On the Road

The sun rose and the day that we have been counting down to in great anticipation had finally dawned. Traveling to the farm in western Nebraska has always given us motivation to rise early, eat quickly, and get moving to a sacred spot in our hearts. It may lay within a state that the majority of people never get to drive through let alone stop in, and it may be so remote that for miles and miles all you can see are praire lands, fields, and tree claims, but for me, this part of the country provides a sense of stability, strength, and calmness. The drive is 6 hours from Denver but as we awoke the knowledge that we would be enjoying family at the farm by nightfall was enough motivation to get us packing the van as quickly as three women, two children, and one toddler could go.

The van is a Kia Sedona. It is packed to the gills and resembles more of a pack horse than a van at the moment. HS and LN take up the back seat and spent the majority of the time giggling, singing loudly as they listened to their respective MP3 players, and swapping travel tales of yester-year. LD watched out the window as the praire whizzed by and napped peacefully...for an hour. My seat is in the middle next to LD and as I enjoyed the music of the older kiddos, LD made sure to provide her own rendition of songs and chatted to me of all that she was seeing. During quiet moments, I read. For the first time in a year or more I've almost finished a book within days of turning the first page. I'm in reading heaven as I sit in that seat. LS (lovely sister) and LM (lovely mom) take up the front seats and have their system worked out on spotting food, gas stations, and tuning the satellite radio to the rockin' beats of the 80s.







We were on the road and that van was a rollin'. For every mile, every laugh, and every song that we belted out with the radio, we were one step closer to the embrace of family. Ones that make our hearts sing and have provided some of the warmest childhood memories I have. As we headed up the dirt road that would lead them to the LA's (Lovely Aunt's) farm the kids squealed with delight! Shouting, pointing, and yelling ensued as we careened closer to the tree claim. As we rounded the bend and made the last turn of the day, we madly honked on the horn, and saw the best sight anyone can see out here: our farm "home" and the wonderful people who we are lucky enough to have in our family. Let the wild farm rumpus begin!