On The Road Home

“On the road home in the early spring, got our radio on, and all the miles are just running by. Like so many love songs, Jay and I, are on the road home. Thoughtless in our traveling, loving it in our souls. Oh, oh the river’s run so clear, oh oh the oceans from here to there. We’ll tell you our stories from the heart and from our bones, we’ll tell everything when we get home.”. A loose version of Heart’s “On the Road Home”.

From Boise to Bosnia and Brussels to Botswana; from Curacao to Caen to Croatia and back to Curacao; from Cape Town to Cairo; from Fort Lauderdale to Faro; from Grand Cayman to Georgia and Geneva; from Jordan and Jerusalem; from Matagascar to Marseilles and Montenegro; Portugal to Punda; from Sacramento to Slovenia to Seville, and all the way across Spain; Zimbabwe and Zambia. We’re now on the road home.

Plan C (see previous blog to read about plans A and B) was a flight that gave us less than six hour to spare in Panama, due to Panama’s announcement that no fights in or out will be allowed after 11:59 p.m. on March 22nd. Our connection left at 6:09 p.m. We were up for the challenge, then that flight was canceled.

On to plan D, American flight to Miami, Dallas, then home. Part of that flight canceled.

Plan E, the very last flight out to the US is what our neighbor heard, we are on it. Whew!

Curacao Airport, not good-bye, instead see you again soon.

Landing in Miami. The sounds from behind a mask was a greeting, “welcome home” from the passport control person.

We landed at LAX at 2:24 a.m. and our connection wasn’t until 6:45 a.m. We got out the lysol wipes and began cleaning a place for a little nap. The golden state has a chill in the air for us islanders.

Final destination, thirty hours later and one lost piece of luggage, Sacramento. We just had our first piece of luggage lost. Apparently, my luggage isn’t finished traveling. It decided to go to Chicago instead of coming home.

Needless to say we have a few credits on a few airlines to use this next year. That must mean our travels are not quite over. Hmmm…where will we go next?

I think I used this quote at the beginning of our trip, ” To dance when we do not know the steps requires us to value our partner above our performance.

Yes, we are on our way home, plan E style, and that quote never meant more than it does right now. We have been dancing this past couple weeks. God has guided this trip more than you will ever know. And we know He is still guiding as we maneuvered through the several airports we’ve gone through the past twenty-four hours. We have thought many times that we didn’t know why our adventures worked like it did until we were on the other side of that particular piece of the trip. Oh, the value of partnering with God. How about you, who’s your partner?

Our hearts are confused right now, we will be happy to see everyone, although probably virtually for the time being; and sad we are leaving our island we love so much.

Pastor John gave a beautiful prayer over us to send us on our way.

Thanks to Sister Marcia for taking these pictures and surprising us with them. I also have four new prayer pals via What’s App, Sisters Marlene, the Pastor’s wife and spiritual mom to this church, Marcia, Ruth, and Editha. Sister Ruth, would definitely be my Chichi on this island. She reminds me of my Aunt Betty who is the one who led me to the Lord. I have tears in eyes just writing about these special woman.

Sister Marcia and her husband, Ramirez. Ramirez translated each Sunday unless he preached. We really relied on him to get what Pastor John was saying. However, when Pastor John was sharing a joke or something else funny, Ramirez had a difficult time translating due to his laughter. That would be good enough for us. And, I kind of began understanding John’s jokes before I heard the translation.

Sister Editha, she is the sweetest (Dushi mashe) woman. I have a great story, I’ll be glad to share when we get home.

FYI, Ron Mitchell, I’m not sure how we are going to handle only an hour of church when we get home.

Jay’s commercial fishing business with Lisette lasted only a few days since our flights were changed again. Thanks to Jeroen (pronounced ooh-roon), the Diveshop owner, and Lisette, the best Lionfish hunter on Curacao, for helping to make our time on the island so enjoyable for us and all our guests. Also, my coffee mug was painted by a local artist and our neighbor, Melissa.

Lisette, along with her lionfish jewelry, sews. Such a crafty young woman. She gave me some pieces of material and a beautiful pair of earrings from some of the fins we gave her. So you know what I’ll bet doing as we’re sheltered in place – quilting.

We’re coming home. Toilet paper is packed

along with a few other essentials, and so many statistics. Are you ready? With one pen (RMCC Extend the Reach) in hand the whole year, we experienced

11 different airlines, 39 flight segments, 51,000 miles flying, 8 car rentals, 18 countries, 90 hotels/air bnb’s/vrbo, 9 oceans/seas, 5,000+ pictures, 21 visitors along the way, 167 dives for Jay, over 700 lionfish speared, 139 dives for me, 1,000 + miles on foot, 300+ sunsets, 12 full moons, and we don’t have a count on rainbows, waterfalls, and fireworks. And one lost piece of luggage. We are not going to count all the cancelations that occurred only these past two weeks. That’s pretty amazing.

We have so many to thank. Without them this one year away could not have happened. Just to name a few: Jeanne Wilson for taking care of our mail this entire year and making sure we saw the important stuff as well as storing a few items at your house. Bill and Pat Kelly, we can’t list everything you did, it was so much. Lee Fields and Phil Clevenger for starting our car every once in awhile to make sure all was okay with that. Ed Bourne for keeping the Comanche running well. Dale Horner for getting flooring in the condo after the flood we had while on the Camino. Mark, Vicki, and Trenton Williams for all the work you did to help sell the condo in Okc. Penny Crownover for selling it, hallelujah! Thank you, we are blessed to have you all in our lives.

There is a sign on the island that says, “Travel is the one thing you can buy that makes you richer “. Yes, we’re on the road home much richer.

I wonder if this is how an author feels when they type the last words of their book. Should I say, “The End”?

Blessings, Jay and Kelly