaska, is the mother of our daughter's college roommate. It was wonderful see her again after having met her at various college events over the years. She sent us on our way with a plate of home made brownies!
Ray's sister, Joanne, and her husband, Mark, own some property in northern Minnesota where we met and spent three nights together in our RVs.
After going all the way across Canada from one end to the other without encountering a soul we knew, we were delighted to get to Maine where Bob and Kathe entertained us royally for two days in their home right on the rocky coast. Bob and Ray spent a summer traveling around Europe together in an VW 40+ years ago.
Frank, Ray's classmate beginning in seventh grade, left town after college and never really returned home since his parents had moved away too. It was wonderful to reconnect with him for an evening in Massachusetts.
We had not seen Ray's Uncle Dean and Aunt Alice for more than a decade. We had a lovely lunch with them and caught up on family history for an afternoon.
Gordon, in Connecticut, was Ray's first boss, back in 1968 ... and again in the early 1980's. He, his wife Jesse, and daughter Wendy, put on a lovely lunch for us when we dropped in on fairly short notice on our way to New York.
CAS friend Toni, who we were meeting for the first time, lives near New York City. She insisted that we spend the night (we had stored our trailer for a few days near Boston rather than trying to drag it through the streets of Manhattan) ... and also took us out to dinner! We also spent the next morning with her anxiously waiting THE CALL from our son-in-law, Tim ...
... that our daughter, Suzanne, had given birth to grandson, Tristan. We spent a week with them helping out the new parents as best we could and also seeing some of the sights in New York.
While in the New York area, we visited Ray's cousin Dean and were finally able to meet his wife, Susan, in New Jersey.
Heading back towards Boston to fetch our trailer, we stopped for lunch with Victoria in Connecticut, a friend of Ray's from his college days ...
... and then continued on to a family reunion with Ray's Boston cousins and spouses, Eppy, Ann, David ...
... a the next generation, "cousins once removed" ...
... and cousins Phyllis and Ann.
In upstate New York we visited Ray's high school classmate Milly and her husband, Marvin, who treated us to a wonderful sunset boat ride, complete with wine and cheese, a hike through an ancient canyon and more ... all this just one day after having moved into their home!
Barbara and Larry lived near us in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia years ago. We spent two nights in the pouring rain in their driveway, and, through them, had a chance to have dinner some other "old Saudi hands" and tour the fascinating "Spy Museum" in Washington, D.C.
CAS member Alex in Maryland and her husband Trent (no photo) entertained us royally. We spent the night in their cul-de-sac and Alex joined us the next morning for breakfast before we traveled on.
Ray's stepmother Georgie Lee, stepbrother Roy, and friend Nancy, let us pop in on them on short notice in North Carolina. We hadn't seen this branch of the family for ten years so it was good to have a chance to get caught up.
CAS member Rose lives along the Blue Ridge Parkway. She joined us for lunch and a tour of our trailer when we passed through.
Long time internet friend and CAS member, Rita, along with her husband, Jerry, and dog, Fred, kept us well fueled with wine and yummy snacks as we made our way through Ohio.
Nancy, Ray's 'buddy' since sixth grade, and her husband, Gene, not only let us stay in their driveway overnight in Michigan, but insisted on taking us out for dinner. We convinced them to join us the next morning for breakfast in our trailer.
After far too many years, in Michigan we reconnected with Beth, a friend of ours since the early days of our marriage. We spent two nights in her driveway, and were given a great tour of the local area and her 80-something acres of land along a river.
Back in Ohio, we spent two nights with our daughter's parents-in-law where we celebrated the recent arrival of our joint grandson, Tristan.
We also had a chance to visit Ray's Aunt Billie and Uncle Bo ...
... and also Aunt Betsy, along with cousin Tom and his wife, Linda.
Visiting long time friend, Terry, and his wife, Pat, we learned what Southern Hospitality is all about in Kentucky. We spent two nights in their driveway and were able to visit some of Ray's old haunts from the days when he lived in the area in the mid-1950s.
CAS member, Ann, and her husband, Shad, let us camp in their driveway in Illinois. They treated us to dinner and then joined us for breakfast in our trailer the next morning.
In central Illinois we passed through a town where Ray had lived 50 years ago while in 5th and 6th grade. While passing down the street where he had lived, we were very, very lucky to meet up with Kathy, who still lives in the house where she grew up at the end of the block. This led to an opportunity to spend half an hour with another classmate, Steve, who works about a block away. What a wonderful surprise!
Further up the road in Illinois, we visited Tom and Roberta and daughter Tiffany. Tom and Ray have been close friends since the end of sixth grade and now are stepbrothers as a result of his father and Ray's mother marrying several years ago.
With Ray being originally from Wisconsin, when we arrived in there, we had many folks to see, beginning with high school classmate Penny and her three children (only Robynanne was not camera shy) ...
... then Pat, another sixth grade classmate and her friend Peter ...
... high school classmates Donna and Sharon ...
... Ray's mother (left), who we visited for more than a week, camped in the parking lot of her apartment building, and three of her friends who braved the November elements to tour our trailer one evening ...
... part of the extended family at Thanksgiving dinner ...
... yet another friend from sixth grade, Rich, and his wife, Donna ...
... and former work colleague, Tom, and his wife, Jennifer, both of whom, alas, were very camera shy. We parked our rig in their driveway for the night but retreated inside their home to sleep due to the post-Thanksgiving weather so far north.
Leaving Wisconsin and heading south and west in search of warmth, we came to New Mexico and Janice who we have known since early in our software business days. She graciously let us take over her dining room table to finish our Christmas cards and ...
... also hosted a lovely dinner for us and some friends with interesting German roots.
Back home briefly for Christmas, we saw Chuck, Ray's buddy since junior high school, and his wife, Beth ...
... longtime friend Barby and her friend Aldo ...
... more CAS friends ... Scott, Doc and Hugh ...
... friends from our old neighborhood's Christmas party, including Dennis and Laurie ...
... Susan and Maureen, and ...
... Dave and Norgie ... all of whom provided invaluable help and advice as we got our home ready to sell in May to ...
... Gabrielle and Mark, the proud new owners ...
... and finally our son, Charlie, his wife, Tracy, and our oldest grandson, Collin, who let us camp in front of their home for several days during Christmas week.
