The road north

Ted. Our three months in Georgia has come to an end. It was a great visit. Judy was able to perform in a play and we got all of our medical check ups taken care of. Most importantly, though, we were able to spend lots of time with family and friends.

On June 16 we headed out on a two-month road trip to the Western US. Our first stop was in Eastern Tennessee to visit Murray, my best friend from high school and the best man at my wedding. He has had some health challenges this past year so it was great to see that he is well on the way to recovery.

Ted & Murray 2019

Murray & Ted circa 1975

From Tennessee, we traveled across Kentucky to Western Ohio to see our friend Terry. We were struck by the sorry state of the corn and bean fields that we saw on our drive. We had heard of flooding in the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys but saw first hand that the farmlands of Ohio were in bad shape too. The result of unrelenting rain has meant the corn, which should be nearly knee high by now, was less than six inches tall – pitiful!

One afternoon, while Judy and Terry explored the area, I toured the Air Force Museum in Dayton. There was an incredible array of aircraft and space vehicles but my favorite was the Apollo 15 capsule. You see, as college freshmen in 1971, my friend, George and I had hitchhiked to Florida for Spring Break. We arrived in Cocoa Beach just in time to see the launch of Apollo 15. Neither of us would ever forget the power of that Saturn 5 rocket that shook the ground where we were standing 10 miles away. And here I was standing next to the tiny capsule that had ridden that big rocket to the moon and safely carried three astronauts back to earth!

On leaving Terry’s, it seemed fitting to make a brief pilgrimage to West Lafayette, Indiana to visit my alma mater, Purdue University and say hello to my fellow Boilermaker, the astronaut Neil Armstrong. 

Neil Armstrong (class of '55) with Ted (class of '74) at Purdue University (founded 1869)

By the way, this was the first statue that I ever saw that included a slide rule (if you were born after 1960 - google it). On campus, I thought of our friend Nancy, who was at Purdue at the same time I was, though we just met for the first time 25 years ago. 

From Indiana we then crossed Illinois and Wisconsin to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we paused for a four-day rest to enjoy a wonderful town. We have already traveled over 1,200 miles but our road trip has just begun.