June 2000, Mark & Gail met at their RPI 25th College Reunion
After LOTS of phone calls and 3 visits in 2000-2001…
…we became a Bi-Coastal Couple for the remainder of the Decade…
…lots MORE phone calls and some time together, including vacations.
2000-2001 – Friends First
Meet me in St. Louis!
June 3, 2000, Mark and Gail met at their 25th College Reunion at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, NY. We kept in touch and became “Telephonic Divorce Buddies”. We had dinner together on the Missouri River in September, when we had overlapping business trip to St. Louis. It was our 1st National Park Visit…walking under the Gateway Arch!
In 2001, Gail visited Mark in NJ for a long April weekend and he visited her in Seattle for a week in July. By then, we had visited 3 more National Parks, and we realized we weren’t going to remain just friends.
- Visited 4 new National Park Sites – Total 4 of 386
- Took 0 new State Capitol Tours – Total 0 of 50
- Attended games at 0 new MLB Stadiums – Total 0 of 30
2002-2010 – Bi-Coastal Couple
Thank Goodness for Part-Time Telecommuting!
For the rest of the decade, we sometimes telecommuted from each other homes, giving us more time on the same coast, without taking vacation time. And, of course, we shared several vacations, sometimes with Gail’s daughter, Alyson, still a minor. (Mark’s kids were already 18 when we got together.) An especially memorable trip, was 2 weeks to celebrate our mutual 50th Birthdays, in Hawaii.
- Visited 11 new National Park Sites – Total 15 of 395
- Took 1 new State Capitol Tours – Total 1 of 50
- Attended a game at 1 new MLB Stadiums – Total 1 of 30
