Compassion on the Road!

What an AMAZING trip so far!!!! I am blown away about how much we are all living and soaking up!! I have so many pics for you all I am going to have to edit a slide show or something! But today's topic is the COMPASSION and GRACIOUSNESS of the people with whom we are interacting on the road. We started this adventure with a rough sketch of where we wanted to go and who we needed to see. I say "needed" because there are hundreds of people nationwide we would LOVE to spend all kinds of time with. However, time and money does not permit all of this. So there are some major family members on this list that we MUST visit. Having said that, along this route have fallen people - some of whom we know and some we do not - who have extended themselves to us in such beautiful ways. For example:

This crazy crew (names withheld to protect the innocent!!!) in NJ who got us a permit to park on their street, fed us and enchanted us with hours of great play and conversation.

These guys (also in NJ), who said,"Why don't you throw in some laundry?", hung out in the backyard with us even though favorite soccer games were on TV, sewed with us and helped us add paint to the bus.

These guys in Cincinnati, who fed us delightful meals, let us play with their bees, chickens and fish, allowed us to free their dog (multiple times!) without judgement and filled our minds with wonderful things to think about.

And this family in Kansas - who interrupted their intensely paced lives to demonstrate for us what true courage, kinship and country heart can look like. It has been an honor and a genuine pleasure. And this is not to mention the hundreds of kind gestures from total strangers. Cindy and Brianna in Brooklyn with their awesome painted trailer who have been on the road homeschooling for 2 years and 8 months!!! We chatted forever about roadlife and homeschooling, kids and travel and she made me lists of helpful websites for our journey. Bernadette and Deana at the Scenic Hills Care Center in Ferdinand, IN - who not only fed us and anyone in town dinner to honor the 175th Anniversary of Ferdinand, but chauffered us back to the bus so we wouldn't get soaked in the rain walking! It is clear that the people in this facility know good care. And Penny in Cincinnati who made sure we took advantage of the local pool and sprinkle park on a hot day. Our camp host Ryan in Milford State Park in Kansas who sat with us and entertained the children with big fish stories from his Catfishing business (fb Prime Time Catfishing). There are many, many examples of kind people and gestures as we head out "Into the Woods" and we are grateful for each one and will carry them with us forever. And we look forward to the ones still to come...

See y'all out there on the highway of life!