On Monday, September 3rd, we left D.C.
driving a U-haul truck. It is a long story but our 6 month reservation was not honored by our car rental company. So we drove the truck to Cumberland, Maryland and picked up a minivan to drive the rest of the way to Colorado. Our daughter who was due to give birth a week earlier had not yet had her baby. It is true that you can have your cake and also eat it on occasion. We arrived on Wednesday the day she gave birth to our fifth grandchild, Felicity Ann Hooks.
We spent five days playing with the grandkids and helping where we could. It was quite an adjustment to go from being just the two of us for three months to a full house but we are definately blessed. It is always hard to leave the kids but we had to face reality and head home. As we were driving I got lost in a podcast and wasn't paying attention to the speed limit. In fact I wasn't sure what the limit was so I set the cruise control to 75 and let er roll. Suddenly, I was shocked into the reality of lights flashing and sirens blaring. I was about to be pulled over. Sarah looked at me and said, "Oh no," as if the outcome would not be favorable. That is when I said, "Expect the better and it usually is." I did everything by the book. Found a place to pull over, turned off the engine, pulled out my drivers license, placed my hands on the steering wheel and was extremely polite with the officer. He approached the passenger window and said "Good morning." I replied with a hearty, "Good morning!" He informed me that I was driving 75 mph in a 60 mph zone. I just smiled without rebuttal. The officer asked me for my license and I willingly complied. He asked me where we were travelling from and where we were travelling to. Then he asked us to wait in the car and he would be back in a few minutes. A few minutes go by and he reappears at Sarah's window with a official looking paper in hand. With a pleasant smile on his face he said, "I am going to give you a warning". With that. we were on our way. I wonder if there is any correlation between cooperation and kindness. Maybe or maybe not but we certainly experienced a moment of thankfulness.
We arrived home and found that our house had been well taken care of by our son Keaton and his wife Kimberly. Again we felt blessed by having such great kids. We have only been home a few days and people keep asking us, "Is it good to be home?" We have not been able to come up with a clear answer. We feel a little disoriented and a bit overhelmed. We had a lengthy taste of simplicity and living in the moment that makes you long for more of it. So today we got back on the bike and put in a few miles.
Our garmin has the ability to send out live updates of our whereabouts. Our family members used this to track us while we rode across the country. We had not yet deactivated it since being home. We cycled to Serrano's Coffee and while we were enjoying a cup we got a text that said, "Already back on the bike?" I wrote back, "Heading for Australia". We both would love to do that in a heart beat but until then we have to figure out how to re-enter the present.
Rode 22 miles today and it felt like a warmup.