Home Sweet Home

As many of you already know, we're finally home! It's really good to be home, and especially to sleep in our own bed again. Unfortunately, the kids have not been able to have their beds. We have 2 A/C units, one for upstairs, and one for downstairs. I had forgotten to tell the friends coming to turn the A/C on again that there's also a control upstairs. So, it was 91 degrees upstairs when we returned, AND the unit is not cooling. So we'll have to call an A/C person to come out and see what's wrong, and we'll probably wait til Monday. In addition, the washing machine is kaput. We did most of our laundry while staying at the Howell's in Ohio, so it's not an imminent disaster, but it's certainly something that's going to be more of a concern with each passing day. Ginger will be filling an empty space in our church's Middle School Workcamp trip to Raleigh, NC, which leaves tomorrow. So we've got to get her ready to go today...Back to the realities of life, I guess.

But why don't I tell you how exciting our time in Ohio was. It was unfortunately incredibly packed with stuff we HAD to do. My 82 year-old uncle's car had been on its way out for a while (it was a 1993 model!), and so the priority was to take care of buying him a new car before we departed. We spent quite a bit of Tuesday working out those arrangements, and the rest of it making 4 sets of dinners for my older sister, who's having knee replacement surgery this Monday (the original plan had been for the kids and me to stay in Ohio to do some relief nursing after the surgery, to help my niece out, but the surgery was scheduled later than expected, so the best I could do was cook...). Our niece "Boo" also cut several of our shaggy manes on Tuesday eve.

Wednesday, the Professor and I left early to drive to Columbus, in order to drive my uncle and his car to Dayton (his car's A/C didn't work, and his windows wouldn't roll down, which we all agreed was a dangerous thing in the summer heat for an 82 year-old). I don't remember when I've been so terrified as I was when I drove that old car the 80 miles from Columbus to Dayton. I could feel metal on metal with the brakes, and it made a just horrible, loud noise if I braked too fast. Plus it was hot! After that drive, I am so thankful that we endured the drama associated with the new car (my uncle insisted that there was "nothing" wrong with the car, that it was "immaculate" and that the only thing wrong with the outside was a few scratches, and I don't think he ever really bought into the idea that he needed a new one). I *think* in the end, he's happy with his new-to-him car (it's an '02 Buick Century with only 38,000 miles on it), and the family certainly feels much safer with him in it!!

So by the time we dealt with the whole car mess, it was time for the Goff Family Reunion Picnic. Unfortunately, because it was happening during the week, the husband and fiance of my nieces were working, so we missed seeing them. But we did get to hang with our sweet great-nephew Max, and then our other sweet great-nephew Ian(from the Wessel side--he and his mommy and daddy live in Piqua, OH) and his folks also came for a bit. It was great to see the family, and especially the babies, and of course the food was delicious. Boo and Gilligan, who became very close while Boo lived near us in DC for a year, were up to their old antics again, as well. Of course, Gilligan grilled Boo about what he would be wearing in her wedding in October, which has been a big concern for him since he found out he'd be in the wedding. Our late evenings were spent watching Scarecrow and Mrs. King reruns with good beer.

But alas, Thursday rolled around, and we packed up the Wessel Vessel and the Professor's car once again. The Professor drove the van with the kids; I got the Corolla and the dog. That 575 mile day was not our longest mileage-wise, but it seemed like the longest day of our trip! I guess because we didn't have one another for company. We drove into our neighborhood around 7:30 that evening, and all did a cheer to be home. As we walked into our home, we were greeted by the band KISS, in full make up (and tongue), in our laundry

room, waiting to help us with our dirty clothes. What jokers our friends from the Maxwell House (and probably a sister is also involved) are!! I can't really say anything negative, though, since KISS made us my favorite pound cake, and the plants are all thriving (Mrs. Moose, the spider plant you gave me last year when we moved is the one in the back of this photo in the 2' diameter pot; one of its babies is in the foreground...). We WILL have our revenge for KISS, nonetheless, though. ;-}

Which all brings us home, with statistics in hand (which, as any of you who know the Professor can figure we'd have, accurately).

We ended up falling short on our original, 8,000+ mile prediction: 7,938 miles total.

If we average those miles at 65 miles per hour, that's 122 hours of togetherness in the Wessel Vessel.

We were over $550 UNDER budget!! And that's with 3 "unplanned" hotel stays and 2 abandoned camping nights. I hope I don't break my arm, patting myself on the back.

I have at least one kid (Gilligan) who says he hopes he'll be able to do such a trip with his own children. I probably won't know the true feelings of the other two until they're adults, but that's OK. I had a great time, and I'm glad we were able to do this for, and with, our kids. It is certainly something that, at least, they'll always remember.

I've been asked by several people if I'll continue the blog now that we're back home. The answer is, probably not. Although it could be argued that the Wessel Epic Roadtrip could be an analogy for our life in general, the reason I began the blog was so that I could, here in the end, print it all off and put it in each kid's memory box as a sort of journal/21st century photo album of our trip. I do believe, for better or for worse, I have met that goal. Plus, I am not a journal-er. I've tried personal journals and prayer journals before, and I struggle with them. Although this blog has been a joy to write, it has been a burden of time (there were quite a few nights where I was blogging after everyone else was in bed, or when someone was calling me to do something else and I was saying, "Let me just finish this blog entry first!") The uploading of photos was particularly time-consuming and annoying (they all loaded at the top; I then had to drag them to where I wanted. AND the preview of the post never looked the same as the actual post, which was quite irritating).

But, even though the blog has been/is primarily for me and the kids, I am privileged to have had so many followers on our journey. I hope that you have been entertained by our little journey, and I hope that if you ever consider a trip like this for your own family, you'll remember what good times and great memories we had, and that it will encourage you on your own epic trip!! Peace be the journey.