2019 Travel Log #1

Our TN days are done for a while. I left a week before the guys to attend a conference for CEU's in Biloxi. The best part was I got to spend a week with my friend, Kathy, without having to compete for her attention with the boys!

I did as much as I could to get the boys packed before I left but I knew it was going to be a little stressful for Johnny to finish everything up alone. He ended up having to do some unexpected things the last few days of leaving. If you want to see/hear a good comedy routine you should ask John Gannon to reenact his dad's behavior the Saturday before they left. We are so thankful for friends. These two, Mickey and Carol, befriended us and have treated us so kindly this past season. They let the guys spend the night with them on Saturday night so Johnny could finish everything up with the camper and be ready to leave after church on Sunday. I look forward to seeing them when we get back.

Kathy came in the week before we left and watched Jackson play football. The last game Jackson enjoyed having more fans to watch him play. Mickey and Carol and the Overstreets: Brandon, Karen, Alyssa & Brittany cheered him on. He said it was like when he played in MS! 

I got in a lunch visit with my friend Stormy before we left as well. She and her husband Adrian just released a single, "Send Me Forth." Their family is so talented!!

We finally all met back up in MS and started checking things off the to do list. Once we got everything finished we hit the road. We do not have a plan other than we would like to make it to Moab and Arizona at some point, and we are going to try to be in for family Christmas gatherings at the end of Dec.

11/20/19

Here is what no plan sounds like on the road as you are going through Memphis: 

Johnny: Have you been to the Bass Pro Shop in the Pyramid

Paula: No

Johnny: You want to take the boys?

Paula: Sure...plugs it in GPS--it is only 6 miles away...

So, we arrive.

 We had a good laugh at Johnny who decided he needed to cable up the back since most of our possessions are now in the back of his truck. Who thinks of this kind of stuff?

Later down the road, he improved his design:

We have a travel mascot, Bigfoot, that we take on trips. He usually hangs from the inside camper door when we are stationary. John Gannon bought him for my birthday a few years ago. He is taking pictures of him doing all kinds of things and posting on his Instagram account: bobarmy556. So if you want to see the travels from a 13 year old's perspective, you can check it out.

So when we get back in the truck, Johnny heads to Arkansas.  After seeing a sign mentioning Jonesboro and looking at the time, Johnny says, "I wonder if the Dews are at home?" I send a message and it works out they are so we put the address in the gps. We were all a little excited to see friends we haven't seen in a while. We visited with them for an hour or so. The boys got in some backyard football time! It is always so good for the soul to see friends, especially friends we have watched grow/mature in Christ over many years. Steven is now the pastor of a church in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

So, we get back in the truck and head out again. At some point in the truck, Johnny says, "We could take the kids to that hotel with that water park in Branson we stayed at once. Check and see what they have going on." So, we book that for two nights.

Because it was late and we wanted to get the most of that stay, we needed an overnight stay somewhere. So we drove until we wanted to stop which happened to be in Mountain Home, Arkansas. When we got up the next morning, we visited a little park in town, Cooper Park. They had a few little primitive cabins from the Civil War era on display. The boys read the history and we walked around to get some steps in for the day. We then got back on the road. At some point on down the road a bit Johnny sees a river access sign so we turned around and drove down to the White River which happened to be a perfect spot for a picnic.

 I love this picture of the boys.

11/21/19

After the picnic, we finished the hour drive to Branson. I was determined I was going to win the go cart race. We all knew John would be last. He is so cautious and has always driven so slow despite our relentless making fun of him and laughing.

Well, to our surprise...he beat us all. I couldn't believe it. I rode his tail the whole time but he never let off the accelerator even once for me to get around him.

 3D Blacklight golf was interesting.

 John Gannon's favorite toy was always army men.

I love this headshot of Jackson!

We went to a comedy show and the boys were selected from the audience to come up during a little segment. Jackson said, "I was nervous. My armpits started sweating!"

And we watched an Amazing Pets show. It was copyrighted except when they had the kids on stage.

Have I ever told you all how much Johnny enjoys hot tubs? We sat and soaked while the boys ran around and enjoyed the water park!

We are doing school a little differently while on the road. They are still reading everyday. We are using our travels to learn/reinforce geography and history. I plan to give them an atlas tomorrow and have them figure out what road we are traveling and predict the next one we will turn on. I still require them to write in their reflection journals for a few subjects and they will be adding a travel journey in the next few days. We play spelling games while on the road and are doing practical math for this trip. The boys are having to keep logs for our fuel, lodging, food and other expenses. They tally the cost daily. They have been given the task of ensuring we stay near our food budget for the month. Well, I have almost regretted that! John Gannon has become so obsessive about it. When we were at the grocery store the other day he badgered us about everything we put in the buggy. He ranted for three minutes because I picked up a small tub of chicken salad for $4.50 and then added some crackers. He kept explaining that we could make other choices that would last longer. He even tried to get us all to commit to a daily ration of some things! We will be adding some rate/distance calculations and mileage calculations in as well. The positive, having them take ownership has made them start doing price comparisons in the store and be mindful of how much it costs to do things. And we are still doing Bible everyday. So far this school year, we have went through the books of Matthew, John, and Isaiah. We just started the book of Job. 

I would not trade these days for any amount of money. I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend this time with my boys and Johnny. Time...we can't buy or make more of it and we have no promise of how much we have. Fill your time with things that have matter and have meaning. 

Well, back to the travels...

11/23/29 We left Branson and stayed overnight in Shawnee, Oklahoma. We caught an early service at a church that morning. When taking up the offering, the church encouraged anyone who was hungry, needed shelter or had an immediate need to take cash out of the buckets as they passed! 

We drove on into Oklahoma City and made a couple of stops. The first was at the memorial for the Oklahoma City Bombings. 

 This was piece of the original building.

They decided to incorporate this tree into the monument instead of cutting it to serve as a picture of survival.

They preserved part of the chain link fence they put up to contain the area, and it is filled with lots of memorials/items that people leave.

The best part was they included a children's area. It was a wall of tiles demonstrating some of the artwork of children processing the event. And there were chalk areas built in front that allowed kids (or adults) to draw/process! Way to incorporate some expressive therapy into a memorial!

After the memorial we visited:

They had 73 different snakes including ones we have never seen in person such as king cobras, black mambas, etc. They gave us a packet with information about all of them. We will be doing some future school projects with that! It was our first time exploring the Stockyard side of Oklahoma City. 

After the day's adventures, we finished the trek across Oklahoma and watched the sunset as we entered Texas. I'll pick up there with our next adventures!

Live a Meaningful Life!