Personal Journal

Christmas day arrived and of course Santa had visited during the night, It`s been a couple of years since we had a proper Christmas in a real house with all the trimmings. Of course Amanda wanted to go to church so we all went, Amanda, Mary and ten of us guys turned a lot of heads as we entered the church.The service wasn`t a long one but with this preacher they never were, he always got his message across with as few words as possible.

We all returned home and helped with the Christmas meal after which it was Amanda`s time to open her presents and have fun.
I`ve never been into Christmas much since my wife died but somehow today felt different I felt more relaxed and at at peace with the world. Maybe it because I was surrounded by old friends, I don`t know but I didn`t really care as long as the little one was happy and enjoying herself. After the silly season ended the guys went home but said we`d meet up again soon.

January went, then February and March and then spring thaw started, slowly at first and we still had occasional snowfall but nothing that stayed around for long and soon enough the temperature started to climb and the roads were clear enough for travelling. I was determined to find that town I had been told about even though I didn`t know it`s name or exactly where it was, the directions I had were kind of rough.

I didn`t know it but Steve and Mary had finally got the deal they wanted, had sold up and were waiting for me to make a decision on when we were leaving. I finally told them we would be leaving at the end of week and they didn`t perturbed by my decision, I guess they wnated to get on with their own lives and not be encumbered with us.

Saturday arrived and I woke Amanda at 6am so she could get dressed and fed before we said goodbye to our friends. After breakfast we said goodbye and Steve said "It`s not goodbye we`re coming with you", and went a drove another motorhome out of the old barn.

We set off and after a couple hours pulled into a truckstop, there were a few more motorhomes in the truck park some of them brand new models so we parked alongside them. On entering the cafe I was surprised to see the rest of our buddies, they too were coming with us, the ones that were married had brought their families. We were all introduced and after eating set off looking for a campsite for the night.

We drove for another four hours and finally pulled into campsite sometime in the afternoon. After setting up camp the women started cooking a meal while we guys talked of course the kids were playing together and were safe enough.

Later on the kids were fed and safely put to bed, the rest of sat around talking it was a warm and pleasant evening as we sat under the trees. The women asked why I had never re-married and I explained it was only four years since Amanda`s death, one of them said " That girl needs a mother, she getting to an age were she`s going to be asking questions about her body". I had to admit that she had a point but that somehow I`d deal with her questions.

During the night I had another dream about Amanda, were she told me that I should whatever is askedof me go along with what would happen in the next few days. When I awake I remembered the dream in great detail and wondered what she meant, I had always trusted my wife and we had kept no secrets from each other.

The next day was a late start for everyone, the kids all wanted to swimming in the nearby lake so it was late morning when we all hit the road. Little Amanda was enjoying herself and for once didn`t mind being on the road again, I suppose it was because there were other kids this time.

Everyday became more or less the same, a late start and an early stop which to be truthful I didn`t mind, It couldn`t be much fun kids to be cooped up for ours on end day after day. We weren`t really getting far on a daily basis but the driving was pleasant enough, and the overnight stops even better as I could relate to other adults in the group, especially my old buddies.

As the days went by I started to look at the map and saw that we seemed to driving around aimlessly with no route organised, not that I had faintest idea were we were headed and our group seemed to get bigger the further we drove.