24 Years Ago, Our Trip Across the Country!

In retrospect, I had an almost idyllic childhood. The only thing bad about it was that it was so pleasant. This perhaps made "growing up" harder and slower for me. But yet, when I hear of and see children so much less fortunate than I was, I thank God for the parents He gave me and the upbringing they gave me.

Here is a recording we made on cassette while driving across the country in 1985. Dad worked for IBM, and IBM gave him the chance to work for 3 months at the tech support center in IBM's "birthplace", the Endicott, New York area. He scheduled his vacation time around the temporary assignment, and we took several weeks driving each direction, stopping often at educational and historical sites. If my memory is correct, by the time I was 8 I had been in over 30 states.

Enjoy listening to the "younger" Bartsches! (If you have trouble with the embedded link, click here.)


The only thing more amazing than this trip was that God gave us the opportunity to do the same thing again (taking different routes each time) in 1987 and 1990. We also returned to Endicott in 1992 but took a plane both ways. I've now been in 43 states.