We moved to Michigan in January of 2022. Tiffany was 8 months pregnant and took a plane with Katarina and Ivan just after welcoming the new year. My older sister flew out and helped her make the journey back.

I stayed for a couple weeks to wrap things up in California. My dad also flew out and helped me pack and finish the house renovations for selling it.

We left Sunday Jan 30th in the early afternoon.

Dad and I planned to take a steady pace home and not rush it. Maybe even stop at some national parks along the way.

Well we also wanted to get a good start, so we drove to Williams Arizona and parked to rest a couple hours. Before dawn we stopped into a restaurant for breakfast and coffee.

The early morning news was warning of a weather front coming from the west that would cross the nation, bringing ice and snow.

Dad and I decided then that we would try to cover some more ground before slowing down, and maybe relax once we reached the plains.

We made our way across the Texas panhandle that evening, and then taking turns we drove all night long to see the Saint Louis Arch by mid morning. FM radio reports told us of the storm hitting places we had been just a few hours before.

The cloudy sky grew threatening as we crossed Ohio late that following afternoon. We had driven a great length already, but we weren’t sure we could finish the final leg of the journey before the storm landed.

The front edge of the storm caught us with spitting rain and sleet in Fayette Ohio, just on the Michigan line. It was properly a dark night now and the salty road was getting wet. Our trailer running lights started to wink out, so turned on the emergency flashers and pushed forward.

Less than an hour later, we arrived safely in Hudson Michigan. The end of the long march east. The Crosley’s had prepared the guest rooms in their lovely home for our arrival. In fact they had just wrapped up an evening Bible study with friends not long before we arrived, so there was still hot stew on the table.

The snow began to fall as we hurriedly unloaded a few things from the trailer and then parked the the rest in a pole barn.

It wasn’t long before we went to sleep and we woke to find the roads closed a beautiful winter scene.

My dad was stuck with us for a handful of days before he could return to Ohio, and what a sweet and precious time it was.