10 States in 10 Days

Not a misprint, reality. We are quite relieved to be in our new home in Roach MO, but for those of you who don't know that story here goes!

On July 2nd we drove from our home in Kingsland GA all the way to Rocky Mount NC. My good friend "Boot" from high school was getting married and I had been given the great honor of being a part of the wedding. It was the longest trip Jamen had been on at that point. My parents came down from their home in Virginia to take Jen and the baby up to their house for a couple of days. So we got to Rocky Mount and they met us shortly thereafter to take them the rest of the way. I obviously stayed in Rocky Mount for the wedding.

They got married on the 5th (hoorra) and I left the following morning to reunite with my family in Virginia. We stayed a couple of days until leaving on the 9th to drive back down to Kingsland GA in order to prepare to move. We drove through the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Well we worked hard those couple of days in Kingsland. Builing a trailer, packing boxes, saying goodbye to friends, and trying not to go INSANE. We were also able to drive down to Jacksonville FL to spend some good time with Uncle Ted and Aunt Janie. We also received a very found farewell from our sending church of First Baptist St Marys. It was very touching and very appreciated.

On Monday the 14th the bags were all packed and the trailer we had built was filled to overflowing and we set off going at a top speed of 55 mph driving with a cracked radiator (the cracked radiator obviously was not planned.)(ps. It is not a good idea to drive 1300 miles towing a completely full trailer through the moutains of Arkansas with a cracked radiator. Don't try this at home). We drove all day on Monday until reaching our destination of Red Top Mountain State park, just outside Atlanta GA.

The next morning we got started bright and early and drove as fast as we could to our next destination in Tupelo Mississippi (crossing Alabama) at Trace State Park. We wanted to give Jamen as much time as we could outside the car. He was VERY VERY good the whole trip. Hardly fussed at all, even though we could tell he wasn't having fun. We achieved our goal and arrived for the night at around 3 in the afternoon allowing for plently of time outside the car.

The third day was rough as the radiator was getting worse (it was a pretty big deal) and we were starting to show signs of fatigue. I was very nervous the entire trip as the driver since I had never towed anything that big before and visibility was exactly what I would like driving busy interstates. But we made it out of Mississippi, briefly through Memphis Tennessee (which the roads in Memphis would be better of as dirt or gravel than the terrible pave job they have) before crossing into Arkansas and arriving at our destination of Hot Springs National Park.

We arrived at Hot Springs later than we wanted and were dissappointed to have come all this way and not see the Hot Springs. So we decided that since we didn't have to vacate our campsite until 5pm we would take a hiking trail from our campsite to the Hot Springs and enjoy exploring that a little. We did have fun, but it kept us from getting on the road until 11 am on Thursday. Thursday was the roughest day for the radiator. We drove through beautiful country in North Arkansas, but had to stop about every 40 miles to refill the radiator. It made from a nervewracking time. We kept driving and driving and driving until finally was pulled up into Roach Missouri (don't blink) and onto New Tribes Missionary Training Center campus. A steep downhill was there to greet us and we slid all the way down to the bottom. When the dust settled some staff here Bob and Sanya Hazen had spotted us and shown us to our apartment.

So from July 9th to July 17th we drove through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and finally Missouri. So I guess 10 states in 9 days, but it sounds better as 10 states in 10 days.