Day 3--June 5th--From Canton, OH to Wisconsin

We left Canton early this morning to meet my sweet friend, Carol, in Northfield, OH.  What a blessing she is!!  I've known Carol for about three years.  She is one of God's prayer warriors, and she's been praying for this family.  She's one of the reasons we started our trip in a northern direction first.  I've been planning for two years for this day to give her a hug.  She is such a delightful lady and an inspiration to everyone she comes in contact with.  It's such an amazing thing how the Lord can bring people together through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  I know He brought Carol and me together to support each other in prayer and to become truly close friends.  We are sisters in the Lord.  Carol is now going through a serious trial.  I ask all of you to agree with me in prayer for Carol's total healing.  I KNOW she will continue to be a blessing and an inspiration to everyone around her.  I also KNOW that God's hand is upon her, and He will bring her through this and bring glory to His name.

We left there and rode through the rest of Ohio, Indiana, into Michigan just a little ways, and through Illinois (via Chicago) to Wisconsin.

A long day of riding with a lot of traffic, especially around Chicago.  Tomorrow we head to North Dakota.

Charity and Autumn want to add some things to this blog, so I'll let them do that.  Just don't believe everything they tell you!

Being with mama and daddy is a wonderful opportunity. I am so thankful for the extra time that I get to spend with them. Even the times when our "manager" (mama) starts acting silly. She even bought herself a happy pill. The picture of her happy pill is below but you would have to hear it to really get the full effect.

We all have "jobs" or assignments in the van while we are riding. I have already told you that mama is the manager and she doubles as the photographer.

Daddy is the driver.

I am the navigator and Autumn is the backup photographer and trash manager. Our journey is going very well so far, and I am pretty sure that everyone is having a wonderful time together! Daddy did a VERY good job of planning/mapping the trip out. So, in closing everyone is having a wonderful time and mama sure keeps it interesting for us!!

Day Two, June 4th-Amish Country, Ohio

What an absolutely beautiful day!  It wasn't hot at all.  As of right now, though, Canton and Stark County, Ohio is under a tornado warning and severe thunderstorm warning.  Paul and Charity have gone out to get us pizza for supper.  We had a quiet, serene day riding through Amish country and looking at all the beautiful landscape, Amish homes and barns,  and local Amish stores.

We also went to a flea market where lots of Amish were shopping as well.  It was close to Lehman's Store.  The Amish were so interesting to watch.  Most of them had lots of SO cute children, most of whom were barefoot.  We also saw older couples without children out doing their Saturday shopping. 

We went into one store that catered completely to the Amish way of life.  It sold the fabric the Amish make their clothes out of and snaps and hook & eyes.  No buttons could be found because the Amish believe that buttons are too fancy.  They also sold quilt fabrics and supplies.  This store also sold the Amish men's hats and ladies black bonnets.  Most of the Amish were friendly, but some were not.  I guess it must get old after awhile when so many people want to stare at you.  We tried not to stare, but we did try to be friendly.
Outside of Lehman's an elder Amish woman had set out her baskets and a few hand sewn items to sell.
I'd much rather buy something original that has been locally made, so I had to look around.  I found out that the lady's husband had died and she was trying to earn a living.  I bought a utensil basket that she had made.

Inside Lehman's Paul saw this unique grill.  Autumn sent a picture of it to Wayne and Wayne liked it so much he wanted us to ship it to him. 

What do you think?  Anybody else want one?  We'll be glad to ship 'em on out!! lol  NOT!
We wimped out about 4:00 and retired to our hotel room.  So, we're settled in for the night.  The threat of storms is over, I think.  At least I haven't heard anything about them lately.
Tomorrow we head out in the direction of Wisconsin.
Talk to you tomorrow night!

Day One--June 3, 2011--Canton, Ohio

Last night when Paul said he wanted to get up at 4:00 this morning I said, "What!  It won't take that long to get ready!"  We were supposed to pick up Autumn at 5:00.  Well, I was awake at 3:00 and got up at 3:30 because I was TOO EXCITED to sleep! 
We left right on schedule, picked up Autumn right on time, got our biscuits and gas, and picked up Charity right at 5:45!  How's that for timing? 

Out the door!

 Our first mountain in Mt. Airy.

 Poor Daddy! See what he has to put up with!

 The light at the end of the tunnel!

 Charleston, WV capitol building

We are now in Canton, Ohio.  It was a very nice drive.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, only about 75 degrees!   We stopped often, and I even walked at two of the rest stops for 10 minutes each time.  So, we're really not that tired. 

We're trying to decide on somewhere to eat right now.  He decided we'd eat out at one of the Amish restaurants tomorrow for his birthday instead of tonight.  Maybe we'll get in the hot tub or pool later.
So, an uneventful day, thankfully. We were cut off once by a big rig.  The Lord's angels were on duty, though.  Thank You, Jesus. 

We love you all!
Until tomorrow night...

Westward Ho! Count down...14, 13, 12, .......

We're down to counting hours now instead of days!  I'm taking a short break from packing to blogging.  My feet certainly can use the rest.  It's been a busy few days, but we're finally finished up at school.  I have most everything packed except for the last minute laundry, my Bible and books, and my yarn.  Yes, yarn.  I can crochet and knit while riding, even if I can't read and ride.  I'm so thankful for Dramamine!

This is short as I need to get out of this 'easy' chair and get back to work.  Tomorrow morning, bright (well, it's not so bright at 5:00 a.m.) and early we're heading out!  First stop, Bear Grass to get Autumn.  Second stop, Stokes for gas for the van and cheese biscuits for us.  Third stop, Winterville for Charity.
Then we're "on the road again"!

Until tomorrow night!
Love you all!
Jackie

Ten Days and a Wake-Up

 Yes, that's right.  We are counting down the days!    We'll be on the road again in 10 days and a wake-up. This is Paul's way of saying it. We are heading northwest on our trip this time!  First stop, Ohio Amish Country!  Woo Hoo!  We are all getting excited; Paul, me, Autumn, and Charity!  The girls are going to ride all the way across the country with us for nine days.  Then they will fly back home together, and Paul and I will continue on our westward journey.  I think we counted 27 states we'll be traveling through and 5 of them more than once. When we get back home we'll have completed our goal of visiting all 48 contiguous states!

We're all in need of some much needed rest.  You might think riding for hours and hours, day after day wouldn't be very restful, and you'd be partly right.  Riding does get tiring, but we stop about every hour and a half or two to stretch and move around.  We also stop and see interesting things along the way.  Plus we enjoy being with each other and that makes a very peaceful journey.  Being away from our daily routines and seeing the beautiful things God has created really is a very restful and rewarding time.   We thank the Lord for this wonderful opportunity!

New England Vacation, Day 13, August 2 Homeward Bound!

The day started out well!  We woke up early to get a head start on the traffic.  No problem getting up, we were ready to go home!   We didn't eat breakfast at the hotel because it was too early, but the lady had the coffee ready so I fixed us a cup of coffee while Paul loaded up the van.  We were "off and running"!  Home!  We enjoy traveling, but we also enjoy getting back home, too.  Especially when the traffic and road construction is as bad as it has been on this trip!

We get down the road about ten miles and Paul asks for money to pay the toll.  I reached for my purse. NO PURSE!  "Honey, what did you do with my purse?!"  "I didn't have it!" was Paul's reply.  Then he asked, "Did you lay it down at the hotel?"  In an instant I saw exactly where my purse was!  I NEVER leave my purse!  But I did this day! I had put it in a chair beside the coffee pots to make our coffee.

He quickly got off the interstate at the next exit and headed back to the hotel.  We pulled off on a side road to get the number to the hotel from his notebook so I could call them.   By the time he opened the door we looked at each other and knew!  My cell phone was in my purse!  So we drove back as quickly as traffic would allow us with me praying all the way!  "Lord, please let a nice person pick it up and turn it in to the front desk.  Lord, You are Lord over all, even over my purse.  Please protect it until we can get back."  I walked in the front door of the hotel, and I saw one of the ladies grinning at me.  Then I looked at the guy at the front desk and he was smiling at me.  He was on the phone calling MY home number.  He was actually leaving me a message about finding my purse.  The coffee lady had found my purse and gave it to him.  Everything was intact! "Thank You, Lord!  You are so good to me." 

The drive the rest of the way home was somewhat like the day before.  Lots of traffic and road construction.  I finished crocheting all my yarn up that I had with me.  I needed something else to do to keep my eyes and attention off all the traffic, so I pulled out my laptop and worked on documents for school.  Gotta love that Dramamine!

When I took a picture of the Virginia state sign I thought,  "WooHoo!  Almost home!"

When that North Carolina state sign came up, I was nearly jumping out of my seat!  All the states we visited were beautiful, some more than others.  But our own state is absolutely the best!  As the song goes, "I Like Calling North Carolina Home."

When the Martin County sign came up, I was almost unbuckling my seat belt!  (Well, not really, but I wanted to.)

When we rounded the corner on the Harry Ayers road, there she was, in all her splendor and glory!      Our home!  I love it!!

 Thank You, Lord, for a wonderful trip together and for helping us return safely.

 Until next time...
Love Y'all

New England Vacation--Day Twelve--August 1,2010

It has been a LONG day!  A 6 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip due to the heavy and slow traffic mostly on Interstate 95.
We began our long day in Massachusetts, then drove through Rhode Island to Connecticut.

We stopped at Willimantic to visit Miss Emma, Craig's maternal grandmother.  This is a picture of her and her house.

Then we drove around the outskirts of New York City on into New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.

I didn't get Maryland's sign very well,  the traffic was too bad.  The picture below is just one sample of how bad the traffic was ALL DAY!

We got off 95 briefly when we got to Port Deposit where we used to live when Paul was in radiomen school in Bainbridge.  The house we lived in is in the picture below (we stayed in the 3rd floor apt.) and the sign that was in front of his Navy base.  Unfortunately, this sign is all that's left of the base.

Even though it was a very long day due to the traffic, I appreciate God's beauty wherever I find it.

Tomorrow, we'll be HOME!  Bear Grass is such a beautiful place!  I can hardly wait!