My son and I arrived home last night from our 13 day Tour of Texas. We drove there via family in Louisiana and returned via family in Mississippi:
six states and approximately 4,000 miles of driving
five energy drinks and three cans of Pringles
seven churches and 15 towns and cities visited
five sets of family seen and two sets missed due to illness
five old church friends seen, for the first time since 1996
ten old college friends seen for the first time since 1991
two old college friends, last seen in 1997
one old college friend, last seen in 2016
one old friend from Washington DC, last seen in 2004
one work friend, last seen in 2019
one Facebook friend, met for the first time in-person
seven offspring of old friends met, and one spouse
one minor fender bender
one visit cut short by allergies
3.4 lbs gained and 858 unread emails to sort through.
We stayed the first night of our trip in Baton Rouge with my cousin Rachel Levy, her husband Nathan, and their daughter. (I last saw them at her brother's wedding in 2016, so it was good to catch up.) We also saw my work friend Scott Livingston when we were in the area, whom we first met in 2006 and hadn't seen in four years.
We got to see three sets of family in Houston, went to my old church Calvary Community Church on Sunday morning, and toured the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum in Galveston. We also toured the famous gun store Collectors Firearms, which has uniforms, swords, and a canon, in addition to the usual bang-sticks. We also enjoyed lunch with Cynthia Daniels, who we used to go to church with in Washington DC and who is one of my in-laws' "adopted" kids. We spent most of our Houston nights with my cousin Justin Burke, watching movies and retelling adventures.
In College Station, we toured the Texas A&M Campus with my cousin Justin, my buddies Kevin Schiller and Amy Bland, and Aggie Navigator Monica Marek. We also saw my buddy Robert Smith and Hollicks Boots where my Texas Aggie Senior Boots were made, and where my son started salivating over the Texas Aggie sabers. We also got to see the memorial to my friend Michael Beggs in the Squadron 1 Corps Dorm, and I narrowly missed meeting my friend Corey Redmond Telschow's youngest son. He is in Squadron 1, but was in San Antonio that weekend. (Corey was one of my juniors in Squadron 9 when I was a senior in the Corps, and she later married a cadet from The Citadel. They live in Midland, Texas- much too far away for me to visit on this trip. On my last campus visit in 2016, I met her other kids William Telschow and Alex Marie Levine, so this would have made all three Telschow kids had my timing been better.) We ended up our campus tour with lunch at The Dixie Chicken. (If you know you know.)
In New Braunfels, we stayed with my buddy Brady Merrill and his wife Melissa. Brady and his son Matt took us swimming the next day in the Tube Chute in New Braunfels. (Oh, no. I didn't PERSONALLY swim. I'm allergic to cold water and exposing my pasty dad-bod. "The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!" is what my smartass son exclaims every time I take my shirt off.)
Our next stop was San Antonio, where we saw The Alamo, and the San Antonio River Walk. We stayed with my buddy Robert Herthneck that night, met his charming daughter, and swapped freshman year war stories and business ownership woes late into the night.
The next morning, we had breakfast with my buddy Jim Goldsmith, who is NOT DEAD YET, praise God, and looks great! (This is the guy wrote about in my blog post Healing and Resurrection on September 13, 2023.) He was told that he was about to die of cancer, so he threw himself a going away party instead of a funeral. I couldn't go to his party because I had just finished my stem cell transplant and my medical team was apoplectic at the thought. But I did get to see him this trip, so please keep praying!
Next we stayed with Allan and Vashti Mann, who I hadn't seen since 1997 (or was it 1994?). We watched Ironman, with their lovely daughters, and caught up a bit on our lives.
The next morning, I got to meet my Facebook friend Alice Hill Barteau and her husband Jim for the first time. She and my mother in law had been neighborhood girlfriends in northern Virginia since my wife was born, and she now lives in Texas. It was so cool that we were able to stop by! After that, we had lunch with Don Dinnerville, who was one of my freshman when I was a senior. He lives in Dallas and I last saw him in 1991. Then we had coffee with Melody Self and three of her kids. She was in the Aggie Band when I first met her, and then we were in Navigators together. It was fun to meet some of her children in person, and to tell stories on their mom and big sister Rosabeth Shafei!
After that we stayed with my buddy Joel T. Hutton and his wife Deidre in Mount Pleasant. He let us go hog hunting on his property while we were there. (Expedition Tally: No shots fired in anger, No living wild hogs sighted, one jackrabbit flushed out of hiding, one pair of wet socks, and one magazine lost in the woods-- but we had a good time.) They took us to church Sunday, and I had a good cry during the worship time. God is good.
Sunday afternoon, we left for Mississippi to see my Aunt Terry Jones and my Uncle Henry, last seen in 2016. I hoped to see my cousins while we were in the area, but we had to cut our trip short due to a cat allergy.
It was a great trip. We didn't get to see all the family and friends that I wanted to see, but we will try again the next trip. I visited a couple of Christian bookstores with the book, but I learned that the bookstore chains do all their purchasing through their headquarters in New York and London. The local store managers have ZERO ordering discretion. So instead I focused on visiting churches that had libraries or bookstores. I doubt many books will be ordered, but I had great conversations with people.
It was a successful trip, but it's good to be home.
Great seeing you after all these years Pete!