Since we would be living in our minivan for the next couple weeks, we had to at least start out with it being clean. So, 2 days before the Big Day of Departure, Andrew and I gave it a bath.
Andrew washing minivan before our big trip
Andrew said he was washing the minivan's nose.
I say finally because, not only were we glad to be home, but we’ve been home for more than two months. My how time flies and what a cobweb this poor blog is!
Well, we made it back after almost 3,500 miles in the minivan and more than 50 hours all together inside it. From May 23 through June 10, we visited friends and family in Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas — passing through or hoteling in Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Everyone had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new relatives. We learned a lot about our very interesting extended family; and we learned about each other, too. For example, if randmcnally.com says travel time is 5 hours, that’s a full-day minivan thrill ride for our family!
Maybe I’ll blog all about the exciting and excruciating details of the trip later. There’s really too much for one post. In fact, my grand self-delusion, err plan, is to blog on each of the 19 days of our trip. To see if that happens, just follow the Ohio Road Trip 2008 tag. I’ll probably blog about other stuff in between posts about the trip to avoid tiring myself and my faithful blog followers.
Go flight report finds no mechanical flaws | starbulletin.com | News | /2008/02/24/
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report of its investigation into a go airlines flight that flew past the Hilo airport on Feb. 13, apparently because the two pilots fell asleep.
Well, now I don’t feel so bad. Yesterday, on the way to church, the mini-van just continued on down the interstate, past the exit for church and towards the exit for work. The mini-van should have known better, since I seldom drive it to work, almost always to church, but obviously I forgot to remind it. I was deep in thought about Wheezy from Toy Story 2, of all things! Perhaps I was asleep. Maybe I should try for a pilot’s license.
From the Tuscaloosa News
TUSCALOOSA | Most days see 59-year-old truck driver Willie Barnes up and hard at work well before the sun, tying down loads, running a pre-check on his tractor-trailer and planning out the day’s haul.
When he does hit the road, usually during the pre-dawn hours, it is with plenty of time to make the 300- to 500-mile trip safely.
“I don’t wait until the last minute,” Barnes said. “I always give myself a couple of hours to play with.”
A common-sense philosophy, but one that has helped lead Barnes to an uncommon achievement: more than 1 million miles traveled without a recordable accident.
“I just can’t say enough about the accomplishment,” said Steven Rumsey, CEO of WTI Transport and Barnes’ employer. “You just don’t ever hear of it.”
What a great guy! It’s people like this that make our world go ’round.
Big trucks facinate me. I especially like the rigs with lots of chrome and marker lights all around. Maybe I could be a truck driver some day. Sure, I’d probably be board out of my gourd after the first month, but I can’t shake the idea. When all the children are out of the house, maybe Carolyn and I will go team driving and see the country. I ran into a guy who said he and his wife take a cross-country haul on I-10 a couple times a month and pulled down a couple grand for each round trip. That’s sounds like a great way to spend the golden years — surrounded by lots of chrome and the smell of deisel.
Hurricane Dennis has prompted me to resurrect my cobwebbed blog. Here we are in a Supper 8 in Jacksonville, Florida, watching the news reports of Dennis tear up our county. It’s difficult to be a parent of a nineteen-month-old. There is little for Andrew to do in the hotel room except get into trouble. Right now, he is restricted to his play pen after playing with the phone yet again.
Perhaps we will make our way home as early as tomorrow afternoon. My hope is to make audio posts from my cell phone stay tuned. For now, you can monitor these links:
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