Around the U.S. in 37 Days
When we first decided to try and reunite items with family members, we did not know what we were getting ourselves into and how other people would react to our generosity. For our first find, we were lucky to stumble across this scrapbook that was created in the 70's.
Four young men, who just graduated high school decided to take a trip across the U.S. as their senior trip. The neat thing when we first opened the scrapbook was the map on the inside front cover. It showed all the places they stopped along their journey.
Most of you might think this is where the story ends, but this is where it begins. The husband and wife (to remained unnamed at this time) that I came in contact with, are some of the nicest people we have met. The reason I choose to contact this gentleman out of the four was because him and his twin brother went on this journey together. They welcomed us into their home with open arms and he was happy to share his journey with us. After sharing stories about our new adventure, genealogy and our own family trees, the world became a lot smaller. I told them about the book I was working on, and come to find out their neighbor and good friends are a descendant of my Zaun line. Their neighbor is my distant cousin and is another "mystery" branch of the family.
I believe that this book was put into our hands with purpose. Not only were we given this great couple to reunite our first item with, but to meet more family. Life works in mysterious ways and you do not realize how small it is until things like this happen. I know that not all reuniting items will have this great of outcomes but knowing that it is possible and seeing the reactions of people when they see the items makes me keep going. On to reuniting the next treasure.
In the 37 days they were gone, they went though Vegas, the Grand Canyon and down in to Juarez, Mexico. They made it to Bourbon Street, Walt Disney World in Florida, and even the United States Capital in Washington, D.C.
Seeing all the time and effort put into this scrapbook, I knew it had to find its home. Luckily enough on the first page there was the names of the four young guys who went on the trip. They left August 2, 1971 at 10:00 a.m. from the McDonald's that three of the four of them worked at. From there it was a journey that none of them would ever forget.
From there they went on to New York City, Niagara Falls and then on August 29th they made it to the headquarters of McDonald's in Oak Brook, Illinois. They were able to take a tour at headquarters which opened March 29, of the same year. The sightseeing didn't end there, they went on to see Rapid City, South Dakota, Mouth Rushmore and Crazy Horse, they stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah and then San Francisco, California before returning home on the 37th day.