Friday was the day I had my highly anticipated car train reservation for my trip to take the van to New Jersey. First I had to get fresh Florida oranges to take up for my friends, then take the kids ice skating. (notice all the ‘my’, ‘I’ words)
It was a really light day at the skating rink. We were the only customers, had the ice to ourselves. There was also a college film crew there. We watched them take closeups of the ice, hang banners, size up the place, make their plans etc…
Then my mom came by to get the kids and off I went to the train station. The trip to Ginger and Bruce’s house in Milford, NJ is 1057 miles. The first 850 will be on the train. I showed up at 2pm to check in with my blanket and book. I was looking forward to an over night road trip where Amtrak took care of the first 80%. No kids, no dog, no time behind the wheel, just time for me me me. Ah, that sounds great. So, I pulled up to the valet who would drive the van on the train and she said that the van is too tall, and she would get me a full refund. But, But, But, what about me me me, my blanket and my book? So, I went and found I-95 and headed north, with 12 hours of highway ahead of me Friday night.
I tried to download a book, but that didn’t work, foiled again. The only thing I had on my iPhone was John Hunt’s audio bible study of Genesis. There are something like 45 forty-five minute studies. I already listened to the first 30 over the last 6 months. On this night I managed to listen to the last 15 studies. John Hunt is a no nonsense teacher that points out facts about the bible, reminds us that God is in control and teaches how God’s word supports prophecy and how it relates to today’s world. So, who do you think was in control of this road trip where I was thinking about me me me and ended up listening to 12 hours of bible study instead.
As I went along, the temperatures got colder, at the first gas stop I put on my sweater, next stop the long pants went on, after that I added socks and finally turned on the heater. At the border of North Carolina and South Carolina is a funky little tourist stop called South of the Border. The website says it was established in 1949 as a beer stand because it was adjacent to a dry county. I was there with my family in 1976 when we drove to Florida from Buffalo, and then again in 1986 when I was in the Navy going to Hawaii via Florida. On this night I arrived at the border around 11:30pm, everything was closed, but the lights were still on for a photo.
Friday night I passed from Florida through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and half way into Virginia before taking a nap in the van. It was really cold and frosty out, luckily I had sleeping bags. At sunrise I did the last few hours to Becky’s house in Washington D.C. The kids and I stayed with her a few years ago and toured the city, it was great fun.
Unfortunately we only had time for an omelet and orange juice before I was off again. I drove out of D.C. through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and finally into New Jersey. That’s 8 of the 13 original Colonies in 24 hours. I grew up in Buffalo, NY, went to my Navy training schools in Virginia, and my first two jobs after the Navy had headquarters in the D.C. area that I visited regularly. So this climate and landscape brought back all kinds of memories of my youth and years without responsibilities. Not so any longer. Finally, I arrived at the Harrison’s house. It’s a spacious house on 8 acres, much of which is wooded. Their dogs don’t need to be fenced in, there isn’t traffic out front, the neighbor has cows, plenty of privacy, and cool crisp November air.
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The timing of this trip was no accident. For years Ginger has been telling me about the Thanksgiving party they have with their family and friends. This year 30 people came and feasted on 3 turkeys and all the fixings. Bruce was in charge of the birds, one was smoked, another on the rotisserie, and the last one in the oven.
The food was fabulous, everyone chipped in for the last minute preparations to get the food on the table as well as the cleanup at the end.
After dinner Bruce made a bonfire out back. I was shocked at the size of his wood stack four layers high on top of a glowing bed of hot coals. A couple blasts with the bellows and the frigid night air was warmed by this amazing blaze.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Marie called me on face time with her iPod to show me her scraggly crooked dangling tooth finally came out.
Out of that huge gap came one tiny little tooth. Mom said everyone did great, the kids said they were spoiled. They got unlimited screen time, soda, candy, ate out every meal and went to drive Go-Karts. I’m looking forward to when I’m a grandma so I can spoil the kids. Well, I’m back in Florida, we have two more weeks before we join Eric and Brian in Grenada. There are a few things on the calendar to keep us busy, we have to get back to school work, it was going pretty good last week until Friday’s adventure.