We our home in Kirkland on April 8. After 2 months we are finally heading home. No more visits, only gas stations and WalMarts.
Yesterday we returned our borrowed car to our son in Sturgis. On the way there we stopped at a Camping World to dump our tanks, take fresh water and propane.
Last night we parked at the Greycliff Rest Area. It was a relatively quiet night parked between semis.
We had planned to move from the hotel to an RV park that we usually stay at when in Rapid City, and we would do this after Church. We went to a church an hour's drive from the hotel. Our eldest son strongly recommended it to us. It turned out to be just as he said. Nisland Community Church is in a little town called Nisland, a half hour north of Sturgis, SD. Village Missions restarted this old German Lutheran church 50 years ago. Today it is a Bible teaching fellowship of believers reaching their rural community.
Well, the change in plans happened after got back to the hotel where we'd left our RV and found out the swimming pool at the RV Park was not open...not a good thing when grandkids are "swimaholics".
We ended up at a hotel right around the corner from our last hotel. It met the requirements of having a pool with a waterside and a hot tub. (& it was a new challenge!)
We been staying in the AmericInn hotel in Rapid City, SD since Thursday. It's Saturday evening and we plan to attend the Nisland Community Church, about an hours drive from our hotel. Our oldest son recommended it to us and plans to meet us there.
The past few days have been mostly keeping watch over our grandkids swimming in the pool.
Last Wednesday we stopped in at Wall Drug. You see their road signs all over the region. We occasionally stop. Heather really wanted to taste their buffalo burger. (Not much different from beef!)
While there, Roger had a run-in with a local bad guy.
It's a great place to give tracts to kids from all over the world. They come here on short term work visas.
We are at the end of the conference. It will be four years until the next one.
It has been a wonderful week of teaching, preaching, singing and fellowship with CEF people from around the world.
This is just a brief mention of things we have done in addition to attending the conference. Our goal is to always help if help is needed.
Heather has made nine airport runs to pick up or deliver folks. We had to get up at 4 a.m. one morning for an airport run.
Roger took several of the vehicles for fuel getting them ready for travel.
The conference ended with a concert by Phillips, Craig & Dean.
Here are a few miscellaneous images in the main meeting hall.
Tuesday morning started with a 7am prayer meeting. The room was packed with at least a hundred attendees seated and standing around all four sides of a giant floor may of the world.
The food service at Ridgecrest is great. After breakfast we went to the morning general sessions.
We attended the aftermath breakout sessions. The first session was led by a missionary who works in a "sensitive area" in the middle east. The second session was on the pros and cons using AI tools in ministry.
The evening general session featured an international choir from African nations.
The conference officially starts this evening. Many people have been arriving all day from airports. Heather made three airport pickup runs to the Asheville airport.
They are expecting around a thousand attendees.
We have enjoyed reconnecting with our CEF friends today. Some from Washington and others from around the world.
This morning, after checking out of the motel, we drove to a nearby church, The New Bridge Baptist Church. We enjoyed worship and fellowship with other Christians for Sunday School and church. They are a welcoming (and growing) congregation. The pastor is an excellent preacher.
After church we went to a Cracker Barrel restaurant and enjoyed their chicken pot pie dinner.
After lunch we drove to the Ridgecrest Convention Center where we will be this coming week. We settled into a large room with 2 bunk beds and a queen. Don't think we'll be sharing the room - we'll see!! lol
We left Warrenton, MO, in the morning and traveled all day, arriving in Asheville, NC, in the evening. The trip took us through MO, IL, IN, KY, TN, and NC. We spent the night in a Day's Inn.
Along the way, as we passed by Corbin, Kentucky, we saw some of the aftermath of a tornado that had occurred earlier that day. Cars were lined along the side of I-40 and we didn't know what they were looking at. Then we saw the devastation - houses smashed in and wood pieces all over - including the median of the road and the other side of the highway. The fierce wind had blown the debris off the highway pavement to along the edges.
The wind was very strong most of the day and made some wavy driving. You could even see truck drivers having difficulty keeping their rigs in their lane. We were so grateful to not have the R.V. - not sure it could have survived, since keeping a small car on the road was a full time job.
We finished installing the luggage barriers on the four rental vans. (Heather was released from food services to help with this. She even "ran" the chop saw!) It was hard for us two old folks handling and cutting 4×8 plywood sheets and 2×4's. Fortunately there is wonderful wood shop. The design we were given will not damage the van's interior.
Oh! We finished a 500 piece Mt. Rushmore puzzle. It took about 5 hours, which is unusual for a small puzzle. But it was more difficult than most. (Our evenings are usually free, as workers go home.)
I took photos of the beautiful CEF campus the other day.
Their campus is nearly a square mile with woods and wildlife.
Today was a very busy day here at CEF as we are loading trucks and getting vans ready to transport people to the international conference in North Carolina this weekend. There will be a lot of airport runs to pick folks coming here from all over the world. There are "pre-conference" meetings here before driving to NC.
Heather continues to work in the kitchen and help out in Guest Services. Roger started constructing "luggage barriers" in the back of four rental 15-pasenger vans. The idea is to somewhat isolate the rear baggage from the back seats in the event of a hard stop.
We've both been kept busy so far. Heather has been working in the kitchen. Up to this point they've only prepared lunch for the staff. Tomorrow they'll add breakfast, and Thursday they will add supper. This is because a lot of new guests will be c arriving from all over the world. So she'll be busier.
Roger has been pressure-washing places around campus. Picnic tables, patios. sidewalks, etc.
We have time each evening to relax in the RV. We've done a jigsaw puzzle each evening. We got these at the train museum we visited. See previous post.
We purposely avoided route #40 that sustained so much damage during the recent hurricanes. (See previous blog postings.) So, taking the southern route, #20, #75, #24, we drove through SC, GA & TN on very good roads. Traffic was light.
KY roads were not as smooth and in IL route #57 was terrible! For about 50 miles, we were in one lane or speed limited to 55 for construction sites. However, since it was Saturday, there was no construction, but considerable delay in travel. Keeping the R.V. on the road when it's very rough is another trick!
Routes #64 and #70 were o.k. We were glad to arrive at Warrenton, MO!
It took 2 hours to get through/past Atlanta - even though in some places there were 8 lanes for traffic going in one direction! The other slow city was Nashville, although that only took about 1 hour!
Today we drove from Paducah, KY to Warrenton, MO to volunteer at the Child Evangelism Fellowship headquarters.
Last night we parked at a Love's Fuel stop outside of Paducah. A quiet night considering that it's a gas station/truck stop. Today we did some shopping for supplies for the upcoming week at CEF. We stopped in for lunch at a Chick-fil-A.
We visited a railroad museum in Paducah since we were in town. It always interesting to see a little bit of America's history. The railroads had a major impact.
