Our first day on the road was like a scene from National Lampoon’s Vacation with me (Darian) in the Chevy Chase role of Clark Griswold. We left five hours after planned with every inch of space in both trucks, the van, and the car filled. We even had stuff tied under the cars. Before we even got out of Maryland I had lost Edith. We pulled off an exit and she ended up on a narrow country road with no way to turn around. It took us over an hour to find each other again but then we were on our way. Around midnight, I was exhausted after days of packing, loading and saying goodbyes to people we love and I pulled into a closed toll booth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I had to back the 26 foot truck that was pulling our van out of the toll. The trailer almost jackknifed and blocked another lane. Short story is that I can now add to my resume that I singlehandedly closed down a large portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Needless to say after that we stopped shortly to get some much needed rest.
The second day of our ‘faith journey” across the United States was much better than our first. Sleet and snow slowed us down but did not stop us. We cannot begin to say in words how good it was to see our dear friends, Bob and Clair Tibbetts, once we arrived in Indiana. They had a delicious meal ready for us, encouraging conversation, and nice warm beds. The next morning, after Clair’s delicious breakfast, Bob directed me while backing out the truck so I did not have a repeat of the turnpike fiasco in their neighborhood. Then, with warm hugs and goodbyes, we were back on the road.
burnsfamilyatprojectsalt 