Travel Updates

Playing music with friends in Pennsylvania

In late September I took a road trip out East. I followed some friend to a "rendezvous" in Sugar Grove, PA. For those of you who don't know what a rendezvous is--it's reenactment camping. I've been doing it for 27 years and brought my kids up doing it. My daughter Gretchen still does it and now we bring my grandson along too. We have a great time trying to get a feel for pre-Civil War living. I spent nine days camping in PA and then split off from my friends and continued my own road trip.

Chuck, Gretchen and Odin Gosnell

From Tom's I headed up to the Canadian border to visit yet another cemetery then headed across to Vermont. Stopped at a brewery to pick up special brew for my son-in-law and then headed south to two locations in Vermont. Once again, my ancestors had to have crossed paths as my paternal side was just 15 miles from Shaftsbury, VT where our earliest ancestors are buried. As you may (or may not) recall, the first John Olin came in 1678 and settled in RI. His son, John II (our ancestor) moved up to Vermont. So, John II and wife Susannah Pierce are buried there along with many others including our next ancestors, John III and Sarah Card. John II's headstone was dangerously tilted and I contacted the cemetery there and they put it on the list for repair in the Spring.
I continued up to the New York border and spent 4 days with our distant cousin, Tom Olin. He would be my 8th cousin but we've developed a great friendship through the Olin Family Society. This was my third visit to his home and the second time that I've actually spent a couple days with him and his wife, Debby. Very nice people living up in the hills. We hiked in their woods and I accompanied them to their ballroom dancing class and actually got to dance a little. Then we had dinner at a really cool historical inn and artist's retreat called The Horned Dorset. The food was outstanding and the service was excellent.

Next stop was Massachusetts for my paternal side again and boy did I get lucky finding some old graves. I finally had to head back so I cut across several states and into Ohio to look up another ancestor. Then I went up to Indiana and spent two nights with a paternal cousin. I also had lunch with Greg Olin since he lived there. His wife was just recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's so he was grateful for the chat. It was kind of sad since he just adored her and she was slipping away from him.

From Indianapolis I headed back to the twin cities and spent some time with my kids before heading back up to Fergus Falls. All in all I spent about 4 weeks traveling and put 4800 miles on the car! When I got home I got the worst cold EVER. Took about three weeks to overcome it. Now we're getting cold weather again and there is some snow on the ground.
While at Tom's I went out to a couple towns and cemeteries that were significant to my paternal side again, but one area actually had two of my paternal branches plus the Olin family living within 10 miles of each other. So, I stopped at the museum there and met up with a guy who is working to make the museum successful. It is an old school and they are remodeling it. It has a fabulous collection and I stayed too late. It started to rain and get dark and Google maps was so kind to take me on back, windy, hilly roads with a zillion frogs jumping across. I did my best to swerve around them! I did see a skunk making a real feast of the squished ones. I can't remember a time when I've seen a skunk on the road that wasn't squished himself. Remember the song "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road"?

My next trip is out to L.A. for Christmas to see Bob and Barb Tillman and then we'll go to San Diego to visit Jerry and Abby Olin for an overnight.

The first place I headed to was Hershey, PA for obvious reasons. I had put a lot of those employees through college through the years and I wanted to check in and make sure they were successful. Just kidding of course, I was there for the chocolate. I had a nice time and then headed north stopping in a couple Pennsylvania towns that had historical significance to my paternal side of the family.

Scotland Trip Planned

Bob Tillman and I are headed to Inverness, Scotland for the MacGillivray family reunion in July 2020. Distant cousin, Marlene and her husband and son are also going. We are all really looking forward to it. Grandpa Charlie's mother was Ellen Jane McGillivray.

I'll write again after my trip to California. In the meantime, if you have anything you want to share--send it to me. Happy T-day!