Day 2—April 29, 2018

     I’ve been writing these travel blogs for many years.  Long before Facebook was even thought of.  I’ve also used Richard as my go-to person to poke fun at.  Those of you who have known us our entire life together know I love him and wouldn’t trade him for a million dollars, but wouldn’t give you a quarter for another one just like him.  Most of the stuff I write about him is true, just embellished slightly.

     A new friend emailed me today to ask if it hurts Richard’s feelings when I write about him.  (Note:  I can picture a few of our old friends rolling on the floor, laughing their butts off or for you FB people ROTFLTBO.) After 43 years of marriage, I know what I can write about him.  But here is the thing—No one will ever know if it hurt his feelings because he has never read even one of my blogs.

     But this cool, beautiful Sunday is one day I won’t be picking at Richard.  Not with everything he has done today.  He started the day off by going to the Huddle House to get me breakfast.  He came back and fixed his own breakfast while I ate. He is very picky about his breakfast.

     He got out the tractor, cut some grass, then leveled some ground around our bus site.  I helped him get the bus parked in the perfect spot. While I did housecleaning, my precious husband went back to the Wall to get one more picture for me to use in this blog. He hurried back to get a couple of campers parked in their reserved sites. He built a small wooden porch outside the door of the bus to make it easier for me and others to go in and out.  Took me to the pizza place for supper, and then we visited with several friends who knew we are here.  Great friends, crisp air, and beautiful moonlight made it a perfect evening.

     Then Richard began to lock up the bus. The entrance door lock broke.  The electric window shades wouldn’t work on the right side of the bus.  (Note: Yes, David, you heard me right. A shade quit working.  Film at 11.)  All that was okay because Richard is Mr. Fit-It.  He’ll take care of those two things in the morning. Wonder how early the shops in Lincolnton open?  I need to go.

     Then Richard, who had done so well all day long, spoke the six words that always send terror through my body.  I’M GOING TO USE THE COMPUTER.

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            I’d like to end today with a few statistics about The Wall That Heals. The three-quarters scale Wall replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at the tallest point.

58,318 Names on the Wall                   1,500+Service Members Unaccounted For From the War

8 Women on the Wall                           600 Cities Visited By the Wall That Heals

31 Sets of Brothers on the Wall            3 Sets of Fathers and Sons on the Wall

              246 Most Casualty Deaths for one day/January 31, 1968

Marvin Gude King High School Class of '67

      This Thursday night, Dailey and Vincent (one of my favorite bluegrass bands) will be performing at  the Little Roy Lewis and Lizzy Long festival at Elijah Clark State Park. They sing one of my favorite and most touching song ever with Jimmy Fortune.  Here is a link if you have time to listen:  https://bit.ly/2r7eWB0

Until later,

Dolores

Day 1—April 28, 2018

     Hi everyone.  I hope you had a wonderful Saturday. The trip from home to Lincolnton, Georgia was great.  The country roads were lined with wildflowers.  The sky was almost solid blue.  Only a few puffy clouds. Of course, with my imagination, the few clouds floating above had shapes in them. One looked like Snoopy asleep on his doghouse. Another was a bear claw—the animal type, not the delicious, crusty, sweet pastry.  But I digress.

     Now that it is time to write about the day, I couldn’t decide what to write about.  What I saw? Who I saw? What I was thinking? Where did I hide the body?

     Speaking of Richard. He has been wound tighter than the shoes I bought online from Japan.  Those ladies have small feet. Okay, maybe my feet aren’t as dainty as theirs.  And the shoes were sooo cute. They had little yellow ducks on them.  I wanted to wear them when my sister (who is going with us to Canada) wore hers with flamingos on them. Hey, we are West Virginians, raised in Tampa, and King High graduates.  Let it go.

     Okay, back to Richard.  I’m hoping he comes down to the solid ground, gets some rest, and has some fun for a change. If he doesn’t, and my kids receive a large UPS box, please tell them to open it immediately, because they will only let me put 1 bottle of Zephyrhills water and 2 packages of peanut butter crackers in the box. If that happens, I will have to hire someone to drive the bus for me.  My only requirements are they must be over 18, can drive a bus, and that HE speaks English. 

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     Okay, I want to at least touch on a serious subject. Tomorrow I'll write more about it. When we arrived in Lincolnton after dark tonight, Bonnie and Little Roy Lewis picked us up and took us to the movable Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica.  It is quite a site lit with bright lights, backed by the darkness of night and a huge bright moon.

     As I touched some of the names, chills crawled over my entire body. Sadness came as I remembered each of the boys I graduated with whose name is forever engraved on the wall.  We took pictures of two of them.  It takes quite a while to look them up and then go find them.  I’m going back tomorrow to find a few more I know of.  If there is anyone you’d like me to look up, let me know before noon tomorrow at the comment section at the bottom of this post or go back to Facebook.

Let me hear from you whenever you can.  Writing these posts is fun for me, but knowing there are people reading them is even funner. All my writer and teacher friends, I know that isn’t a real word, but it’s my word. 

The Wall That Heals

Greg Denton

Allen Mooney

Later,

Dolores