Why do they call them whirlwind trips?

Because of the brevity of our time away, I refer to it as a whirlwind trip, but it was anything but. Mostly it was just slogging along the interstates. Loni and I spent more time on the road, I think, than visiting with family. I don't think we'll try such a long (1400 miles) trip for such a brief stay again any time soon, unless it's for a VERY good reason (like I needed a GRANDCHILD FIX!!).

We left Florida Thursday night (destination Christiansburg, VA) and added quite a bit of time to our first evening by stopping too many times to "see if this exit has an Olive Garden." Finally found one, but it was very busy. Although we enjoyed the meal, we got to the motel at nearly 11 instead of 8 or 9. Consequently, we did not get up on Friday until 7 am and, since we needed a couple of books on tape to make the miles pass, Cracker Barrel seemed the only logical alternative for breakfast. (We listened to a great book, BTW -- The Halfmoon Detective Agency -- adolescent lit, fun read!)

When we arrived in Virginia, we hung out in the great yard at Dan and Lisa's nice, new (to them, this past summer) house, welcomed Nathan off the bus (big boy kindergartner!), celebrated Derek's 2nd birthday (read about this sweet boy in Lisa's blog), ate a yummy dinner (thanks, Lisa), and watched Cars until after first Derek, then Jeremy and Nathan fell asleep. On Saturday we hung out, went to Sonic (family favorite!) for lunch, then to Walmart and Target, of course. Back to their house for hanging out and another yummy dinner and then left to drive to Charlotte to spend the night at the folks'.

We drove through the Blue Ridge mountains in the dark in a blinding, pouring thunderstorm (I thought any minute lightning would strike the car or we'd get washed off the mountain!). The rain was heavy enough for high speed windshield wipers nearly the whole way, and I got cramped fingers and a backache from gripping the steering wheel so hard and instinctively leaning forward trying to see through the deluge. We probably should have stopped to spend the night, but thankfully, God kept us and those around us safe.

Sunday morning we woke up in the folks' nice new house to sparkling sunshine and beautiful foliage, drove to worship with Dad and Mom, ate at a local buffet, and drove the many hours and miles home. (Lisa Scottoline, this time - interesting story and a good distraction, but wish she would clean up the language and, ahem, other things which are somehow worse to listen to than the skim in the text. Glad for fast forward on the CD deck. Don't recommend this one for these reasons.)

Loni and I were wishing that Mapquest would somehow calculate in some time for obligatory fueling and potty breaks. The trip took much longer than calculated and expected! We were glad to drive up Tremont Drive and park in our own driveway (and we know to add a couple of hours to the trip for slow traffic and those necessary breaks).

It has taken me two days to recover (Loni had to go right back to work Monday morning but there were no sub jobs Monday or Tuesday - thank you, Father). We both agree that a longer stay is a must to balance the rigors of this trip next time. And I think Bob won't let us go without him next time, either! (Thanks, sweetie, for letting the gals make this trip without you.)