Mississippi Trip - Tuesday, November 22nd

This weekend I started thinking that I've barely talked about what we did in Mississippi. I've definitely talked about how the trip changed me, and the incredible friendships I've made. Besides that though someone who didn't go would have no idea what we actually did each day.

This week I'll try and actually explain a bit of what we did. But I really don't want to bore people with the details. So I'm going to try and keep it interesting by mainly telling it from the only perspective I know how... mine. Of course that means it'll be weird, disjointed and hopefully a bit funny now and then. If nothing else you'll see what things I do remember about trips and what falls by the wayside. If you want details this will sure not be the place, I don't even remember what county we were in, but there was water!

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I'll start off with Tuesday, November 22nd.
I woke up at the insane hour of 3:00 a.m.

I went to bed around 8:30 p.m. Monday (knowing I'd have to get up at 3) and got to enjoy a conversation with Rob at about 9:15. Apparently he decided that since he can't sleep I probably couldn't either. It was fine though, I think he felt slightly guilty when I kept up my groggy sleeping voice the whole time. Of course it was a great precursor since Rob seems to love to torment (er, joke with) me during trips.

During our vestry trip a year ago about 8 of us went to Chicago for the week. Any time I asked Rob a question he gave an insane or joking answer. For some reason it took me all week to figure this out. I finally decided to take the advice of Mark...

"Tom, if Rob tells you something ask yourself, 'is he telling the truth?' If you're answer is yeas ask yourself again, just to be sure. If you're sure he's being honest after the second time tell yourself that you're wrong and he's joking."

This is probably the one best piece of advice that has stayed with me. And now it was time to remember that advice for the coming week (and yes, it payed off). A bright man Mark Vereb, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I picked up Roland and we got to church about 4 a.m. since I knew we were leaving at 4:30 sharp! You know what sharp means right? Sharp like a knife that cuts through your plans and tears them to shreds.

We had most things loaded but we were missing one van and the keys to another car. On top of it we didn't have enough coolers for the 30 carved frozen turkeys and tons of gravy we were bringing down.

So, while we waited for the keys to show up I sprung into action and gather permission forms from the 9 kids and 12 adults (I still don't know why adults did it, but alas, I won't complain). With that completed we threw together a list of who was driving with whom. Trust me, when you're driving this many people, arranging who goes where ahead of time is a necessity. If you don't agree read my previous post on complainers, whiners and downers.

Despite running a bit late everyone was in high spirits. Both the people helping us load cars and the people going on the trip. Everyone found groups and just chatted as they sipped their morning coffee.

So finally the van arrives and we can finish packing up. We all run out to the 12 person passenger vans with keys in hand (finally) and load everything into cars. Now, the kids put stuff in one van, adults put stuff in both, so confusion already reigned. After we got that sorted out we all piled into the vans ready to hit the road for our 17 hour drive. I got the first leg which was so memorable since it rained until the sun came up and scared it away.

I did get to chat a bit with Matt and Maggie when they were awake which was nice. I think the most interesting thing was my trying to get some food with only one hand from a sealed container of what I soon found out was ring pops. So, with breakfast in hand (the cherry ring pop) I was set.

Truly it was a somewhat uninteresting trip. I did learn that to keep things moving Rob does not eat or drink when driving for any trip. I have no idea how he does it, but we sure went a while between rest stops.

I think the most interesting part of the trip was when we went around Birmingham, AL and saw the Statue of Liberty! So we all took pictures as we passed at 60 miles per hour.

We got to the Episcopal work camp (don't ask me the official name) at 9:30. We had just enough time to fill out some forms, get badges and bring in our stuff to find cots for the night (not easy since the place was packed).

Once lights went out I was actually down enjoying the wireless Internet access (it wouldn't last) for an hour. Checking e-mail and doing a little bit of work. Then I headed up to my cot and tried to sleep. There was a big snorer a couple cots down, but I did eventually get to sleep until 3:45... But that's for tomorrow :)

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 11:53 AM