921 miles 39.5 hours

The highlight of the trip, at least according to Serena, was when the van was passed by a house. The driver waved as he went by. We keep chugging along at 45. The speed limit is 70 mph.






There are shadows on the mountains from the clouds. The girls start pointing out images they see in the clouds. Katie sees an alligator. The sky is an amazing clear blue and the clouds are light and fluffy, a very pretty picture.


Abby notices several large horse farms.
Katie asked to use her phone to take pictures to send to Nana. Abby said," Yeah, I want to get a picture of the Statue of Liberty." Not yet.

At 11am Friday we reach the hotel where we were planning on checking in yesterday afternoon. That is how behind schedule we are. Kevin calls the school and they tell us how to check in late. We were supposed to be on campus at 11 am.




This is our first view of New Jersey, certainly different from the hills of Pennsylvania. Six miles to the state line!

At 11:10 am we finally enter New Jersey, what a welcome sight!

The road tilts to one side or the other, perhaps due to the steep mountains, and adds an extra challenge to keeping the trailer in the correct lane.

Just teasing, while driving, Kevin said, "I wish you guys would be quiet again. I was taking a nap."

Kevin and Serena cringe every time they hit a bump. They are scared the hitch will break off. As we enter New Jersey the traffic gets bad and we had to get onto the girls to be quiet for the first time.

Kevin begins singing,"The van went over the mountain, the van went over the mountain, the van went over the mountain to see what it could see. And all that it could see, and all that it could see, and all that it could see was the top of another mountain."

Kevin is just exhausted and his arm and shoulder muscles hurt. Serena is really sleepy and keeps getting headaches. We see several deer eating grass near the interstate. Thankfully never one in the road.

At 11:40 Kevin begins singing Christmas carols. Our ears pop again. We decide that if the trailer or hitch look bad the police will pull us over. We have checked it at every stop, but the risk of it breaking off causes us the most anxiety.