Mad Dash Home

8/4

                After everyone woke up and showered, the young children continued to run circles around us usually energetic Zechmans.  Breakfast was delicious, Michael is somewhat of a food connoisseur and even though French toast is not extremely elaborate, it was extremely delicious and I helped myself to four servings.  We did not have much time in the morning as we were ready for our race home and once we were packed we headed off to the school they had set up in Albuquerque.  It has been very successful in its short existence because of its focus on arts, apparently a weak point in New Mexico.  They had been approached by entrepreneurs in an effort to franchise their school and have been interviewed on the local news.  Visiting the new school filled me with nostalgia.  It was like walking through a time machine, the rooms had changed but Glory and Michael had covered the walls with pictures of many former Maine students and our picture was in the center I.  There were also quotes and other material from their old home.  My favorite quote was one from my friend, Rocco and I said when we were relatively new to the school, “We’re bad guys who make soup, hot soup.”  I can’t remember the context surrounding it and I haven’t seen Rocco for over 12 years, but it always brings a smile to my face.  After leaving Glory and Michael’s and leaving behind so many memories we prepared for the fifteen hour drive ahead of us to St. Louis.  Even my parents weren’t exactly sure how our next move would pan out, they had changed plans and our goal was to get as far as possible and camp somewhere in Oklahoma.  We got three movies from a Redbox, a cool fact about Redbox is that you can purchase them in one state and drop them off in another.  It was the first time we had utilized this convenience.  We watched Burt Wonderstone which we kids found extremely funny and G.I Joe, Retaliation.  These movies kept us entertained for most of the afternoon after a short lunch of fruit and other snacks.  We handled the situation surprisingly well and I felt bad for my dad who had to drive for three quarters of the time.  Dinner was at a Freddy’s Steak Burger, a fast food chain focusing on steak burgers and ice cream; it was neatly kept and had good food.  Dinner took slightly longer than we had hoped but we got on the road around 9:15.  Plans had been changed and we were now driving beyond Oklahoma City to Miami, OK to stay at an Econolodge.  The new idea was to drive as far as we could this evening so that the drive to St. Louis tomorrow would be less taxing and provide more time for the activities we had planned.  I drove the three hours it took to get there to add to my whopping 1 hour of night driving previously.  We arrived at the quaint little motel at 12am and only my mom brought her suitcase in, the rest of us went to bed in our clothes.  We had a early morning ahead of us and, in addition, to out dismay the room smelled suspiciously like pee so everyone went to bed as quickly as possible. 

Silas, Finn, Paul, Zephyr and Snowy getting a groove on

Michael and Snowy showing off a pumpkin (can't see it)

Silas and Paul at the entrance to Old Town Albuquerque