A Sign!

The Professor came home from work a bit early to begin loading the Wessel Vessel, including the cargo thingie to be ratcheted onto the top of the van. Miraculously, it was done before the rain started. The top 'o' the van holds the stuff we won't need for a while: spare towels, beach towels, sleeping bags, tent, Coleman stove. We still need to load the back, but that involves the coolers, so we won't do that until the morning.

The crew were very happy to finally find the games for the Game Cube, which they are considering a travel essential...I found the 2 seasons of Gilligan's Island and the first season of Scarecrow and Mrs. King (I think they conspired to hide them from me!!)

Then the Lord said, "I make this covenant to you, you will never have to make this sort of road trip again (at least until your kids are ready for it)." And He sent a rainbow, as a sign of this covenant...well, at least that's our interpretation of the rainbow we had this evening!

The next thing on the order of business was the christening of the van, as The Wessel Vessel. I know all of you who know me would be shocked to think that I wasted a good beer to do this. Well, I am here to tell you, it was NOT a good beer!! (and no, I did not actually break it onto the van--the Professor wouldn't let me). It was a "unique" beer from the Beer Club at Sam's this month--Romulan Ale, from Guatemala. The only thing one can say about that beer is that it is blue. We actually allowed the Skipper to try out the blue beer--I have included the photos for your general edification! The beer was then poured down the sink.

And then, in a totally Skipper/Gilligan moment, we had the photo op of the crew the night before departure. Gilligan is actually on the phone in deep conversation with his friend in Washington (we'll call him Luke Skywalker), who he is DYING to see (this will not take place until July 3, btw). OBVIOUSLY, this phone conversation during the photo truly is annoying to the Skipper...

A note of praise: while we were at Target today buying another cooler (we determined that the HUGE 5 Day Cooler we have was just too big, and the better size that we have leaks), my MS friend called!! She said they'd be happy for us to stop thru, and I am so excited to see her and her family. It has probably been 7-8 years--since Gilligan was 2!! The really fun thing about friends like her, is that we'll drive in tomorrow night, and it will be as if it was only last week that I saw her last. She is a true Kindred Spirit to me, and I am overjoyed to be able to see her!

So it is almost 9:30, and the Professor is hailing me--gotta get the last of the laundry in the wash! We plan to leave about 7:00 a.m. I am thankful that Atlanta is a traffic concern, because I'm sure we'd be leaving earlier if it weren't for the fact that earlier would most certainly put us in peak rush hour thru Atlanta (did you know it's one of our nation's top 5 terrible traffic areas?? Tied with DC!! I know that all of you who lived in close proximity to us in DC can appreciate the fact that we want to get nowhere near bad traffic if we have the choice!). See you tomorrow for the TRUE beginning of the Wessel Epic Roadtrip!