Getting Out

Welcome everyone.

We're getting out. Jennifer, Clint and Maia Porritt have officially hit the road and this is a travel-blog of our family's escape from the big city.

Many of you have asked what’s next in our lives—the answer to which is “currently nothing”. Lately we’ve reflected on how our busy and cluttered lives have been at odds with the way of Jesus—too many distractions and way too much stuff. Therefore, we are planning to take a much needed rest from the busyness of life-in-general.

For an undetermined amount of time we are unplugging our lives here in Edmonton and taking to the open road for a period of Sabbath. We’ve sold our home, paid off our debts and re-tired the van. We plan to meander like hippies across Canada—first east, then west—stopping to site-see and people-watch, to camp in many beautiful places and to catch-up with scattered friends and family along the route. We are not leaving Edmonton permanently—at some point, perhaps in the fall, we will return to Edmonton and prepare for whatever adventure God has next in store for us. Until then, we’ll rest.

We expect that approximately half of you may think we’re completely crazy, while perhaps the other half will be almost convinced that maybe you too need a Sabbath. Whatever you’re thinking on the matter we are confident that your thoughts and prayers will go with us wherever we may wander.

Thursday, June 26th

We got up around 3:30 am this morning to pack up our campsite and haul it to the ferry terminal about an hour away for a 7 o’clock boarding. Departing Newfoundland from the northern tip of the island is definitely more involved than our entrance a few days ago. Firstly, we’re looking at a 15-17 hour ferry ride. Secondly, we must pass through a federal decontamination bay to rid us of all rooted vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.) and soil. Apparently Newfoundland has some rare soil disease which they’re desperately trying to contain—thus we’re happy we abandoned the remainder of our travelling-garden a few days ago AND that the van gets a free wash and vacuuming.

We’ve rented some bunk space on the ferry so we can nap in style and acceptable comfort, even though the trip is much more rocky than our previous one. The unexpected announcement stating that our voyage will stretch out an additional three hours, isn’t particularly welcome and we try to catch some sleep. Just as we pull into port in North Sydney, Maia courageously and calmly battles a bout of sea-sickness as her zoned-out parents clamor for cleaning supplies—what a tough little trooper!

There’s very little gas in the van and almost no room at the local inn for a sea-weary family from the flatlands. Thankfully we’re not above taking a small room in the basement with the lingering odor of stale cigarettes and shared washroom facilities. In fact, tonight it’s an almost perfect ending to a very long day.

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Getting Out

DAY 42 - Twenty Hours On The Open Sea