Ted and Susans Excellent Adventure

Ted and Susan have returned to Washington State after a wonderful, long visit with us. They’d driven down from our “hometown” of Oroville to spend a week, combining a much needed vacation with a catch up visit. Their son Dustin is an old school chum of Coreys, and they (the parents) have remained in touch with Corey through the long years of his encarceration. Corey was excited to see them, and they were able to spend not one, but two full days visiting with him as, happily, the Warden decreed Monday (Presidents Day) a “free“ day for visiting (meaning no points were charged the inmate for the visits that day).

I had driven over to the Taft Camp with them, thinking perhaps I would "ease" them through the "processing" part of their first visit. I wondered what thoughts were going through their minds as they drove the slow 20 mph speed limit along the prison road that circles the Main Institution, around back to the Camp. The Main Facility (now an INS Prison for non-US Citizens) is very imposing, surrounded by its high chainlink fencing and 2 rows of razor sharp barbed wire, and the grounds within are bare and harsh in appearance. I am sure it was with a sigh of relief they realized that was not our destination, as we pulled into the Camp parking lot and made our way in the direction of the "fence free" visitation building! That Main Facility HAD been "our destination point" however, for the first 3 years of our sons encarceration. I will never forget the huge weight that lifted from my shoulders, from my entire body (!) the day he was transferred from there to the Camp he has now resided in for the past 3+ years.

I digress...later that day, when Ted and Susan arrived back at the house after their first day of visiting (friday), they were smiling ear to ear, saying how good Corey looked and how much fun they had had, how enjoyable the day had been. I know our son was feeling the same, and he made it a point to call not once, but twice, to remind us all to come in extra early on the monday visit :).

Rod and I enjoyed our lengthy conversations with them as well, many hours were spent around our dining room table or sunk deep into the comfy cushions of the family room furnishings, sipping local Oroville wines they had brought with them. The weather was not the “normal sunny, southern California” weather we’d hoped for, but perhaps contributed to the coziness we felt as we “holed up” and whiled away the hours. Finally on Sunday the sun broke through so we quick jumped in the car and headed for the coast where we enjoyed the sights of the breaking surf, the tourist packed downtown sections, and some good seafood at Pismo Beach and Morro Bay. Knowing it was snowing and the temperatures were dipping down into the low “teens” back from whence they had come, made even 50 degree days here seem like summer!


Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe it anyway. ~Elbert Hubbard, A Thousand and One Epigrams, 1911