Nope. Not yet. More stuff to do. Wait a couple days. By "wait", I mean, work your hineys off.
Ok, ready? Let's leave tonight! Oh, we lost the key to the tow hitch for the dolly and have to call a locksmith. Not yet. We don't want to leave for our Grand Adventure "hangry." Let's go to IHOP instead. (True story.)
Let's leave this morning! Loaded up and oh-so-ready to pull out and...guess what? We're missing the adapter so the brake lights will work on our towed car. No kidding, Petunia and I just waited in the RV while Mark ran to the autoparts store to get one.
I think at that point I was afraid to go back inside the house. The whole crazy idea of this adventure had started to feel un-real; like we somehow weren't going anywhere, but instead just crossing off a never-ending to do list to be ready to go on a 'someday' that kept moving and becoming ever more elusive.
Somehow, though, on the afternoon of July 16th, we actually set off! Destination? Didn't have one.
We were seriously spending every moment getting ready to go instead of seeing where we'd go. Well, we did have plans for our original first two nights on the road. When those days came and went with us still at home, though, I just couldn't stop and plan one.more.thing.
So I did some interneting on the road and found Queen Wilhelmina State Park in the Ouachita National Forest. It is amazing! I feel like after all we have been through the last few weeks, God led us here for a respite. We are spending our first two nights here and I look forward to telling you more about what we are seeing and doing.
We have learned some lessons already:
1. This is not easy. At least we can say with certainty that getting ready to go is definitely not easy.
2. We're not in charge of all the details (like the timing) but God is and His has proven better.
3. It's worth it.
We had some pretty great driving conditions! Open roads where rolling hills turned into mountains; greenery, a beautiful lake, clear sky...so grateful!
"Journey of the Ligntning Bug"
This photo was taken by Mark, but we know the "welcome" was sent by God.