You may have seen this poem before, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It speaks of the mystery and mystique of The Road, and how we can enter it from just beyond our front door, see fascinating sights and endure hardships as we traverse it, reach our destination, and then come back again. Which we did.
Roads Go Ever On
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road or secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
Yes, Eric and I did it -- we got away from the daily grind and made some memories. There seemed to be a very short window of opportunity on the calendar, so we took a road trip. Baby Ezekiel was born in August, and we needed to at least make it to New Mexico to see him!
Day One
After ignoring this blog and all the outrageous goings on in the world for a few weeks (as painful as that was), and instead spending the time carefully plotting out our trip on a Google map and making reservations in five different states, we set out mid-morning on Thursday, September 15, heading north and west, but refusing to use the Chicago toll roads. There were a lot of twists and turns that way, but we stayed on the route, as did a lot of truckers, as we noticed that they didn’t much like Chicago either.
Our first lunch on the road was at Nelly’s in Wilmington, Illinois, which happened to be a cute Route 66 diner with people’s names on the walls and ceiling, and mostly burgers and fries on the plates. We sent pictures to people we thought might care along the way, so the first ones we took were of this burger joint.
Lisa had decided to travel Historic Route 66 on her honeymoon, but I hadn’t seen a map of it till … well, a few minutes ago. We just kept encountering that route along the way, and embraced the adventure when we could.
The main focus of the trip, though, was to find the Diaspora -- the dispersed Haley clans who had been driven from their home in Indiana for some reason -- actually all of them went forth because they had been moved there by their jobs. We wanted to see them in their natural habitats, encourage them, and take their pictures. All of The Dispersed that had guest rooms also owned miniature tigers that make Eric sneeze. And those who owned no miniature tigers had no guest rooms. So we booked a variety of hotels along the way.
That’s the route I mapped out. It was kind of like a comet -- Haley’s Comet -- whizzing through the states at breakneck speed, in a roughly elliptical orbit.
Our first stop, after skirting Chicago, was Dubuque, Iowa, where the cliff-dwellers, five Phelps grandchildren and their mom Emily, poured out of the front door to give us hugs. This ritual was more or less repeated throughout the trip, and it was always pleasant. We found that the house the Phelps’s had purchased in Dubuque was very sufficient.
The view from across the street, where the Phelps children’s daily soap bubble habit can be observed.
There used to be a general store in this location, long ago, but now, no longer is there a store, but a large newer house, along a road that leads down, down, down towards the Mississippi River. You need to have good brakes to live in Dubuque.
Matthew (the dad), made us his famous gourmet pizza, and I ate up roughly 80% of the salad to go with my pizza. Somehow, someone must have mentioned my birthday, which is coming up in a week, so Emily promised the twins we could have chocolate cake. We thought the twins were having a second birthday party for themselves so we brought them presents. Emily, who works in the bakery at Sam’s Club, decorated cupcakes for us all and gave me a juicer. (I’ve never owned a juicer!)
The count:
Five grandchildren: Evangeline, Atticus, Caspian, Avonlea, and Aurelius.
One daughter: Emily
One spouse: Matt
Group picture taken with the new Bluetooth “selfie stick,” which only lasted for one stop.
We were privileged to hear Caspian playing the piano, Atticus playing his cornet, and Evangeline practicing her violin. We met a tiny robot and cuddled with the twins. We heard that the kids were now taking archery lessons but weren’t really interested in anything like bow fishing (which I thought would be a practical idea since they live near the river) because it would cause the death of fish. And we saw many walls full of family pictures -- everywhere -- including one of Eric and myself sitting in our wardrobe upon our return from Narnia.
The take-away: Family is important. You betcha it’s important! We took out the family Bible that we had packed in our luggage, but found that everybody was already properly entered in it, so we were caught up, though we kind of forgot the rest of the way. Before we left, we gave them our seal of approval, prayed for this family, and gave them all hugs and smooches.
Then, we climbed up the side of the cliff in our trusty rental car, to a bed and breakfast in an 1890s home on the National Historic Register, called “Hancock House.”
We stayed in Courtney’s Room, on the second floor.
Life along the Mississippi
The whole place was full of antiques, with a book called “Dubuque -- Birthplace of Iowa” on a stand. The dining room was lovely, but the full breakfast was only served on weekends, so we thought we wouldn’t have anything to eat there -- till we found the pastries and other food items that had been left in the kitchenette for our enjoyment. Ahhh, yes, we were discovering it was going to be a little difficult to keep our weight down!
Day Two
Getting back on The Road Friday morning, we headed across Iowa. Matt sent us a 48-second summary video of the scenery to expect along the route, and it was very accurate. Mostly, it was corn.
Eventually we landed in Omaha, Nebraska, where our eldest grandson lives with his wife and our youngest great grandkid. Jay is a staff sergeant in the Air Force, stationed at Offutt AFB. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the base or anything like that, but we saw Jay and Mary’s house in Omaha, the patio they had poured, the beautiful flowers they had planted …
Missing the selfie stick here. But the company was worth the trip.
We’ve really gotta spend longer with these folks, before they deploy!
… and the main attraction: Felix. This kid has such a happy laugh that I mostly just hung out with him whenever I could. Sure, little boys like Felix do make messes in restaurants and throw all their fries on the floor, but silly old grandma’s like to sit next to the car seat, tickle feet, make funny faces, and take videos of the dear boy driving his truck on the table. And, they get a real kick out of doing so.
The count:
1 great grandson: Felix. Total so far: 1
1 grandson: Jay. Total so far: 6
1 spouse: Mary. Total so far: 2
I was surprised to find Omaha was full of Black Lives Matter signs in store windows, and a couple of the waitresses who served tables at the nice downtown restaurant were not women. This was explained later by a Nebraska resident at the next hotel. Nebraska is a “Red State,” except for Omaha. Its electoral votes are split in Presidential elections. Only one of Nebraska’s votes in 2020 went to the Democrat -- the one from Omaha. The rest of the state is solidly Republican. I am convinced that most of the residents of Nebraska, like the guy with the “Bikers for Trump” shirt, have a lot more common sense than the city folks.
But many people, including our grandchildren, live in the cities. We must pray for them.
I had some of that famous Omaha beef while I was there, but couldn’t finish the meal, even a child’s serving! Then Jay took us all to a place where the gigantic meal could be topped off with homemade ice cream.
Soon after the food encounter, we had to continue on down The Road so we could make it to Salina, Kansas that evening and be closer to our destination in New Mexico. So we bade Jay and his family adieu and headed westward, towards the setting sun. (That’s not so fun for one’s eyes!)
The La Quinta in Salina was serviceable -- not “cute” like the Hancock House, but all we needed that night was a good sleep in a comfortable bed, and that we had, along with good conversation in the breakfast area in the morning.
****************
The chatting during this part of the trip on Messenger was about “A” names, of which a great percentage of our grandchildren have at least one. Truly, even Caspian has an “A” name -- his middle name is “Amadeus.” So I decided my middle name must be “Ambitious,” for planning this crazy trip in the first place. For any of our kids who didn’t get the memo, “Atanacio” is still unused, and is available. Its equivalent is “Athanasius,” which means “No death,” and ties directly to my wish for all our grandkids, that they will be able to pass directly from this life to the next, where there is no more death. The way to do that is through Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
~1 Corinthians 15:54
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road or secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
Take the right road, my grandchildren! Jesus Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Don’t miss your turn!
We made some beautiful memories on this ambitious trip, and I will be glad to share more of it next week. But meanwhile, ponder this: Eric and I were Gentile wise guys, on a long pilgrimage from the East bearing blessings and gifts, to see a newborn baby. Sound vaguely familiar? I’m really glad we didn’t have to take a camel!
