March 15, 1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
After we left Hannibal, we came straight home. Arrived March 15, 1946.
Map: Google (ND) {Directions from Hannibal, MO, to West Point, IA] Retrieved February 13, 2021
Carl and Georgie at home
Epilogue
They were home, for the first time in nearly four years. What an emotional moment that must have been! I can’t really blame Mom for not trying to find the words for it.
For Mom, it must have felt grand to be home. She was an Iowa girl through and through, and she was always happiest with her family around her.
For Dad it may have been a little different. He had a couple brothers nearby. But his mother had died during the war, and he hadn’t been able to come home due to the restrictions on unnecessary travel. So there would have been some grief to deal with too. His other siblings were out of state, so there wasn’t quite the sense of togetherness that Mom’s family had. Then too, he had really loved Idaho. He was an avid hunter and fisherman, and enjoyed camping, hiking, and skiing, so Idaho was perfect for him. Given his choice he would have stayed there. But he loved his wife more than he loved Idaho, and so they came back.
They lived the rest of their lives in Iowa, buying a house, raising kids, working and worrying as parents do. But they made time for many more road trips, big and small. And they did get back to Idaho a few times.
Dad passed away in 1971, and Mom in 2004. They’re buried in Lowell, in a spot with a view across the river to their land.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little journey as much as we have. Creating this blog and writing daily posts has been a bit of a journey for us as well, and while we’re probably not as relieved to be done as they were in 1946, it’s going to be nice to get back to our regular schedule of posts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for a while.
Michelle’s Comments
It has been fun to bring this story to life. This has been an opportunity to learn a lot, about the journey, about the things and places they saw, and about Carl and Georgie.
We have a lot more stories to tell, and we hope you will hang around with us and see where the next journey takes us.
Sandra
Can’t wait! Have loved taking this journey with you and look forward to the future postings here.
Michelle, when and if you can, can you send me a copy of this photo of family from 1046. To my memory I haven’t seen it before. I will PM you my email on FB. Happy spring to you three!
Ahh, see the email is on here…even better!
Walt
The picture is sent. I’m not surprised you’ve never seen it, we found it in one of Mom’s photo albums.
We’re glad you enjoyed the journey!
Aaron Hoel
This was great!!! I really appreciate you guys pulling this together and can appreciate the amount of work that you put into it!
Walt
Thanks for your kind words! We’re glad you enjoyed it!
Mallory chamberlin
Loved tagging along for the trip!!