A Tullyroan Travelogue

Hello Lucy,

Hope you found a half decent engineer to fix your recent technical difficulties – all the ones I know are on holiday!  Glad you have arrived safely and have started your big trip.  Back in Tullyroan the two Mrs. Ds are hacking into Ryan’s computer to bring you more pearls of wisdom whether you like it or not! Your Nanny would like to explain the following about touring America in a RV:

“I remember you take your big what-you-may-call-it (motorhome)  to a big park at night. There would be lots of other what-you-may-call-its (motorhomes) there- hundreds of them – it wasn’t just yourself.  One night I decided I would go for a walk and off I traipsed round the forest enjoying myself.

“Then, when I wanted to go back to the others, I realised I hadn’t the foggiest notion where we were parked.  You go to these places and all you can do is get lost!  You see, you are meant to know the stand number you are parked on, but sure I didn’t know that!”

But don’t worry she didn’t get stuck for long – there may not have been any mobile phones or yellow panic buttons to press then but your Nanny found a solution:

“I just yelled at the top of my voice “Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepheeeeen! Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepheeeeeeeeen!” until he came to find me!”.

Hope you don’t find yourselves lost too often and having to holler for Stephen’s help!

Marianne

Hello Lucy, Malkie and Ryan,

Just wondering if you have made it to Portland?  I told your Nanny you should be in Oregon by now and she said that wrung a bell.  She then remembered her first trip to America was to visit Doris and Stephen in Oregon all by herself – she took her sister for the big adventure to the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco in a subsequent visit.  She tells the story here:

“Sure, I nearly didn’t make it!  I was never further than my back door, so how on earth did I get to America? I wasn’t used to all the big fancy airports and all the announcements you are meant to listen to and all the busy comings and goings.  What was I meant to do? How could the likes of Nursie and me find our way around? Just as I was settling myself into my seat and getting comfy, the gentleman beside me asked where I was travelling to – you know, making polite conversation.  I explained I was off to visit my daughter in Oregon.  He then said “Excuse me, but in that case I think you are on the wrong plane as we’re off to Africa!”. Well, I nearly had a fit!  He was right- I was on the wrong plane.  I had to grab my handbag and run on to the next aeroplane parked on the runway.  I had taken a wrong turn – imagine if I had landed in some place I had never heard of! Honest to goodness!  I am better staying at home!”

Looking forward to hearing your tales,

Marianne

Does anyone actually enjoy packing? Yes there is the anticipation of the long-awaited holiday – the imaginings of sun, sea and surf, the poolside cocktails, the lazy lunches (though in our case perhaps its more the flat tires and roadside assistance). But for me packing is an unhappy fact of going on holiday, the part where you try fruitlessly to squeeze in those extra (entirely unnecessary) 3 pairs of trousers or never-to-be-worn summer dresses, plus the little luxuries (earl grey teabags – only british will do). I imagine our road trip will take us through a variety of terrains and climates, so fleeces and bikinis all need to find a corner in my suitcase. So what else will be making the cut into my case?

1. Big map – malkie will refuse to step into any RV without one

2. On The Road guide

3. Hipflask complete with Whiskey Society’s finest

4. On-road entertainment – Settlers of Catan

5. Some light reading on the quantum universe

While Lucy, Malkie and Ryan are up to high doe about the forthcoming road trip in America, their grandmother is much more sanguine. Pictures have emerged of the road trip Mrs. D was on in the West Coast with her sister Mrs. T

Well, that’s no road trip I hear you say… but here’s the rig

It started off in the forests of Oregon

And ended up on the shores of the Pacific

It was a time when trucks were trucks

And ladies didn’t drink

However, it was also a time when the skies were blue

And those who are travelling now, and whom we are travelling to see, weren’t even a twinkling in their parent’s eye

(although there may be some resemblance)

And when were these pictures taken? Well, Mrs D is celebrating her 103rd birthday on Friday 27th April 2012, the day before we fly out to Oregon. She was 61 when these pictures were taken. You work it out…

Thank you for reading the Tullyroan Travelogue.

When Lucy, Malkie and Ryan arrive in Portland, Oregon, on the 28th April they probably have no idea of what is in store for them…

However, on this blog you can follow the trails and trials of their journey. There will be triumphs (Malkie’s chocolate brownies), there will be disasters (“oh, you mean the right hand side of the road”) and there will be long rambling posts comparing the journey to a philosophical or spiritual one where the destination is a state of mind and each junction of the road is a conversation on the way there.

We’ll try not to do too many of the last type, though.