Day 68

Today was a big day. 

The ashes of Pat Dearth were traveling with Letters From Home since we started this tour. Today, Erinn's mom and her husband Billie and Erinn's Brother Randy, his wife Jessica and kids Ethan, Seth and Evelyn joined the tour team at Echo Lake, the place pat wanted his ashes spread. 

Upon arrival, it was so easy to see why dad wanted this as his final resting place. Not only did he have great memories of fishing and hiking at Echo Lake, but the views are just incredible. He always loved the mountains. 

It gave all of us a sense of peace to see dad be placed where he always wanted to go. Dad was a community builder.  A kind, generous loving man who always spoke his mind and was incredibly honest. Everyone thinks they have the best dad in the world, but lucky enough for me and Randy and mom, it just so happened to be true. After he passed away, the amount of people who reached out to me saying what an impact dad had on their lives was outstanding. 

As pretty much everyone reading this knows, Letters From Home was dad's idea. I know he is watching over all of the veterans who come to the show, and watching over our tour team as we endeavor on this crazy adventure. I know he watches Randy and his family every day. I'm sure he is watching over my mom, who he loved with all his heart and Billie who is now such a big part of our lives.  And I'm confident that with Echo Lake being dad's new home, he will be at peace here, but will still visit all of us often as he continues to see his legacy unfold on earth. 

After the ceremony, we took some time at the lake, then walked around, had a snowball fight and went to one of the places dad used to hang all the time in Colorado- the Little Bear Saloon. Billie treated all of us to dinner, and Seth challenged Uncle Dan to a game of pool that was neck and neck. 

It's a tradition at the Little Bear Saloon to sign a dollar bill and staple it to the wall. We all signed one for the tour, and in honor of Pat. If you're ever in Evergreen Colorado and want to see it, stop by the Little Bear for some live music and find our dollar next to the Buffalo Trace poster. 

Drained from a fun day, we all went back to our hotels to rest. Dan and Erinn got to briefly see our great friend Ben for a walk, and then we settled in for a night of rest. Tomorrow's show in Colorado is at the Dairy Arts Center and we can't wait to see all of our Colorado friends there!