Day Fifteen

We left the hotel this morning at 7:00 am.  Paul Stutzman led the morning meditation, sharing a little more about his river journey.

We sang a few songs and then turned to some intense visiting with the first party of travelers who will be leaving us in Illinois.  Floyd, Sarah, Ken and Carol had a ride waiting, a friend at a truck stop along our route.  There were lots of good-byes, hugs, and even some tears with the parting.  Amazing how quickly kindred spirits can develop friendships; many of these people had never met until two weeks ago.

The next to leave us were Cal and Shirl.  We stopped for lunch in Elkhart, Indiana and their daughter and granddaughter arrived to pick them up.  They have another thirty minutes to their home in Michigan. More hugs and goodbyes.  But we are planning our first get-together already.  As long as we have something to look forward to, life is good.

We drove into the Pioneer Trails office in Fryburg around 6:30 pm after traveling 5,702 miles.  Even though I’m sure we were all tired and ready to be home, still some of us could hardly finish our good-byes and tear ourselves away.  With promises to stay in touch and plans 

underway for a reunion, we loaded our bags in our vehicles and went our separate ways. I’m glad my sisters, brother, and sister-in-law will be spending the night with us before heading home to VA and WV.  Better for me to ease out of vacation mode gradually than go cold turkey.

I have around a thousand photos on my computer of this adventure.  Some of them I took, some were taken by others.  I figure I have plenty for the next family get-together.  If I make a slide show of them it will only take four or five hours to show them all.  If I give a detailed explanation on each one I can stretch it out a little longer yet.