Retirement Trip - 1971

e had purchased a new Volkswagen van in anticipation of this trip. After reaching Singers Glen we converted it into a camper by removing two of the seats to make room for our bed, small wardrobe, sink, stove and storage. It took a month of work to accomplish this, so we did not get to start until July 3rd.

Our first stop was for the Thrash reunion which was held at my sister Opal's son's home in Ohio. The reunion was on July 4th, which was our 45th wedding anniversary. After the reunion we went to visit with Beulah and Buddy and while there received word that Ted Hatfield had died suddenly.

Ted and Mildred Hatfield were our closest friends from our years in Harrisburg, Ohio. They had visited us in Singers Glen, leaving only eight days before we received the call telling of Ted's sudden death. We had planned to be there for a short visit on the 8th before proceeding on our trip. But on that day Troy helped to conduct the funeral of our dear friend. Their home was in Circleville, Ohio. We stayed that night with Mildred She gave us the solid oak antique cupboard which Ted had been refinishing. We picked it up on our return trip and it is now one of Howard and Chena's valued possessions.









We were enjoying the beautiful scenery around Wisconsin Dells when one of the boys managed to reach us with the message of the death of my brother Gotthart's wife. We drove the many miles we had covered since leaving Akron and went back there for her funeral.

I have a complete scrapbook of this trip which some of you might like to see. It was the most enjoyable trip we ever had, including the overseas one later. We traveled close to 15,000 miles between July 3rd and September 10th of 1971. We cooked our own meals and slept in the camper so really our only extra expense was the one or two dollars we sometimes paid for camping privileges and for fuel for the van. The cost was just a few dollars over $1,000.00.

NEXT - 1972