Road Trip Day 1: Peoria to Columbus, OH

I'm sitting here with my friend Autumn. She just asked me: "If you could sum up your trip in one word, what would it be?"

My response: "Relaxing ... Free"

"That's two words," she said.

Dang.

10 days. That's all we had. 10 full days to unwind between 12 years of school and entrance in to the real world. 10 days in the "space between". We were no longer college students. We were not yet in the real world. Our status was undefined. 10 days, and Jason and I set out to explore ...

This is the story.

5/16/06 - Peoria, IL

Unplugged. I turned off my cell phone only two hours ago and I'm already starting to feel the effects. My leash has been removed, and I'm no longer accountable to anyone. A much needed mental rest after completing four years of college -- four years of stress, pressures, deadlines, joys, celebrations, sorrows, and struggles.

But now it's all over.

My friends packed up ... some moved far away. The campus - once alive and social - is now bleak and empty. In two shorts weeks I will transition into the real world. No more school (sure, the education continues) but the classroom model (all I've ever known) has faded. The job awaits. The ministry continues. But first, I unplug.

As I write that word, I'm reminded again that my hero often withdrew to lonely places and unplugged. Before and after the big moments, he always took time to relax and chill. To be absent. To spend time with his father, and only his father.

PHANTOM VIBRATE: the unique sensation that you're receiving a cell phone call (you actually feel the vibrating phone) but there is no actual phone in your pocket. I think it's a disease.

5/16/06 - Indianapolis, IN

Timeless. The absence of time. Jason and I noticed right away that one of the major changes of a trip like this is the absence of time. It takes some getting used to. Initially, we kept checking our clock and eventually asked "WHY!?!" Somehow, this led into a discussion of the words: eternal, immortal, and mortal.

<-------> Eternal
| -------> Immortal
|--------| Mortal

The entry sign to Ohio says "Ohio: The Center of Everything." Quite the claim, eh? We ate dinner at the original "Max and Erma's Cafe" in Columbus, Ohio -- in the middle of the German Village. I got a little creeped out because the bathrooms were in the basement of the restaurant. I ordered the BBQ Chicken Quesadilla (sick pack - inside family joke). We also found a book store with over 30 rooms! It was set up like a labrynth ... thought I was caught in an eternal maze of books. Quite the day ... slept in my pastor's vacant house in Canton, Ohio -- which they were kind enough to loan us for the night. We were about 8 hours away from home.