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04/22/03; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida

 

Progress Report to all Who Are Still With Us!

 

You may be getting bored with all this by now, if so we understand. To us, on the other hand, it is still very exciting. A day doesn’t pass but what we discover something new about this grand country of ours, or about ourselves. The Olsons and Smiths are bonding ever closer, even though we have done thousands of miles of traveling together. There is good-natured joshing when one of us pulls a “boo-boo,” but that is part of the tour and part of the fun.

 

Here we are in Ft. Walton Beach, just a stone’s throw from Eglin AFB where Joann was living when Ron was born! Joann hasn’t been here for many years and continually comments on the changes that have taken place. We departed at our normal time today under broken clouds, which started to turn to late morning thunderstorms by the time of our first refueling stop. We were delayed slightly as Dennis helped Keith tighten bolts on the steering box that had apparently loosened during our rough roads of the past few days. Soon after our departure from the station the skies began to clear and we were blessed with a fresh sea breeze that kept us cool all the way here – even with an 85-degree temperature. The humidity doesn’t seem to be very high either.

 

We stopped in one of the excellent Mississippi rest stops for a break and then again in the first rest stop in Florida. It, too, was exceptional. We had our lunch there with a refreshing breeze keeping us busy chasing napkins and potato chips! On this segment of the tour, we were constantly being passed by “performance cars” of various marques, apparently on a rally. They were very “boisterous,” passing us in low gears with high RPM and cutting in and out. Our sedate Model A’s didn’t know what to make of all this fuss, so they were very smug when they saw a couple of these rascals pulled over by the State Troopers. They continued to chortle as they noticed that the troopers of two states were lying in wait!

 

We checked into our Super Eight Motel about 1430 and were ready to call it a day. We called Keith’s friend, Jim Wetzel. When Jim arrived, he took us on a tour of Eglin AFB then to the very interesting home of his daughter, Kathy, and her husband, Bill Freeman. The house is situated on a woodsy lot and backs on what appears to be a large bay, seen through a large glass door in the rear of the house. Their very modern boat is docked is a couple of hundred feet away with lots of fishing gear handy. When Bill arrived, Kathy served wine and boiled fresh shrimp, in an attempt to spoil our dinner. In this she was unsuccessful.  On the way to the nearby restaurant, Jim drove us to his house a few doors away where we saw his antique boat. It was only a fewer years younger than our Model A’s. Jim told us it had been built for Glenn L. Martin! I would guess that it is 35 or 40 feet long. Unfortunately, our digital camera was left at the motel and I was only able to get a video shot of it. Later, we enjoyed dinner and the company of Jim and family at a seafood and steak house. All too soon it was time to say goodbye.

 

Keith has been fortunate in connecting with the Internet the past few evenings however, tonight he is encountering problems. We have a few pictures we took along the way today which we had hope to transmit for your pleasure and amazement. This will have to wait for more favorable conditions.

 

That’s all F-f-f-f-folks!

 

The Undaunted Four

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