Hello from Davison, MI

Hi Everyone!
       Well today was a pretty good day! We slept in until around 9 or so and then weren't on the road until 10:30! Matt enjoyed some preservative filled packaged food from the continental "breakfast" (seriously, pancakes from frozen??? Ummm... not so much my taste! :)) and after checking out we filled up the truck and organized the cooler. We felt kind of lazy but only planned on going 7 or 8 hours today so it was okay! :)
       Most of the morning and early afternoon was spent driving along the beautiful Lake Michigan.  Several times along the drive we saw people enjoying the hot sunny day and the waves of the lake. I was tempted to ask Matt to stop so I could jump in but figured I'd be pretty uncomfortable in my wet clothes for the rest of the drive! 
       We drove pretty much straight through except for gas and food breaks until the Mackinaw Bridge. And let me tell you... It is cool! I took quite a few pictures (will post as soon as we can get them off the camera) and then we stopped in Mackinaw City and walked in a park right along the lake for about a half hour.  We waded in to the lake a little bit and it was so WARM and so CLEAR! It was a pretty windy day so the waves were pretty high. We both enjoyed the break from driving but found it really hot and humid so we got back on our way. 
       After that, we drove through to Davison, Michigan. We arrived here at about 8:30 (we're in the Eastern Time Zone now). We checked in to the hotel and then took off in search of some dinner.  We decided to walk and found ourselves a McDonalds (you don't even want to know how often we have eaten here during our trip) But don't judge! It's the one restaurant that is pretty much everywhere... and they have free wireless internet across the states so we've made use of that a couple times to check for hotels and such along the way.  We then kept on strolling and saw our first TIM HORTONS since leaving Lethbridge.  It's a tiny little one but it was exciting for me either way. We also found our way to a pharmacy and replaced a few more items from our M.I.A. toiletry cases. 
       We are now back in our WONDERFUL hotel room... King size bed, huge flat screen T.V., and air conditioning... Oh, and it doesn't smell like smoke, body odor, or chlorine. You learn to not take these things for granted when you are paying an average of $55/night for a hotel! We were both very relieved to find this hotel online!
        Well, according to the ever trustworthy "Google Maps", we have about 3.5 hours left until we arrive in Hamilton.  We plan to sleep in tomorrow morning, go try out the continental breakfast here, and then get on the road at about 11 or so. We are going to just take our time and might stop to do a bit of shopping along the way. We are really hoping and praying that we will have as easy of a time getting back in to Canada as we did when we came into the states on Sunday. If all goes well, we hope to arrive in Hamilton around dinner time. 
        We have really enjoyed the trip but are both a little hesitant for it to end. We are worried about what it's going to feel like when we realize that we aren't going to turn around and just head back to Lethbridge. Please pray for us both as we arrive in Hamilton and begin to settle in there. 
     
      Well, before I go, here are the quick stats for the day:
# of Miles Traveled: ~450
$ Spent on Gas: $88.49
# of Hours on the Road: ~10, including our lovely scenic stops


       Thank you again for all who are praying for us as we take on this last leg of our journey. We appreciate you all. Good night! :)


Much Love, 
Matt & Jacquie

Hello from Marinette, WI

Hi Everyone!

        Well we just arrived in Marinette, WI and are settling in to the hotel. We were originally planning on stopping in Wausau, but when we got there at around 6:30, we decided to keep on going. We're really tired now but I'm sure we'll be glad tomorrow that we are that much closer to Hamilton! According to "Google Maps" we have only 11.5 hours left to go! We decided that we are going to just take it nice and easy and still take the planned to more days to get there. We plan to stop and maybe take in some touristy things along Lake Michigan. 

        Today was fairly uneventful. We got up at around 7 and were on the road by 8. I had a really crappy sleep so crawled in to the back of the truck pretty much right away and slept a couple more hours while Matt drove. After that I was good to go and I was able to drive at two different points to give Matt a break. I drove the last stretch while Matt read "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" by the light of his head lamp... I'm kind of married to a DORK! :) 

         There really isn't too much to report about the drive today. One thing that amused me a little bit is that we were driving through this tiny little hick town called Oconto Falls, WI when we drove past a store called "Piggly Wiggly". I had watched a movie not to long ago that featured a store called "Piggly Wiggly" and I thought they had just made it up for the movie to be ridiculous... Yah, not so much. It's actually a real grocery store. 

        Yup, that's about the most excitement we had today... Don't judge. We've been on the road for way to long now and small things amuse me/us. 

        Well, here's some stats from today (these are especially for our dads who care about things like gas mileage).

# of Miles Traveled: ~725
$ Spent on Gas: $173.93
# of Hours on the Road: ~13


        Ok, it's 10:15 here in Wisconsin so we are going to call it a night.  Tomorrow morning we will have a very short drive until we are in Michigan and then we will be driving around Lake Michigan for a lot of the day. I will hopefully update again tomorrow to let you know where we've made it to on our journey! 
        Right now, Matt and I both kind of just feel like we're on an adventure and it hasn't really hit us that this isn't just a vacation, but we are actually moving across the country. Just this morning Matt was looking at his watch and saying he wasn't going to update it to Central time because he would just have to change it back when we got home... and then he realized that we aren't heading back to Lethbridge. I have a feeling we will be having little realizations like this quite often in the coming days and weeks!
       Well thanks again for your thoughts and prayers everyone! They help us keep on trucking! :)


With Much Love,


Matt & Jacquie

Hello from Bismark, North Dakota!

         Well, we've been in Bismark for about an hour and a half now and are settling into our room for the night. We are both kind of wishing we had maybe spent a bit for a room that we could be confidant that we won't catch diseases in, but hey, it's all part of the adventure right? :) We are just both hoping to get a decent enough sleep and to be back on the road early(ish) tomorrow morning. 

         Today started out bright and early with us getting up at 6 am. My mom woke up and made us tea and hot chocolate to go along with our breakfasts and then we packed up the last of our things. By 6:55 we were saying the dreaded "good"-byes to my family. We were on the road at our planned time of 7 am. Yay us! We headed out right away and were at the border by 8:15. (That was also about the time my tears finally let up a bit... :P) There was a short line-up and the border guard seemed a little unsure about whether or not he should let us through with our truck and trailer packed full, but by 8:30 we were saying a quick prayer of thanks and were back on the road! We stopped in Shelby, MT at 9 for gas and got right back on our way. At around noon I was thinking about how nice it was going to feel to wash my hair tonight when I thought back to the early morning hours and realized we had forgotten both of our toiletry cases! Oops! A quick text to mom, and they will be on their way to Hamilton tomorrow. Thanks mom! :) 

        We were about 10 miles out of Glasgow, MT at around 1:30 when Matt realized that the gas gauge was dipping dangerously low... and then the little orange indicator line disappeared altogether! That caused a moment of stress, but thankfully a gas station came into sight not to shortly after and we filled the tank right up again and promised to fill up much more often! :) We stopped once more for gas a little later in the afternoon and then kept on going, right through the state of Montana and into North Dakota. I was saying to Matt how, during this journey, we are going to be going through all these states I just never thought I'd be in... and never really had a desire to visit... :P But hey, it's not too bad. I drove for a bit, from Glendive, MT until our final destination for tonight to give my hubby a much needed brake. Towing a trailer isn't actually as scary as I thought so I'll probably start out driving tomorrow morning.

         Matt stocked the truck with movies and books and my Nintendo DS as well as his

I-Pod full of crazy philosophical talks, so we haven't been bored at all while we drive. 

         We got in to Bismark at about 8:30 Central Time and found ourselves a K-Mart to buy some much needed toiletries! We then checked into our hotel and then found a Pizza Hut to fill our very hungry stomachs! 

          So far the trip has gone very well, better than both of us had hoped, and we are praying for much more of the same tomorrow. Thank you so much to all of you who are praying and journeying along with us. We love and appreciate you all!

Some fun stats from the day before I sign off:

# of miles traveled: ~780

$ spent on gas: $142.05 (US)

# of hours on the road: 12.5

# of hours of DVD watching: way too many! :)

        Well, Matt's saying I should get to bed so we can head out on time tomorrow so off I go! :) 

Much Love, 

Matt & Jacquie

Overwhelmed!

          Well, it's the week we've been waiting for... In 6 sleeps we will be on our way to Hamilton, ON. It seems crazy that in such a short time we need to have our lives boxed up and ready to go! I finished work last Thursday so I have a bit more time to get things organized and Matt's last day is tomorrow. Wednesday-Saturday will be BUSY with organizing and packing and saying our good-byes before we leave bright and early Sunday morning. We are trying to plan/time it so that we get to Hamilton right around September 1st or 2nd as that is when housing will become available. We haven't secured a place to live yet but we are waiting to hear back from a few to see where we will end up living! My brother Tim has been a HUGE help to us in this area, going to check out apartments and taking pictures and the like... Thanks Tim! We are really hoping to know before we leave if we have a place or not, but if worse comes to worse, we will spend a couple days in Hamilton searching once we get there. 
          Right now, we are in the process of organizing our stuff into piles... The "absolutely, these things have to come!" pile, the "hopefully we will have room for this stuff, if not Jacquie might cry" pile, and the "there is no way we are carting this junk across Canada" pile! So far it's been interesting with Matt feeling very free to add MY things to the "we'll see" pile, while of course making sure I have no doubt about the fact that his one million one hundred and twenty two thousand books are coming! :P These next couple days are sure to be interesting... :)
          I am beginning to feel slightly stressed/overwhelmed at all that we need to figure out in the next couple days/weeks but am doing my best to trust in God's plan for us. Matt is much more of a "take it all in stride" kind of person, while I tend to let things get to me a lot easier... Usually this makes us a good team, but this time I kinda wish I could pass of a bit of stress to him. :P 
          Some items for prayer for those of you who have been and will be praying for us this week include:
1. A place to live! For me, this is probably one of the hugest stresses... If I knew we'd have a place to go once we get to Hamilton that'd be great, but YIKES, we're cutting it close!
2. Finances. Because Matt applied late to McMaster, he received his acceptance letter late. Now, unfortunately, you aren't able to apply for student loans until you have been accepted to go to school (go figure... :P ) so we just sent the application in last week and are waiting to hear how much help we will be getting. 
3. Moving. We have rented a U-Haul trailer to tow behind our truck, but when I went to talk to the U-Haul lady today she said there is a huge shortage of trailers for rent in Southern Alberta and we might end up having to drive somewhere to pick one up... We're not exactly sure what that means but please just pray that he details for our move will fall in to place and that we don't need to drive to far to get a trailer!
4. Young Love. That Matt and I will continue to grow in our young married life and that we will work together to get everything done in the next couple days. 
          Well, this is getting long enough. I should really probably stop procrastinating and get to the packing. 


Much love, 


Matt &/or Jacquie