I Warned You!

The first of the Alabama Journals is now on the blog! I warned you.

Alabama Journal 1

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Sunday was the longest day ever. A good day, but a long one nevertheless.

Whitney & Chris did indeed make it (finally) for the 11:00AM worship service, and we enjoyed an afternoon of catching up at the house. Dining on Peggy-made spaghetti and salad, we talked of all things Ashland/Whitney's graduation/new teaching job. We also discussed all things Blount: Elliott's soap opera life/Ian & Emily at school/Peggy's job/and will I ever become a "normal" preacher. HA!

After calling Elliott and letting Whitney give him a hard time, we checked out the Europe pictures on our computer, and at 5:10 PM Whitney & Chris headed out for Orlando. I made some quick adjustments to prepare for Youth Groups, and the Ian & I headed over to get things ready. After all, tonight was to be the debut of my new youth ministry toy; my Darth Vader helmet! It was fun walking in to the Emperor's Theme, and the sounds of Darth Vader breathing, then to do the announcements in the DV voice through the helmet! At least I enjoyed it, anyway. Youth groups went well, with much enthusiasm expressed for Rock The Universe as I revealed the line ups and the weekend package deal. I think we will have to figure out a way to make that happen!

Upon my arrival at home (knowing that Lil Bro would be there waiting for me, and knowing that I had done nothing to pack and prepare for our trip north), I sat to visit with Lil Bro for a few, Peggy warmed up more spaghetti for supper, and then the packing began in earnest. Lil Bro and I decided to forgo the nap, and just leave that evening. So at about 10:10 PM, we pulled out of the driveway to the strains of "Sweet Home Alabama" in Pistis' stereo system, and we headed that direction. Lil Bro made a deal that I couldn't refuse: if I drove through Florida, he would drive the rest of the trip. I had two text messages fro Elliott, the last one saying "movie night, will call you later" so we spent much of the first leg of the trip discussing the soap opera that is Elliott's life these days, teasing as we drove past Florida Christian College that we couldn't see "Hope" (the Honda that Elliott is driving these days) in the parking lot, so he must be in violation of the campus curfew (not that there is one this summer, that only applies during the school year). I never did get a phone call back from Dude during the trip. We laughed about that in a perverse pleasure kind of way.

Exit 2 in Georgia came as gasoline in Pistis was becoming an issue, and as 2:45 AM was rolling around. Filling up at $1.97.9 per gallon fulfilled a fantasy of mine that I would once again put gas in my vehicle that cost less than $2.00 a gallon! Doesn't take much to get me excited sometimes. Ed took the wheel, and we headed out once again. The toughest leg of the journey lay ahead. That time when the fact that you have put in a very long weekend, and have now been up for more than 20 hours straight and you head starts doing the bobble head dance, while consciousness comes and goes in waves. Turn the music up louder on the CD player, jam to "Some Kind of Zombie" by Audio A, and turn the A/C back on and down as cold as it will go. Yes, Lil Bro said he got "nipplecicles" but it was helpful in staying somewhat awake. I must confess that despite our best efforts, I still drifted in and out for ten minutes at a time. The rest area stop just south of Macon was a necessity, not for potty break reasons, but for the splashing of cold water on the faces, and the stretching of legs. Between that stop and Atlanta, I only fell asleep twice. Fortunately, Lil Bro only fell asleep once. Just kidding. It was a struggle, but we knew if we could make it till dawn, we would have it whipped. Then a sinking realization hit us. We weren't sure how long it took to go from Macon to Atlanta, and we hit Macon at 5:30 AM. I thought it took about 90 minutes to get to Atlanta, meaning we would hit the south end of that metropolis at 7:00 AM! "Rush Hour!" Fortunately, we were off in our calculations, and we hit the bypass at 6:20, and while traffic volumes picked up, they weren't crazy. We got to I-20 by about 6:50, and while the westbound traffic in which we were a part ran smoothly away from Atlanta, we praised God that we were not in the several-mile-long bumper-to-bumper crawl that was eastbound I-20 at that hour! We crossed the Alabama state line at 7:20 AM, while I was on the phone with Ian and Emily as they were being dropped off at school, and Peggy and I talked until she got to her school, and Lil Bro and I were turning on Sugarloaf Lane in Anniston! Yay, we had arrived!

Bringing only the essentials our essentials (our clothes, and the air mattresses on which we will sleep this week), we came in and started setting up camp in the living room. Middle Bro awoke and came down to visit with us while we set up. He tried to entice us into breakfast at that point, but we decline, telling him to take his California time clock self back to bed, and we would take a nap so we could take him up on breakfast later in the day. With that, I lay down on my mattress and died to consciousness, sleeping quite soundly from 8:30 AM (real time) until 2:00 PM. Nice!