Tuesday – Friday, November 2-5, 2010
Mary Beth and Rob opened their apartment to us for a few days. The children thought it was the most awesomest sleepover. It was a time of wrapping up our plans, buying tires, a new Milepost and socks and a thousand details for the trip. We were so tired after the huge push to move out of our home that this gave us time to get our game face on.We had planned to stay with the Rucci’s for two days, leaving early Wednesday morning. However at the end of Tuesday, we realized more needed to happen before we pulled out. I felt so wanted and loved at the Rucci’s. They genuinely were sooo excited to have us stay one more night and then one more and then one more! We would sit out in the hallway after the children were in bed and drink coffee and hot chocolate and talk. It was so special. I remember Mary Beth making nachos with moose meat –so fabulous!
I was able to do laundry and have everything clean and organized in the suitcases. If I had it to do over I would have packed differently. I packed a huge girls suitcase, a huge boys suitcase, my suitcase and Chris packed his. Plus a suitcase for books and games. I wish I had packed enough for everybody for a few days in one suitcase and then packed another like it. It would have saved Chris’s back from loading and unloading all those bags every single day.
We had a farewell breakfast with Evan and Sachi Roberts and Rob and Arlene Koenig at the Cookie Jar. Three couples and 19 children – too fun! The Koenigs bought new tires for Big Bertha and took our 10 extra boxes that would not fit. They shipped them for us. We ate at Gallo’s one last time.
It was so hard to know what to keep accessible for the trip and how to pack exactly. I decided to ration the food and supplies into boxes that we would store in the back of the Uhaul. I used the church kitchen to sort all the food we had bought. We would pull one box out for every 1- 2 days. We would defrost it in the truck and in the lodges at night. It would provide breakfast goodies, snacks, sandwiches supplies for lunches, and we would pull out soups for supper. We kept a hot plate and camp stove utensils accessible for when we had no microwave.
Chris also had to prepare for emergencies. He had to purchase emergency road supplies and be prepared for our family to survive the arctic temps if we had trouble on the way. He stocked up on flares, emergency kits, fluids, de-icer, car parts, had the oil changed, etc. He strapped extra tires on the top of the U-haul trailer. He bought 2 cargo carriers for the truck. It took the full week at the Ruccis for him to acquire everything to feel “prepared”.
I was so full of emotion, I could not say any more good-byes. If we had another month, we would have met with more friends and spent more time with them. As it was, we were fighting against time and the weather.
God absolutely had shut every single door to us staying. He provided only enough work to pay our way back. We only had one way to go. God gave Chris favor. The company that owed his last paycheck agreed to give it to him earlier than usual so we could deposit it and have it in the account for the trip.
Our nerves were tingling. This week had been very productive and we were wrapped up – literally. It was time to go. November 6 was a Saturday and we would officially pull out.
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