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I know, I Know! Where’s Clyde??!! Sorry it’s so late . . . Wanted to get as far as possible today. Read on . . . t

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At 5:30 this morning, Aunt Shirley woke us with a breakfast spread out across the table. Better than any continental breakfast anywhere we have ever been taken care of. It was her surprise to us. God love that woman. It was hard to leave Aunt Shirley and Uncle Mike, but if we hadn’t, my sister Anita would have shown up to kick my new butt and drag us onward.

We had a wonderful twelve hours filled with food and learning a bit about my family history from Aunty’s genealogy charts and My Grandmother’s poetry.

Robbie found a close kinship with a second cousin he never knew he had. Garrison is my cousin Gary’s son. Even though he is the same age as Jaymi, Rob and Garrison spoke the same language: video games and frogs.

Bye Houston. We’ll come back someday.

We have just passed into Louisiana.

Jaymi, Robert, and I all had a nap! 5:30a comes with a price! It was too bumpy and squeaky in Brandi’s bed for her tastes. She sat in the Co-pilot’s seat and kept Dad company.

Compared to the path across Texas, Louisiana will blow past on its own. We are passing the time trying to get Truckers to honk their horns and looking for words that start with each letter of the alphabet. Finding a “Q” on a billboard took quiet some time!

The sky here in Louisiana is overcast and much cooler, thank goodness. And wetter. Just a little sprinkling here and there with sun shining through every now and then. This is the first feeling of tropical south. Uncle Greg and Aunt Lori can have the “dry heat” of the Southwest. And we left the moldy wet to Uncle Denny and Aunt Leenie. (And my Dear #1 Kelli!) We are a good thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico as we come into Lafayette, but I can still smell it out there!

Driving on. Driving home.

It’s been seven years. The closer we get to Florida the more my mind thinks of it as home. Yet, part of me feels disloyal to Oregon.

Fancy that.

We are now crossing the Louisiana swamp. The kids are amazed. Poor Dan needs a break. Lol.

Driving on through the swamp.

My new butt thinks this bridge through the swamp has gone on long enough.

I had another nap. This time Brandi joined me in the land of slumber.

Meanwhile, down in Florida, people are scurrying around like elves filling an order from Santa. And no one will tell me what they are doing! Haha

Anita calls . . . “Hey, where aaare you?”"
“Almost to Mississippi. What are you doing?”
“Running errands.”
“What errands?”
“Just errands. Hehe hehe. Oh, gotta go. Yard Sale!”
Click

“Hey Dan? Drive faster!”

Then my phone rings again. It’s Anita, but she doesn’t know it. I can hear her talking. “If it doesn’t work there, we can put it in the bedroom.” and then nothing. Foot.

I call her back. “Hey, what are you putting in the bedroom?”
She hesitates. “Huh? I’m not putting anything in the bedroom.”
“You just called me.”
“I did?”
“Yup. And you said, ‘If it doesn’t work there, we can put it in the bedroom.’ Sooo. What are you putting in the bedroom?”
“Haha. You just need to drive down the road! And stop asking questions!”
“If our positions were switched, wouldn’t you be curious?”
“Haha. Goodbye Treese!”

Man.

Driving on. Faster, Dan.

We are coming up on Gulfport. Biloxi is not far off. Before we know it, we’ll be in Mobile, Alabama. It sure is refreshing to pass through multiple states in one day instead of a week to get out of one!

I know I have been writing in sound bites for the last few days. I have to apologize for that. It’s just that . . . Well, it’s hard to use my brain to write long, philosophical lesson-barring lectures when you have been literally bouncing your new butt across the world! Think about it. Have you ever had a butt ache? Pulled a muscle pulling weeds or doing something stupid? Played football with teen agers? Fallen on the ice?

When your butt hurts it’s hard to think with your brain, see?

I took another nap.

We are almost to the Alabama line. Dan pulled off the road around 5:30p so that I could wake up from my nap and cook dinner. I couldn’t eat. I went back to bed. I am having a strange pain in my side. It gets sharp when I breathe in deeply. And my right knee is swollen. I really need this trip to be done!

You know, it’s harder to pretend that your not sick than it is to be sick. Sometimes I wish I could just melt into a puddle of goo and regenerate for a while. Tomorrow we get to Florida. And this crazy ride will be memory material. Maybe then I can just rest for a moment.

Rest in a house, soon to be a home, that my family and friends have set up for us. Can you imagine getting a gift such as this? . . . I am blown away and I have not even reached the Florida line.

Oh thank you. Oh God, thank you.

Driving on towards home.

7:30p

I was laying down when we crossed the Alabama line. I heard them all shout out. They let me miss that one. But coming up soon is the Florida State Line. They would never let me miss that.

Brandi is so excited. She has been trying to imagine what the house will be like ever since we heard about it last night. You have to remember that we have been living in Clyde since May. We have adapted and enjoyed the RV park lifestyle, but we are done with this thirty-three feet for now. This ride across country has cured us of our fancy.

Oh, until yesterday, we were looking forward to just parking the motorhome in a campground and pulling out the awning. But when Anita told us what she and my mom, and Pam and Oh, my lord, what my sister-in-law. Lisa has been up to. And the rest of the Angels.

I asked for 10,000 Angels. God never fails to deliver what we need.

“I wonder what color my room is?”
“I’m going to ride my bike to school!”

For making my kids forget what they have been through and look towards tomorrow. . . I could never repay this. Never.

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8:00p

WELCOME to FLORIDA!

We have crossed the line! It’s too bad that it’s dark, but we are within reach! At this point, If something else went wrong, someone from the Angel Department could collect us up! In fact, my brother-in-law is on his way back from Indiana.

Hey, Uncle Pappa! Keep your eyes out for Clyde! (formerly known as “The Duck Mobile”). Honk once. We’ll quack back!

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We have come 570 miles today and Dan is still not satisfied. But he has been on the go since Aunt Shirley’s breakfast at 5:30 this morning. We have found a KOA in Milton, Florida and are setting up for the night. Bright and early, we’ll be on our way again for the last leg of this unbelievable journey.

Long day today. No more driving.

We are in Florida. Good Job Clyde.