Road Trip

Lovely fall colors

We just got back from our first big road trip. Multi-day road trips are a foreign concept on the islands. The islands just aren’t big enough. People will do an island tour, but it only takes a day to go around any of the islands and that’s with multiple stops along the way. Islanders don’t understand how big the US really is—but we usually try to help them understand by telling them that it takes many days to drive across it. Still it is hard for islanders to understand all the kinds of diversity that are encompassed in the States. They’ll ask questions like: “What is the climate like in the US?” “What kind of trees are there in the US?” “What do they eat in the US?” Islanders expect simple answers to these questions because on the island the climate, trees, foods don’t change from place to place. But the US has so many different climates, ecosystems, cultures, customs and foods that there is no way to answer these questions with a single sentence.

We didn’t even leave the Eastern time zone but we were on the road for six days (not counting days spent in one location)— passing through MA, NY, ON, MI, OH, PA, NJ, NY, CT and back to MA. Here are some anecdotes.

 -  America is beautiful in the fall!  Long corridors of amazing fall colors of red, yellow and orange. The powerful rush and splendor of Niagara falls. Rolling hills, rivers and rich farmland. A hidden waterfall off the turnpike in PA.

Getting wet at Niagara Falls

 -  “The kids only need one pair of shoes each!” An optimistic thought as we were packing up the car. Then we stopped by Niagara Falls on our way to the Toronto area. Our son’s shoes were absolutely soaked. He wore Megan’s flip-flops into the restaurant for lunch. In the Toledo area, our other son left his shoes outside overnight while it poured down rain. He had to borrow shoes from our hosts to go out. Then at our next stop our older son went down the slide at a playground right into the large puddle at the bottom. Shoes and pants were soaked again. Next time we’ll pack two sets of shoes.

 -  “Did we lock the car last night?” We were parked in our friends’ driveway in suburban Canada sandwiched between multiple other cars. In the morning, Tom found the driver’s door slightly ajar. “Megan must have left it open.” Megan went in later and noticed the contents of the glove compartment were scattered around the front seat. “Tom must have been looking for something.” Eventually we talked to each other and realized that someone had been in our car in the night. Apparently it is a common occurrence in the neighborhood— people go around and check doors and see what they can grab. We are thankful for God’s provision because whoever was in our car didn’t take our cell phone or our passports or anything from the mostly full trunk. They took some of the kids’ car snacks and some of the basic medication from the first aid kit.

Stopping for picnic lunch off the highway

 -  “When friends leave my throat hurts,” said our 4 year old former teammate after we left. It was great to say hello and reconnect with so many people, though it was sad to say goodbye again. Our older son said, “My favorite part was staying at all the different people’s houses!” Our younger sons first question on entering a house was, “Where are the toys?”

 -  Learning is fun! Besides doing some homeschool in the car, we were treated to a day at the historic Sauder Village in western OH and the interactive science museum, Imagination Station in Toledo! The kids helped construct a handmade broom. Tom rode a bike on a wire over a 50 ft drop. We made structures to withstand earthquakes. The kids churned butter. We sat in a wigwam. Go learning!

We’ll have to save some of our road trip photos to help explain to islanders about the complex and diverse place that is the US.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our road trip went really well. We didn’t have to drive through hardly any traffic and no bad weather. We were really happy with how the kids did and with all our interactions with old and new friends. Tom’s birthday was today! We’re so thankful to have him, our loving, wise and caring husband and father. Megan’s back seemed to do well on the trip— it didn’t get any worse and we may be even seeing the beginning signs of improvement.

Back in time for Tom's BD

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our former teammates’ 1.5 year old broke her arm while we visited on our road trip. Pray for her quick healing. Several of the people we visited are in the midst of different types of transitions— pray for wise decision-making and smooth transitions all around. We have a 1 week respite before we head out for another even longer road trip. Pray that we’d get good rest this week. Megan goes back to the physical therapist tomorrow— pray that she would see even more dramatic improvement in the coming days. Our teammate will be returning to Clove Island in about a month— pray for all the plans and preparations related to her return.