Getting Settled ...

Our newly installed internet service is down for the next day or so ... so I'm at Starbucks again this morning. The move-in went smoothly, and we spent all afternoon and evening unpacking.

Henry is adjusting to his new surroundings, too -- he stuck close to us last night! And we’re learning how to manage an air-conditioned apartment, which is a new phenomenon for all of us. (I woke up this morning shivering, coming out of a dream in which Christy and I were staying in a hotel room with a broken window.)

It’s been kind of rainy here, ironically … but that’s just fine, because warm rain feels good! Highs are topping out over 90 every day. It feels a little like El Salvador.

Today we get to tour Sarah’s new school, and tonight VTS is holding a welcome Eucharist and potluck dinner. So we’ll get to meet many more people!

Are We There Yet?

I forgot to mention something very important that happened Sunday night. Our GPS guided us through Annandale to the home of our friends. At the very moment we pulled into their driveway and ended our cross-country journey of eleven days, Sarah asked innocently, from the back seat, for the VERY first time: “Are we there yet?”

That’s actually a fair question today, as we’re still in limbo. This morning I woke up early and drove into Alexandria to pick up the keys to our apartment from our friend Lori (who picked them up from the apartment office on Friday for us). I actually parked at the apartment and then walked to the seminary, just to see what the walk across the campus of Episcopal High School was like. Answer: HOT! Before 8:00 a.m., it was well over 80 degrees and very humid. I was sweating like a pig when I finally got to Lori’s office. While I was there, the Comcast guy called, so I needed to book it back to the apartment to meet him. It's about 15-20 minutes' walk between the two.

Wi-fi installed, I headed back to Annandale to hang out with my girls. We hit the grocery store for a few basic necessities, and Target for some apartment stuff. Then we went back to the apartment so I could show it to them. Sarah got very excited in the big, empty space; she started dashing around, avoiding my camera … and that gave me a few really great shots like this one.

We walked around the apartment complex a bit; the temperature had crept into the high 90s, and Sarah’s now-familiar cry of “It’s too hot!” began to be almost as unbearable as the heat. That’s when we met Hester and Andy and their kids, Neeley and Zander. Finally, Sarah had playmates! Later in the afternoon, we met the Del Priore family as well, whom we’d discovered on Facebook some time ago, and Sarah took to playing with their daughter, who will also be in first grade at Sarah’s school. We met many other people, too, and hopefully, nobody will quiz us on their names quite yet.

In addition to being taken in by the crowd of new seminary families right away, the Hoskinses’ neighborhood kids have also turned out in force. One family has baked us banana bread! And on our return from Alexandria this evening, Sarah immediately joined with an impromptu bunch of kids who were jumping back and forth between two large wading pools. Sarah was the only one without a bathing suit, but she didn’t need it. Christy was cooking dinner in the meantime, and when Sarah and I came home, Sarah burst out, “I’m completely SOAKED! And that was SO … MUCH … FUN!!!!” Our journey so far has been marked by many graceful moments of enthusiasm just like this one.

We have good news: the movers will arrive on Wednesday! This means they’ll have honored their agreement by showing up on the very last day they said they might, and we won’t feel like un-recommending them or writing bad reviews … yet. First we'll see how they've done with all our things!

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

This morning we cleared out of our final hotel room and journeyed into downtown Charleston, WV, to attend Eucharist at St. John’s Episcopal Church. It’s a historical place, probably built in the early 19^th century. We dropped Sarah off at the Godly Play room, where the teacher was getting ready to tell the story of Abraham and Sarah, an old favorite of ours which I’ve told to the children of St. Thomas on a number of occasions.

That happened during the first part of the Eucharist while Christy and I were at worship. Just as the priest was wrapping up the Prayers of the People, a loud alarm went off—the smoke alarm! The priest calmly invited us to leave the building and await further instructions. We didn’t see Sarah during this time, but we assumed she was fine and that this was a false alarm. Sure enough, in the brand-new kitchen that had just been dedicated this week (and for which we had just finished praying), somebody had burned some toast. I commented later that it’s probably a great idea for every church to have a fire drill right in the middle of the service, whether it was planned or not!

The people there were kind, and the liturgy was well done. After coffee hour, we hit the road hard. It just so happened that yesterday we finished listening to The Hobbit unabridged on audiobook. Toward the end, Gandalf says, “It’s a long road home.” Bilbo replies, “Yes, but it’s the last road.” That’s exactly how we felt. For some reason, I really wanted to be behind the wheel today, so I started driving, and I didn’t relinquish the job all afternoon and into the evening. Adrenaline kept me moving, and maybe it also satisfied some deeply male part of my ego to be the one driving my family to our final (for now) destination.

We did choose the southern path through the Appalachians, which involved some hairpin turns, many large trucks, occasional slow traffic, and one brief downpour. All went well, though, and we’re very glad we took the scenic route.

At 6:30 or so, we arrived in Fairfax and stopped to eat at Denny’s. Then on we went through town to nearby Annandale, our GPS telling us exactly where we needed to go. We pulled into the driveway of our friends the Hoskinses, who used to attend church at St. Thomas with us until they moved here over a year ago. They have three girls, the oldest of whom was a core member of my youth group.

The Hoskinses are on an extended vacation, so we get to house-sit for them for a few days until the movers come. Tonight Sarah settled into the bed of the youngest girl. Her wall is plastered with posters of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers—a sure sign that she has older sisters!

We’re very happy to be in Virginia at long last. Not that our journey is finished—I mean, yes, it’s just beginning, but until the moving van comes, we’re still in a sort of limbo. But at least the routine of driving for over four hours a day has finally come to an end.

My Old Kentucky Home

This morning Christy and Sarah slept in until nearly 10:00 (we did come through a time zone change the previous day). We checked out of our hotel and ate at Waffle House, which we’d thought was a stand-alone place, but which turns out to be a chain. Here we experienced our first evidence of southern hospitality: an extremely friendly waitress named Donna chatted us up and tried to fool us with her droll southern humor.

Christy: “So … is this town down the road pronounced ver-SIGH, like the French?”

Josh: “Or is it ver-SELLS, with an English pronunciation?”

Donna (without missing a beat): “Neither one. It’s pronounced ver-SAH-chee.”

Luckily, another customer corrected her before we could really fall for it! Donna was a kick, as was the entire restaurant. The food wasn’t great, but the experience was.

Since we’d come as far south as Shepherdsville anyway, we decided to take a more scenic route back to the interstate. On the way we saw miles and miles of gorgeous horse ranches, and we also passed through the town of Bardstown, which was the inspiration for Stephen Foster’s classic song “My Old Kentucky Home.” And yes, nearly every sign in town made sure we were aware of that factoid!

We had just entered Daniel Boone National Forest when we noticed that the sun was missing. Then we saw the very first raindrop of our entire road trip … and then another and another. Just as we arrived at a planned rest stop, the heavens opened up, and Christy got thoroughly drenched bringing snacks from the car for us to eat indoors. At the rest area, we met a couple who were surprised to hear that it almost never rains this hard in Seattle. Sorry, friends: we told them they should come to Seattle in the summertime. I know that’s supposed to be a well-kept secret.

Now, it was cooler today—only about 85-90 degrees—but the rain felt very tropical, like our experiences of rain in El Salvador. The rain didn’t last, though, and before long we were in West Virginia. This was probably the shortest day of driving for the entire trip—less than four hours.

In Charleston, we got settled in our hotel with what we call, in our house, a “movie nap”: Sarah got to watch a movie while we took a nap! We happened to have the third-rate Disney movie Hercules with us from Netflix, so Sarah got to enjoy it and we didn’t mind missing it. Afterward we walked across the parking lot to a cheap pizza place for dinner. And that’s really about it for the day.

You only get one picture today, a view of the nearby bridge from our hotel. It hadn’t occurred to us until the end of the day that we’d forgotten to take any pictures. I guess we’re really ready to be done with this trip, as wonderful as it has been.

Ahead of us, tomorrow, lies the real puzzle. Should we take the southern route through the Appalachians? Or should we cut north through Maryland and skirt the mountains? Our GPS recommends the southern route (as did the nice people at the rest stop). But our advance research suggested the northern route, while longer, might go faster because it avoids the mountains. Does anyone out there have additional wisdom to offer us?

Four States in One Day

Indeed, sleep did come slowly to Sarah last night; she got up at least four times complaining of her inability to slumber. But then she was up very early in the morning, because … the Tooth Fairy came! The Tooth Fairy came! And she was generous indeed … she left our Sarah one crisp dollar bill!

We ate breakfast with Angela and Cameron, chatting and catching up on life, and then we managed to spend time at a local playground before we hit the road. This overnight was especially good for Sarah, who has not been able to play with a single other kid on our entire trip. We asked Sarah later what she thought of Cameron. She replied, simply, “Good friend.”

By the time we left the playground, it felt like at least 90 degrees, with very high humidity. We took a little extra time to cruise right into downtown St. Louis and see the Arch. It is certainly the kind of thing you have to see in person in order to appreciate its sheer massiveness.

On we drove down the road, leaving Missouri behind and entering Illinois. Halfway across the southern part of the state, we stopped for lunch in Mt. Vernon; that’s where we found a McDonald’s with a gigantic play area for Sarah and free wi-fi for us! (Don’t worry, we didn’t eat there … that honor went to the Subway down the street. But we did buy a token drink in order to hang out for a while.)

We were in that state for such a short time, we didn’t even get to enjoy the entirety of Sufjan Stevens’ excellent album Illinois before crossing the Wabash and entering Indiana. We also made quick work of the Hoosier State, and around 6:00 Eastern time, we arrived at the Motel 6 in Georgetown, just this side of Kentucky. We were all looking forward to a dip in the pool before grabbing some dinner in Louisville.

But here was our big loop-throw of the day: the pool was disgusting! The water was a kind of translucent green. I asked the desk clerk, “Why is the water green?”

“Because nobody’s been cleaning it.”

“Would you swim in it?”

“No, I sure wouldn’t.”

Up in our room, just as Sarah was crying deep sobs over the loss of the pool and trying to convince us the water didn’t look that bad, Christy made another shocking discovery. Back to the desk clerk I went.

“Our toilet won’t flush.”

(Desk clerk looks disgusted) … “Would you like to check out?”

“Yes, I think we would. Can you recommend another hotel?”

“The only one I can think of is the Holiday Inn, but that’s $100 a night.”

Maybe she didn’t know how to use a search engine, but she was helpful in every other way, bearing with us as our GPS found other options and giving us a total refund. Our new destination was on the other side of Louisville in the town of Shepherdsville, Kentucky. And so it was that we crossed the Ohio River and made it to four states in one day.

On the way to the new hotel, we hit downtown Louisville, which was pretty amazingly cool-looking. We sat down to dinner at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. Oh, my. Not only was this place fabulously wacky (they hold an annual “ugly lamp contest,” and the winner becomes a permanent part of the establishment), but the food was excellent as well.

In Shepherdsville, tired but happy, we all jumped into the warmest pool we have ever experienced. Stepping into this outdoor pool, affected as it was by the heat of the day, was like stepping into a warm bath. And it was clean! None of us really wanted to get out.

We can’t believe we only have two days remaining on our journey. Unfortunately, though, that doesn’t really mean we’ll be home; we have learned that our moving van won’t arrive until August 3 or 4. Our friends the Hoskinses, who live in Annandale, Virginia, have generously offered us their house while they’re on vacation. So at least we’ll have a place to lay our heads until our apartment in Alexandria can finally come together.

And tonight, we finally figured out the key to getting Sarah to sleep at a decent hour. A good swim is a good start; but then, we stayed in the room with her instead of stepping out in to the hallway. We quietly read and worked on the blog while she drifted off to sleep, a gift from her new friend Cameron clutched tightly in her hand.

Missouri Loves Company; a/k/a The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth

My alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. By 6:45, I was sitting outside Expert Tire waiting for the good people there to address the problem of the flat tire. Bad news: the nail we had run over was in a very unlucky spot, and any patch they put on would only prolong the inevitable. Good news: in one hour flat, a new tire was installed, and we were ready for our day!

Unexpected events had taken a toll on us, so we were eager to pay our Kansas Turnpike toll and get out of Dodge (we never actually visited Dodge City, but you get the idea).

We got to Kansas City on a Thursday; by lunchtime we learned a thing or two about President Harry Truman, who was born and raised in Independence, Missouri. We even ate ice cream at the little shop where Truman had his first job. But first we ate lunch at the Courthouse Exchange, a burger joint founded in 1899. While we were there, we noticed that Sarah’s first loose tooth had turned nearly 180 degrees in its socket, so we asked our server for a Ziploc bag … just in case. (This is what is called foreshadowing.)

We drove all through the afternoon, feeling much better about our trip, and in a seemingly short time we exited I-70 in Chesterfield, a suburb of St. Louis, to spend the night with our friend Angela and her son Cameron (husband Chuck was away on business but wished us well). Angela was a member of the St. Mark’s Young Adults Group back in the day, and she was one of the ushers at our wedding. Cameron is 4 years old, and he and Sarah immediately plopped down in front of an episode of Super Why while we caught up with Angela.

Eventually we went out to eat at Canyon in St. Louis. Christy was reading a Scooby Doo book to the kids in the backseat when, all of a sudden, POP! Out came the tooth.

As we put Sarah to bed tonight, she intoned, “This is the most exciting night of my life!” I tried to explain that the Tooth Fairy can’t come if you don’t go to sleep, but something tells me sleep will still come slowly to our almost-6-year-old girl tonight.

Toto, I don't think we're in the Emerald City anymore!

What a day! We really thought we had things under control … and in a way, I guess, we really did, such that we were able to handle the unexpected curveballs with considerable aplomb.

We left Oakley around 10:00 a.m. and headed due east. No GPS was necessary for hours; we knew we just needed to head east on I-70 across the state of Kansas. The words Christy has used to describe Kansas are most of what can be said: “flat” and “hot.” We had experienced 103 degrees in Oakley, and today it was warmer – one thermometer in Salina read 109! That’s where we stopped for lunch.

And actually, to “flat” and “hot,” we must add “windy.” That made for some tricky driving—I wonder if the locals get used to their cars weaving all over the road. We sure didn’t.
 

ALL HAIL THE BIG SCARY TIN MAN ... NOW!!!

The real feature of the day came later: we visited the Oz Museum in Wamego. We managed to keep this surprise from Sarah until we pulled up. Although she was excited, we were interested to see that the swimming pool and science museum had been bigger attractions for her. Still, we’re glad we stopped by.

Then came the first curveball: a stretch of I-70 eastbound was closed, and we were re-routed, along with many other unsuspecting drivers, all the way back to Wamego. Here’s the story from the local news about what happened. Bizarre!

But at this point, our little GPS (named “Via”) really proved her worth. She was able to direct us on some side streets that most of the traffic did not take. We also want to thank KPR-FM, the local NPR affiliate, for letting us know when the freeway was open again.

But one more curveball awaited us. On the way into Topeka, a man speeding along beside us urged us to roll down our window. I said, “No, Christy—ignore him—it’s too windy and dangerous to bother.” Nothing felt wrong with the car, but when we arrived at the Super 8, we had a slow-leaking flat tire. We called Better World Club to put on the spare, and in the morning, I intend to drive to the nearest tire place (only a few blocks away) and be waiting for them when they open. Then, on to St. Louis!

Buffy fans, take note: This place is the "Triple Meat Palace."

Oh, one more thing: dinner was certainly worth remembering. Within walking distance of our hotel is Pat’s Pig BBQ, a quaint little joint with an item called the Sparky Burger, which Josh dared to order. The Sparky Burger contains a beef patty, a slice of ham, and several chunks of sausage, all smothered in melted cheese. This sandwich defeated Josh completely; he was only able to eat about half of it.

From the mountains to the prairies ...

After waking up this morning, we assessed the situation and realized we had plenty of time to get to our next destination. So we spent the morning in Denver. First we visited the Denver Nature and Science Museum, where we took in a dinosaur exhibit and a planetarium show about our solar system. Sarah described the latter as “super fun!” bouncing up and down with glee as we exited the theater. We also visited the famous bookstore Tattered Cover, but by that time, we figured we’d better get moving.

Our GPS was indispensable in helping us get out of Denver, and after that, we had only three and a half hours of driving to do. But, funny thing: right after Denver, all the mountains are behind you, and everything is suddenly very flat. Other than the odd hill here and there, Eastern Colorado looked exactly as I imagined Kansas would look. I was not wrong. Still, there’s something invigorating about the wide-open plains country. I especially enjoyed seeing storms, like the one pictured, from miles away. It looked suspiciously like a tornado to my untrained eyes, but then I remembered that tornadoes would probably appear much darker, and that this was just a run-of-the-mill rainstorm.

Yet again we had forgotten to take the change in time zones into account, so when we rolled into Oakley, Kansas, it felt like 5:30 to us but was 6:30 for everybody else. There was just time for a swim in the motel’s outdoor pool before it closed at sundown. One of the owners of the motel thoughtfully provided water-wings for Sarah, which she had never seen before but was curious about. Equipped with them and a foam “noodle,” Sarah felt more confident in the water than ever before, and was soon paddling between parents rather than nervously clinging to one or the other of us. This also earned the “super fun!” award from Sarah; actually, all three of us had an excellent time beating the 103-degree heat before setting off for one of the town’s two restaurants for dinner.