The Road Goes On Forever - And the Party Never Ends


Beaufort, SC - Home

Catchy title, eh? I can't take credit... The title happens to be the name of a song by Robert Earl Keen. But given this blog is a sequel to my "On the Healing Road" blog, and especially considering the subject-matter, it was too good'a name not to use! (and it's a catchy tune, too!)

From the early days of January 2022, so much has changed in our lives that it's nearly impossible to recount. And sure, that's true for all of us! The only constant is change, right? But some changes will dramatically alter the course of your life and in our case, that is certainly true.

For me, Conor, and K9, these years have seen us overcome mountainous events casting long, dark shadows. Our worlds became bleak and without joy for a period of time, testing our respective mettle and shaping the paths we walk in incalculable ways. 

Beginning with the passing of my wife / Conor's mother, Sara, and then only months later losing my mother-in-law, Mary Ellen, we experienced an emotional whiplash that was both painful and confusing. In fact, Mary Ellen passed away one day after returning from our afore mentioned "On the Healing Road" journey. The timing of our return coinciding with her passing is both haunting and humbling. 

When K9 called me on July 27th, 2022, all he said was, "She didn't make it." 

I was immediately consumed with confusion and sorrow, a pendulum of emotions. It was only the day before that Conor and I triumphantly arrived home after spending twenty-six days on the road together. I felt as though I'd made such progress laying the foundation for what life would be like for he and I that I was genuinely excited for what was in store! 

Until I wasn't.

The news of Mary Ellen's passing was crushing. Despite being completely unexpected, Conor and I spent near a month on the road working through grief, talking through fear, remembering what we've had and embracing what's to come. Then all at once we would start over again. Whatever miles and memories lay behind us suddenly appeared as a chasm in front of us, and it was eerily familiar.

When I hung up with K9, I paused and considered how I should approach this conversation with Conor. Sitting on the couch across from me blissfully unaware of the sorrowful call I'd just shared with his grandfather, Conor sat quietly watching a movie on his device, content and comfortable in our home. There I sat, incredulous, looking on at my ten-year old son, the pit in my stomach forcing a wave of nausea. Hanging my head for a moment I just felt... sad. Sad for me, sad for him, sad for K9. 

Sad.

The weight of Conor and my loss was heavy enough, but I also considered the weight of K9's... After all, he lost both his daughter and his wife only eighteen weeks apart. 

"Where do we go from here?" I thought. 

Beaufort, South Carolina. That's where...

I was introduced to Beaufort in 2001 and I've loved it ever since. Through his career in the Marine Corps, K9 was stationed in Beaufort three different times, and on his second deployment he would be accompanied by both Mary Ellen and Sara, and so they purchased a house they would keep throughout his USMC tenure; the thought being that Beaufort would always be home. And until her dying day, it's how Sara always referred to this wonderfully quaint Lowcountry town. 

Home.

Appreciating Conor and I were winging it as two feral boys on our own in Charleston, and that K9 was all alone in Beaufort, while also considering it's the place Sara always called home, it seemed there was only one thing to do. So we moved to Beaufort.

A new home, new school, new routines, new people. Hell, I even took a new job... Yet through it all, we three have come together to reshape our sense of family. My work schedule keeps me in the wind more than fifty percent of the time, and so K9 looks after Conor and our dog, Moultrie, while Conor and Moultrie also look after K9. We spend weekends together, share meals together, attend school events together... We do it all together. We Three Amigos.

At some such point in the Summer of 2024 K9 asked me quite pointedly,

"Would you do it again?"

"Do what again?" I asked, curious to the question.

"Would you drive around the country again?" he asked.

"K9, with enough time and money, I'd never stop."

"Well what do you think about the four of us doing it again, but this time we rent an RV?"

"The four of us? Me, you, Conor, and Moultrie?"

He nodded.

"Hell yes, K9. I'm in! Let's make a plan!"

And so Saturday, June 28th, 2025, we bring that plan to life. The Three Amigos and our (not so) little brown dog are loading up into a thirty two foot RV and making our way back across the country! And while we'll see the Yellowstone once more, this time we're headed for points North. Glacier, Montana in fact! And just as before, I'll be cataloging our travels all along the trip... Because of course we're all healing! And now we understand that we always will be...  

The (Healing) Road Goes on Forever! And the party NEVER ends...

Thanks for reading - wish us luck!!


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