Up Periscope

by andrew

The e-silence is broken! I have finally rescued the laptop from the truck. I think this is the longest I have gone without  being connected in quite some time… In fact, it has been rather quite nice. I was <gasp> reticent, in fact, to jack back in. But I figured a quick recap was in order… for the record. And all the lovely Facebook comments / responses really inspired me to get an update out there – thank you ALL for the friendship and kind thoughts.

We didn’t actually end up pulling out until 9pm, Saturday, April 11th. It truly was the endless day. It took an hour or so to hitch up because the weight bottomed out on the truck further than it had when I blocked it up last time. Basically I couldn’t pull the tongue jack in far enough to get all the weight on the truck as it was still resting on the blocks as well. So, I had to use jack stands, pull the tongue jack all the way in, remove s few blocks, jack back up off the stands, remove stands, jack back down onto truck, there. I know you find that all incredibly interesting.

The trailer was HEAVY and we weaved and bobbed a mile or so to the gas station for a precarious fill-up and the obligatory bathroom stops even though EVERYONE had gone before we left. And then we prayed and gave our trip to YHWH. There were many uncertainties yet: would the truck handle all the weight we had dumped into the trailer? Would it pull us all over teh road? Would I ge ttoo tired to continue? And so on… It was immensely helpful to take all those questions and throw them into Trust.

9:40pm actually finally on the road. Puttered along at 50 mph average to keep all the gauges happy. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower depending on the terrain.

11:00pm-ish it was obvious I was physically incapable of staying awake. For those who have braved the noble road with me, you will recognize immediately that this is quite uncharacteristic. I have driven solo from Colorado to Virginia straight through. I have driven solo from the coast of Louisiana to Canada straight through. But there was no way I was going to safely make the 4 hour cruise after the delightful schedule we had been keeping. With no rest areas or Walmarts anywhere in GPS sight, I thought at least a beverage was in order. Sheetz gas station turned out to be very hospitable and gracious hosts and I caught a couple winks between various kids waking up grumpy.

1:30am-ish back on the road. I hit equilibrium at 2am on the dot. There is this Place on the Road that I am quite fond of. It is a Place of perfect awareness that fatigue cannot touch. It is a Place of Perpetual Motion. It is a Place of Grace and Life where every physical and spiritual sense is completely alive. It certainly helped that I stumbled upon an amazing radio show to provide the soundtrack: http://www.starsend.org/broadcast.html – that Place on the Road always demands a soundtrack, and I tuned in right before 2am when Arc was up on the Playlist. Now, I’m the kind of person who believes that everything happens for a reason – for a Purpose – and, though I also realize that one can read too much into things as well, I find immensely curious if not downright cool that the inaugural song of the trip was by a group called Arc. The layers of puns and meanings there are numerous, but the more obvious ones revolve around feeling a bit like  we’re here now in our own little ark riding along atop a sea of circumstance over which we have incomplete control.

4am we finally pulled into the driveway on the Farm… after 2 puke incidents (there has been something going around), and 2 stops at the very end to reattach each weight distribution bar (something screwy going on there on certain angle turns or something).

The last couple days have been full of fellowship, realization (as the surreal slowly gives way to the uberreal), rest (although not quite as much as I’d like yet, because…), and unpacking / sorting / organizing. It might sound funny, be we really do have a lot of unpacking to do. We’re now in the move in phase: i.e. how can we possibly organize everything so that it looks like things are not cluttered. It is so much fun.

We’re parked by a pond. We have power, water, and sewer connections. The kids have a Farm to explore. Renee and I already have a long to-do list to streamline this new life. Photos and GPS data will get posted when I get around to it. And I should have gone to bed 3 hours ago 🙂 Some things change hard. We are feeling so blessed!


8 Responses to “Up Periscope”

  • Josh Maxwell Says:

    A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks

  • Elizabeth Says:

    Wow! What a great update. Even though I already knew that you had made it safely, I was riveted. Keep the posts coming. We miss you guys already!

  • dad Says:

    bon voyage!

    of stuff: we dump stuff, but our hearts are abba’s alone to purge, where no man enters…nor should attempt dare enter…the chambers of our heart…

    alone with HIM…He purges in the inner most chambers of our hearts, where the ark of the covenant resides and His presence takes up residence! Thankfully that work takes place at His prerogative and knowledge which surpasses any of our own efforts and whims! Our Yah is a consuming fire.

    love dad

  • Shannon Says:

    I was so glad to read that you finally made it out! I think I’ve mentioned that my family used to take long trips in our RV (not as long as you guys…) and leaving always seemed to be the biggest ordeal. Don’t worry, you guys will fall into a routine soon, and it will feel like you’ve been doing this forever!

  • andrew Says:

    Josh: thanks for reading! you have a great site going too! one of my near-term goals is to mount a couple solar panels to the roof of our trailer and add another battery or two. any input / ideas are always welcome.

  • andrew Says:

    Elizabeth: thanks for the encouragement! we miss you guys too! just knowing that you’re no longer a quick 3 hour jaunt away makes us sad. but never fear – the posts will roll on.

  • andrew Says:

    thanks dad! and thanks again for all your help! see you on the west coast!

  • andrew Says:

    hey, Shannon! leaving did turn out to be quite a big ordeal, but it was a satisfying accomplishment. i definitely remember you telling us about your family’s RV adventures. i wish we could have made it into the store one last time to have a proper good-bye, but I’m glad we can at least stay in touch.