Jim McDermott was a young person at heart.  He was curious about the modern technologies.  When he was 86 years old, he had a cell phone.  When he first put on the ear buds, he was enthralled with Frank Sinatra crooning from the iPod.

Jim was a fan of Harry Potter books and movies.  He read them all as they came out and collected and watched DVSs of all the Harry Potter movies.

Into his late eighties, Jim was a young soul, happy and curious.

Jim getting a pedicure!

My father-in-law, Jim McDermott, had come to Irvine, California for Thanksgiving 1988 with her fiance, Virginia.  On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Jim, Nancie, Virginia and I got in our Civic wagon and drove to Mexico. It was Jim’s idea. He wanted to touch his toe in the Pacific Ocean one week after touching his toe in the Atlantic Ocean. After five hours of driving by the beautiful coastline, we crossed the US-Mexico border and arrived at La Fonda Hotel in Rosarita, Mexico. There, Jim, Virginina, Nancie, and I watched the sun set and shared a glass of wine on a hotel balcony overlooking a cliff.  Jim said, “This is absolutely magnificent.”

The next day, we drove another six hours through the desert to Tijuana. There, we enjoyed fish tacos, lobster, and Jim went to the beach and dipped his toe into the Pacific Ocean.

Jim with a plane

I lived in California for the first four years of my life. Grandaddy would come and see us for birthdays and holidays, and all four of us were always so excited for his visits! Grandaddy was funny and kind. He always made us laugh.

One day, my parents revealed to me and my sister that we would be moving all the way across the country to North Carolina. My dad was going to go over first for work, and my mom, sister, dog, and I would follow soon after. The problem was how my mom, sister, dog, and I were going to get to NC. We didn’t want to travel by plane because we would have to put Benny (the dog) in one of the small crates large pets have to travel in. My mom and dad formulated a far-fetched plan to DRIVE across country in our then nine-year-old light blue Honda Civic.

Jim with grandaughters Isabelle and Camellia

When Grandaddy heard of the plan, he called my mom at four a.m. up to say, “Sweet girl, I am coming to California. I am flying in tonight to drive you, the girls, and the dog to NC. I said to myself, ‘I can’t let that little girl drive across country by herself!’” And that he did. We left on April 30th, 1999.

We drove to Barstow, California and spent the first night at a hotel with a pool. Once we checked in and got to the room, we discovered that the pool was dry due to drainage problems. The following morning, we pulled onto Interstate 40. Soon we came upon a green mileage sign reading Wilmington, NC, reading 3241 miles. The adventure had begun.

To Be Continued…