Final Resume

...We are in Palm Coast, Florida ...about 4 hours from returning home tomorrow and retrieving Tiger and Hershey!...It has been a fabulous trip...but like a dream now that is over..Can you believe that Daras told me she was a little sad about it being completed...she felt as tho she wanted to continue some more!....

The saga began when Ellen and Tony visited us in early May...and immediately after arrival suggested we start then and there by visiting the Truman Little White House in Key West...and in minutes we left in their car and had a swell 2 day visit...and it gave Daras and me the impetus to start!

We therefore left on our journey on May 11th...with a 2 day visit to Plains, Georgia with the pleasure of spending Mother's Day in the Maranatha Baptist church..sitting thru the service and then having Jimmy Carter presenting an hour and a half Sunday School Lesson as he paced directly in front of us...as we sat in the front row center and spoke without notes for an hour and a half..I was permitted to take photos and then we had our picture taken with he and Rosalyn outside of the church..
We then visited his museum in Atlanta...and then visited several more Presidential sites in South and North Carolina, Williamsburg, Virginia...had dinner with our charming Grandaughter, Tori in Charlottesville, where she is a student at University of Virginia...many more sites visited in Virginia and environs...then, an evening with our friend Peggy Bouffard in Williamsburg...and more Presidential sites visited...and then to DC where our daughter Ellen and Husband Tony graciously offered thier house for us to use as a base....Dinner with Grandson Alex was great...and he suggested and taught me how to Blog...!..while there we also had dinner in Georgetown with our lovely Grandaughter, Liz preparing our meal in a very upscale Restaurant in which she is employed as part of her Summer training as a very Special Chef! During this stay we saw all the Presidential sites possible...and it was the beginning of my blog..
Since I am thanking all those who aqssisted in one way or another, I would like to first thaqnk my beautiful wife, Daras who not only agreed to accompany me in this endeavor, but did it graciously and was so very helpful in many ways, including bolstering my efforts and giving me so much encouragement...My daughter Janet who met us in Annapolis on a Sunday morning for a belated Birthday brunch....My daughter and Son-in Law Deena and Michael who offered their home in NJ for a resting site..and my Sister, Shanlee who provided a similar roost, while in Pennsylvania...and my daughter-in-law and son, Pam and Jim who provided us lodging and a very exciting Birthday Party/Dinner for Jim on June14, his Birthday! Another re-union took place when we had dinner and a local sight-seeing tour of Little Rock, Arkansas with Richard Shreiber, the son of Shula who was Daras' roomate in her college days. AND not to forget all our friends and family who were kind enough to communicate with us regularly by E-Mail and telephone which served to provide and keep the warmth and kinship alive during the many weeks away at such distances...Thanks to all of you!

The trip was made possible by the Honda Corporation whose vehicle was so dependable, especially the GPS who directed us without fail to every nook and cranny we requested.
Another thanks to the Casio company whose very compact digital camera made photo taking so easy....and to all those wonderful National Museum Archivists and National Park Guides and volunteer Docents who offered so much information...

Some Statistical Facts:

The trip took about 9 weeks


We drove over 10,000 miles by road
and 3000 miles by Air

We stopped for one night in each of over 50 Hotels/motels
without one reservation

We visited about 90 or more Presidential sites!

We used about $1500 of Gasoline!


I recognized that there were 3 phases of this project:

1. Research all sites and ploan the itinerary
2. Visit all the sites
3. Write the "Thank You America" Book....to be done!

Daras is asleep...and I am aware that she wants to write the final note on this blog...so in the AM it will be done!