Riders

Here we are, just getting started pretty much on our long journey home.  This is a picturesque rest stop somewhere near Jacksonville.  We stopped a few more times than usual on the way home, mainly because the thinking is we'd be able to be just as quick along I-75 northward as we were going southward.  It was a Saturday, so the traffic should be lighter, right?

Not really.  Guess where the trouble started?

Yes, Henry County, the traffic capital of the world.  This is in fact Henry County's chief export:  relentless traffic.  If you're looking up synonyms for "Henry County," you'll actually find the word, "traffic."  People spend more time in Henry County than others in Georgia, mainly because they have no choice.  When you account for all roads and traffic, the average speed in Henry County is roughly fifteen miles per hour.  On the interstates, the average is about four.  Even downtown Atlanta has better traffic, probably even with the I-85 bridge out.

Despite the delays there, and a little in Atlanta, we got home eventually safe and sound.  It was a smooth trip up until Henry County in fact.  We had a stop at our Chick-Fil-A in Cordelle, the one next to the rocket there.  As it is "watermelon country," we tried a watermelon mint lemonade there, and it was absolutely delicious.

Another stop we made was at the book store.  It's a Book Warehouse, and another $3 Book Sale store.  We used to stop at these all the time, but eventually the lack of new stuff kept us from dropping by.  We haven't been in a while, so we dropped by one more time on the way home.  And... it has the same stuff still.  I mean, there were a few things we picked up, but mostly it was the same stuff.  We did get Madison a new Bible, one she was wanting.  It had a nice cover, and it was written in a language that children can understand easier.  That said, we couldn't resist picking that up for her.  She was grateful, and that's hard for a parent to resist:  a child grateful to get a Bible.

To help our journey home, we spent a lot of time listening to Riders Radio Theater.

This is a great radio program with skits and plenty of western music and guests.  The ongoing radio drama is hilarious at many points, and really helped us along as we drove northward.

Meanwhile, Madison was listening to Bethel Music and Hillsong.  Daddy got these for her before going on the trip, and she's been listening to a few tracks over and over again as she read and played games.  She loves the song "Oceans" so much, and "Lion and the Lamb," and another one "In Pieces."  You could hear her singing along in the backseat, and it's hard to hear something greater as a parent than your own daughter singing worship songs from the backseat.

We got home and you go through those same sensations:  what is this place?  It's only been a week, but it's seemed longer.  The grass needs cutting, which means it's rained a lot in our absence.  Other than that, things are all the same, aside from the piles of luggage and stuff we dragged into the house from the car.  It'll be an early night tonight - we're tired from the long day.  We read from "The Gauntlet" some more, and Tony Stark got the upper hand on the Mandarin, who tried a bit of cheating.  We also read some more from the Superflix devotional, part of the series we'll be visiting tomorrow morning at KidPak.

And after that we prayed, thanking God for a safe trip home, and a wonderful vacation.  It was a memorable one, something wonderful this summer.