What begins as a 1,200-mile honeymoon road trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1957 becomes a 20-year, 30,000-mile missionary journey across three continents in the new memoir It's a Long Way to Florida by authors Brooke and Patricia Sadler. The book, published by the authors and available through major online retailers, offers an authentic and gripping account of how saying 'yes' to faith redefined their lives, their family, and their understanding of purpose.
The story starts with a simple lakeside wedding in Michigan and a brand new red Falcon, a surprise wedding gift meant to carry the newlyweds to their dream honeymoon. However, divine interventions quickly altered their path. Instead of heading to Florida, the Sadlers found themselves stepping into the unknown, embarking on an epic adventure that would span decades and take them across the globe to Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
It's a Long Way to Florida is far from a romanticized travelogue. It is an honest, gritty, and often humorous account of what modern missionary life actually looks like. From navigating a harrowing 12,000-mile overland family road trip from London to Sri Lanka through military checkpoints to surviving national food famines and economic collapses, the Sadlers' story proves that the greatest rewards often lie within the most inconvenient detours.
Readers will encounter extraordinary, real-life accounts of faith in action. One such account details how Brooke managed to illegally smuggle truckloads of flour past five armed military checkpoints during a government-declared famine to feed starving church workers in Colombo. Another highlights the profound, decades-long friendship Brooke forged with a local Buddhist High Priest, which ultimately saved their mission school's land from government seizure.
The couple also made a remarkable decision to open their doors to the world's most vulnerable, nursing abandoned and malnourished infants back to health. Through a legacy started by a poignant question from their young adopted daughter, Pami, the Sadlers ultimately welcomed more than 80 orphaned children into their home and hearts over the years.
'We never could have mapped out the life we lived,' said co-author Brooke Sadler in a statement. 'Every time we faced an impossible logistical problem or a dangerous crisis, the answer arrived in a way we never could have engineered. We wrote this book to remind readers that when God redirects your route, the detour is very often the destination.'
Now mostly retired and residing in Greeneville, Tennessee, Brooke and Pat transformed a historic log cabin into Nolichucky Cabins, a mountain retreat and glass wedding chapel where they continue to serve their community and watch their expansive, global family flourish.
Perfect for fans of Christian memoirs, inspiring biography, and extraordinary travel narratives, It's a Long Way to Florida offers readers a practical, grounded template for what it means to live by faith rather than just talk about it. It is a powerful reminder that the life which unfolds when you follow where you are led, rather than where you intended, can be richer and more purposeful than anything you could plan on your own.
