Darrell and Penelope Pennington made good on their goal to travel the world, as detailed in the July/August 2024 issue. Since listing their home and selling most of their belongings, the couple has visited a dozen countries. In this monthly series, Penelope — who quips she’s “a broad abroad” — shares missives from the road. Read the inaugural column here.
Hello, Evansville Living readers! Thanks for joining us, and I hope that you enjoy our stories. It has been more than a year since we left Evansville, unsure of what lay ahead and unprepared for the sights, scenes, and sensations on our horizon the warm fall day of our departure in 2024.
Round 1, as we call it — we have planned Central and South America for Round 2 and Asia for Round 3 — is drawing to a close, and our emotions and perspectives have shifted from a total focus on the new back to the familiar. Family, friends, and favorite food await us as we return to the U.S. to celebrate the holidays in comfortable confines through early January. It is an emotional and physical respite I am looking forward to with great excitement.
The opportunity to hug our kids, Jaq and Charlie; my parents; my best friend in the world, Michelle; and all of the other loved ones I have missed these past 13 months will be one I will savor, no doubt. I can see their beautiful faces and hear their infectious laughs already.
And while Darrell, too, is thrilled beyond description to see our kids, family, and friends, I have to say that he has been most verbal about the items he is most looking forward to as we hit the 812 again. Here is a PARTIAL list of highly anticipated items he is making a priority to enjoy over the holidays (tell us if you sense a theme): chopped mutton at Old Hickory Bar-B-Q in Owensboro, Kentucky, our hometown; Culver’s tasty Butter Burger with bacon; a sausage biscuit with cheese from McDonald’s; thick, square Detroiter pizza from Pangea Kitchen; Taco John’s Potato Ole’s with seasoning, dunked into house dressing; a three-piece fish-and-fries meal from Long John Silver’s; American Standard toilets; chips and salsa from Hacienda; the Speedy meal from Los Bravos; a Texas Bar-B-Que hot strom, with extra sauce and baked longer from Pizza King on Saint Joseph Avenue; USDA-certified beef; mango Habanero boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings; Ma T 888 China Bistro’s extra spicy orange chicken; crab rangoon from Yen Ching Restaurant … and literally the list goes on and on and on and on.
Suffice to say, we have a lot to look forward to, and I have never been more excited to be heading back to Evansville than I am right now. I hope you have enjoyed hearing about this adventure, and feel free to reach out online anytime. See you all soon!
Follow the Penningtons on YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook @penelopepennington. In their seventh column, they begin Year Two in Morelia, Mexico.
