SPENCER — Two women who have become the best of friends through interesting circumstances are given to travel around the state, but when they decided to take a cross-country trip of more than 7,300 miles, they had no idea that a sad history would come behind them.

Virginia Dare Bean, 89, and Elaine Howle, 78, met in 2021 when they both ended up participating in Dining Darlings a group of local women who gather for a meal and socializing. Two years earlier, in 2019, Howle, whose last name is pronounced “owl,” had planned a trip to Spain with another friend. COVID meant delays, and when it was time to reschedule, Howle’s friend changed her mind. Howle said she asked Bean to go instead.

But before they could get away, Bean fell in the Food Lion parking lot and broke her pelvic structure. Howle ended up purchasing a walker for Bean to use, and the friendship between the two began to strengthen.

“I had a time share in Florida, and though I didn’t know her that well yet but I said we should go down to Florida where they could provide what she needed and see if she could recover enough to take the trip,” said Howle. She did in fact recover and they were able to go, and when they came home, Howle began to spend most of her time with Bean at her Spencer home on South Salisbury Street.

“I still have my home in China Grove but I spend most of my time here,” Howle said.

In the three years the two have been together, Bean has had a number of additional injuries. She broke her hip in a fall in August of 2022, and at one point coming out of her hairdresser’s, she fell and cut her hand and arm badly.

But she just carries on, she says, “because what else is there?” She does say that Howle has given her independence, and without her, she would likely be in a nursing home.

“Which she does not need to be,” said Howle.

Bean was a psychiatric nurse at the VA Medical Center for 33 years before retiring, and Howle joined the post 846 Transportation Company of the military at the age of 33 and was activated for both wars. She celebrated her 45 birthday in Saudi Arabia, her 57th in Kuwait and her 58th in Iraq. Bean joined a number of auxiliary groups because of her brother’s standing in the military and Howle is a member of multiple veteran’s groups, and that means the two have been eligible to attend a number of conventions, and they are both Civitans. They planned a trip in August of 2024 that would let them attend both the Civitan International Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the American Legion Convention in New Orleans.

But they had to wait an extra day before departure because Howle was in the first group to be presented a new cross awarded to desert war veterans on July 27.

The two left about midnight that night for a cross-country road trip that ended up being 7,334 miles.

They had not been sure, when they left, if they would make it to New Orleans, “but we did pack 28 days of medications, so we knew we could be gone that long,” quipped Howle, who said they started their trip with a visit to her cousin in Missouri.

They did get there, and the first night, they went to Bourbon Street.

“Dare sat on her walker and I sat on the curb and we drank $22 daiquiris and watched people,” Howle said. “Nothing went wrong. Everyone was just having fun.”

During their visit, Bean took another spill, ending up with a bruise on her face including a black eye and several stitches, but she said she just picked up and carried on, as is her usual plan.

“On our last night there, Aug. 25, we went back to Bourbon Street,” said Howle, “and I have a snapshot of Dare walking down Bourbon Street with her red and black (South Rowan High School’s colors) walker. She didn’t walk very far, but I was just amazed that she did walk down Bourbon Street at age 89-1/2. I’m sure we were sitting right where the guy drove his truck, killing 14 people.”

On New Year’s Day, when a man driving a truck plowed into a group of people also walking on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring others, Bean said she looked at the news and thought, “that’s right where I was sitting.”

“I feel so lucky, that we there not there at that time, because it could have been us, and I certainly would not have been able to run away,” Bean added.

Both women say that they enjoy their travels, at home and afar, but what happened in New Orleans made them more considerate of future plans.

“Oh, we’ll still go, because you can’t live being afraid, but to have realized it happened right where we were was an eye opener,” said Howle.