Hi,

First I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this, it may run a touch long but I'm sure you will understand at the end :)

My Grandmother is Margaret Bayreuther, known better as MEME. She is a beautiful 93 years old, She is the head of 5 generations, and we adore her. She was married to my Grandfather, Papa, for 66 years. They had 6 children together, 8 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild. They were the BEST! Just there, always, amazing and awesome and loving. They never really let you know how upset they were either, they just loved you through it. And Lord knows their patience was tried LOL.

They made their lives in Niantic CT, with a family boat yard named Bayreuther Boat Yard, there was a stone house there they lived in with other family members and even got married on the property. There was very successful and finally retired in the 1980s and decided to head to Vermont mountains. There they found a tiny little town called Newfane where they started with a trailer and built a beautiful home and every summer I got to spend there with them was great, and I strive to instill in our children what they did in us.

After quite a while in Vermont, they decided to pack up once again and moved to Daytona Beach Fl in the late 90's. Papa picking up remote control sail boating and Meme claiming her seat at the bingo table, they built their lives again. It was so nice to see them so happy.

Meme was born in 1932, she was placed in an orphanage for some time and than was adopted by a nice family who took her in and raised her. That part breaks my heart, every time I think about it. My Meme was around 12 when she was left, old enough to understand... My daily goal is for her to know how much she is loved.

Sadly, like all beautiful love stories there was a sad ending. Papa took his last breathe Christmas morning of 2017. I don't know how to describe it besides... just sad. She went on autopilot for a while and at that point was in her 80's. My mom and my grandparents shared a home, and my husband and our family lived 7 houses away, it was too far. We decided to sell both houses and come together in 1 home (sounds crazy, but it works for us and we love it). We have 4 generations in the house with the 5th generation in and out weekly, everyone is involved in her care.

I said this was long, lol In September of 2021, Meme was Diagnosed with CLL - Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Thankfully slow growing, and no way of knowing how long she has had it for. Talk about a shock, none of us in the room was expecting that diagnosis. Thankfully since than she has still been fine, it did help us explain some of her mystery medical issues though. Now, Imagine that news and that is the 3rd straight day of rain and overnight Hurricane Ian hits. We lost power at 4am, and than at 7 my daughter tells me downstairs is flooding (that is where my oldest, my mom and meme were living). We ended up with 4 feet of water outside our home and a total of 18 inches inside.

The entire downstairs and EVERYTHING inside of it was destroyed. Furniture, walls, photo albums, clothes, shoes, etc. So in 24 hours, she heard she had Leukemia and than lost every possession that was low. She still asks for stuff that was ruined. It took 4 years to fix the house, for almost 2 years we didn't have actual walls downstairs, just cardboard and blankets stapled to the studs, it was crazy, but we did it. God is good, the only physical injury was my broken finger, simple. We survived and became stronger and smarter.

It's been a long last few years. Something has got to give. Meme wants to go home again. She wants to see her grandkids, some she hasn't seen in too many years. She has great grandkids she has never met. She is the last one of her generation, she says that a lot. She also says she wants to go home. Done. Say Less.

So, imagine trying to make this happen. She cant fly, We looked into Amtrak, and there is no logistical nor financial way we could afford that. Have you ever tried to rent a handicap vehicle? Have you ever tried to rent a handcapped accessible house? HA!! Impossible!! So how do we make Memes' dream come true? We buy a bus!! LMAO!! yeah I know! I said it too. But when the good Lord blesses your plan, HE does it. We were able to find a bus, exceeding our needs. (I forgot to say also there are 13 of us going!! All 5 generations are packing up this bus and heading out to CT on May 31.

We have had inspections, mechanical checks, fluids and filters changed, all out it. We have learned a lot also, like how to remove and adjust seats, installed a temporary campers bathroom in the back as well as the best part. There is a bed installed for when Meme needs to lay flat!! A whole adjustable bed, perfectly lined up with the windows so she can see the mountains she loved to drive with Papa, a tablet with all her game shows downloaded, lots of snacks and we even got some ramps to go out the backdoor for her wheelchair. All for less than the cost of 2 Amtrak sleepers. God is so good.

Now, here comes the problem. The bus is Diesel. That was not a problem 5 months ago when we bought the bus, that was one of the major selling points due to them being beasts. The price has gone up sooo much that it has eaten into the reserve budget already. We have changed plans to save money, and may even cut the trip a day short if we need to. We will be there for 8 days ad traveling 3 days there and 2 to 3 days back. We have already decided to forgo hotel rooms for all of us when we stop and the older people and children will sleep inside and some of us will sleep in the bus.

We have 2 8 seater rental minivans for when we get there to get around while we are there and will cancel 1 if we need to.

I need help to make this happen, right now its looking to be about $1200 each way for just gas alone. That's insane. I am looking to raise a bit more than that for the rental vans and gas for those when we are there. I really cant tell you how truly grateful I am for you even taking the time to read this. My grandma means the world to me. I need to do this for her. It will be a trip our kids will hopefully take with us. Clark Griswold Style lol

Thank you,

God Bless