Delaware vacation

Visiting Malcolm and Terry was like going back to our beginnings. We met them in Louisiana. We stayed there at Linn and Lynn's at a parking lot of a church, lake away from New Orleans. They were our second Boondockers Welcome hosts.

When we got there and Linn told us where we can park our trailer, from the trailer next door came Malcolm and offered help (let's not forget we didn't have much experience maneuvering Eddie back then). Couple hours later Terry knocked on our door with a bowl full of delicious pasta. And next day they went shopping and came back with toys for Maciek and Kalina.

With Malcolm and Terry in Louisiana

During our stay there we talked a few times about life and travels and our new friends cordially invited us to visit them in Delaware. After we got stuck in Nevada we didn't think we would make it at all to the East Coast, but as we finally did we couldn't not visit Terry and Malcolm.

Those few days we spent there we can call vacation. Of course this entire journey was one big vacation but it wasn't until Townsend when we finally allowed ourselves to do nothing, sit in pool, drink beer and juat relax. Ok, not really. It was the last state on our route with no sales tax so we spent one day shopping.

We also went on a day trip to Washington DC, we'll write about it in a next entry. But we skipped the nearest area. We really wanted to do some sightseeing, we even went to historical center of Dover but it was so hot and humid that we just took a couple of pictures through the window and we went back home.

Dover is a second largest city in Delaware and it's a state capital, but it still has a little bit more than 37,000 residents. Dover was founded in the end of 17th century by William Penn. There are a few buildings that remember 18th century, spread across downtown. Spread so wide that it was too far for us to walk. Besides, probably they were not open to public (ok, we're just racionalizing our lazyness).

To sum up: sometimes it's better to relax instead of seeing all the MSP (must-see places) and enjoy hospitality of friends, especially if those friends have swimming pool, golf cart and a large meadow you can ride on.

Post office in Dover

Next day after we came Terry had to leave to take care of her mom, so we stayed with Malcolm who proved to be a great host. We spent long hours talking over grill and beer and watching iconic chase scene from "Bullit", and on July 6 Malcolm completely surprised us with a birthday cake he bought for Kalina's birthday!

Birthday cake from Malcolm

Terry and Malcolm are an interesting couple. They both have serious health problems. However they are very positive and optimistic and they keep repeating how happy they are and how grateful for all they received in life. They make the most out of life, as much as they can considering their health.

Last year they bought an RV and they headed south - when we met them they were on their way to Texas to listen to blues, and recently we got an e-mail from Malcolm where he wrote about his 10-day solo canoe trip through Canadian interior in August! We invited him to come for canoeing in Poland. After he read about Polish rivers he said he is seriously considering a visit. We keep your word (oar).

Sweet laziness

Malcolm ended up in Delaware accidentally. He is Canadian, or actually Canadian-British and when he was young he lived in Toronto area. Some day he decided to go to Texas to become a cowboy. He got as far as Delaware where he got a job in carnival. He stayed there for a while until he heard there is GM factory opening nearby. His background was matching the requirements so he went to the interview. He had only Canadian papers but the guy he had interview with was Canadian too. Thus he was hired and ended up working there for 20 years. When GM decided to close down the factory it was just after Malcolm could retire and acquire rights to all benefits. 

We really liked one of Malcolm's travel stories. One day during his travels, he was young and didn't have much money, some woman invited him for something to eat. She asked him if he could send her postcards from all the cool places he visits. He did so for many years. He stopped when she wrote that she is very ill.

Many years later when he got a Facebook account some people he didn't know wrote him a message. They thanked him for sending postcards to their late grandmother - based on Malcolm's postcards she would tell them stories about the world. After she died they wanted to find him and say how important part of their childhood he played.

Malcolm and Terry live in a huge house full of dolls and porcelain ornaments. The first thing we saw entering their house was...a Christmas tree, there is another one too, further in a corner of living room. Malcolm's explanation was easy: "Terry loves Christmas". It's so simple... In Poland everyone would whisper and point fingers. Poles really like to tell you what you should and shouldn't do and if you differ it's sometimes tough... But thanks God it's changing.

We left Delaware begrudgingly. Laziness and good company is not something you leave easily... But we had 800 miles to go to Chicago and our flight was leaving in 3 days…

We wanted to be tough and drive to Chicago in one go. But Maciek got a fever where we were in Washington and two days later it was still there, plus his tummy hurt, so we decided to take it easy(ier) and break it into two days.

This time we found a place to stay on couchsurfing. After sending a few messages while we were already on our way we got an invite from Rick from Grove City, Ohio. We got there after 10 pm, we had a quick small talk with Rick and his family and we went to sleep on the couch and carpet in their living room. When we woke up Rick was already gone, he went to work. We talked for a while with his wife and sons, and after a quick breakfast we headed to Chicago. We got there early evening and our great hosts, Aneta and Milosz were already waiting for us with dinner…

Our first couchsurfing hosts