...give God the eraser

Heather always lays out a route plan before leaving home. With much prayer, we decided to proceed with another R.V. 2-month trip. We “found” a new friend who lived in NM and added her to our roster of stops. (Another great story...)

Plan A: The trip was to start by visiting friends in ID; one wasn’t home & since we had some other things going on, we scratched ID.

Plan B: off to Bielicki’s (missionary friends we’ve known for ~30+ years). Brie and husband Kevin now live and work in NM with the Navajos. We got there earlier than originally planned because of their busy schedule; this allowed us to add our “new” friend to our route.

Plan C:  In UT 100 miles from Bielicki’s the R.V. transmission went out; God did the most amazing things when neither of our phones would work – only Heather’s would text! (We gave our GPS coordinates so they could find us!) He sent us a tow truck big enough to haul the R.V. and only 5 miles from our “nowhere” break-down! We were able to witness to the tow truck driver as he graciously allowed us to ride with him to the repair shop; once there, we were also able to witness to the shop owner; he took a personal interest in us and did the repair himself! We spent 2 days with the Bielicki family before they were too busy with ministry (we helped a little with that); then they introduced us to new friends who lived less than a mile from where the R.V. was being fixed; they had us over for dinner and then directed  us to their church the next day (walking distance). Myra took us to the Aztec ruins on Monday. On Tuesday the shop loaned us a beater pick-up truck! Since the shop couldn’t put the whole R.V. in their garage, they worked on it outside. That meant we could sleep in it – saving a lot of money! The shop owner, Rod, took us on a 35 miles test drive – he didn’t want to see us back again!!

Plan D: the repair took a week, prolonging our stay; we had to drop the AZ route (friends, new and old, and cousin – 4 stops)

Plan E: However, the schedule change moved our visit with daughter Mary in TX up 2 days, which allowed us to take her to a church near her which we hope will become a regular event for her. It was a great experience.

Plan F: Twice we have found Walmart not open to overnighters, which forced us to drive until the last light of the sun – which is something we avoid – driving after dark. But both times we found Love’s gas stations with free spots before total darkness. (They also have cheap coffee.)

Plan G: Our next visit - to Marsha in AR – was a problem. Our R.V. couldn’t clear her steep driveway. God’s plan: we parked at Walmart not too far away and she drove us back and forth. We were able to do some jobs for her.

Plan H: More schedule changes! We hoped to see Roger’s 97 year old uncle, but with only 2 days notice, they weren’t able to arrange it. We added someone who was not part of the original plan – a single man, friend of 40 years, with health issues who (we think) enjoyed our unexpected visit. He fixed hamburgers for us while he and Roger renewed acquaintance.

With all the changes, it's good to know God doesn't change! 

Wow! Where have the days gone?

We reached our "committed" destination, Hillsdale, MI, yesterday afternoon. We are attending the graduation of our friend Christina Lewis and are parked beside their home here. She made us promise a year ago that we would attend her commencement on Saturday from Hillsdale College.

However, we have traveled a lot and visited several friends since our last blog post. Let me review.

After leaving Roger's cousin, Nancy & husband Jim, in Cookeville, TN, we headed to Northwest Indiana to visit Tom, a former co-worker from years ago at the College of DuPage in IL. Tom lives alone with his dog, Scarlet.  He served us some seriously good hamburgers and we had some time to catch up on our news and encourage each other in the Faith. We pulled out the next morning and headed to MI.

By the way, strong winds are an ongoing problem for RV's. We had terrible side-winds as we headed North on I-65 to Tom's place. There were no signs of other RV'ers on the road, but we did see other signs.

Our next stop on Tuesday, May 5, was an overnight visit with Russ and Flossie in Ft. Wayne, IN. Roger did some basic repairs for them while Heather and Flossie prepared an evening meal for the four of us.  Afterwards we enjoyed a "hymn sing" with them. The next morning before leaving we filled up our on-board tank with their filtered water.

As we headed to our next stop in MI, Heather noticed a road-side billboard advertising an old car museum in Auburn, IN. We pulled off into the town and found the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg museum.

 

I put a bunch of photos in an album, if you want to see some old car examples. Indiana was a center for automobile developers in the 1920's to 30's. It is amazing to see the development of automobile technology. I was particularly interested in seeing the changes in suspension, transmissions & wheels over the years. (I didn't include all those images in the linked album).

 

We reached our friends Trent and Wendi in Allegan, MI, in the evening and visited with them. They are both working full time and so we tried to keep our visit short. We got to see the work they've done remodeling the home they purchased in Allegan after moving from the Northwest. We used to attend the same church in Kenmore, WA, years ago.

We stopped at a rest area on the way to Hillsdale. I (Roger) am intrigued by certain trucks. Noticed all the wheels and also that they aren't "dualies" like most semi trucks and trailers.

A Tennessee Weekend

We left our friend Isabel in Murfreesboro and headed to Cookeville to visit Jim and Nancy..and daughter Katie. Nancy is a 2nd cousin to Roger.

Please notice our RV hidden in the trees.  After parking and hooking up power we spent Saturday evening with Jim and Nancy. Next morning we went with them to their church. 

Nancy prepared meals and we had lots of time to talk and catch up on family news.

Monday morning we head out toward Indiana.

Thursday on to Tennessee

We left the Walmart lot in Arkadelphia after a good night's rest. Our goal today was to reach our friend's in Collierville, TN.

We stopped at a laundromat and ate lunch in the RV while the load was running. It worked out great because Heather could use their wifi for a Zoom call with a granddaughter whom she coaches in German.

We did arrive on time to visit with our friends and spent the afternoon catching up on the events in our lives since our last visit a year ago.

We had supper together and were joined by their high school granddaughter. Later she played a violin concerto by Vivaldi for us.

Wednesday in Arkadelphia

We stopped at a beautifully maintained Rest Area / Visitor Center near Cumby, Texas on I-30. 

Note the flowers and the toadstools...

In case you missed the warning signs..

Later in the morning, while driving, Heather saw a billboard advertising bomb shelter factory tours. So we pulled off at the next exit and walked through a very interesting factory named Atlas Survival Shelters. They build all types of underground enclosures from basic tornado to super "prepper" long-term living quarters.

We arrived Tuesday afternoon to start a visit with our friend Marsha in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The road in front of her property had been beautifully paved. Unfortunately for us, it left a deep dip leading into her driveway. We could not get the RV to go over it without the hitch digging into the concrete drive. Marsha called the local Walmart and got permission for us to park in their lot for two nights.

Roger was able to install a wrought iron railing on her porch as well as replace a back porch light. Heather hemmed three dresses for her. 

We were warmly received at the New Life Church Wednesday night Bible study. The study was an overview summary of the Book of Revelation.

3rd Monday on the road

As we continued our journey through Texas, we stopped at the Will Roger's Memorial Center in Fort Worth. It is not his official museum, but rather it is a convention center with arena facilities for western things like rodeos and horse shows. He was a pretty famous guy back in the 1930's and 40's. We met a neat lady who runs the events office and had a great time talking with her about life and the Lord.

We parked for the night at a Love's in Rockwell, TX. It was raining lightly when we arrived and we hoped the rain would cool things off. The whole day had been hot and humid. We were happily surprised when, after dark, that light rain turned into a torrential Texas sized storm with thunder, lightning and hail. The Love's parking lot and pump islands quickly became a refuge for many vehicles including several police cars.

During the storm we assembled a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Sunday in Hamilton TX

We arrived in Hamilton, TX Saturday afternoon and visited with our daughter, Mary. Her husband Scot died this past year, but she continues to live with her mother-in-law, Anita.

We parked for the night at a local CEFCO gas station plaza.

Sunday morning after picking up Mary, we all attended the morning services at First Baptist Church.

After church we went back to Mary's place and Heather prepared a nice dinner for us.

We left Mary and Hamilton and headed east planning to spend the night in an RV park with full hook-ups and a good wifi for Internet. Sunday is big day for Zoom meetings. We ended up parking for the night at the Shady Acres RV Park in Cleburne, TX.