Numonohi Bung

Numonohi Bung

Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 10:00 pm, my mom, sister Rachel, her 2 boys Aaron and Tyler, and I set out for Wisconsin. Earlier that day I had left my house in Millersburg, drove 1 1/2 hours to pick up my mom in Jersey Shore, drove another 3 1/2 hours to Rochester, NY to pick up Rachel, Aaron, and Tyler. So the 5 of us were squeezed into my Subaru Forester (and I mean squeezed!) and were headed to a Numonohi Reunion. For those of you who dont know: Numonohi is where my parents and siblings and I lived in Papua New Guinea for 7 years. We had decided to drive through the night because that would be best for the boys (ages 6 months and 2 1/2 years). This way they would sleep most of the trip. The other intention was for the adults to sleep as well when we weren't the one driving. Ya well--it was a nice idea--too bad it didnt work. It is hard to sleep when one is cramped up.

12 hours later, we arrived at Camp Awana in Fredonia, WI. We ate lunch, then set up the tent (and realized we forgot a hammer to pound in the stakes--so we used a tire iron :) ) Finally we could hang out, relax, and visit with people, some of whom we haven't seen in 17 years. We had a great time. A concert was put on by Mayriver, a band that originated in PNG. Its band members are brothers and grew up in a tribe on the May River, hence the name.

After a mumu on Saturday night, the 5 of us climbed back into the car to begin the 12 hour drive back to NY.

Stats: Millersburg, PA to Jersey Shore, PA- 75 miles, 1 1/2 hours
Jersey Shore, PA to Rochester, NY- 308 miles, 3 1/2 hours
Rochester, NY to Fredonia, WI- 683 miles, 12 hours
Round Trip- 2132 miles, 34 hours