Day One - Virginia to Alabama

Hours on the Road: 12

Number of Photos Taken: 143

Quote of the Day:

"I wanted to get the key before they realized that my 3 children are adults" (dad's response when we asked him why we had waited in the van while he checked into the hotel :)

Charlie read his whole Gary Larson comic book. (Kevin, I'm working on "Brink of Delirium", not reading it. Krissy, you can use "slam-jangled" however you want. Against such there is no law ;-)
Linz popped a twisted straw at Lone Star (this is monumental...) And took a picture of the best dressed person in Alabama (you can take a wild guess from the pics above :)

Jenn blew her nose and coughed all day long. She listened to 19 tracks of Shane&Shane, and is pacing herself on the bag of sugar snap peas.

Mom thought she was going to die from the toxic fumes from the truck carrying railroad ties. She also checked in with Ariel, and nothing is happening on the baby front yet...

Dad didn't let anyone else drive (though I'll admit, nobody asked...this time :) His FAVORITE part of the day was turning around at the entrance to our neighborhood to return to the house for Jenn's graduation information packet (Nothin' like a great start to a long trip...:)

We started listening to the audio book "The Wednesday Wars" and we love it - yellow tights, white feathers and all. We laughed a lot.

Here's signing off with love from Birmingham, Alabama.

(sorry, guys, we had to delete the videos...they were taking too long to load...maybe we'll put 'em on youtube later and just link to them...)

So it's the night before we sally forth on our journey.

Today I was totally LOSING MY MIND while I tried to get everything squared away here with the end of work and stuff I needed for the trip and things that just generally needed to be accomplished before we get back. I love coming and going. But I usually have a pre-trip freak-out, where pretty much my brain melts and then I have to write things down on a list or else they fall right out of my pretty little head:)

But now after a final zip of my green duffel bag, a quick trip to radio-shack for head phones (nearly essential), burning some new 'Shane and Shane' music for the road, and eating a quesadilla, things are tranquil and we are excited.

Even so, there's a list sitting next to me that says: toothbrush, pillow, hoodie, Bible. The things I take for granted in life, particularly at 5 in the morning... Just now Aaron quietly picked up my list and pencil.
"DON'T add things to my list, Aaron."
"I'm not!! I... was just gonna add exclamation points."

-Jenna

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I was going to say something about "sallying forth", but Jenn beat me.
So I'll just say we're about to take a quann-tum leap into our Louisiana Road Trip :)
The van is packed. The house is clean. I am clean. We are all alive. It was a successful day, if not insane. I even had time to put on one of our trademark fake tattoos, just for the occasion...

Highlight of the day: Connor (my 1 year old nephew) said my name for the first time (while smiling and running to give me a hug). I can't explain how much joy those kids bring into my life.

I have a lot of hope for these next 8 days. For time away. For time with Jesus and my family.
New places. New sights. New sounds. New smells. New friends. New books. New pictures. New stories. New songs. And probably new struggles.

I will leave you with this tonight: the chorus of the song that inspired the name of our blog (take a wild guess at who wrote it :)

"So keep'em coming, these lines on the road
And keep me responsible, be it a light or heavy load
And keep me guessing, with these blessings in disguise
I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes" -- Derek Webb

5:30am is going to be here way too soon.
-Linz

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Let's kick this pig...

my stuff is cram-packed into my backpacking backpack and my black "assassin bag". it is amazing the amount of things we try to bring with us to be comfortable, and it's funny because in the end we are far too squished to be comfortable. to use a quote from Three Men in a Boat, "Throw it away, it's all lumber, Man!!!"

A little side-bar here, i was just telling my Dad how i like to use the phrase "slam-jangled". Quincy came up with that one. clever guy... it is tremendous great fun to say, "slam-jangled". and it is so usable; you can use it for anything. like: "man, my week has been so slam-jangled busy!!!" the greatest part is that people take you seriously when you say it. you really should try it out; it's great fun, for the whole family to enjoy...

i am all set for tomorrow, i have my clothes picked out. (well, actually, i'm wearing them...). i'm wearing my newest plaid shorts! there is nothing happier than PLAID SHORTS!!! they're awesome!!! i wish i had fifty pairs of plaid shorts! they rock! everyone should have a pair of plaid shorts!! so, anyways, all i have left to pack is the last minute things. i have a list filling one full sheet of paper. it reads:

Pillow!!!

Blankie!!!

Monkey!!!

but this road trip, this great and awesome pilgrimage, makes me stop think. i think of how i will be setting foot on new ground. treading new asphalt with the tires. going where no Charlie Quann has ever gone before! and i have only one thing to say to all my loyal and dedicated fans out there: "Call me Conquistador!!!" XD

:-)

Cheers,

-Charlie