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My Grandparents were featured in their Arizona newspaper with an article about their relationship. Here is the full text:

One morning in September 1947, Robbie Hamm missed her bus. She wound up catching her husband.

Robbie, 17, was working in a factory in Beaumont, Texas. She had quit school at 14 to ease the financial burden on her family, who couldn't clothe her properly for school.

Howard Wilson, 21, who had returned from World War II and was driving an ice truck, spotted Robbie after she missed her bus to work. He can't recall how she was dressed, but she looked fine to him, and he told the owner of a grocery store just that.

"She walked by the front window and I said, 'Who in the world is that?' I remember her vividly. And then she came in the side door and got what she wanted and left."

That evening, an ice truck pulled up while Robbie sat on her front porch.

After learning her name from the grocery-store owner, Howard had found her brother and asked him to tell his sister he would be calling on her that night. Robbie's brother never passed her the message.

"My mother knew his mother, and I guess she thought he was a good boy," Robbie said. "If not, I probably would not have been able to go and get a soda with him."

Robbie had been on a few dates, but the town was small and she was shy. "I didn't know a whole lot about a whole lot of things," she said.

Robbie thought Howard talked too much, but she now figures it was a good thing or they would have seemed like two statues at that high-school football game.

Howard was enamored and, on their second date, asked Robbie to marry him. Robbie wasn't sure. Howard suggested she think it over for 30 days.

That was Sept. 17, 1947. They were wed Oct. 17, 1947.

"Getting married so soon, probably it wasn't the best thing to do . . . " Robbie said. "Well, now, no. I'm not saying that. Obviously, it was the thing to do - we've been married now more than 60 years."

Howard trained to be a plumber and later attended college and became a Baptist preacher. The couple had five children, each of whom graduated from college. They have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The Wilsons lived most of their years in the San Francisco Bay area, including seven on a sailboat after retirement. They moved to Mesa two years ago for health reasons.

Robbie, 78, and Howard, 81, thank God for their marriage's longevity, but they also credit an L-word: like.

"You have to really like each other," Robbie said.

"Yes, you do," Howard said. "I do like her. She's a sweet gal, and she's good to me."

Though her legs hurt at times, Robbie usually makes breakfast so Howard can sleep in rather than take his morning meal at the retirement community's dining room.

As for Howard, even if he's in the middle of a TV program, will turn to a show that Robbie wants to watch.

"And another thing that's just so special to me is that he never goes to bed without kissing me," Robbie said. "And I love that."

We went on an epic road trip to Southern California last week. Here is a breakdown of what we did and how much driving we did:

Sunday 7/27

• Drove 438 miles from Brentwood to Guajome County Park in Oceanside.
• Set up camp
  

Monday 7/28

• Drove 15 miles from Oceanside to Carlsbad
• Spent the day at Legoland








Samantha wanted a picture with "her people":





• Drove 15 miles from Carlsbad to Oceanside
  

Tuesday 7/29

• Drove 45 miles from Oceanside to San Diego
• Visited San Diego Zoo


We didn't buy this hat, we just put it on Rez for a picture. We witnessed several other people doing the same thing afterward. I wonder if anybody actually bought one?



The zoo was big and impressive and everything but it was the hilliest place I've been to outside of San Francisco. Also, it was a hot and humid day. That's why we spent a lot of time sitting in the shady petting zoo with the exotic goats.






• Drove 8 miles from San Diego to Ocean Beach
• Spent time at the beach








• Drove 11 miles from Ocean Beach to La Jolla
• Walked around in La Jolla
• Drove 42 miles from La Jolla to Oceanside
  

Wednesday 7/30

• Drove 64 miles from Oceanside to Anaheim
• Visited Disneyland









This picture was taken by Disney staff. We waited an hour to get our picture taken with Mickey and then I found out it would cost $13 to get a single print from their website. So this is the low resolution version I copied from the site.


This picture was taken with our camera by the Disney staff but of course the kids weren't looking when they took the picture. Coincidence? I think not!



This was a large stone ball that rested on a foundation in the Tomorrowland plaza. It spun freely using a thin layer of water to reduce friction. Rez loved it (as you will see in the video at the end of this post). I saw a smaller version in La Jolla which Rez also loved.



There were still some rides we wanted to go on but at 11 PM Jace fell asleep while on the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride.


After having Jace on my shoulders for an hour during the finale shows I carried him from the middle of the park to the parking garage where we looked for our car for a while. After that I drove us all back to the camp which took an hour. I was pretty exhausted!



• Drove 64 miles from Anaheim to Oceanside
  

Thursday 7/31

• Drove 15 miles from Oceanside to Carlsbad
• Visited Legoland (it was only $1 for the second day)
  




This is the "Knights Joust" ride. It's basically one of those industrial robot arms they use to build cars except they bolted chairs where the welder should go. I honestly felt like my head was going to explode due to massive blood pressure from being flung around upside down. I don't recommend it but Samantha does.







• Drove 28 miles from Carlsbad to Pacific Beach
• Spent time at the beach


I dug two deep holes for Rez and Jace to crawl into. We all had a lot of fun with that.






• Drove 39 miles from Pacific Beach to Oceanside
  

Friday 8/1

• Drove 438 miles from Oceanside to Brentwood

So, altogether that's 1,222 miles. Gas probably averaged about $4.40 / gallon. We would have driven our Matrix which gets about 29 mpg but we had so much camping stuff we had to borrow my parents' Acura MDX which ended up only averaging about 19 mpg. So, the grand total for gas was around $282. That seems like a lot but it still pales in comparison to getting airplane tickets, airport parking, rental car, and hotels. I estimate we saved over $1,000 by driving and camping.

That being said, there were definitely some sacrifices. The drive was very long and the campsite was plagued by mosquitoes. We still had fun though.

And finally, a video: