Thursday, May 7, 2009

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

With the commencement of the newest Hector Family Road Trip, which we have christened “God Bless the Broken Road ‘09” (which just happens to be the theme song we have chosen for the trip), I have been reassigned to my normal place as the trip chronicler. Hopefully we can manage to keep this up to date, and that will mean more photos, with less wordiness. My apologies to those one or two people who like reading the words….


Brief outline of today: It was necessary for me to work this week, so I came down to the Valley on Monday, while the rest of “La Familia” stayed home and finished the packing of our 65’ RV/Sailboat combo. The plan was that they would leave a bit after dad got home from work, at 10am, but you all know that was never going to happen! All the last minute stuff was packed, and they headed out at 4pm! Thomas will not be joining us until later on in the trip, since he has to work, but he will fly out and meet us on the road, in about two weeks. Thomas, we miss you already!!!!!


Picking me up in Modesto, we bade farewell to Grandma, who so kindly snapped this photograph for us right before we drove off:



The trip does not start until all crew members are aboard, so the trip officially started at 5:45pm. Our first stop? J.C. Penny’s of course. Don’t all people start their vacations there?



So, we are now driving down our favorite highway: Hwy. 99. We have no idea where we are staying tonight, Nic is already complaining about being hungry, dad is behind the wheel, and the radio is blasting country music, all is normal…. So, sit back, and enjoy the reading, I’ll do my best to keep it interesting; that is never hard in this family….


Alright, I am back with part two of the first day. Because of our late start we didn’t get very far. Restaurants are a big part of our trips, and we often remember towns we visited, just from where we ate. This time, we went to Farnici’s, in Chowchilla, CA. Food was ok, but the service was not great, with Nic and I performing the water glass filling duties. The boy’s gave it a 4.5 out of 10.


For the night, we are bedding down on the side of the road, near a hospital. We got the boat all ready for sleeping, and then headed for the hospital:



This was taken after sneaking into the emergency room to use the restroom:


Matt and I just walked a couple of blocks to the local Denny's, to post this. We love wi-fi!!!

That brings us up to date. We are going to be up early tomorrow, and seeing how many miles we can travel in a day….


Later.


Logged by: BFH

8 comments:

Melyssa L. NicDhòmhnaill said...

Sounds like y'all are having fun!! Why, our family is that way too...we say we will leave at a certain time...and leave later then we had planned! So, now we say we will leave a little earlier then planned and try to get out on time!

Can't wait to see all y'all! :)

Mel

Miss Amy said...

Thanks for the update Ben!
We can't wait to see you this coming week!!! :-)
~ Amy

Simply Tiffany said...

Yeah!!! I am so glad that y'all are going to keep us updated as you traveled out this-a-way! Oh, I love that song...good choice. I hope you remembered Nic's Luna bars. :) Hehe, the emergency room for a bathroom stop....that's funny!

I can't wait to see all y'all and hope the days pass quickly!

Cheryl (Copper's Wife) said...

This is that time of year at CVP when those of us not making the trek to Presbytery (and parts beyond) miss the rest of you a lot! I LOVE that the internet allows us to know what you all are up to.

God bless your journey!

Erber Correspondent said...

Hey, Hectors!
You're on the road, again!!
What great memories we have of you showing up last year with that wonderful sailboat. What a glorious day we had - enjoying in the sunshine, the lake and your maiden voyage with the new-to-you sailboat!
Would love to have you here again!
See you next week!
Mrs. Erber

Thomas and Lindsey said...

Seeing all the pictures makes me miss my family even more! Wish I was traveling down the road with you guys... Can't wait for the 21st! Drive safe and just visit ERs for their bathrooms!

Ashley (PinkFlamingo) said...

Ah, looks like fun!! I know all about leaving hours after you said you were going to leave... that happens to our family all the time, too.
So where are you heading??

Sorry I haven't kept up with the blog.. I haven't kept up with ANYONE's blog much lately.

Have fun and be safe!
Ashley

Kevin Walker said...

It looks like you made it out alive, Ben. I wasn't sure if you'd be able to move off of those Barnes and Noble chairs! Anyway, looking forward to seeing you guys in TN.