In 1957, Brooke and Patricia Sadler set off from Michigan for a honeymoon road trip to St. Petersburg, Florida, in a brand new red Falcon. But a series of divine interventions rerouted their 1,200-mile journey into a 20-year, 30,000-mile missionary adventure across three continents, as detailed in their new memoir, It’s a Long Way to Florida.
The book, published by the Sadlers, recounts how their simple lakeside wedding gave way to an epic journey of faith that took them to Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Rather than a romanticized travelogue, the memoir offers an honest and gritty look at modern missionary life, including a harrowing 12,000-mile overland family road trip from London to Sri Lanka through military checkpoints.
Key moments include Brooke smuggling truckloads of flour past five armed military checkpoints during a government-declared famine to feed starving church workers in Colombo, and a decades-long friendship with a local Buddhist High Priest that saved their mission school’s land from government seizure. The couple also opened their home to more than 80 orphaned children over the years, a legacy sparked by a question from their young adopted daughter, Pami.
‘We never could have mapped out the life we lived,’ said co-author Brooke Sadler. ‘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.’
The Sadlers, now retired in Greeneville, Tennessee, operate Nolichucky Cabins, a mountain retreat and glass wedding chapel. Their memoir, available via major book retailers, serves as a testament to living by faith rather than planning. The story underscores how unexpected detours can lead to a richer, more purposeful life.
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