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B&T's Road Trip Mass E-Mails In the Summer of 2001, Terri and I took a three week road trip across central and eastern U.S. visiting friends, family, and most importantly ... allow Terri and I to spend some quality time together after being apart for nine months while I was away. Below are the e-mails we sent to everyone while on the trip. Enjoy.
01 Jun 2001 Hey All: Well Terri and I are on our way into our trip. If fact, we just pasted Hope, AR, billed as the birthplace of Bill Clinton (sorry Bob :-( We spent the day with my Dad in Mt. Pleasant, saw my Grandmother, Meredith and her 5 year old son Drew, and had dinner with my Aunt Sharon and husband Bill. The trip got off to a rocky start, though. First, before we even left Houston, Terri lost her credit card (Visa#6007-345-1098-3456) and we thought $400 was mischiefly charged. But luckily, it was found (left at the Mall) and no unauthorized charges were actually made. Unfortunatly, we were slow in packing and getting ready so we ended up not leaving for Mt. Pleasant until 12:15 (thats in the a.m.) Satrday morning. Terri was nice to drive the first hour of the 5 hour drive up. After learning the purpose those little loud bumps on the road shoulder (i.e. wake up, your going over!!!!!), I offered to drive the rest of the way and we arrived in Mt. P. at 5:30am just as my Dad was waking up for the day. He does more before 9am than Terri and I do all week. (One of my reasons for being in the Air Force rather than the Army) Well I am limiting myself to two paraghraphs after this e-mail for the rest of this trip. Next stop, Hot Springs, Arkansas. Below are some pics. Bret P.S. The Visa# is fake ;-)
Hey All: I am sure you heard about the incident in Missouri yesterday. Well instead of explaining it, here is a pictorial of what happened. A picture is worth a thousand words! Bret & Terri
03 Jul 2001 Hey All: Well Terri and I just left Hot Springs, Arkansas. We were initially greeted by uni-brow man valet attendant who spoke gibberish (Arkansasan) as Terri and I just nodded our heads pretending to understand. When he finished, I blankly stared and said, "Yes, pleeeease paaaaark ouuuuur caaaaaar." It was by far the worst uni-brow we have ever seen. However, during our stay we both indulged in the traditional bathhouse bath. Quite an experience being rubbed down (in the bath) by someone else. Since the late 1800's, people from all over the US flocked to the healing thermally-heated natural springs water believed to be and sold as a medical cure-all. Every bathhouse in the area gives you a 20 min 100 degrees whirlpool bath where you are scrubbed down by an attendant (Even though my eyes were closed, it was Claudia Schiffer who scrubbed me down), 5 min sauna (Felt like I was back in Houston for 5 mins), hot packs, 20 min cool down, 1 min needle shower (yes it felt just like it sounds) as they shoot little jets of water at you to wash you down, and then the relaxing massage rub down. All this lasted 90 mins. We also took a dinner cruise on Lake Jejdidjskdjhq (Shows how much I pay attention). Oh, I'm sorry, it was Lake Hamilton, I was just informed. Best of all we stayed in the 1870's gangsta house, Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa which looks and feels (not to mention smells) like it did when Al Capone stayed here. I would also like to mention that Terri and I were the youngest people in Town. Also, as a lowlight of our trip, we did pass through the birthplace of former President Clinton (Hope, Arkansas) and saw the boyhood home where he grew up in Hot Springs. (see picture below). We did manage to avoid Little Rock, but we will be in New York and Washington, D.C to see his current office and former White House. Next stop, Cousin Devon and her husband Tim in Fort Leonard Wood, MO to spend the Fourth of July. -----------OVERALL TRIP STATS------------- 1) Bret & Terri in Arkansas state line
Well we had a fun time at Tim & Devon's. Devon is an Army Captain in Intelligence and has been stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood (a.k.a. Fort Lost-in-the-Woods) for about a year. She is also due in about 4 weeks. Congratulations on your upcoming baby girl, I mean boy, I mean girl, I mean boy. And what a BOY he is!!! Go Tim! ("Oh, what is that honey?!?") ... Ooops, I was just told that was actually the umbilical cord (Sonogram - Get it? :-). Anyway, we arrived there Tuesday night, July 3rd, and stayed for two nights. We were welcomed with a home-cooked meal of Papa Johns. That night we were given a fluffy air mattress and many blankets as Tim cranked down the AC to the Ice Station Zebra setting. After defrosting the next morning, we were treated to a real homecooked brunch of pancakes, eggs, and bacon; we went to a carnival to sit on a $12/ 3 minute ferris wheel ride; and then we went to the local 39 seater movie theater to sit miserably through AI. That is 2 1/2 hours of our life we will never get back. That night, Tim and Devon arranged a big celebration in our honor. There was a live band, lots of people, and a great display of fireworks in the sky. They must really like us to have gone through so much trouble. Thanks Devon and Tim! Next stop, St. Louis, MO and Champaign, IL to meet yet another cousin and Terri's former banker. -----------OVERALL TRIP STATS------------- _____________The Pixs______________
Hello All: After leaving Fort Lost-in-the-Woods, we headed for St. Louis to see a never-before-seen cousin and the Gateway Arch. Cousin Stasa was a little confused ... she had never met any of the Sabol cousins before this summer. Just the week prior to when Terri and I got to St. Louis, Terri's Brother Robert and wife Rachel (Also from Houston) was visiting St. Louis on their own vacation. So now after seeing two cousins in two weeks, Terri's parents (Also from Houston) are in St. Louis THIS week for a convention. So in three weeks, she gets visited by six of those weird, camera toting, constant picture taking relatives from Houston. We then visited the Gateway Arch, which was full of screaming kids. They take you up in a 5 person claustrophobic pod (see pix), but the view is stupendous! From St. Louis we went to Champaign, IL to visit Diane and Geoff Copeland. Diane was the Sabol family's bank officer for their business and all their personal checking accounts. Her husband's job moved him to IL and she followed. Since we were in the neighborhood, she insisted on us staying the night and fed us a great meal. WOW! My banker never gave those kind of services. Since Robert and Rachel also stayed at their house a week earlier, and Bob is a potential customer as he is only an hour away, Diane's home is now cursed as the Sabol Bed & Breakfast. The Indianapolis 500 Speedway was our next stop in Indiana and we took a tour around the track. We made one lap in 12 min 24 secs flat! Then on to Dayton, OH to see the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB. Excellent museum which is free to the public. All types of fantastic one of a kind aircraft including the Mach three gigantic XB-70 Valkarie bomber and the Air Force One (SAM 25000) that carried Kennedy's body back to Washington from Dallas in '63 was on display. Next stop, New York, NY and Somerville, NJ to see Manhattan and Terri's family. -----------OVERALL TRIP STATS------------- _____________The Pixs______________
Hey All: Well the Big Apple was very fruitful this year. Q. What does Julia Roberts, Puff Daddy, Reese Wetherspoon and Brook Shields all
have in common? Thanks to David Letterman, Terri and I successfully was able to see 3 of the stars: Reese , Puff (without Jo Lo and no pistol), and JULIA! Terri and I stalked the guest entrance the stars use when they arrive at the Ed Sullivan Theater where Letterman tapes his shows. Terri and I were even seen on the Jul 11th show in the crowd background during a stupid Human trick being performed. I did not see the episode, but several friends taped it (I called ahead) and I will try to send it later after I get home. We also to in a Broadway play, 'Cabaret' which stared Brook Shields! She was great, the play was great, the story was great, but you feel you need to go to confession after watching it. We were able to see Terri's grandparents, Godmother Madelyn, Aunt Cathy, cousin Sue and her 21 co-beachhouse friends, and her friend Randy who had a great apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea area. And of course, we saw the usual sites in New York. My highlight was actually driving in Manhattan jockeying lanes away from the cabbies and playing 'clip' the jaywalking pedestrian :-) Next stop, Charleston, N.C., Savanna, GA, & Orlando, FL.. -----------OVERALL TRIP STATS------------- _____________The Pixs______________ See the videos sent to friends and Family from New York Video E-Mail from Times Square -- Video E-Mail from 46th Street (Ed Sullivan Theater)
Hello all! From New York and New Jersey, we headed down to Washington, D.C. This was the earliest we have woken up our whole trip- 5:30am!!! Terri and I needed to personally deliver our passports to the Embassies of Kenya and Tanzania in D.C. to obtain visas in lieu of mailing them (and risking the chance of not getting them back in time). We got everything taken care of and then headed south that same day and drove all the way to Charleston, South Carolina. We enjoyed a nice 3 hour tour---a 3 hour tour---consisting of a two hour harbor tour via boat and an hour horse-drawn carriage ride of the historic district of overpriced houses. The next day we met Terri’s cousin Erin, her friend Rob, and Tim’s Aunt Tootsie (Tim from Fort Leonard Wood) in Savannah, Georgia. Then it was off to Orlando! We went to EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, and Islands of Adventure. We definitely recommend EPCOT’s Fast Track ride. It is a GM sponsored ride where you sit in an actual car that is put through a variety of safety tests. This included the car taking us 60 miles an hour around hairpin turns. It felt just like Terri was driving! We also went to DisneyQuest, an overpriced arcade, and played putt-putt golf. I won the first game and let Terri tie me for the second game. Next is our long drive down I-10 back to Houston. We will stop in Biloxi at the casinos to gamble away what money is left after this ‘Tour America Road Trip’ --the change in our pockets. I’LL TAKE 38 CENTS ON RED, PLEASE! It was good to send our travel diary to you all. We leave for Africa on Tuesday 31st of July. Unfortunately, we won’t have the ability to send bi-weekly updates. But look forward to one long e-mail when we get back. Thank you all again for playing ;-) Bret & Terri -----------OVERALL TRIP STATS-------------
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