The First Day's Always the Longest

Whether it's across Kansas; Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; or Oklahoma and Texas; the first day of our roadtrips are always the longest. This year, it happened to be eleven hours from Pacific to Ft. Worth. Thank goodness there were good friends at the end of the road. We had dinner and spent the evening with Jose, Denise, and Nathanael Jasso, old friends from St. Louis. We did, however, make a short detour through the town of Joplin. Tim lived there for two years while he taught in Carl Junction. He had not seen the devastation from the tornado. We talked about how people who knew the town relatively well got lost because so many of the major landmarks were missing. Tim was taken aback by what he saw. Things looked so different that he missed a turn onto the street where his apartment was located--a turn he had made hundreds of times. Even over a year later, the town is still recovering. Tomorrow we will take in a couple of sights in Ft. Worth, then head south.

 Denise, Nathanael, and me