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Epilogue
It has been a several weeks since we have returned
from our cross country ride. I now feel comfortable walking again, my butt feels fine and
I have finally found the time to put down a few thoughts about the trip with a
little perspective.
To keep this some what interesting, I'll break this into two part: Part I -
VA bch, FL, & the trip back home & Part II - Perspective & Lessons
Learned.
Part I - Virginia Beach, Fort Myers FL, and then the drive back home.
After
our arrival in VA Bch, we stayed with Maria's folks. They were kind enough to
allow us all take up residence for a week. Skip flew back to
Silverdale Tuesday morning. He had no interest in driving back cross country and
opted for a First Class seat. He deserved it. Well done. We really enjoyed our time
visiting with Maria's family - Mom, Dad, brother, sisters, & nieces and
nephews.
After I dropped off Skip at 0515 in the morning at
the Norfolk airport, I
headed over to Norfolk Naval base for a 0600 run with CAPT Bill Lear. Earlier
this year he received orders to be the Reserve Coordinator for Commander
Submarine Forces. We had a good run; thankfully he took it easy on me since I
hadn't donned my running shoes since the June timeframe. He has a goal of
running a marathon in every state and has something like 20+ marathons completed
so far. Truly an animal!!
On
Wed, the boys head to the beach in the morning and then in the afternoon we head
over to Bush Gardens to meet up with Tom Seifert and his family. Tom had talked
with the park early on and they had graciously provided the Riding4Hope Team
tickets to the park!! Wow, thanks Bush Gardens!! It turned out to be a perfect
day to be at the park, it was threatening to rain which kept the lines short and
relatively cool -- if you recall we were having a heat wave in VA Bch and the
last two days the temps had hovered around 99 degs. Today it was in the high
80's. We tried out all the roller coasters in the park and had a great time. It
was really nice to get a chance to get caught up w/ Tom and find out what he had
been up to; which as always was lots. Once again Tom, thanks for all your
coordination work to make our arrival one to remember. You're a great friend!!
On Thursday morning the boys and I took a quick
flight down to Fort Myers FL. My Mom was retiring and she was having a retirement
party on Friday afternoon. This would give the twins an opportunity to meet the
rest of the Mackovjak/Cunningham clan. My sisters Ainslie and Kathlyn from
Hawaii and Tampa respectively were there as well as my brother John from San
Diego. There were over 50 folks who were in attendance of Mom's retirement
party. Even some of Mom's family (Glenn & Elaine and her daughters) from
Canada flew down for the occasion. Ainslie did all the coordination and planning
and did a fantastic job!! She even coordinated a photo shoot with a professional
photographer before hand. Everyone had a blast. The visit was way too short and
we were back on a plane early Saturday morning back to VA Beach.
Just
before we landed Maria took off and was headed back to Seattle. She had a great
visit and as always it was hard to leave family. Thankfully she had an
uneventful flight back home. We spent the afternoon repacking the trailer. Maria
had left boxes and boxes and boxes of items to take back to WA since we had this wonderful
trailer. I was VERY surprised we were able to get it all loaded. The boys took
off once again and headed to the beach. They seemed to have a strong desire to
check out the scenery there!!
With a tearful good bye we left the Feliciano
Family early Sunday morning for the beginning of our long trip cross country.
The first day we planned to drive aprox 750 miles to reach Huntsville AL. There
we would stay with my Dad. That would give us all day Monday to visit. Well that
was one long drive! The weather was great but sitting in a car that long was a
killer. I ended up stopping at
Cracker Barrel and picked up two books on tape so that I had something to keep
me entertained while driving. The boys alternated between sleeping and reading
some literary book for their English class. We
did a slight detour and visited Appomattox. The town is located three miles west
of the restored historic village of Appomattox
Court House (a.k.a. Clover Hill), the site of Confederate General Robert
E. Lee's surrender to Union General Ulysses
S. Grant on April
9, 1865, nearly
ending the American Civil War. We didn't arrive at my Dad's place until 10 PM and we were beat!
It
was great seeing my Dad and Lisa who live in Huntsville AL. Monday morning when
we got up; we all went out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and had a hearty
breakfast. Then it was off to the NASA space center were we spent the morning w/
Lisa. That afternoon I didn't feel too well and spent the afternoon in bed. The
boys took the opportunity to have Lisa give them driving lessons on her Prius
that she was giving us. We had lunch w/ the boys' Great Uncle Paul and their
cousin Laura.
On Tuesday we left early in the morning with a
slight rain. We had aprox 2,500 miles to drive before we were arrive back home
in Silverdale. The plan was to arrive NLT Saturday evening.
I suppose I won't bore you with the details
of the drive cross country. Unfortunately we were not able to stop as often as
we had hoped to see some of
the sites. We drove 10 to 12 hrs a day. With out a doubt I thought that was the
hardest part of the entire trip. To have spent the last 43 days outside enjoying
the great outdoors and then to be cramped in a car -- now that was hard. I drove
the car and trailer and the boys alternated every hour to hour and half in the
Prius. Over all it worked well.
We did stop at the University of Colorado in
Boulder for a campus tour. It turned out it was Freshman arrival day. We
couldn't have planned it better as far as the boys were concerned. It was a
perfect sunny morning and all the Sororities were helping the Freshman move it.
Yep life was good and the boys were ready to apply!!
We arrived home with out incident
Saturday afternoon. Maria got off work a little early and met us. It was great
to be home!! What a fantastic summer this turned out to be. As they say
"It's not the destination; it's the Journey!!"
![](images/Day54_JohnMom.JPG)
Thanks for joining us.....ride
safely and keep the wind to your back!!
The Riding4Hope Team
www.riding4hope.org
(David, John, James & Skip)
YOU DON'T
SAY:
|
DID I REALLY
DO THAT?
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY |
Maria and I took one of the afternoons to explore VA Bch and
Chesapeake. It was nice to have a little "quality" time
together. We stopped off at a local favorite - Bergey's for some ice
cream.
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Tom Seifert and myself @ Bush Gardens. Thanks Tom for all the great
support and coordination. You're a great friend!!
|
Grandpa Bob making his world famous root beer
floats. The boys had been talking about them for days before we flew down
to Ft Myers for Mom's retirement party..
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John showing off is skills as a fisherman.
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Ainslie, my sister who coordinated the
retirement party, photo shoot and dinner. Super job!!
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Mom and Bob at the retirement party
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The family getting together for a
group shot.
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James with all his cousins - Mercedes,
Sofia, Anna & Andrew
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This was a HUGE fireworks store on the AL
state line. It was the
size of grocery store. The twins were in heaven!!
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NASA Space Museum. Lisa, John & James
standing in front of Apollo rocket
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James landing the space shuttle at Cape
Canaveral,
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John, Grandpa Joe, & David in front of
the 2009 Prius that Dad was giving us.
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The picture says it all.
|
I have to admit, the University of Colorado
is one of the nicest campus I have ever been to.
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So there you have it; the smallest town in
the USA!!
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A much needed rest stop in Utah.
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We are getting close to home ....only a few
more hours!!
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![](images/welcomehome.JPG)
Welcome Home!! We made it!!
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More
photos on Facebook Album, VA & FL
More
photos on Facebook Album, Cross country drive
More
photos on Facebook Album, Celebration Party
Yesterday
Tomorrow
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