After a reluctant departure from Vienna we headed south to the McRae side of the family, my brother Norman and his wife Pat. We avoided the freeways for much of the trip, driving instead along the Rappahannock River to enjoy the lush rural backroads of Virginia. It also took us by the Whitley Peanut Factory, our source for the best plump crunchy delicious Virginia peanuts.

Representing Norman and Pat today are Tabby and Gracie:

They were all in their lovely new house in Newport News. The accessibility challenges were the sorts of things you might expect from a 50 year old house, most notably a long narrow main bathroom with the toilet way at the far end (I forgot to measure, but I would guess a 22-24 inch door) and all ways into the house were up 4-6 brick steps.

Our portable ramp has been quite useful on several high or double steps. As you see here, it is still useful at reducing more steps to a manageable few that I can negotiate with some lifting assistance from above.

None of this got in the way of our visit, which included delicious meals, family gossip, and the highs (Jon Stewart’s last show) and lows (Republican debates) of TV.

We had a chance to experiment with John sleeping in a Lazy Boy recliner as we’ve wondered if that kind of support might be good for his generally motionless nights, perhaps even ameliorate his headaches.  While John did seem to sleep well, the net results were not really different from bed sleep — though I think it might still bear more experimentation.

Next we turn west to start our journey back home!