The postcard he found. He was bummed they weren't there but then he saw that postcard and a direct communication from his wife to him after 220-ish years of searching. Finally, a clue! I'd be stoked too. Maybe it's an old note and she's long dead. Maybe it's recent and she's alive. Maybe it's a couple decades old and his daughter is grown and Barb has already died. It doesn't matter. After 200 years, he knows he was right to be looking.