Afterglow

Summer's almost gone. As expected, Cincinnati saved the hot weather for when I return to my non-AC room at work. Luckily in my few years there I've learned the tricks to managing the heat. We'll survive.

Video work continues. I have bookended the thing and finished the first 3 days and the last week. Now it's on to filling in the blanks. The challenge will of course be finding time to work on it once school starts.

I'm not usually one to linger in a happy reminiscence when there's work to be done. I'm ready to get started, even if I don't want to be yet. I'm ready for the fall to get here. I'm ready for work to feel normal, so let's just start this thing already.

Family is returning to normal. It has been a good summer. All that's left is to enjoy the last few days and strike that balance between preparation, nostalgia, and being in the moment.

Matt

Date Night

Seriously, we need date night more often.

Just got back from an evening in Columbus - went to a wedding and reception of an old friend of Steph's. We left the twins with Grandma D and hauled off for the overnight. It was so nice to only have to pack for 2 and to not have to feed anyone but ourselves at the reception. And to be able to just be with each other.

We always talk big about setting up nights out more often but it never seems to happen. We really need to try.

We miss the big girls...it's been nice getting work done, and I won't lie and say that I've missed them every minute, but it's starting to feel not quite right around here. I'll be glad to see them again and interact with them.

Starting to put plans together for school. Looking forward to the point in time a month or so from now when going to work feels normal again. It's just the transition that bites.

Anyway, check back for more news of Kindergarten and the like.

Matt

Feast or Famine

After being a family of 8 for 31 days, now we are down to 4! Mom and dad took Faith and Mari to visit relatives in Pennsylvania, and now we're left at home with the twins. Kinda weird and quiet in the house, but I'm getting a lot of work done. So far (including some work last week while the trip was still taking place) I have completed the opening montage, the ending montage, the Salt Lake to St. Louis section and the "Last night in Blanchette Park" section. Feeling pretty good about things so far...but a long way to go.

Adjusting to the new financial realities - Steph's new job is a big drop in pay, but we're both committed to making this all work. It's worth it to get Steph more time at home with the babies while they're still babies. Some hard choices will have to be made, I'm sure, but we know this was the right decision.

Again, the inner battle is being fought about whether I should be more worried about school starting up. Most of my schedule will be easier this year than last year - specials have been dropped to 40 minutes...but Kindergarten is also 40 minutes and THAT is a little scary. What it all comes down to is that one of these years I am going to go in to the new year without obsessing. If it goes well, I have arrived. If not, I have hubris. We'll see. I have a feeling it won't be this year.

Faith has a camera - a 'made-for-kids' digital camera. Got it a long time ago, but it's just now feeling like a good fit for her. Anyway, she took some pictures with it in the hotel, so I'll post one here - the day when the kids can start taking over the filming and picture duties will be a glorious day indeed.

Home at last

The trip is over. I offer these lyrics to you, from the song "Life in Motion" by the Flower Kings. As I have listened to this song during the trip it has become the theme song, in my own mind, of the trip, and will definitely be used as the closing music in the video.

The blog will return to trip mode another day, but for now, it is back to normal. Continue to check in for updates on the family's adventures. We are indeed Life in Motion...

"Life in Motion" by the Flower Kings:

You can call me dreamer
You can call me plain
A tiny bit of sunshine
In between the driving rains

You can call me father
You can call me son
A little bit of yesterday
And future wrapped in one

I am the provider - I'm the president
I am the forgiver here - thru time and time again

We are life in motion - with our chunk of time
Trembling in our hands - we wait for miracles

I'm just a schoolboy - I am innocence
I am just a lonely kid behind the garden fence
I'm the voice of reason - I'm the sacred soul
I'm eternal fire and your shelter from the cold

We are life in motion - with our chunk of time
Trembling in our hands we wait for miracles

We are life in motion - with our chunk of time
This years model blue eyed son just waiting down the line

Sailing the highways of the sun
We are waiting for the harvest

I am right beside you when you dream alone
Send you skies of comfort when in middle of a storm
Look to see the bottom of the endless hole
I'm right there to send three words to save your soul

Sailing the highways of the sun
We are waiting for the dawn
And the harvest of our dreams

I am right beside you when you dream alone
Send you skies of comfort when in middle of a storm
Look to see the bottom of the endless hole
I'm right there to send three words to save your soul
I am right beside you when you dream alone

I'm the voice of summer now won't you ride the wave?
I am life in motion & the laughter on the scale
If you take me seriously - I'll take you serious too
Ride together into the sunset that's all that we can do

You can call me dreamer
You can call me plain
A tiny bit of sunshine
In between the driving rains

You can call me father
You can call me son
A little bit of yesterday
And future wrapped in one

We are life in motion - with our chunk of time
Trembling in our hands we wait for miracles
Down the line - I am the forgiver!
I'm the voice of reason - I'm the sacred soul
I'm the voice of summer - won't you take a ride

It's like coming home - coming home again
It's like coming home - coming home again
The further we go - the closer we come
There's one chance for everyone
One love - one heart - one chance
The higher we climb - the more we see
Lands and visions above the treetops
One world - one heart - one chance
It's like coming home - coming home again
It's like coming home - coming home again

Arch-enemy

The arch is difficult.

It was kind of a comedy of errors for us. Won't go into too many details but it was stressful. But we did it. We can say we did it.

And as far as this whole trip goes...

We did it.

Last night in the trailer. Last night on the road. Drive home tomorrow. Hooray!

Gotta go. Lots of packing stuff to do. Till next time!

Matt

Last Day

Today we will finally visit the arch we keep passing by on our trips - we planned a day here because we're always in a hurry to and from and never get to do it. And since the arch is a symbol of St. Louis as the Gateway to the West...it seems appropriate for this journey as a good way to end.

I am ready to be home. The last few days of constant travel have been uneventful and relatively hassle-free, but I have had the unsettling feeling of waking up and not knowing where I am. And I'm the one who planned all this so it's unusual for ME to feel that way.

Most vacations end too soon. Hilton Head did. I needed more time there. But this trip has done what it needed to do - I can't wait to get home.

Family is eating pancakes outside this morning, thanks to one more meal cooked by mom. I have one more day to spend as the family's travel agent and then everyone can do whatever they darn well please.

The video awaits. Frustrated that I can't share it online due to licensing issues. But I will say this - anyone who wants one, send me a blank DVD (or 3) and I'll burn you a copy when it's done. There are a frightening number of pictures (probably over 1000) which I may upload to a photo-sharing site so everyone can see all the pics that DIDN'T make it onto the blog.

At any rate...thanks for stopping by - the blog will return to normal mode tomorrow night. One more pic - our 'sticker map' finally got put on the trailer - humbling to look at how far we have to go...



Matt

Kansas City, Here I Go

Another day.

Used to have a lot of friends here in Kansas City, now no one left that we're close to in the city proper. Doesn't mean we can't stop in for some really good BBQ. Two words: Jack Stack. Two more words: Burnt ends. Yum.

With my flair for the dramatic, we burned the Blog sign - it was time. Trip is not over, but this is our last campfire. I need to go back out to it.

Tomorrow and Saturday St. Louis - Sunday we come home.

Bye all.

Grand Island...really?

Hello from Grand Island, NE...second stop on our return voyage. I just stood outside, looking at the fading colors in the sky and realized that this is our last 'isolated' location. Tomorrow night, Kansas City, then St. Louis, then home. We will be leaving the frontier. It's a lovely night.

The end of the road continues to seem more and more real, and the thought of home continues to seem more and more comforting. Friends and (other) family. A more comfortable bed. A morning with nothing to do. And oddly enough, going back to work doesn't seem horrible either. I think it's the idea of having a routine again...and of course, the beginning of the work year means starting the clock towards our next trip.

It's been nice to largely escape humid and hot Cincinnati weather for a month, too. We've had our hot days, but not too many humid ones too. And we've had our share of cool nights as well.

Well, gotta run. Thanks for continuing to stop by.

Matt

Laramie

Good morning from Laramie - long drive yesterday. Another one today. The trailer is not fun to tow in high winds. Anyway. We are creeping eastward.

Steph is a lot better company in the car when she has a McDonald's Iced Coffee in the morning...

The wind-down

And now, the beginning of the end.

Our tour is complete. Tomorrow we begin our long voyage home. 4 nights of drive, camp, sleep, repeat. We will stay an extra day in St. Charles, for various reasons to be described later. Then home. The destinations are over.

It is an emotional time. Any time you live something like this the way we have, it's a confusing feeling when it comes to an end. I am ready to come home. Things about home are starting to sound very comforting. It is always a sign of a really good vacation when you are ready to come home. Part of me keeps wanting to do more, experience more, see more, learn more...but that part is even stepping back and saying "It's all good for now".

More on that in the next few days.

We have spent a day and a half here in SLC, including touring Temple Square, the headquarters of the LDS church. An impressive place. This blog is not the place for religious rumination or theological debate, but the people we met there are certainly living their faith and I have immense respect for that.

Tonight as our last 'touristy' thing, Steph and I went back to the Clark Planetarium for their laser-animation-trippy U2 show. Very amazing. And really touched an emotional nerve with me when they started out with "Where the Streets Have No Name" - which was the 'theme song' of the original 2003 Road Trip video and the song that came to symbolize that trip for Steph and me. It really brought home to me the challenge ahead of me creating the video for this trip, and inspired me to get to work on it.

American society, I sometimes believe, has been subconciously set up to distract us from uncomfortable questions and thoughts. And it works pretty well, it keeps things at bay while we pay our bills and watch our TV and follow our sports teams...but we become ill-equipped to handle the few times when it doesn't work. Big changes leave us floundering. I try to fight this in myself, but I'm as guilty as anyone. So big change is coming...just the yearly big change that teachers have to go through...and big big change, like Faith going to Kindergarten and really starting out on her own.

Well, I can't get down all the thoughts I have, because they're confusing even me. This is supposed to be the Road Trip Edition so let's get back to it:

I have had a wonderful trip and I am impressed with how well things have gone. The girls have been challenging at times, there have been tears and shouting, but all in all life on the road has fit us well. I hope that the girls (and the twins someday) will be able to appreciate and enjoy this way of spending time together the same way I have. I hope that it becomes a mutual sharing and not a bad family vacation movie.

I need to go get ready for the return trip. Thanks all!

Matt