Monday - the adventure begins...

We’ve arrived! After a very long pilgrimage starting at 12:45 a.m. from Anchorage to Los Angeles to Chicago with only one hour of delay in Ohare, we arrived safely in Knoxville at midnight Monday to commandeer a Chrysler Town and Country (Free upgrade! Yay!) with all the bells and whistles as we continued with a four and a half hour drive to Florence, Kentucky for our first night. The drive went smoothly with a careful of teens singing along to the radio and otherwise being wholesomely rowdy. We arrived at 5:00 a.m. and bedded down for a few hour on the hospitality of the congregation at Amazing Grace in Florence, KY (Thank you, Pastor Wilke and brothers and sisters!) . I finally had to wake them up at 11:00 a.m. (I’m hungry!) to grab a  bite (AT CULVERS you Wisconsin people!) before we hear over to the Creation Museum (only 10 minutes to Petersburg). I’m excited. I hope they are. Some highlights so far:

AK to LAX – Back row so the seats don’t recline much, but I think everyone got at least a few hours of sleep.

Los Angeles (LAX) – Spent a little over an hour. Hoped to see movie stars, but no appearances.

Chicago (ORD)- another long flight, but the Lego Movie was on (at least the boys enjoyed it)!Teens were fascinated by the toilet seats with automatic refreshing plastic sleeves (cool, but also weird). The airport Lo Mein could use a little help. I watched CNN and Fox News.  Teens played cards and LIFE on Jessi’s tablet. An hour delay when they gave someone else our plane, but only a little walk to the new gate. Besides our pilot walked down with us – a cool, personable adventurer type who looked like he just wandered off the outback. I’m sure he wrestles gators in his free time or something like that.

Knoxville – First impression of Tenessee. Free upgrade and satellite radio. (That was helpful.) Sang and joked all the way up. Saw a live coyote and many interesting roadkill.

Knoxville to Florence, KY. Four plus hours of driving (laughing all the way ha ha ha) and very grateful to the congregation of Amazing Grace for a soft, cool place to lay our heads.

Thank you, Lord, for safe travels.