Day 1 - Off and Running

Question:  How long does it take to pack, load and prep a house for 5 or 6 weeks on the road?
Answer:  A lot longer than we thought.


With a 9:00 departure in mind we finally hit the road around 2:30.  The van is loaded to the gills and low riding to the max.  (And that is without Chas and Sofia who took Grandma and Grandpa up on riding with them ahead of us.)  We must be easy to identify.  Several neighbors called or emailed good wishes after they saw us leaving the neighborhood, equipped with stereotypical car top carrier.  (Thanks for the good tidings.)  Yes, the family truckster is on the move!

Day one:  Driving.  Tyner and Ileana enjoyed being the older kids in the back seat.  And Janell and I enjoyed their belly laughs.  Our total now stands at 3 states:  Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.  "Kansas?",  you say.  Well, it's tradition in our family that I get off at Exit 1 in Missouri and we back track a few hundred yards past the Kansas state line.  It's a five minute detour I highly recommend (even if no one else in my car does).

A mere few hours later and we were at Destination 1:  Big Cedar in Ridgedale, Missouri (just south of Branson - www.bigcedar.com).  I never get tired of taking the long way in - down the winding road with Table Rock Lake in the distance, winding through the forest, waterfalls cascading across the roadway and then emerging from the trees to see the perfectly manicured grounds.  What a great family place.  We first visited here five years ago on the way back from a family reunion in Kentucky and have been back at least once every year since.  Today, we were marveling at how, on that first visit, Chas was the age that Tyner is now.  What a difference in perspective: Five years ago a six year old was the oldest of our four kids.  Now, it's the youngest.

We are psyched to have Mom and Dad with us for the fourth straight year.  Although we live but a few miles apart at home, never do we get the kind of time, free of the daily grind, that we do together here.  Tonight Sofia and I were walking back to the cabin and I asked her how the car ride over was.  She said great because Grandma and Grandpa are "super fun".  Exactly.