Mission: The Adventure Begins

On Thursday we finished rushing around: packing, taking boxes to the post office, packing, then taking more boxes to the post office, and finally putting ourselves in the car, stopping a moment for prayer, then headed to the stake center where we had a final interview with the Stake President and were then set apart, making up official full time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We then hit the road...

That night we stayed in Berlin, Connecticut at a nice clean motel.  We were completely shot.  We fell asleep instantly. Friday morning there was a very nice breakfast BUT no vegan, oil-free, salt-free, and sugar-free food.  Disappointing not to stick to my planned diet on the very first day.

Friday we left around 8 AM and drove through until we arrived in Charleston, West Virginia.  There was a pool in the motel but we were too tired to take advantage of it.  Across the access road was a Hardees/Red Burrito franchise.  I got us each a bean and rice burrito, some salad, and a chocolate milk shake for Dear One who was thrilled with that!  We were almost instantly asleep that night also.

Saturday morning there were even fewer options for acceptable food  so I went across to Hardees and got several salads and sides of beans to go on top.  The manager was very kind to prepare them for me as it was breakfast time and they don't have that food ready at that time of day.  Again we left around 8 AM and drove and drove and drove...750 miles or so.  At one point the thermometer in the car registered the outside temperature as 102 degrees.  We arrived in Blue Springs, Missouri at 7:45 PM at 97 degrees!

We scouted a little for the LDS meetinghouse, did not find it quickly so Dear One humored me in going back to the motel to check in.  Now we are about ready for bed.  Well, I am, anyway.

Tomorrow we will drive to the Denver area which should only be 8.5 hours which is good as we will get a late start after church.

This country we live in is glorious!  So many beautiful sights.  My favorite was a doe with two spotted fawns eating beside the interstate highway up on the bank.  West Virginia had me humming to myself that great John Denver song about the state.  The corn was already tasseled out.  Further south and west there were huge fields of corn and soybeans.  Impressive.  Kentucky had some very beautiful horse farms visible from the highway.   We saw big rivers:  Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri and lots of little ones.  The road signs were so interesting.  Salt Lick! Santa Claus!  Ferdinand!  Jackson County.

So far Dear One has done all the driving.  The car is pretty closely packed.   I think to avoid embarrassment I will NOT post a picture.  It just struck me tonight that we won't be able to take any of the grandchildren for rides, once we get there, because there is no room.  We may have to figure something out.