In 2004, I took the kids on a 26-day road trip. We went through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas (it was like the movie Cars–I’m not kidding–through that stretch). We traveled through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. It was a real adventure.

Hooray for Gutzon Borglum!

I documented our trip in a book for each child, showing maps of where we went, photos of our experiences, and thoughts I had along the way. The kids had kept journals too and I copied each of their entries and associated drawings and put them in each book. Kathryn kept a ‘road kill journal’ as we noticed fairly quickly that the standard road kill changes as you move through the country. The kids did a great job of chronicling everything. We love those books, and I’m glad we went through the trouble to keep the information so we could compile it at a later date.

It was a great experience. As I look to the next three years, I have a similar feeling. We’re all not piling into an SUV and living out of suitcases, seeing the same things together and having the same experiences (though it would be nice to see the Corn Palace again). This time we’re like the Knights in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, all embarking on different paths in search of enlightenment and opportunities to serve. The nice thing is, it’s not 2004 anymore, so we don’t have to limit our journals to a few books that, for the most part, gather dust on some shelf. This time, our book will be here, on this blog. I’m hoping the kids are as good this time at keeping track of stuff as they were all those years ago.

What will be the equivalent of a ‘road kill journal’ this time? Should be interesting…