Postcards present trip, Walloons, and that Virginia is for lovers

“Why are you going away? So that you can come back. “

– Terry Pratchett

I spoke at an event in North Augusta several years ago and then-Mayor Lark Jones went to me to ask about it Pat and Wayne Fuller. Every year, he said, it seemed like the North Augusta couple sent so many postcards from so many vacations outside of town that he wasn’t sure they were home enough to pass the laws governing residence fulfill.

Bill Kirby, Augusta Chronicle

He was kidding, but I got his point – Pat and Wayne travel a lot. This summer was no exception with a quick run of August postcards.

From Washington: “Short trip through this part of our country. Too many people for our comfort. The weather was nice and cooler than at home.”

From Baltimore: “In Maryland to visit our youngest daughter and family. It’s been a year since we got to the area. (They) just went back to masks inside. Yuk!”

From Virginia: “I was making my way home and found that Interstate 81 allows you to drive all day in Virginia.

From Tennessee: Always enjoy a drive through Tennessee and stick to back roads to truly see some wonderful cities and scenic views. “

(I also want to thank you Beat and Wayne for sending me a “Virginia is for Lovers” sticker that I put on my vehicle bumper.)

More cards from more summer travelers:

Mike and Colleen Culbertson, from Augusta, send postcards from their five-week trip to visit family and friends. They sent a card from the Smoky Mountains. Then when some events were canceled, they adjusted their itinerary and drove through Kentucky and Indiana and on to the 100th National Convention of Military Order of World Wars.

They also drove through Pennsylvania and drove on the Old Lincoln Highway, which they found crowded on a Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere, Tim and Suzette Morris, from Martinez, were in Maine, what they considered “a beautiful state”.

Corney and Isabelle Messer say they returned to Clanton, Alabama for their regular family reunion.

Rosemary Suchko, from Martinez, “spent a week at my friend’s retreat in the Catskill Mountains. I enjoyed cooler temperatures (mid 70s) and then made my first trip to Long Island (my friend’s hometown). From Long Island I will travel to Pittsburgh to visit many relatives near my hometown Charleroi. “

Thanks for the card, Rosemary. I’ve been to Pittsburgh many times but wasn’t familiar with Charleroi. So I checked and found that it was a community in the coal mining area south of Pittsburgh that was settled by Walloons in the 19th century.

I had never heard of Walloons before.

So I looked that up and found that they were people from a region of Belgium.

They have confirmed my experience that the best vacations are when you learn something, and so do others.

Keep sending postcards and I’ll keep sharing them.

Bill Kirby has been reporting, photographing and commenting on life in Augusta and Georgia for 45 years.

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