*by Barbara Taylor with Homer S. Sewell III *
On Saturday evening the eighth of April we drove about 115 miles south to Huntington Beach, California. We took a walk on the long pier into the Pacific Ocean as we had done last year when we were there. We then had dinner with Homerís cousin Terry, his wife Mary and her mother and other family and friends. Homer was asked to do another show for them since some of the family had not seen him last year. We had a nice visit with them and drove back to the AbeMobile in Far West Resorts RV park near Santa Paula.
On Sunday Homer left me in Ventura with Linda and I spent two nights visiting with her while he drove nearly 850 miles to speak at the Oak Creek Intermediate School in Oakhurst, then over to the Kennedy Elem School in San Jose and then back to pick me up on Tuesday evening. Homer had spoken at Oak Creek last year on our trip out to California and they were so impressed they wanted him back again this year. I had a nice visit with Linda shopping and visiting.
On Friday morning we got up at 3 AM to drive about 90 miles to the LosAngeles airport and I got on my first airplane to fly four hours to Cincinnati, Ohio. The flight was a nice experience but a long time to sit still in cramped seats. We rented a car in Cincinnati and drove two hours down to Elizabethtown, Kentucky for the Sixth Annual Association of Lincoln Presenters Convention. Homer is one of the few ABEís who has attended all six conventions. We had a nice time visiting with friends, Jim and Mary Sayre, Max and Donna Daniels, BF and Dorothy McCleran, the Conines and many others from all over the country. We visited ABEís birthplace, his boyhood home, museums and took a train ride. We ate at an old hotel on Saturday evening and had a wonderful prime rib dinner. We packed up and left the motel about 8:30 AM on Sunday morning. We had an interesting passenger who we dropped off at the Louisville airport....Teddy Zalewski from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He portrays Teddy Roosevelt all over the country and he and Homer have known each other since they were at Mount Rushmore in 1991 for the 50th Anniversary Dedication with President Bush. It was nice visiting with him during our ride to the airport.
On Monday after the trip to Kentucky Homer drove 85 miles to speak the students at Emperor Elem School in San Gabriel. We left beautiful Far West Resort on Wednesday and drove about 125 miles to the Loma Vista Intermediate School in Riverside and then another 100 miles to the Grapevine Elem School in Vista. We took a nice long walk on the beach. While in Riverside Homer drove over to Laguna Beach to see his brother Barry and his girlfriend Rosalind. They went out to eat and had some wonderful lobster tacos.
We left Vista about 11 AM and drove 400 miles southeast and spent the night at a Flying J near Tucson, Arizona. On the drive through the desert we stopped to take some pictures of the giant saguaro cactus. Each one is as different as a fingerprint. On Saturday we drove another 600 miles and are now parked at the Monahans Sandhills State Park near Monahans, Texas. Over 10,000 years ago when the glaciers came through here, created rivers and then dried up or moved further away, all these big, ever-changing sand dunes were created. It is a different kind of beauty watching them blow and move as we sit here.
We are finishing up in Dallas this coming Friday and heading back home. Hope you had a wonderful Easter holiday and we hope to see you soon. Barbara, Homer and Peatie signing off for now....