We started Monday morning ‘late’ after sleeping through our alarm after a too-late-night. Thankfully my youth-sponsor Tina called to ask us if we wanted the case of water she had leftover for our trip home! All of our teens and our two adult leaders were ready for our meeting-up at 7:30 and we were just waking up! A quick packing job and getting ready for the day got us out of our room and downstairs by 8:10 and we were off to Universal Studios!
We enjoyed the park with Mike & Tina and instead of waiting in lines to enjoy rides, we simply walked the entire park and then enjoyed a great lunch at Bubba Gumps Restaurant!
Mike, Tina, Jake, and Ali had to catch a flight in the afternoon so they left us at the park and the rest of our group went back to the Dr. Seuss area to enjoy it with Ella! We took some great photos, made some great memories and headed back to our vehicle. We left Orlando at 3PM.
With a mere 1300-miles to drive our trip home had begun!
The first 12-hours were ‘cake’! I was awake, having conversations, and the Mt. Dew was doing the trick! Into the wee-hours of the morning, however, things got much more difficult. I found myself too-tired to continue on, so I pulled over at an exit, pulled back onto the on-ramp and onto the shoulder for some quick nap-time. Everyone in the van was asleep until that moment. Ella woke up chipper-as-ever and Jess too. Jess tried to quiet Ella enough for me to find some moments of rest. It wasn’t working. I closed my eyes for 5-10 minutes and we got back onto the road. In another hour-or-so it was again time for me to pull over. I found a gas station, refueled and spent some time roaming their convenience store. Back on the road, it wasn’t long until I knew I needed to stop again.
I found another exit-ramp, though this time there were signs telling me that it was illegal to park along the on-ramp. It was back on the road.
We made it to a rest-area somewhere in Illinois where I quickly parked, wrapped my head up in a blanket and dozed for close-to an hour. I had originally thought it was only 20-minutes of sleep but a recalculation turned it into an hour-or-so! After that quick of a nap we were back on the road to finish the remaining 300-or-so miles.
We finally arrived in Mukwonago just after Noon, turning our 1300-mile trip into a 22-and-a-half-hour journey.
The trip-home was the most-difficult driving I’ve ever experienced. We hit high-winds, snow & ice, and of-course my exhaustion.
We are glad to be home and encouraged with the commitments our students made at SETAPART ’07!
Photos are on FLICKr.
