Events of Friday, November 26, 2010

          Sleep, glorious sleep! Full of dreams, snoring, and BEEEEEEEP! Our glorious sleep this morning was disrupted by an extremely loud, annoying, high, never- ending screech – at one in the morning! I plugged my ears and waited for it to stop. But it never seemed to stop! It would stop shortly, and then start up again! The next hour was all a blur for me. Later, I was told that Ben and Dad had investigated the noise, and found that the propane gas leak alarm indicated a possible propane leak. Everyone else opened all the windows, vents and screen door letting in the frigid night air, but still the alarm continued. Knowing that it was not safe to remain in the RV; we put jackets on top of our pajamas, grabbed some blankets, and went inside Oma Janssen’s house. We congregated in the family room and living room of our host’s house, dividing ourselves amongst couch space, floor space, sleeping bags and blankets, hoping that we might be able to get some more sleep. The problem was that no position anywhere was very comfortable, and the rain pattering on the skylight at irregular intervals was very annoying. Somehow or another, we all dozed off and slept for a little while.

          Minutes later, or so it seemed, I was awakened by an “ABBY, IT’S TIME TO GET UP!”, and found that all my siblings were either gone or picking up their makeshift beds. Daddy had already explained to Michael and Oma about our middle of the night adventure. Dad was planning to call the fire department after breakfast. After breakfast, we did just that. Soon, the fire chief, in a police car, with its lights on, arrived and talked with Dad for a while. About five minutes later, more police cars and a fire truck arrived, all with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Caitlin went out to get pictures of all the excitement. With their special meter, they checked all possible problems, but found not even the slightest problem. Their conclusion was that the detector malfunctioned and suggested having it replaced, but otherwise, we were good to go.

          Knowing this, we cleared out of the house, cleaned and packed up the RV, and got ready to go. Recently, Oma Janssen had gone through her closets and stuff, and her garage was filled with stuff left over from a garage sale, and she gave us permission to look through her stuff and take what we wanted. We set about this task gladly, and our labor proved fruitful. We found a few pads of paper (for our math work with Dad), some warm sweaters, and three very soft pillows. Going from a couch at home with twenty-one pillows to a couch with no pillows was a hard change for me. I know it seems pretty strange, but now that we have pillows on our couch, it makes our temporary home seem more like our home in Elk Grove. We tearfully said good-bye to our wonderful host, Oma Janssen, and started to drive.

          Our goal for the day was to get close to the Brandywine Battlefield in Pennsylvania near the Delaware border, so that we could tour it tomorrow. It was funny. Although we thoroughly enjoyed New York City and the security and stability of having a place to park the RV and return to it each night, we were glad to be on the road again. Mom started out driving and drove all the way to our lunch destination, a Costco in Bridgewater Township. As we headed inside, we asked ourselves what we were doing, shopping on Black Friday in Costco? Surprisingly, it was not very crowded, and we enjoyed a delicious food court lunch and then we bought some groceries. Soon, we were ready to go again, and we packed up our groceries and took off.

          It was now Daddy’s turn to drive, and we drove and drove and drove. While he drove we caught up on our blogs, our reading AND our sleep! Eventually, we stopped for gas, switched drivers, and drove some more. At the gas station, Daddy had accidentally dropped his VISA card, so he called the gas station in hopes that they would have it. Fortunately, it was still there, and they agreed to send it to the house we will be renting in Williamsburg over Christmas. As we drove, we read, listened to music, and slept, in addition to some other things. Sleep, or trying to sleep, was the most common activity. At last, we reached the Walmart where we would spend the night. We shopped a little and then prepared for our delicious dinner of rotisserie chicken, Amish potato salad, green beans and roasted garlic bread. After dinner, we cleaned up, and started to make beds. We then watched the beginning of West Side Story, a modern story of Romeo and Juliet, set in New York City. Finally, we headed to bed, hoping to get an uninterrupted night of some more glorious sleep.