Weeks 25–30: Dirty South, Ohio, and Colorado
Well, we arrived. But, where did we end up?
11.18 — We touched down stateside at DFW, the Monday before Thanksgiving. First stop was a taxi straight to the local ‘car vending machine’ to pick up Janie, the car we’d purchased online while in Peru. This odd yet incredibly efficient task complete, we drove straight for Abilene with our Janie. Well, almost straight. We had to stop by In ‘n Out to begin our American reintegration. En route, we were stunned by how big and clean everything was along the highway. Reverse culture shock, we suppose.
11.19–24 — Jake’s Mammaw lives on a ranch outside this west Texas town and a visit to Quail Hollow Farm was one of the last essential rites of family passage where Rachel was uninitiated. We spent a lovely Thanksgiving week with family and new friends on the property before continuing the journey home.
Rachel had also never visited many of the venerable Southern States. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were at the very top of her US must-see list so we proceeded accordingly. Ok, well, the real primary reason we took this rather indirect route back to Williamsburg was to reconnect with friends. A close secondary reason was the excuse this 2,200 mile road trip provided to indulge in Chick-Fil-A. In the month or so we’ve been back, we have truly eaten God’s chicken more than 20 times.
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11.24–25 — First stop through the Dirty South was two nights with Matt & Patty in Jackson, MS. These two hail from Jackson, could have chosen to move anywhere after Matt got out of the Army last year. However, they felt called to return home. It was so encouraging to hear their heart for this city and phenomenal to visit their beautiful church. Matt and Jake happily argued about every topic under the sun for 48 hours straight, just like old times.
11.26 — Next, we spent a day traveling significant portions of the Civil Rights Trail — Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Alabama. Along the way, we stopped at several of the National Park museums and high points and learned more about this tumultuous time in our nation’s history. Our night in Montgomery was decidedly not a cultural highlight of the trip.
11.27–28 — Then, we drove through to Jacksonville, FL for two nights with Jason & Megan. Jason is about to leave the Navy and is in the exciting phase of exploring MBA programs. Megan is coming off the minor accomplishment of WINNING Ironman 70.3 New Orleans. Yes, winning. Like, number one. Jason and I took a drive down to St. Augustine to see another National Park — the oldest Spanish fortress in North America. Jason also wowed with his smoker skills. He made the best beef brisket we’ve ever tasted and pretty much sold Jake on getting an electric smoker.
11.29 — From there, we spent a lovely, romantic evening in Savannah, GA, truly a crown jewel of Southern style and culture. Fantastic food, great walking/people watching, and a delightful riverside hotel for the evening. The next day, we stopped by Congaree for another off-the-beaten trail National Park. Congaree is a lowland forest (aka swamp) where runaway slaves, liquor bootleggers, and other under the radar kinda folk hid out from bad US policy at various points in history. Apart from its rebellious history, Congaree offers a unique and stunning landscape — particularly during the 7 weeks per year when the whole thing is flooded. We did a lovely walk including a mile or so for Jake walking along this submerged boardwalk. We were thankful to experience this place during the winter — sans mosquitos and crocs.
11.30 — Craig and Justine kindly offered their house that evening despite Jake’s swamp feet and a party they were hosting the next morning. Craig made us cedar plank salmon and this unreal, delicious homemade artisan bread in their beautiful riverside home in Greer, SC. A quick stop in Greenville, SC the next morning introduced Jake to a new, lovely southern city.
12.1–2 — Final stop was to David & Sarah & Emerson in Charlotte, NC. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with our only nephew. We also got to be with David in his moment of need as the Buckeyes were shut out of the NCAA National Championship Playoff.
Finally, it was time to return to Williamsburg…for a little bit.
12.3–5 — Our initial return to Williamsburg was two secret nights in a hotel without telling any of our friends while Rachel prepped for an interview at a local counseling practice (spoiler alert, she got the job). Then, we jetted up to DC for one night and a few meetings for Jake’s job. Re-connecting with the McIndoes in their Capitol Hill condo that evening was life-giving and fun.
12.6–7 — Then it was back down 95 and 64 all the way to Norfolk to visit our favorite Brazilians, Afonso and Luanna. Afonso and Jake talked about philosophy while Luanna and Rachel made delicious food (pomm d’ queso!). We love these two and ALMOST bought into their sales pitch for a move to Norfolk. Almost, but not quite.
12.8–9 — Our first two nights officially back in Williamsburg, we stayed with Mike Tierney, Jake’s Department head, former W&M tennis star, and all around bro. Mike and his wife Jen were really awesome and planned a party for our first night back in town with a number of our friends from Jake’s work. The second night in town, it snowed like a foot and we used Janie to pick up friends around town and make it to the only establishment with power to watch the Cowboys stomp the Eagles.
12.10–13 — After a few days at the Tierney’s, we moved to Sherri’s house (another of Jake’s colleagues). We’d always fantasized about living across the river, taking the ferry to work each day. Sherri helped us evaluate and rule out this option. She lives right on the water, four houses down from the ferry terminal. It was a lovely relaxing experience, but we are just too late to rely on that ferry. Missing it adds 45 minutes to your commute :/
12.14–15 — After four nights with Sherri, we were supposed to head to another colleague’s house. However, at this point, we had spent the last three weeks living with people and needed a break. A crappy hotel in Williamsburg was just the ticket — to reinforce the fact that we are living out of Janie (our car) and entirely homeless. But seriously, the extra rest gave us the energy to help out our friends Johann and Tierney move into their new house (fun!) and attend Jake’s holiday party (less painful than anticipated).
12.16 — En route to Ohio, we made our (now traditional) pit stop in State College to visit Shane & Julie. We are happy to report that Julie and baby suffered no lasting injury after S&J’s trip to visit us in Bolivia. Conscience clean. After a thorough guilt trip from their doctors for traveling to Bolivia while pregnant, they found out last week that they are having a … BOY!!! Baby Jake anyone?
12.17–23 — Last week, we’ve relaxed and caught up with Rachel’s family in Ohio.
12.24–31 — On the 24th, we flew to Colorado for some R&R with the Sims.
On Jan 1, we head back to Williamsburg…More to come on that front. Love you all. It’s been amazing seeing many of you along the road and hope to see even more as we continue the journey in 2019.
