our motorcycle trip. part I.

(june 18-20, 2010)

okay. so i have been having all these cool thoughts about how i am going to post about our trip, and the reality is, that i am just plain ignorant with computers, and we'll just have to leave them as that...thoughts. :)

here it goes. we left lancaster at 2:45 pm fri the 18th, and drove straight thru to denver, colorado...arriving at 6 pm sat. the 19th.

first things first...we all...and by we all...i mean, aldie, judy, matt and i, kaden, kaycee, campbell and calli arrived at the smoketown airport by 8:30am ish on friday morning, june 18, 2010. this...i was not quite expecting. i guess i just assumed that i would be the only one taking the kids, but it was fine this way. [this made my good-bye to calli and campbell very short and sweet...because i could jump in the plane and try not to cry. :)]

i think we took off a little bit before 9am...and it was amazing. i have said before that this trip was totally ordained by God...and i mean it. zach said that we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to fly...the skies were clear and magnificent, and the ride was smooth as glass. Praise the Lord! no one got sick in the plane, and it was just grand fun, sipping on our cokes, munching on our peanut butter crackers. we got to wear big, heavy headsets, so that we could all talk to each other, and hear the chatter between pilot and all his control people.

and it was LOUD...the hum drum of the plane just kind of droned on in your ears. kaycee actually took off her head set halfway thru the flight...i think it was just too much for her to take, and they were very heavy for her little head. :) she then listened to my generic i-pod.

we arrived at the little new bern, nc airstrip at 11am...to see my brother matt, his wife, naomi, and their 4 children, (judah-13, ezra-11, noah-almost 9, and zion-almost 7) and foster son, (gage, 18 mo) waiting our arrival...waving and all. it was confirmation to me, that this was right...this was where my children should be for the next 2 wks...(aghh...i get tears in my eyes writing that)... 

the kids were giddy with excitement. i snapped a few pics, and really was a basket case. kind of bawling on and off. matt and naomi were very good...speaking words of comfort to my ears...it was just my heart that was hurting. i couldn't believe i was leaving my babies for 2 wks....i was going to miss out on their little lives for 2 whole weeks. the thought was so sad for me to bare. the tiny little thought that this could be the last time i hugged my kids...the last time i saw them as i was, as they were...

regardless...i said my good-byes about 3 different times, and saw to it that they all barely fit into the suburban, and cried again, stopping off in the rest room one last time. poor zach. a crying mommy sitting beside him in a tight little plane...there was like no air moving, and it was hot, as hot could be. the Lord quickly drifted me off to sleep for a mere half hour...my thoughts and tears were collected during that time, and i woke up feeling as if i might be able to carry on a conversation with the man...who did us a huge favor in flying us to n. carolina...saved me massive amounts of driving time. thank you zach.

i actually had fun on the flight back. we talked about fun stuff...husbands and wives, and kids, and childbirth, and child-rearing, and adhd, and how the king men can be a little bit obsessive compulsive a bit in cleanliness, and order, and cleanliness, and order....thanks zach for the stimulating conversation....

we arrived back at the smoketown airport at 2pm, scurried zach home, grabbed some mcdonalds, and were off...to the first leg of our trip...denver, colorado.

my hubs, matt, is a driver. he can drive a lot. he can drive at all hours on very little sleep. he did most of the driving as i tried to catch a nap here and there... i drove from 9:30 pm - 12:30 am, and then again from 4 am- 4:45 am...and i couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. we pulled over on a ramp, and slept from 5 am- 6:30am...sleep had never felt so good to me. we listened to a book on tape, the lucky one, by no one else other than nicholas sparks...i really didn't think matt would listen, but he did, so that was fun. lots of country music, texts and phone calls, and conversation of course...un-interrupted conversation. we drove thru massive storms...thunder and lightning thru indiana, illinois, and then kansas...God was getting it all out then, while we were driving in the truck...as that was the last rain we saw until we returned home the first week in july.

we popped in on a cousin of matt's (ian and nedra rutherford) who were in transition to moving back into their house in kansas city, missouri. didn't actually see them, but did break into their home, and took a quick shower...drying off with a hand-towel, as that is all we could find. :) traveling with my hubs...it's always an adventure. always. we then had our first sit down meal in over 18 hours of driving. yum. did i tell you i learned to drink coffee on this trip? we did become addicted to mcdonalds caramel frappes...they are to die for...but i can drink coffee now...lots of sugar, and flavored creamer is the best...

we arrived in lousiville, colorado at 6 pm on sat. the 19th...our goal was to have the truck dropped off to the denver international airport by sunday morning, the 20th...we are doing good. we had a fabulous dinner with my cousin, shelly, and her husband, matthew that evening, and chatted as late as we could before we passed out with exhaustion. :)  the matthew kings...her husbands name is matthew king too...went over all kinds of iteneries that night...concluding that we could spend a week just touring colorado...okay...that was not helping my "10 day pitch" at all. :)  after dinner the guys had headed out to try to find a spot to unload the motorcycle. some kind man let them borrow his ramp...there was some sort of "accident" that happened with the kick stand...but he told me it was "nothing" and we'll think about it later.

my matt was sleeping before i had finished brushing my teeth. goal for tomorrow...get mark's truck to the denver airport, and be on our way...