The Journey

The day Kevin and I drove to Hickory was one of the scariest of my life. Seriously, I thought I was going to die.

We drove to Hickory at the beginning of December 1984. We drove two cars. The weather up north was mild with no snow, so we thought we were in the clear. I really don’t remember much of the drive. Kevin had rigged a cooler as a mobile aquarium for his Oscar fish for his car and he had me boot leg on his ham radio when we needed to talk. (No cell phones in the 80’s!) Everything was going well until THAT FLASHING SIGN. You know the one-on Highway 40 in the Blue Ridge Mountains “ICE ON BRIDGE”. WTF!!! My tires don’t have any tread! This road is way too curvy! I am going to drive off a mountain! I am going to die!! Yes, I was terrified. Thank God I had Kevin on the radio to talk me down. We went slowly, really slowly. My hands were shaking. Kevin kept close so I could follow him. Finally, we made it down the mountain. We made it down the mountain and stopped at a Huddle House to collect our selves. I will be forever grateful for that restaurant! Kevin got me calmed down and we started driving the last hour to our new apartment. It was only raining, but I wouldn’t drive over 50 miles an hour. I was just too scared the ice would come back. We finally made it to our new home and I have never been so relieved to reach a destination!

This time, it is going to take much longer that one-day to reach our new home. We are driving two cars again. We leave Louisville on Saturday June 2^nd and we will get to Oceanside Wednesday June 6^th.   We are going slowly. We are taking our time. No fish this time, just our 25-year-old daughter and two golden doodles. We are taking a day to go see the Grand Canyon. We are going to enjoy the journey. WE PRAY! You can never really know how a road trip will go. We have GPS, but no map to tell us WHAT could happen a long the way. Just faith that we are going the right direction toward our new life. I don’t know if I will have time to write during this journey. I will if I can. Just keep us in your prayers that we have no” flashing signs”, no sick people (or dogs) and that our journey is safe and one of joy and fun!

Safe travels,

Lori