Anchor's aweigh!

We’re on the road!!!

The usual last minute packing and preparation, bringing Lilly the cat to Uncle Don’s, etc., and we hit the pavement at… 10:28! (You Northland College alums will appreciate the significance of that particular time: for the rest of you, just know that it’s extremely cosmic!)

The gray skies and intermittent rain we had this morning seem to be behind us now as we cruise along I 88 through the rolling hills and farm valleys of New York state. The leaves are just budding out on the trees, and whenever the sun breaks through the clouds, the new Spring grass lights up a vibrant green.

In just the last hour, we’ve seen four little league games in progress in fields cheek-by-jowl with the interstate, reminding us of one of the trade-offs involved in making this trip: the boys are missing the whole baseball season. A trade worth making, though… nobody’s complaining… just a little bittersweet seeing that Springtime ritual play out in glimpses from the impersonal distance of the 65-mile-an-hour freeway.

Picking the boys up from school yesterday had a very celebratory feel, since it was their last day for this year. Sam’s teacher took the class out to the sandbox for a hands-on lesson about erosion, in which they made their own Grand Canyon, and they had an ice cream party as a send-off.

For Robin’s last day, his teacher brought donuts, and Robin got to sit on the couch all day, even though it wasn’t his couch day: in his words, it was “The Best Day Ever!” In the car just now, he said, and I quote, “I know this will be hard to believe, but I’m going to miss school on this trip!”