Greetings! We are back in the
States on a six-month leave from our boating adventure.
We last emailed you on August
21 from Goiania, Brazil. The next day we flew to Brasilia, where we changed planes. We had to
show George’s birth certificate four times to get him out of the country! Then we
flew to Atlanta, Georgia where our old friend Larry was waiting for us.
It was a hot and buggy time of
year at their home in the eastern suburbs, where we occupied our old bedroom
and got the Isuzu pickup running after two years dormancy. We soon realized
that two adults and a child don’t fit on it’s small bench seat, so we sold it to
a firm that has exported it to Egypt! We then bought a 1996 Volvo station wagon
complete with advanced (for Steve) technology and countless luxury features,
like airbags! Woo!
Having been out of the country for
two years, we appreciated the little things we had missed like overflowing,
cheap supermarkets, and plentiful cold water fountains. We bought a cell phone
and prepared ourselves for our stay in the U.S. Larry has retired now and has
many interesting ham radio and boat projects.
On September 8 we drove to St.
Louis where we stayed with friends Lena, Jesse, and Violet. Violet, now a
precocious and adorable five years old, eagerly played with George. After an
all too brief 9 days, we got into the big cross-country drive, going across
Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, sleeping in rest stops,
abandoned lots, and unfenced farmland. Each night we moved our gear onto the
roof of the Volvo and made up the bed for sleeping.
We arrived at Ginny’s mom and
grandmother’s house in Los Angeles on September 26. Ginny and George stayed
there while Steve backtracked to New Mexico then drove down through Chihuahua
state to seek his best friend Jim Hogg, who hadn’t been heard from for over a
year. Formal inquiries had produced no information, so Steve dropped down into
the rugged Copper Canyon where Jim had been living. There he sought out the
Catholic father in the mining town of Batopilas, who said Jim had died in
April, 2012. He enumerated Jim’s many good works on behalf of the local
community, to whom Jim had dedicated his life. Steve broke the sad news to
Jim’s family in Seattle, then drove back to LA, stopping to repair a broken oil
pan resulting from a bad road.
On October 19 we reached the
Bremerton home of Steve’s mom (Bonnie) and dad (George, our son’s namesake).
This has been our residence. Having been gone from the U.S. for so long there is
much to do. We tended to the landscaping at Steve’s house in Pacific and worked
on a little cottage for the caretaker of the twelve acres in Snohomish County.
We have also helped Dad organize his shop and acquired various articles
necessary for the next leg of our voyage, which will resume in February. We dug
out old Ladd family home movies, got a projector to work, and watched the early
days of David, Steve, Mike, and Susan. We have been visiting friends, but
haven’t gotten around to everyone yet. We had a big family Thanksgiving and
look forward to another get-together over Christmas.
A few new photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/ginnygoon/USA2013
Lots of love,
Steve, Ginny, & George
