October 20, 2003

Road Trip - Day 16: New York/New Jersey

Today was a driving day. We left the Boston area around noon, driving west and south for the first time on this trip. In essence I suppose we are on our way home, although it will take us three weeks to meet that destination.

Yesterday was our two-week mark. It was an uneventful day as we were still so exhausted from our walking tour of Boston the day before. We went to breakfast, then to Barnes & Noble to pick up some books. Zach is plowing through the books we brought, and even Jenna is getting the "reading bug."

Anyway, after running a couple of errands yesterday morning, we rested for most of the rest of the day, leaving again only to do laundry. Ro had warned us that there's a standard reply about finding things in the Massachusetts area. The saying is, "You can't get there from here." We certainly found that to be true as we followed the very simple driving directions to the laundromat. We could see it from the highway, but for the longest time we could not figure out how to get to it! (We persevered, however, so now we have fresh, clean clothes for the week!)

Today, we did some schoolwork, packed up again, loaded the van and hit the road, traveling southwest out of Boston, across Connecticut, through southeastern New York state, and into New Jersey. It was a relatively quick drive, made quicker by listening to the book, The Giver, on CD. (It turned out to be quite a fascinating story, and one we would all highly recommend.) We had started the story a week or so ago and would listen to it anytime we had an extended driving day. We listened to the last CD (fourth of four) today, so now we're back to listening to music.

We arrived in Jersey in time for rush hour, though it wasn't too bad the direction we were going. Joel called our friend, "Victa", (Victor, for those in the mid-south who don't have an east-coast accent). Joel and Victor became friends "a thousand years ago" in Dallas. (Actually, it was around the time Joel and I got married, so we've known Victor for almost 15 years!) He's one of those friends we always just pick up with, no matter how much time has passed between contact. We will try to see Victor, his beautiful wife, Judy, and their new baby, Christian, tomorrow night. (Stay tuned...)

While Joel went out to track down some food for dinner tonight, I read our read-alouds to the kids. Then Jenna finished reading one of her readers aloud to me. (That's the second book she's completed on this trip so far.)

I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow. It's supposed to be rainy and chilly. Zach may be coming down with a cold--oy vey!--but Joel says we will carry on.... We've got places to go, things to do, sights to see. In the infamous words of Scarlett O'Hara, tomorrow is another day.... (Above is a photo of my guys and our room for the next three nights.)

(For those of you praying for us, please pray for Zach's health, and for continued protection for us all.)