We gathered in the parking lot, loaded the vehicles, prayed and said our goodbyes. By 7:30 AM, I followed the bus out of the parking lot (driving the 15 passenger rental van - AKA The White Van - how original) and we marveled at the beautiful Columbia River Gorge on this sunny spring day. We stopped in Weatherby, ID where an impromptu game of ultimate frisbee ensued. J.J. joined in and everyone welcomed him, but he ended up leaving his jacket behind for some other size 7 traveler. At the next stop, we fou nd a pretty cool flight jacket complete with patches - so $20 of his spending money was put into this souvenir (little did we know they'd be selling identical jackets at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum for three times that price). Good thing he had it, though - the weather for the next 2 days was freezing, For dinner, the kids prepared sandwiches at a truck stop - amazingly they had it prepared, eaten and packed away in about 1/2 hour (the blustery wind helped everyone move quickly, I think)!
The van I drove was equipped with an entertainment system, complete with pull-down movie screen and headphones for all the passengers. It also had a power converter that the kids could plug in and charge their computers with. It was a great way to pass time and for all the kids to enjoy a movie together (quietly - yippee!). At one point, though, we started smelling smoke and I heard Blake yell in a nervous tone, "This thing under me is really hot!" I walkie-talkied to the other vehicles that we were pulling off to the side of the road because something was smoking in our van while I rolled down all the windows. (I am very nervous about pulling off to the side of the road - I have heard so many stories and also had a friend of mine killed who were hit when pulled to the side of the freeway.) The kids all piled out of the van and at the same time, a high-pitched alarm went off. Makenzie was furiously unplugging cords and headphones, but even when the van was completely turned off and everything unplugged from the converter box, it still kept beeping. Fortunately it never got to the point that flames erupted, and Kevin pulled off behind us and had to tur n off a fuse box of some sorts under the hood to make the alarm stop. Besides a smokey interior of the van and the loss of the entertainment system, everything was fine. All this excitement on the first day!
We pulled into Layton Christian Academy, near Salt Lake City, UT around 11:30 PM. A 12 hour driving day took us 16.5 hours due to numerous potty stops, but at least we made it through. What seemed to be low-lying clouds turned out to be the snow-capped Rocky Mountains rising steeply less than a mile from the school. This beautiful school graciously accommodated us with a warm, dry place to lay our weary heads and showers to freshen up with. By midnight we were sleeping and were up the next morning at 4:45 AM.
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