Millers/Campbells/Newmans Arrive in China for Will & Jo’s Wedding May 31st!

Arrived in Shanghai met by Will & Jo. We had dinner with her parents Saturday night. Having a wonderful time in preparation for Will & Jo’s wedding next Saturday, May 31st at Hengshan Church in Shanghai. Carpe diem, mark & his motley crew

“Shanghai is China’s most populous city with 24 million inhabitants and the largest city proper in the entire world.”

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Millers in France

DSC01140DSC01502DSC01921Wow! What fun to spend a week on Ile de Re, the west coast of France island best viewed by bicycling. We had a wonderful time with our good friends, David & Patrice Newman & Emmanuel & Natalie Rodes & their children. Victoria & Shelby met us in Paris where we rented a car to drive to the island. We departed for Paris Saturday where we were met by Victoria’s husband, Colin, and our German exchange student “adopted” daughter, Janina. It was a magical July 2013!!! Beth & I were fortunate to live in Paris in the 1980’s as a young couple during my fellowship training!!!  m&b

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” –Ernest Hemingway

Day 59, Homeward Bound, Fayetteville, NC, Final Day, June 1st

202.7 RV miles today, 10,107 total

Homeward Bound. We left Lynchburg after a fun morning at the downtown Farmer’s Market, celebrating 230 years founded in 1783, “Old as Dirt.” Purchased a BBQ grill for Victoria & Colin at the consignment store for a whopping $10.50. From the hills of Virginia through the piedmont of NC to the sandhills of Fayetteville we traveled. It was surreal pulling back onto our Longleaf Drive & home. It’s hard to imagine we have been gone over 2 months on this fascinating journey across America. We arrived late afternoon Saturday to find a baby opossum in our bedroom closet. After catching it in Toby’s crate, we freed it into the wild of our great country!?!

We have seen many things, experienced many places, smelled many aromas, visited many friends & family, & gotten to know our great country even more over these last 10,000+ miles. What a blessing! Epilogue to follow…Welcome Home Millers! From Longleaf Drive in Fayetteville, North Carolina, m, b & t

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” –Douglas Adams

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci

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Day 58, Lynchurg, VA, May 31st

31.3 RV miles today, 9,904.3 total 

We spent the day helping Victoria pack up her school room to check out. We also took the time to refill our DEF (Diesal Exhaust Fluid), which is an aqueous urea solution (basically, processed cow urine?!?) required ~ every 3,500 miles in the newer diesal engine cars/trucks for cleaner exhaust (inconvenient rightly considered adventure). We had dinner at Benjamin’s in Forest, Virginia before heading to stay with Victoria & Colin at their duplex. From Lynchburg, VA, m, b & t

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be useful to the town of Lynchburg. I consider it to be the most interesting spot in the state.”-Thomas Jefferson –3rd President of the United States of America (1743-1826)

“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.” — G.K. Chestecton — British Writer (1874-1936)

“Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.” — Andre Gide–French critic, essayist, & novelist (1869 -1951)

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Day 57, Lynchburg, Virginia, Our Campbells, May 30th

 421 RV miles today, 9,873 total         

We are now complete having seen all of our children on this tour & all the Newman kids to complete the NewMillerman saga.                      

“Everywhere is walking distance, if you have the time.” –Stephen Wright

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson

                                                                                                                                                              “The privelege of a lifetime is being who you are.” –Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987)

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Day 56, Cincinnati, Ohio, The Schofields, May 29th

 259 RV miles today, 9,452 total

We left Illinois through Indiana for Cincinnati to stay with Beth’s brother, John’s family. Our neice, Jillian just got her Masters so we took their family out for dinner to clelebrate. We then went by Jungle Jim’s International Market. It resembles a theme park due to the unusual displays throughout the store. The main store is visited by approximately 82,000 shoppers each week! It has over 180,000 items, about 60,000 which are international items, and over 300,000 square feet (6½ acres) of floorspace. Reminded me of Wall’s Drugs in South Dakota, only bigger. From Cincinnati, m, b & t

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust

History of Cincinnati: In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to “Cincinnati” in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was president. The society gets its name from Cincinnatus, the Roman general and dictator, who saved the city of Rome from destruction and then quietly retired to his farm. Founded in 1783 with George Washington as it’s 1st President, it was comprised of the officers of the American Revolution. The society honored the ideal of return to civilian life by military officers following the Revolution rather than imposing military rule. My great…grandfather, Cornet Larkin Dorsey, qualified me as a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Hereditary membership is generally passed to the eldest son according to the rule of primogeniture. Only one male descendant may represent an eligible officer at any time.

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