Prologue - Jul 3, 2012 - Newark, Delaware, United States

Happy Independence Day! I hope every on enjoys the holiday tomorrow and takes time to remember why we celebrate. It's a good time to read the Declaration of Independence either to yourself or aloud. We will be.

Today is the last day with the grand dogs, Leo and Ramona. Kyle and Annie are arriving home from their honeymoon tonight. We enjoyed having them for the last 3 weeks and will be sorry to see them go, but go they must because we'll be on the road on Friday for our annual journey.

This year's theme, "Time to Work, Time to Play, Time to Serve", sums up the trip because it's a combined work play trip. I've got work in Kentucky, Arkansas, and California and we'll be playing in between the work stops, but the twist this year is we'll take time to serve. After passing through Joplin, MO last year just a couple of months after the giant tornado struck, I was touched by the amount of devestation that took place. Most of you saw the pictures, but they didn't do the destruction justice. Since then I decided we would be back to Joplin this summer to provide some volunteer time to help the residents get back on their feet. Sue and I will be there for about a week, then it's off to Dallas to attend Restoring Love. Not just an event, but another opportunity to serve.

The work begins in Arkansas and then on to Kentucky. Once these are done, we'll be on to the playing part of the trip for about a month or so that will take us to California (for another job) by way of Illinois, Missori, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and a little bit of Nevada. We should be rolling into Cali by mid-September if all goes as planned.

On the way home, we'll follow Route 66 much of the way with a stop in Albuquerque for the annual balloon festival. This has been on Sue's bucket list and since she's retired, we don't need to be back in Delaware for the start of the school year. So if Winnie holds together, this will be an exciting trip that will land us back home in late October. Stay tuned for the latest adventures of Vince, Sue, and Winnie.