The Long Journey North

View Larger Map

On Thursday, July 6th, with the help of our parents and dear friends, we loaded up the moving van -- pretty much all 26 feet of it -- and left our life in Athens and set out on the long journey North.  Since 6 hours was the longest trip to date our little family had taken, we decided to divide the journey into 5 unequal parts.  

The first day was a two hour trip to Augusta where the kids and I spent the afternoon playing with cousins (read bosom friends).

We left after breakfast on day 2 and headed 5 hours away to Raleigh, NC where we visited Hubry's childhood friends and my cousin and her family. It took some figuring out to learn how to travel together. Hubry was almost always in the truck, accompanied by either Charlotte or GranJan. The big truck was surprisingly easy to drive; I almost forgot the extra length until I ran a motorcyclist off the road. I had an old mix tape made for me by Robert Heiskell back when I moved to New Hampshire for the summer -- Innocence Mission, Norman Blake, Nancy Griffith, the Indigo Girls, Steve Earle -- as well as Steve Taylor's Squint, Rich Mullins' Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth, and old J.R. Caines sermons from East Ridge Pres.

Kelly, on the other hand, was _always_ with the children in the van. She was prepared. We bought a DVD player for the trip, and a selection of so-called "fidget" toys for the kids to play with, and we were given a bunch of other stickers and DVDs and CDs to help get them through. But it was still a lot of screaming, asking the same questions over and over again, and so on. So when I said that maybe we could drive home for Christmas, Kelly had a very different picture in her mind than I did. 

Day 3 we left by 7:30 and trekked all the way to Pennsylvania.  We got there in the early evening - around 5:00, and were welcomed into the countryside home of the parents of my dear friend from Chattanooga.  There were sheep bleating, flowers in full bloom, and every restful beauty imaginable.  Not to mention, my friend's father was quick to take Songbird under his wing and lead her from adventure to adventure, ending with a lengthy story time.  

The kids were pretty worn out by this point. After Bro carelessly slung a just-gathered egg onto the ground and earned a gentle reprimand, he sat on the ground with his pouty lips and said that he did not want to come inside; "I don't like those people," he said. "I want to be in Maine, RIGHT NOW."But Bro, I reasoned, do you really want to get back in the car for 10 more hours?

"Yes," he assured me. "I want to sleep in Maine."

Day 4 we left again by 7:30 and drove from Pennsylvania to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  We planned the trip so that we'd hit New York on a Sunday morning, and aside from a few stressful moments, we made it to Portsmouth in better time that we'd anticipated.  This was the one hotel night of the trip, and thankfully we arrived to the city in plenty of time to hit the local brewery for delicious dinner and walk the gardens along the ocean front. Willy Wonka was on stage in the park by the bay, but the kids were more interested in running at top speeds around the grass and dancing by the fountain. You could just see their little bodies trying to break free of 22 hours in the car.

That night in the hotel we completely rearranged all the furniture, creating an impressive fortress of tables and couch cushions for Eliza to have her own "room" while we slept on the floor of the kitchenette. GranJan and Charlotte shared the big beds with Bro and Songbird, much to their delight. I mean to the _kids'_ delight. I'm sure GranJan and Charlotte would have enjoyed those big beds all to themselves just fine. The next morning, Charlotte, GranJan and Hubry hopped in the truck and headed up to Brunswick, where, through the wonders of facebook and the body of Christ, we had an extremely efficient and generous unloading crew, mostly folks from Christ the Redeemer Presbyterian in Portland, about 40 minutes away. It took two hours to unload, although of course we're still unpacking.

Meanwhile, Kelly was back frolicking in Portsmouth with the children, bidding the time until afternoon naps would hustle them back to the car, and road would lull them to sleep (excepting Kelly of course), only to awake finally in "Maine," and more specifically at home.  This was their first feel of the  ocean "up North" and their first fistfuls of rocky soil.

In the car during our last stretch of the trip, AKA hours 23 and 24, Songbird announced, "That's not too far!  Maine is really not that far from Georgia!"  Oh my, if only we adults had the same ability to forget lapses of time as our children did. :)

And we couldn't have possibly made the trip without our fearless helpers:

GranJan and Auntie Char-Char

This is where we lay our heads, where we beat our drums, where we ride our bikes and work the ground.  Already there have been many tears and much laughter.  Here's to a year of being UpRooted, yet fully grounded...