Day 125

This Memorial Day morning, we woke up to much rain, but it certainly didn't dampen the spirits of the citizens of Marion, Virginia! We had the honor of being the Grand Marshalls of the Marion Memorial Day parade and proudly rode with Gold Star families. Even though it was pouring, the town came out and stood under every awning, in every car and beneath every umbrella!  A woman on the sidelines even ran up to Dan and gave him her pink flamingo umbrella to use during the parade, adding to the festivities! 

We went back to the VFW after the parade and sang a few tunes for those who came out for the Memorial Day service. We said goodbye to all of our buddies, and headed to the courthouse downtown.

One of the things that has always made this so special is they put out flags for Marion based veterans who have passed away each memorial day. They started out with just over 100 flags, and now there are over 1000. Even though he wasn't from Marion, one of the flags goes to my daddy, Pat Dearth, and none of this would be happening without his inspiration. We found his flag and thanked him for this 4 month adventure we just completed. 

Dan also got his final photograph of the 50 States Tour blog of the flags, a perfect final shot to complete taking one photograph in every state since January. If you're near High Point, please go visit the Dan Beckmann Photography gallery at the High Point theatre, and if not, be sure to visit his FACEBOOK PAGE to see all 51 shots of this amazing tour. 

As anyone knows who's been following the tour, we had an amazing partnership with the Quilts of Valor and quilted a veteran in every single state. But we had one more quilt to give away.... a veteran who means the world to us. Billie Waddell. Billie is a Marine through and through, and has supported us so much along the way. We love him and it was an honor to present him with this Quilt of Valor from a grateful nation. 

Tonight, we went to the Reasoners house, who hosted a goodbye bonfire for the team, complete with a Letters From Home cake. We took our final Polaroid (we took one in every state and added them to our 50 States Journal filled with info on each place we went), and shared memories from the past 4 months. 

At the end of the evening, Erinn presented the team with a map of photographs from each state from their journey. Just a glimpse of the memories we have had together made us all realize the mass of what we had accomplished together. 

Later this week, we'll share stats and more pictures from tour. We have so much to share. 

For now, we know that there will never be another experience quite like this tour. 

We're so glad it happened. 

And we're so happy you joined us for it.