And That's What It's All About!!

Day 1 of the Wessel Epic Roadtrip has been long but really, really great. We are all so thankful to have been able to stop for a few hours and visit our Mississippi friends (we'll call them the Hercules Family). Mrs. Hercules made a delicious dinner, and we were able to catch up a bit. It's really like we just saw them 7 days ago, not 7 years!

These are the folks who were neighbors down the street from us while we were at Hurlburt Field, FL, and we both had first babies 3 weeks apart. The Skipper and Hercules III were each other's "first friends." (we actually evacuated part of the way with them during Hurricane Opal). Look at the photos of the boys as babies, and young men now. We adults haven't changed a bit, but boy, have they!!

The girls are 11 days apart, but by then we had moved away from one another.

Then the next set of boys are

about 1 year apart. And they have a bonus child! She is a little charmer of a girlie girl, who I think the Professor would like to have smuggled away with us.

We got back in the car, and we were all full of energy again after our time with them. That's really what it's all about, this trip. Seeing the wonderful friends we've been so blessed to be given as we've moved, and having the opportunity to see some of the beautiful places created by the Lord, here in our own country. I know not every part of this trip is going to be as awesome (especially those days that are just way points, without friends or sights), but this kind of day really makes it worth it!!

By the way, we finally stopped somewhere between Memphis and Little Rock, farther than we'd planned (we passed a bunch of hotels in West Memphis, AR, but then the next little group wasn't for another 40 miles--oops!!). So tomorrow we have about 540 miles, instead of the 675 we thought we'd have. Enough breathing room for us all to sleep in a little bit.

Tomorrow, Breckenridge, TX and our next set of friends--we knew our hosts in Germany, and the other family we were very close to in Germany is driving up to visit from San Antonio while we're there. Fortunately, it's not too difficult a stretch for them, as the two oldest in each family are dating one another (yeah, it's a little weird to reconcile the sweet girl who babysat my kids in Germany, dating the boy who set the styrofoam plate on fire in the stall of the men's bathroom at the chapel there...but I have to admit, they do make a cute couple). We'll be there 2 nights before we need to head out again, so it will be a nice break after 2 long days of driving.

Today, the kids were each given some spending money for the trip. The catch is, they must write in their Wessel Epic Roadtrip journals daily (if they don't, they have to return the money!!). However, I will chose a journal entry from time to time (with their permission, of course) to publish here on this blog. Hopefully I'll do that tomorrow morning. Right now, I really need to get to bed!