BACK HOME!

If you are new to blogs and are wanting to read my Mission: Louisiana trip experience from beginning to end, please click here to start on the first day of the blog and work your way backwards. Scroll to the bottom of the page and work your way back up. When you are done with that page, return to this one for the last few entries.

Otherwise, this is from my journal for Sunday’s drive; the very last day of the trip. We awoke from our half a night’s sleep in Kansas City at noon, caught a bite to eat, and hit the road hard. Most of us “just wanted to get home”.

I’ve got to say that this day wasn’t all that eventful, other than a near hit with the girl’s van with a couple of dear and some pretty nasty rain and hail coming through South Dakota. We were all pretty tired from the week’s hard work and the long days of travel. But I’ve also got to say that I really feel like the guy van cemented some pretty cool relationships on this trip. I’d go anywhere with these guys again. Thank you so much for making the trip what it was.

I’ve also got to thank my beautiful wife Deanna, who coordinated the trip from beginning to end. You did an incredible job and I am so thankful to be able to call you mine. I love you.

After all of our wild adventures, we finally made it back to Destiny at about 11:30 pm Sunday night. It feels great to be home. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.

THE LONGEST DAY...

Saturday was a really, really, really, really long day. We got everybody up and in the vans by 5:30 am and hit the road at 6:00 am. Everything was going fine until around Jackson, MS. The girl’s vehicle hit a 4” by 4” block of wood that came out unexpectedly underneath the car in front of them. The front left wheel hit it first; the impact burst the tire and busted up the rim beyond use. The back left tire was also ripped open and had a slight leak.

We had a bit of a time finding an open tire place and when we did, we found out later that they couldn’t work with the rim. By that time, all of the other places were closing or already closed. The kids and I were dropped off at the mall for lunch. Seven – count ‘em – seven hours later, we left Jackson with a replacement vehicle from the Avis rental company. Whew!

As we hit the road, we discovered that we could not cancel our reservations at the hotel that we had reserved in Kansas City, MO, so we kept on driving until we got there at 5-ish in the morning. The last hour was really hard for all of us, but we made it. We paid an extra $30 to have a late check-out and catch a few more winks. We needed it!