Charlie Seymour Jr and the Church Mission Trip Part 2 - Leaving for Maryland

If every great adventure starts with a single step, this Mission Trip to Davidson, NC started with a LONG stop before we were really underway.

One of our vehicles overheated. Quickly and definitely (all over the windshield and engine!).

Strangely enough, one of the parents had smelled something odd with Dorrie's van but since Dorrie had it in for servicing and had just driven it to the church without noticing any problem, she didn't really think twice about the parent's comment about the smell.

But I-95 can be a tough partner in a trip to the south, and we weren't on our way more than 10 minutes when the call came in to the Rev John who was driving the church's van. (I'll leave last names off for children and adults - they can always come here to make comments if they want their last names mentioned.)

[By the way, what did caravan trips like this ever do before Cell Phones? We would have been lost, in so many ways.]

So… Dorrie had already pulled off the highway and so John and the rest of us in the church van pulled off too. We waited for a short while for a report about how Dorrie was doing.

Or maybe we waited one exit away from Dorrie because some of the kids had already started a card game and John quickly joined them.

But when it looked like Dorrie's vehicle wasn't getting any better, we took off to join her.

Right across from where Dorrie found a gas station (that was ill-equipped to help her) was a Subway sandwich shop where we took the kids while waiting for AAA to arrive (45 minutes had been the estimate).

I suggested that we call some of the kids' parents to see if someone could lend us a vehicle, just in case AAA couldn't get Dorrie's to work.

After a quick dinner and the report from AAA that Dorrie's van needed to be towed for repairs, one of the families came to our rescue and loaned us their Honda Pilot. (Sweet, clean, smooth riding Pilot - no food or drink was allowed in THIS vehicle ESPECIALLY since the family was to take off for vacation the day after we were to arrive home.)

The Pilot held one fewer person than Dorrie's van and its roof rack held a bit less too… so our church van was now loaded with kids and gear.

Back on the road to Maryland to pick up two more church groups and spend the night, we had already spent 3 hours on our "journey" that would require faith, a smile, and a happy heart.

We used all three over the Sunday - Friday journey… more in my next "episode."

Charlie Seymour Jr.
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Charlie Seymour Jr is the founder of RaisingGreatFamilies.com, FathersAndTheDaughtersTheyLove.com, and ILearnedItAllFromMyKids.com. He is also working with his daughter, Liz, as she publishes her own website and releases her first solo CD: LizSeymour.com. Charlie is a Social Marketer and Community Builder and often consults about marketing through his site, GetThemOffTheRaftMarketing.com. He's a prolific writer, including blogs on each of these sites, his book Dream Inc (32 Philadelphia-area Entrepreneurs and their Million Dollar Secrets For Success), and articles about Social Marketing for national and regional publications including NSA Magazine (for the National Speakers Association) and Spotlight (for the American Association of Community Theatre). He's the father of two daughters and lives in Wallingford, PA with his wife, Pam.