Route Map
Journal Excerpts
From Butch’s journal:
Days 50-54 (August 2-6, 1976)
This was a very relaxed week. We toured the capital and in general had the time to enjoy what we had all just accomplished. Good god, we really did it.
From Nancy’s journal
Day 50 (August 2, 1976)
We got up fairly early this morning and went over to the Capitol building. We all invaded Mike McCormick’s office as he was going to take us on a personal tour. He took us over to the Capitol and showed us all the places shown on the regular tour, plus many more which most tourists don’t get to see. He let us go down into the chamber of the House and sit in the actual seats that the Representatives sit in. We even got our picture taken with him on the Capitol steps. By then, my legs ached, and I felt totally exhausted. I guess I just wasn’t used to all this exercise!
We then walked over to the Space and Aeronautics building of the Smithsonian Institute. It was just a huge place. It contained such famous things as the Wright Brothers’ plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, and many of the space capsules. There seemed to be no end to that place, and it took us quite a long time to see everything.
Day 51 (August 3, 1976)
We slept in until about eight thirty this morning. We went downtown as we had a tour set up at the State Department. We went through many rooms where they entertain foreign diplomats and saw a bunch of displays showing foreign relations between the U.S. and other countries. It was really neat.
After that, Tani and I went with Syd, Judy, and the boys down to the Mall. We ate lunch on the grass and had a good time feeding the pigeons. We walked up into the Lincoln Memorial. That was such a neat place. It had the Gettysburg Address and other things Lincoln had said inscribed on the walls. I just sat there and stared at that for the longest time. It really made me think. Lincoln looked so life-like that you could just see him in real life. After that, we walked by the Reflecting Pool and went way down to the Washington Monument. We wandered around on the grass and then went over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science. We saw a lot of animals that were stuffed and looked really neat. We saw the Hope Diamond and a 50-inch perfect crystal ball. Then, of course, we had to go home on the bus. It took us a while to figure out which one to get on, but we finally managed to get on the right one.
Day 52 (August 4, 1976)
Tani and I took off by ourselves today. It was a neat feeling to be free and not have to have one of the guys come with us. We rode the bus downtown, and…
From Tani’s journal:
Day 54 (August 6, 1976)
I rolled out of bed at 8:00 and got ready to go to the JFK Center. We got off the bus, and Mark and Chris started crying and whining, so Judy got back on the bus and took them to the church. (Syd was getting the trailer.) The rest of us went to the JFK Center for a dumb tour. The guide was a real doof.
Nancy, Lon, and I went back to the church. I ate lunch and then some of us went to the airport to drop off Butch and Ann. Then we went to Arlington Cemetery. That was neat. We saw the Kennedy tombs and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while they were changing the guard. When we got back to the church, we…
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