Peter Boone–1975 -2014

Gary’s nephew, Peter Boone, shown in this picture with Gary’s brother, Darrell Boone, and Peter’s mother, Sandra (Overman) Boone, died yesterday at the age of 39. Peter was born with spina bifida and was paralyzed from about mid chest down. He was never able to walk but always had the use of his mind and his hands and arms. He was in and out of hospitals his entire life and endured more than 80 surgeries. One surgery at the age of 11 left him without the ability to swallow, speak, or fully breathe on his own. His nourishment throughout the rest of his life was through a feeding tube. His breathing thereafter always had to be supplemented with oxygen. He could not speak for about 10 years.

You might have thought given all these afflictions that Peter would not have had much of a life -- that he would have drowned in self pity. But Peter had a remarkable faith in God whom he always gave witness to. Peter finished High School (Southwood in Wabash County, Indiana) with a lot of his studies conducted from a hospital bed. The school built ramps so that Peter could cross the stage in his scooter chair to receive his diploma. The entire gymnasium of attendees gave him a thunderous standing ovation.

If you thought Peter would have faded away after graduation, you didn’t know him. Our employer, The Ford Motor Company, gave him some special discounts on a Van which Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services paid to have converted to hand controls with a hydraulic lift for wheel chair entry. Peter took driving lessons and at the end of them received his license. He completed an Associate Degree in Business at Ivy Tech – Kokomo, accompanied in the Van most days by one or the other of his two Grand Dads. In and around this same time, a very kind Doctor surfaced who said he thought he could restore a good portion of Peter’s speech. He did and Peter no longer had to write or be lip read to communicate.

After receiving his Degree, Peter secured employment with Southwood High School as a classroom tutor for students who needed further study for their achievement tests. He was proud of his job and that he was supporting himself as much as he could. Peter was a huge fan of Purdue Boilermaker sports and had season tickets for the football games. Peter cheated death a number of times. Before one Purdue football game, he had to be rescued in the parking lot from a choking episode by his sister in law, a Nurse Practitioner who had accompanied him to the game as well as a Doctor who happened by the scene.

Perhaps Peter’s favorite activity was the annual Summer retreats of the organization, Joni and Friends, a ministry dedicated to extending the love and message of Jesus Christ to people who are affected by disability around the world. Over time, Peter didn’t just attend the retreats, he became a Minister at them sharing his love of God with the disabled who needed uplifting by the example of one who always kept a smile on his face through his faith and belief.

Peter was at work yesterday. He was feeling fine. He was tutoring students as he did every school day. He developed a breathing problem that extensive CPR could not overcome. God called for him to come to Heaven. He is walking, dancing, breathing, eating, and still wearing the same smile he always wore. He will continue to be an angel to other disabled individuals, just from a different venue.

From Sea To Sea

From Savannah, we made a one-day trip to the place where will will camp for the Winter – Willow Lakes RV and Golf Resort in Titusville, Florida.  We sure were glad we had left the Midwest when we did.  It was nice to see the Welcome to Florida sign – the Sunshine State even in the traffic of I95.

We Wintered at Willow Lakes three years ago – our first Winter of fulltiming -- and enjoyed the Park and the people a lot so why not return.  We rented a site from an owner who will not be using it this Winter.  Our site is nice with some trees, a view of a small pond through the windshield of the motor home, just enough of open shot to the sky to acquire the satellite signal, and hopefully is far enough from the golf course that we won’t be hit by any golf balls.

This completes our sea to sea travels over the past two and a half months.  From the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Coast in early September, we traversed the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia now to arrive at the Space Coast of Florida near the Atlantic.  That journey was one of 3,758 motor home miles.  We averaged 8.1 miles per gallon meaning we burned 464 gallons of fuel.  We have never come close to traveling so many miles in that amount of time, but it was well worth it to be able to spend some time with our first grandchild.  The motor home now will sit until at least March

Savannah

We loved Savannah the first time we were here three years ago and we loved it again this time.  We intended to spend 3 or 4 nights in the area and wound up staying a week.  What’s not to love about strolling the many squares of the historic district with the moss covered oak trees.   Or the houses and other structures which in some cases date back to the Revolutionary War.  Or strolling the riverfront and the shops in the old warehouse buildings of River Street.

On To Savannah

Way overdue for a blog post.  It was a week ago Monday that we rolled out of Columbus.  Our next destination was Savannah, Georgia.  We weren’t planning to stop and explore anything in between.  Our usual travel days would have taken us three days to make the trip from Columbus to Savannah.  But it seemed a bit much to be on the road for three straight days so we decided to stretch and make it in two days.   Our first day of travel was 370 miles.  We know that for most people that doesn’t sound like a huge travel day, but for us it was by far the most miles we had ever traveled in a single day in the motor home.  Fortunately, it was an uneventful day of travel with no issues, just the way we like them.  I even drove the hills and hollers of southern West Virginny, but I also had some time to put my feet up literally and admire my new slippers.  We had to drive a couple of tunnels passing through Virginia. There is not a large margin of error taking a motor home through these.  We were expecting some peak Fall colors, but we were just a little too late.  There were still some bursts of color but a lot of trees already had dropped their leaves.

The first day our stop for the night was in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.  Just south of the Virginia border.  Mt. Airy.  The actor, Andy Griffith was born in Mt. Airy and the town is believed to have been the basis for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD.  Our brief stop in Mt. Airy was at the Mayberry Campground and we even camped on Andy Taylor Street.

Our second day of travel also was an uneventful one.  We drove about 325 miles to get to our campground in South Carolina near Savannah.  North Carolina gave us a greeting on one of their road signs, but we had to share it with these Wilkesboro people, whoever they are.

The Tickle Giggles

We are wrapping up our fourth total week in Columbus.  This last one has been a bit of a bummer as Gary still has his cold and we were only able to see little Victor one last time.  But I have a great little video to try to post.  Let’s see if I can make it work.  This video is of Andy tickling Victor and he is a giggling and giggling.

Victor's Tickle Giggles

Gary could not get an appointment with his Doctor while we were in Michigan, so he had to make a quick trip in the car up to Ann Arbor.  At least he was able to see the Doctor while we were here.  Our insurance mandates an annual physical from our primary physicians.  Last year Gary couldn’t secure an appointment and we were subject to higher deductibles throughout 2014, but it didn’t really matter as we haven’t had any medical bills of any account anyway.  He obtained both a flu shot as well as a shingles vaccine   And there were the usual admonishments to lose weight and watch the salt intake.  We both now have completed our annual physicals in 2014 so we we be back on the regular deductibles next year.

While Gary was gone, I cleaned the inside of the motor home and……..carved another pumpkin.  I carved another happy guy and I liked him a little better than the earlier one.  I also purchased a fresher pumpkin so he lasted a few days this time.  But now he is across the fence of the campground and into the woods for the enjoyment of the squirrels.

We were going to leave Columbus on Saturday, but now we will roll out of here tomorrow.  A cold front rolled in and we were in the 20s last night.  Our route south will take us through the Appalachians and there was six inches of snow in parts of those mountains last night.  We certainly don’t need to be traveling through anywhere with snow.  The weather now looks good for our journey so we are off to Savannah and then Florida – AND WARMER WEATHER!