Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Ok.  The title of this post is not accurate.  No airplanes will be involved in our travel to France, but "Trains, Automobiles and Ships" didn't seem to have quite the same ring to it.  Regardless of what you call it, we are finally on our way to France.  The vehicles are all sold, the mail is forwarded, the house is rented, the bills are set up for electronic delivery, and all the loose ends at work are tied up (hopefully).

We finished the ordeal of packing up our house (because it will be rented while we are in France) and we are on our way.  The last few days were like the end of a marathon.  Each night we would push our bodies to pack until we simply could not get our legs to climb the stairs one more time.  Just to add to the difficulty, at the same time we also decided to empty out our lake house so that it could be renovated while we are in France.  I don't remember being as tired and sore since the first week of summer soccer practice in high school.  Every night we asked ourselves if it was worth it.  Fortunately, we have wonderful friends and neighbors who took pity on us after the movers took our furniture bringing us food, providing childcare, inviting us to dinner, allowing us to use their washing machine (and actually doing our wash for us), and letting us sleep at their home (one night sleeping on the floor was enough).

Mary helping to pack up the kitchen

Mattie wiped out every closet and drawer!

Amid all the chaos, we also decided to have the kitchen floors refinished!  Yes, we are definitely certifiably crazy!

The day I most dreaded came on June 15th....the day we would have to say farewell to our four-legged family member, Frankie, for a year.  I know that he is in wonderful care with my friends Susan and Luke, but I definitely shed some tears that afternoon.  Susan took some wonderful photos the week before, so I have this one to help get me through the year...

We will look forward to connecting with Frankie through FaceTime over the months ahead!

We finally finished packing, and selling our last vehicle, shortly before midnight on Wednesday, June 17.  Fortunately, our wonderful friends again came to our rescue and allowed us to spend the night with them before we started the first leg of the journey - the drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to visit my mother and her husband.  We also were pleased to get to see Rick's brother Robb and his wife Jennifer before we left.  They drove all the way from Media to Lancaster (a 2-hour drive) to have dinner with us on Friday evening!


After two and a half days of rest, bowling and good food in Lancaster, we set out on the next leg of our journey today - a train ride from Lancaster to New York City.  

Ready to bowl

Tomorrow, we board the Queen Mary 2.  Bronwyn plans to spend the 7-day sea voyage in the spa, I plan to read and hibernate for a week, and Joan is looking forward to the kids activities.

All aboard.....the ride from Lancaster to NYC

Thanks to everybody who helped us get on the road.  It is times like this where we really appreciate our wonderful friends, neighbors and family.