Hatching Roadies

Awesome Amazing Grand Canyon

2010-10-08T17:18:00.007-04:00

(7 Oct 2010) When the word awesome was popular to be used for everything from "these eggs are awesome" or "you have an awesome tan" or "that was an awesome shot", we took a different tact with our kids. We encouraged them not to use this great word for everyday things, but to use it as a word of reverence. A word set apart for God alone and the things he has made.

To that end AWESOME is a perfectly fitting word for the Grand Canyon. We had just a half-day to visit this incredible site and chose to go to the popular south rim. We got a quick orientation from a friendly park ranger at the visitor center and set out walking on the paved Rim Trail. From the very first view the canyon took our breath away. Not from being scared at standing on a rocky ledge next to a 5000 foot drop off, but from the shear grandeur and majesty of the views. We took our time walking along the rim of the canyon oohing and aahing at this amazing work of God's creation. This truly is a place that must be seen to be believed. The shear size of the canyon - 277 miles long, 10 miles wide, and 5000 feet deep - means that any picture you take is like taking a postage stamp size picture of a football field and expecting that to tell the story. We ended up hiking about 5 miles along the south rim then took the free shuttle bus back to the main visitor center and got in the car to head to a prime viewing spot that the ranger told us about to watch the sunset. We got in place about 30 minutes ahead of time. The wind was gusting probably 20 to 30 mph and the temperature was dropping. We put on all the clothes we brought, braved the elements and were glad we did. Our camera is not good enough to capture the different nuances in the shades of color inside the canyon that occur as the sun is settling into the horizon. We did get some shots looking away from the sun on the canyon walls which give a sense of what we saw. A dusky sort of haze muted the colorful canyon giving it an almost ethereal mystical look.
This is about the 25th National Park we have been to on our trip. It is right up there with Yellowstone as the overall highlight of our travels so far. You really have to come here and see it in person. You will never use the word awesome lightly again!

Newest AF Pilot

2010-10-03T18:28:00.004-04:00

(1 Oct 2010) Joy and I came to Del Rio for the 3rd time in a year to join the celebration and accomplishment of our son-in-law CJ completing Air Force pilot training. His parents and sister were able to come down from Alaska to join the festivities so it was a real family affair. Besides winding down his program the kids faced the daunting task of packing up their household goods getting ready to move themselves in a U-Haul which included "clearing" base housing which can be the government nightmare it sounds like. Joy and I came in early to take granddaughter Kylan on a trip in the motorhome for a few days to lighten their burden. In the course of that trip our RV fridge went out for the 4th time in 5 months so we broke down and bought a new one and had it installed.
The festivities for graduation included on Thursday evening, a special retreat ceremony and fly-over with the 3 types of planes they use here, a Friday morning breakfast followed by the graduation ceremony and presentation of the coveted Air Force silver wings, and an evening formal banquet. It was a full day. Katie pinned CJ's wing on after the graduation in front of the T-1 trainer he spent the last several months mastering. On Thursday and Friday we had the privilege of "flying" the flight-simulators used to instruct pilots here.
Saturday we loaded the truck and finished cleaning the house and then had our own family presentation ceremony. Finishing pilot training is an all-around team effort and CJ knows he could not have done it without Katie. Her support was essential to his finishing the course. The family gathered at our RV to give Katie a gift of pregnancy massages and CJ a statue of an eagle in flight. The eagle is to remind them both of the realization that we can't do anything in our own strength, but only as we "wait upon the Lord will we renew our strength and mount up with wings like eagles" (Is 40).
The baton has truly been passed. It was a year ago to the day (1 Oct) that I officially came off the roles of the Air Force. Like ours, CJ and Katie's event marks not only an end, but a beginning. We are looking forward in anticipation to all that God will do in and through them as they commit themselves to him.
We said our tearful good-byes this morning and are already looking forward to a January visit to Fairbanks where we will greet the newest baby Elmes.

Joy's Dream House

2010-08-24T21:41:00.004-04:00

(Haceta Head, OR: 24 Aug 2010) After only three weeks cruising the Oregon Coast looking for our future perfect home, we found it! It's got everything she wants. Big front porch. Unique. White picket fence. Ocean view. Unfortunately it's the old light keepers house at Haceta Head Lighthouse. They have turned it into a B&B so someday we may stay there just to see what it would be like.
Oh well...we'll keep looking.

Home

2010-08-06T18:44:00.013-04:00

Seaside, OR (Aug 6, 2010) So we made it. It was somewhat anticlimactic after all these months of traveling. There was no banner, no band, no one to pat us on the back and exclaim about how amazing it was that we had come from Virginia to Oregon and all we have seen and done. Just Ed and I crossing into Oregon from Washington state and a sign that said "Welcome to Oregon". But it was enough. In fact it felt right, like coming home. It was an overcast, drizzly day as we drove into Seaside and got ourselves set up at the campground. The drizzle stopped and we decided we NEEDED to see the Pacific Ocean today so we bundled up and started out. By the time we got there (about a mile and a half) blue sky was breaking through and the sun was peeking out which we took as a gift of God, just for us. We walked on the beach for awhile and I wished I had not dressed so warmly! A wonderful welcome home! So...WE MADE IT!!!
As if it were there just to add an emphatic punctuation to our own cross-country journey we snapped a picture of the Lewis & Clark statue in Seaside with the appropriate inscription, "End of the Trail". By the grace of God and in his providential plan this is not the End, this is the Beginning!

First Visit to Newport WA

2010-08-04T22:14:00.002-04:00

(Newport, WA: 31 July - 4 Aug) My step-mom Nancy has lived in northeastern Washington State for 10 years. Until now we had never been able to visit. The story is worth telling of how she came to be here. When my Dad was alive they retired from the Navy and moved to Snohomish, WA. My next door neighbor in the dorm at Bible College had taken a church in Maltby WA a few miles from where Dad and Nancy lived. They ended up visiting the church and meeting Dan and Deb Peterson and became regulars. Dan and Deb are our age and ended up also having 3 daughters nearly the same ages as ours. Dad and Nancy sort of adopted the Peterson family or the Peterson's adopted Dad and Nancy. Whatever it was God was in it. They all grew in their walk with the Lord and became a support for each other as God would have it. My Dad died in 1994. About a year later Dan and Deb moved with their girls to Newport, WA. Dan and Deb invited Nancy to move near them, but it took some time before she was ready. About 4-5 years later Nancy moved there too.
We were able to go to church with Nancy; a church where the Peterson's were one of the founding families. It was fun to put faces with names of people Nancy has spoken of and have been a big part of her life the past 10 years. The church body takes seriously the scriptural admonitions to take care of widows so Nancy has been well looked-out for. Monday night we had a dinner with Dan and Deb and the two oldest girls, Mishael and Melanie, and their families. (Youngest daughter Kelly works as a nanny in Chicago). The girls married guys from the fellowship and we enjoyed getting to know Zach Miller, Mishael's husband, and her daughter Morgyn. Melanie is pregnant and not feeling well, so we enjoyed watching Josh, her husband wait on her hand and foot. Daughters Abigail and Anna were full of energy but also helped Mom. Joy had the special blessing of holding Mishael and Zach's newest addition, Philip Emery, the baby boy taking my Dad's name as his middle name.
It was a good time and good to know, now that we're on the left coast, it won't be 10 years before we visit Nancy and our friends in Newport again!

Sustain Life Workshop

2010-07-31T22:46:00.001-04:00

Homestead Heritage craft village near Waco TX

Grist Mill at Homestead Heritage near Waco, TX

Woodworking display at workshop in Lewiston, ID

Quilting display at Lewistion, ID

Joy recovering from nearly fainting in the Idaho heat

Chris & Destiny in Lewiston

(Waco, TX 23 June and Lewiston, ID 31 July) I've been waiting to blog about this since June. When we left Katie and CJ's in late June and before we caught up with Joy's family in Dallas we visited a craft village near Waco, TX. I saw a flyer while checking in to an RV park and thought it looked interesting. The village is called Brazos de Dios or Homestead Heritage and is in a little spot in the road called Elm Mott, TX. It is a laid out like an old community would have been in the days of say, Little House on the Prairie (one of Joy's favorite shows). There is a grist mill where they grind their own grain, a building where they do all the spinning and weaving, a blacksmith shop, a woodworking shop, and a cafe' where everything is made from scratch using mostly ingredients from the homestead.

We were impressed with how friendly everyone was and after questioning found out that they are a Christian community. They are committed to living simply in the traditional lifestyle of an agrarian, family centered community. In the course of our visit we learned that they had been working out this idea in 3 different states over 3 decades. Everything they have learned to do living off the land for their own sustainment they also teach. One whole aspect of their ministry is education of these "essentials". They are just beginning to take their teaching "on the road". We learned they are at the front end of opening a traditional crafts/sustainable living teaching center north of Lewiston, Idaho and were partnering with several groups there to host a Sustain Life Workshop at the end of July to help jump start that work. As we made our way visiting the different buildings around the craft village we shared some of our story about just retiring from the Air Force and RV'ing across the country as we move back to Oregon. So here we are in the middle of Texas in June saying to folks we had just met that we might see them in Idaho at the end of July. Just before we finished our tour a couple came across the campus and introduced themselves. The young man asked me if I was the retired Air Force guy? Word had gotten around quickly. We met Chris and his new wife Destiny. We came to find out that Chris had gone to the Air Force Academy and had flown F-16's. He got out of the AF 3-4 years ago and came to this community to see what it was about. He never left.

It didn't take much adjustment to plan our trip to make it to Lewiston on 31 July. We found the fairgrounds where the workshop was to be held arriving early to make sure we could park the RV. We hadn't been their 10 minutes when we started meeting some of the people we had seen in Texas. They brought all their goods and 150 or so people from Texas to support the workshop. They remembered us and said they wondered if we would make it. We had a great time and went to several of the seminars and demonstrations. The cheese-making seminar was fun and we ended up buying the cheese-making kit and cheese press so we're ready to start a new hobby when we get settled. Joy visited a pottery demonstration and we watched the woodworking guy start with a log and turn it into a Windsor chair (well the steps to make the chair). We found Chris and Destiny minding the Kettle Corn tent and met and visited with Chris' parents who live in Boise, ID. Joy had a brief sense of feeling light-headed so Chris and Destiny got her a chair and we sat in the shade of the tent to finish our visit. Chris was so thoughtful to give us a gift of a music CD produced by the ministry. We have had two brief visits with these young folks and ended giving hugs as we departed wondering if and when we will see them again.

We're not sure why God had us connect with these people, but they love Jesus and their approach to Christian community is compelling.

Captivated by Breathtaking Beauty

2010-07-29T19:46:00.002-04:00

(Yellowstone National Park, July 26-29) I could be talking about my lovely wife, but in this case I am not. Spending several days at Grand Teton National Park only heightened our anticipation of what Yellowstone Park held in store. Making it an even more special blessing was being able to share it with our dear friends Bill and Sara Payton.
We had high expectations for the great beauty at Yellowstone, so no surprise there, what blew us away was the great diversity. Some of the first people to see this place and return to describe it to others were the mountain men/fur trappers of the early 1800's. Known for their tall tales anyway, their stories of bubbling mud pits, geysers spewing hot water hundreds of feet into the air, a mountain lake as big as a sea, a grand canyon miles long split by a roaring river with not less three 100' tall waterfalls within a mile of each other, to say nothing of the plethora of wildlife...from wolves, black and grizzly bear, moose, buffalo, elk, antelope, deer and badgers. If you haven't seen this place in person you too might accuse someone of lying or at least truth stretching when describing this place. But it's true, all of this and more packed into this small corner of God's creation in the northwest corner of Wyoming and southwest corner of Montana.

Each day held wonderful surprises for us. We prayed before launching out on our first day that we would see a wolf and a grizzly. We had been driving in the park less than an hour in the morning when a gray wolf crossed the road right in front of our car! A short time later we saw a grizzly bear from long distance. Some time later we saw a crowd gathered a little off the main road, we made it back there to see a large group with binoculars, spotting scopes etc. watching a wolf about 1/2 - 3/4 mile away who had made a kill of an elk or antelope earlier in the day. The wolf was protecting her prize and alternately gorging on the fresh meat and taking it uphill into a stand of lodgepole pine where it was supposed she was feeding a den of young cubs. We even saw her fight off a coyote trying to steal her fresh kill. We stayed there almost an hour watching the amazing scene.

Over the 3 days we saw more buffalo than anything. Bull elk were majestic with their huge antlers still growing. We learned that elk lose their antlers every winter, which explained the elk antler arches we had seen at the city park in Jackson, WY.

We enjoyed two days with Bill and Sara and a third on our own. On the second day with our friends we spent a lot of time in the Old Faithful area of the Geyser Basin. We knew generally the Old Faithful geyser, what we didn't know was the Geyser Basin is the largest concentration of geysers and geothermal activity in the world. This was the area that made early explorers sound like liars...it truly is unbelievable to see.

On our last day in the park we saw more of the same amazing wildlife and scenery. We took lawnchairs to the edge of an overlook of Firehole Canyon and the Firehole River enjoying our lunch while being serenaded by roaring rapids. On a drive to Butte Lookout above Yellowstone Lake we found a spot with a sign that said we were at the point farthest from any main road in the lower 48 states! Driving nearly to the east entrance to the park we got in several "critter jams" -- traffic jams due to buffalo watchers, which delayed us considerably. It was nearing sunset and we were still about 40 miles from the north entrance where we needed to exit to get back to our RV park. It had been a good day enjoying the beauty, but nothing super-spectacular and then the Lord gave us icing on the cake to what had been an amazing 3 days. First we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, then as dusk was setting in we saw a Park Ranger up ahead on the side of the road which is usually a good sign that something was stirring...we got there when only a few cars had stopped and there in the distance making its way down a steep ravine was a huge grizzly bear!!...there wasn't a place to park, so we kept on, but we both got a good look at it! But God was not done. I had wanted to see a big horn sheep. There was just a glimmer of light left in the sky and we were about a mile from leaving the park, wending our way down into a canyon to get to the main highway. We turned sharply through one of the switchbacks and saw a photographer set up on the side of the road looking high up at the rocky cliff, and there in perfect profile were two big horn sheep! One standing and one lying down with their heads held high as their majestic horns caught the last rays of the days light. We probably only had less than 10 seconds of viewing before going around the corner, but it was enough to see a breathtaking site and breathe a prayer of thanks to our Great Creator God for this special blessing, this special time to enjoy it with friends and each other and a special thanks to this special place.

Whitewater Rafting Take 2!

2010-07-25T22:26:00.001-04:00

Gallatin River, MT (July 25, 2010) We left Bill and Sara Payton in Colorado with a germ of an idea to come and join us on our Yellowstone Adventure. We were so excited when they called and said they were coming. Our first order of business was a whitewater trip. Ed made our reservations and Sunday the 4 of us headed out to the Gallatin River in Montana. The weather was gorgeous and was supposed to hit 90 degrees which I think it did! We were hoping for some III/IV class rapids but because of the time of year it didn't look like that would happen. But it was a great time and we had a blast. It was a little bit more exciting than the first trip with more rapids and less leisure time in between. We were also impressed to have a local celebrity in our boat, a DJ for the "soft rock" station in Bozeman, MT who had also appeared in the movie "A River Runs Through It". But what made it so much fun was sharing the experience with our friends.

Another Rained-on Hike

2010-07-22T20:25:00.008-04:00

(Grand Teton National Park, WY: 21 July 2010) What is it about us and hikes that we always get rained on? The first day here we went to the Ranger Station and got the map for the various hikes in the area and found the one that looked interesting. 7 miles around Jenny Lake with a spur hike of .4 miles up to a place called Inspiration Point. Joy was concerned about the bears in the area so we got the briefing on all the appropriate precautions. The hike we chose is a very popular hike so there were bound to be lots of people making people noises to make it less likely we would run into a black bear or a grizzly. We have 3 full days here and wanted to do a hike and a bike ride at least. We checked the weather and decided Wed would work for the hike. Only 20% chance of an afternoon thunderstorms. We thought the hike would take about 4 hours so we got on the trail by 1030. We had barely made it a mile and the sky started darkening and we heard thunder in the distance. There were a lot of people on the trail, some not dressed for weather. We passed one family that was just out in shorts and tee shirts, just as they were making the U-turn to head back to the Visitor Center to hopefully miss the coming onslaught. Fortunately we thought ahead to bring our windbreaker/rain jacket as well as the handy-dandy lightweight poncho's that Emily gave us for Christmas. We were about 2 miles into the hike when the rain started coming fairly steady. We're good, we thought. Waterproof hiking shoes, raingear, we'll be fine. It wasn't the gully-washer thunderstorm we had in Hot Springs, but it came down steady. We made it to the half-way point around the lake and we're still enjoying ourselves. We took the spur hike up to a beautiful falls called Hidden Falls and then branched off from there to climb the 700 ft path up to Inspiration Point. This point is on the west side of Jenny Lake and literally in the shadow of the Teton Mountain Range. It is still raining with periodic lightening and thunder and we're slogging on. We make it to Inspiration Point, elevation 7200' according to the sign, and we look out from the view from this precipice overlooking the lake, prepared to be inspired, to a foggy mist coming off the lake and we can barely make out the trees on the other side. We had to take it by faith that it was indeed an inspiring view. We had water, but it was recommended not to take any food to lessen the chance of attracting bears. We had to make a "go-no-go" decision to continue around the other side of the lake or to head back the way we came. There was also a shuttle boat to this side of the lake that would have taken us back to the Visitor Center. Though beginning to tire and starting to get hungry we decided to press on around the lake; that is when it started not being so much fun. There had been a fire in 1998 up the nortwest slope of the mountain above the lake and while growing back it was still kind of ugly. The rain is continuing to fall as did our spirits. There are hardly any people on the trail now, and Joy is getting anxious about meeting up with a grizzly. She picked up some rocks and started banging them together as we hiked (really...they tell you to do this!). She mumbled something about not knowing what she was getting herself into, when she agreed to go on this hike with me. We made it around the north end of the lake to a trail marker that reminded us we still have 2.8 miles to go to get out of the rain and back to our car. We entered a very thick growth of forest still hugging the edge of the lake. Joy picks up bigger rocks and starts banging louder and more frequently. We start a conversation, talking loudly, just to be cautious. I stepped over some bear scat about this time, but I wasn't about to tell her. I was walking in the lead, so the bear would get me first, and I certainly ratcheted up my awareness level. After 4.5 hours we made it back to the Ranger Station. We had hiked almost 9 miles the rain finally stopping about 10 minutes before we ended. I was wet and tired, but still thought it was worth it. Joy was wet and tired and is having second thoughts about ever going on a hike with me again!

Hatch Reunion

2010-07-17T20:56:00.004-04:00

Cowboy cousins

Uncle Danny and oldest son Dan (aka Deed),
retired USN Master Chief

(Ft. Morgan, CO: July 17, 2010) So there we are sitting in the amphitheater at Mount Rushmore waiting for the illumination show to begin when Ed's phone rings. Going backwards in our journey was something we didn't plan on but Ed's Uncle Danny was planning a Hatch family reunion back in Colorado and would really like us to come. So Friday, 16 July, we drove back to Colorado for the Saturday reunion. My side of the family has never had a reunion, or at least I've never been invited to one, hmmm. Anyway, we went, met a lot of people we'd never met before, Ed got to see some people he hadn't seen in many many years, had some good food, and just got to know some of the Hatch family a little better. It was fun and we're glad we went.

Another plus of going back was our friends from New York, Bill and Sara Payton had sold their house, and moved to the Denver area and we had missed them on our first time there. So we got to have dinner with them and get caught up from when we saw them in April.

Now, back to Wyoming!

Spearfish Canyon, SD

2010-07-16T23:41:00.004-04:00

Spearfish campground view

Devils Tower WY -- first national monument

Climbers on Devil's Tower

Deadwood, SD

Shootout play act in mainstreet Deadwood, SD

(Spearfish Canyon, SD July 16, 2010) We left the Mount Rushmore area and drove to Spearfish Canyon to camp for a couple of days. This is a beautiful area and the campground was really nice and quiet with just the sound of the creek lulling us to sleep at night. About 4 miles up the canyon from where we camped scenes from the movie "Dances With Wolves" were filmed.

We took a short trip across into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower which was pretty cool. We hiked the mile and a quarter around the base of it and were able to see about 6 people attempting to climb it. There are science reasons the Tower is formed liked it is, but we liked the Indian story that a giant grizzly clawed the column from top to bottom, hence the long sharp columns that appear somewhat uniform from top to bottom.

From there we drove to Deadwood, Wyoming where Wild Bill Hickock was killed. We hiked the mile uphill to the cemetery where he, Calamity Jane and Seth Bullock are all buried. It's pretty much a tourist trap town and we didn't stay long but we did stay long enough to see the traditional street gunfight demonstration.

Harney Peak Hike

2010-07-16T23:35:00.001-04:00

(Black Hills, SD: 16 July 2010) After all the driving and touristy site-seeing we figured it was time for a hike! So, we headed to the Black Elk Wilderness and Custer State Park to climb Harney Peak. At 7,242 ft. Harney Peak is the highest point between east the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Pyrenees Mts in Europe! The climb is steep (about a 1500' gain in 3 miles) and rocky but not too difficult. The view is another amazing sight. We had a picnic lunch up there and watched the oxygen-deprived Least Chipmunks run around like they were crazy. The hike down was much easier. We made it a loop by going a different way and saw the Cathedral Spires, another beautiful Black Hills rock formation. Another remarkable thing about the hike is the number of people we saw. This is a wilderness hike mind you and we must have passed 80-100 people in the 3-4 hours we were on the trail. Families with young kids, older couples (way older than us!)...some hiking in flip-flops no less!

Wall Drug, SD

2010-07-16T23:33:00.001-04:00

(Wall, SD: 15 July 2010) From the Badlands we made a touristy stop at Wall Drug which was another one of those places that "they" tell you you "have" to see. A couple started this place in the 1930's as a highway stop for travelers. The trouble is no one stopped. As a last ditch effort to stir up business they put up signs for hundreds of miles in all directions advertising free ice water for all who stopped. This was the 30's and most of the roads out here were still gravel-dirt. That was all it took. People stopped for the free ice water to cut the dust and the rest is history. The place has grown into a real quirky/gimmicky kind of tourist stop that actually was pretty fun. They even had a wall-mounting of a "real" Jackalope! And they still give away free ice-water!

The Badlands, SD

2010-07-16T23:24:00.006-04:00

(The Badlands, SD: 16 July 2010) The day after visiting Mt Rushmore in the heart of the Black Hills we headed east to the Badlands. This was a do-it-cause-you're-in-the-area event, not something we planned ahead of time. The Badlands form an interesting transition between the Great Plains and the mountains and they are simply AMAZING. AMAZING in a completely different way than Mount Rushmore. The pictures say it better than words, but what you can't get from the pictures is the size the huge vistas, humongous panoramas of these odd formations of rock, grassland, hills all smashed together and going on for miles and miles and miles.

Custer State Park

2010-07-16T00:10:00.002-04:00

(Custer State Park, Custer, SD: 17 July 2010) Custer State Park is absolutely gorgeous. We were thrilled to see buffalo, big horned elk, white tailed deer, prairie dogs, and mules as we drove through the park. Named after George Armstrong Custer, the park encompasses some of the area explored by a Custer led Army expedition in 1874. The US had signed a treaty with the Sioux Nation in 1872 agreeing to not try to take the Black Hills, an area long held sacred by the Sioux and other tribes. Though authorized by the Army, Custer's expedition itself was probably a violation of the treaty. What made matters worse, one of Custer's men found gold in French Creek (picture at very top). That kind of news can't be kept secret. Soon the Black Hills were swarming with miners trying to make it rich. It was only a matter of time before the Army was sent to protect the miners from the Indians. The US broke the treaty and the Indians eventually lost their lands. Custer would die at the Battle of Little Big Horn, in Montana, about 150 miles west of here in 1876. He was killed by the same Indians whose lands had been turned into mining camps in these Black Hills.

What a RUSH!

2010-07-14T22:51:00.002-04:00

(Keystone, SD: 14-15 July 2010) I have always wanted to see Mount Rushmore. When we started plotting out this trip it was on my list of places to go. I had never been to South Dakota so I didn't really know what to expect. I have been told that some of it is not so pretty but where we were, mostly around the Black Hills, was absolutely beautiful.
Mount Rushmore was amazing and all the history behind the selection of the sculptor, the choice of figures and selection of the Presidents is all very interesting. It was a rainy day but we finished the audio tour there and headed out to the nearby tourist-trap-town of Keystone, SD where we loaded up on what someone told us was some of the best taffy and caramels ever made! It was good, but our vote is they are a close second to taffy-caramel from Cannon Beach, OR!
The next day, though it had already been a full day, (see Badlands and Wall Drug blogs) we decided to head back to Mount Rushmore for the evening illumination ceremony. It was well worth the effort. A Ranger gave a short talk then showed a movie about the history of the making of the mountain carving. Imagine this, you're sitting facing the mountain and by now it is completely dark. As the movie concludes spotlight, starting very dim and coming from different angles start to slowly illuminate the features of the four presidents etched in granite...it was eerie-pretty and very dramatic. They ended with a flag lowering-retreat ceremony involving a Boy Scout troop visiting the area combined with a tribute to veterans. The Ranger invited all veterans down to the front stage to be "thanked" by applause from the 300-400 folks attending. Ed went down with more than a hundred or so other soldiers-sailors-airmen-marines and coasties and the applause went on for about 5 minutes. As the colors were struck a Boy Scout trumpet quintet played retreat and taps. What made it an extra special moment for Ed was that it was a year to the day of his retirement ceremony back in Suffolk, VA!

Conquering 2 Fears at the Royal Gorge

2010-07-07T21:54:00.005-04:00

(Canon City, CO: 7 July 2010) We also took a day trip to the Royal Gorge and, yes, I actually walked across the bridge! It is 1250 feet down and I don't remember much about it except that I was terrified. They even let cars on it while you're walking across! I wasn't the only one questioning things. I overheard a little boy walking behind me say, "I don't think this is a good idea," and I agreed with him! But it was beautiful. I remember going when I was about 8 and I certainly appreciated the beauty of it a lot more this time!
I ran the last 100 feet coming back. Ed was taking a video of me and put the camera in my face and said, "Say, something for the camera." "Two fears conquered," I said. "Heights and bridges"! Well, maybe just tamed for once...probably not conquered!

Reconnecting With Friends & Family in Colorado

2010-07-06T19:27:00.001-04:00

Ed, Pam Peterson, Michelle Alfano, Joy, Pete Peterson,
Sal Alfano

Mark & Vickie Gehri, Sal & Michelle Alfano

The "Bobbsey Twins" Ed w/Jim Van Housen

Katy, Jaycee & Jim Van Housen

Aunt Alice, Uncle Buddy, & Cousin Cindy

Colorado Springs, CO (June 30 - July 11, 2010) Like I said in my last blog, if Colorado had an ocean I could almost be persuaded to live there! It is a beautiful place and we enjoyed our time there. After our 13 mile hike we did a 16 mile bike ride and saw a snake! (What is it about everywhere we go there are snakes!!!) Ed gave me a break after that and we did some socializing instead. We were able to visit 4 couples that had meant a lot to us in our military years: Pete and Pam Peterson (whom we had just seen in Texas and were here for another reunion), Sal and Michelle Alfano, Mark and Vicki Gehri, and Jim and Katy VanHousen.

Dinner with Pete, Pam, Sal & Michelle was also a 30 year reunion of a Navigator's Bible Study at McChord AFB, Tacoma WA. McChord was our first duty assignment and this group of believers really helped us make the transition from civilian to military life and helped us see that you can live for Christ in the middle of the military environment.

We also met Mark & Vickie at McChord. Mark and Ed were also on the Joint Staff together from 1999 - 2001. We took a tour of Compassion International where Mark and Vicki minister and got to hear their amazing story of how God led them to that ministry. Sal and Michelle kindly opened their home to us while we were having some work done on the RV and it was good to spend some extra time with them.

Jim and Katy just moved back to Colorado with the AF Reserve, after being away for 22 years. Jim and Ed's Reserve career's tracked closely from the time they were Captains. They favor a resemblance to each other and for awhile were known as the "Bobbsey Twins". Ed and Jim worked together in GA and we lived near each other. We also got to see their youngest daughter Jaycee whom we had not seen since she was a baby. It was really good to catch up with them after all these years.

Our last stop before leaving Colorado was to have breakfast with Ed's Uncle Bud and Aunt Alice and cousin Cindy just north of Denver. We hadn't seen Alice and Bud since Erin and John's wedding so it was good to see them and get a visit in even if it was a short one.

All in all I think we took advantage of all there is to do in Colorado. But, I'm sure we could find several reasons to come back for another visit.

Bucket List

2010-07-05T22:25:00.012-04:00

The calm before the storm!

Joy is sitting in front of the guide on the left back.

Colorado Springs, CO (July 5, 2010) I don't have a bucket list. It seems to me that bucket lists tend to be some big daring life threatening adventure and I have always tried to stay away from those. I mean why can't it be just spending a week at the beach with my family, or relaxing on the beach of Hawaii...I would even walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge. But no, it's got to be surfing the banzai pipeline on the North Beach of Hawaii, or cliff diving, or snorkeling with sharks, or free climbing El Capitan. So I refuse to make a bucket list because I know I would never do any of those things. HOWEVER, today I did something I've always wanted to do but was afraid to do. We went white water rafting in the Arkansas River. It was a kind of a spur of the moment decision so I didn't really have time to think about it. Our guide Jessie was fantastic and although it was only a class II/III it was a lot of fun. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the scenery was breathtaking. I look forward to doing it again sometime.

You know...if Colorado had an ocean it would be on my list of possible places God might choose for us to live!!! ;)

13 Mile Hike Deja Vu in the Springs

2010-07-02T21:23:00.000-04:00

(Colorado Springs, CO: 2 July 2010) We gave ourselves a day to get acclimated to the arid weather and high altitude and then set out exploring. We chose the 13 mile hike that loops through a small chunk of the scenic expanse of the AF academy. The challenge of this particular hiking trail is it is also used by mountain bikers. You have to keep alert or you will get run over...which happened twice. It is a narrow rocky trail in places with not huge elevation changes, but the switch-backs and blind turns make it hard to know what is ahead (or behind). All along the way the views are incredible with a surprise or two along the way. We stumbled onto a cabin in the woods that was built in the 1880's when Colorado was first being settled. It is one of the oldest in the state and some graves were there of the former occupants. We spooked a deer that got real confused and tried running toward a building and road nearby rather than back into the woods. The deja vu part of the hike was the rumbling thunder we started hearing after about 8 miles...just over half way around and the farthest spot in the hike away from our car. We kept on and eventually felt a few drops of rain and more thunder. We had flashbacks to the hike around Hot Springs AR back at the end of May where we got soaked about 2/3 of the way around a 13 mile loop! What really startled us was the booming voice that came over the base PA system with the announcement, "This is the USAFA Command Post. Observed lightening is within 5 nautical miles of the base. Take cover immediately!" That scared us more than the flashes in the distant sky. We were at about the 10 mile point when we heard it the first time and tried to pick up the pace. Joy had developed a blister on her big toe and was walking like Festus from Gunsmoke. She gamely tried to double-time, but could only go so far before having to back off. Still we covered the last two miles in under 30 minutes. We made it to the car and got back to the RV just as the thundering and lightening exploded and the skies opened up with a downpour at least equal to the one in Hot Springs if not louder and longer. Maybe it is the number 13 or hiking in towns with Springs in their name, or both...not that we're superstitious! But we think we'll keep the hikes in the single digits from now on!!

USAFA Tour

2010-07-01T21:28:00.004-04:00

(Colorado Springs, CO: 1 July 2010) We're camping at the campground at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) and enjoying the view from our RV's big front windows of the Rocky Mountains (real mountains!) that form the majestic backdrop for the 15,000+ acres of the Academy.

We're at 4,400' elevation so we took it easy the first day. Since we took the tour of West Point in NY and the US Military Academy we had to do the tour of my service's academy. A new class reported 24 June. We arrived at the cadet area in time to see all the squadrons in formation marching to lunch. I did not have a wide enough lens to get all the squadron's in one shot...1200 doolies, first year cadets, attempting to show their newly acquired skills from "forward harch", to "column left, harch", etc. We spent some time in the architectural masterpiece that is the Academy Chapel and were moved by the gesture of the closed pew Reserved for POWs and MIAs. We even had a chance to talk to two cadets who are part of the falconry program. The Falcon is the Academy mascot. They had one of the birds in the visitor's center gift store which I got to pet (a gentle chest stroke...don't go for the head!). The falcon is part of the raptor class of birds (the Raptor is also the newest fighter, the F-22) and an appropriate symbol for the Academy.

Enid, Oklahoma? WHY???

2010-06-30T19:53:00.001-04:00

Enid, Oklahoma (June 28-30, 2010) Why are you coming to Enid, Oklahoma? Our dear friends Brian and Cynthia Odell asked that question when we told them we were coming. "To see you guys, of course!", was our immediate answer. They couldn't believe anyone would make that trip just to see them. We met Brian and Cynthia when we were stationed in Warner-Robins GA and we had that special blessing of both sides of the husband/wife couples forming not just good, but great friendships. We had the Oregon connection going there in GA as Brian is from Medford. He now works as a flight simulator instructor at Vance AFB which is why THEY are there! What a great time we had. We got to see their daughter Kimberly, 20, who is their last at home and we even got to see their daughter Catherine and husband Stu who just celebrated their first anniversary. We got the grand tour of Enid which usually takes about 15 minutes, but we were able to stretch it into an hour or so! It's really quite a nice little town, too bad it's a little off the beaten path. But that's what an RV is for, going to those off the beaten path places. Wish we could have stayed longer but we soaked up all the friend-sharing time we could in the time we had and left spiritually refreshed and verbally exhausted!

Thanks you guys...Hope to see you in Oregon in September!

The Big D

2010-06-29T20:44:00.000-04:00

Dallas, TX (June 24-28, 2010) We headed out of Del Rio, TX and made our way north to near Dallas. We packed a lot into the few days we were there. Here's the brief run-down...Found another cemetery where my great great grandparents on my dads side are buried, got to see a Texas Rangers baseball game that was great, had lunch with my brother Bill and sister-in-law Shirley, spent some time with my sister Jane and brother-in-law Phil as well as their granddaughter Elli-Grace, met my niece Lauren's husband Kendrick and swam in the pool at their new house, got to visit The Village Church just outside of Denton whose pastor, Matt Chandler, we have enjoyed listening to by podcast several times on the road, and reconnected with some good long-time friends from our first military assignment at McChord AFB in Tacoma, WA, and also our Pentagon assignment, Pete and Pam Peterson. Pete led the Navigator's Bible study we plugged into and has been a great friend and mentor to Ed all these years.

We didn't stay long but we did enjoy the time we had in the Dallas area. Now we're off to Enid, Oklahoma!

Texas Two-Step

2010-06-22T17:17:00.010-04:00

Del Rio, TX (June 1-20, 2010) There are many things about Del Rio, TX that I don't care for but the fact that CJ, Katie and Kylan are there makes it one of my favorite places to go! Fortunately, they will be there just a little while longer and so we will only have to visit them there one more time, October 1st, for CJ's graduation from pilot training.

We did enjoy our 3 weeks there and had fun swimming in the base pool, watching Kylan take her first swim lessons, going out on their boat and swimming in Lake Amistad, meeting their friends, coloring, playing hide and seek, reading Bible stories, watching videos, going to see Toy Story 3 (not in 3D!), eating, and just spending time together. We were also able to be there for Katie's 29th birthday and Father's Day. Ed was even able to get in several rounds of golf, and a little bit of fishing. Saying goodbye is always hard and I will miss seeing Kylan's sweet face everyday. But it is time to move onward and westward once again.

Church on the Road

2010-06-07T18:29:00.011-04:00

When we launched out on our great adventure back in January we committed to try to go to church on Sunday while we're on the road as often as practicable. We have done pretty well overall and the variety of churches and worship experiences has been incredible, stretching, and in a way humbling. Here are some of the highlights...

A church plant in Greensboro, NC with a loud rock style worship band. The church is focused on providing a place where young college and career kids can experience Christ and providing a save environment where they can find authentic relationships. We were given an option of ear plugs during the worship time and the speaker invited the audience to text him with questions about the sermon. At the end he answered the questions people had texted him during the service!

Several chapel type church services at a Thousand Trails (TT) campground near Orlando, FL. An entire family put on the service. Mom played piano, 2 daughters and son played violins, and Dad preached. They are the regular minsters at this chapel all year as best we could tell. It was very plain, but very effective. Hymns were sung, the Word was preached, the Gospel presented, and Christ celebrated. What surprised us was the 200 plus snowbirds who packed the place out!

A Saturday night service at a mega-church in Miami, FL. We were one of 7 services held over the weekend. The service we attended was satellited to 6 other locations. We passed the cappuccino/coffee bar on the way in and sat somewhere in a sloped floor sanctuary (?) that probably seats 2000. The worship band started up a little early with stage-fog coming up from the floor then led us in a loud pump-you up yet very worshipful set of praise songs. The sermon was simple, but well done. The announcements were all very professionally done video clips, one reported on huge church outreach to the poor of Miami that had been held a few weeks before. Somewhere in all that I picked up the fact that the church had given one million dollars to missions the year before!

A very traditional service at a very traditional church in Lebanon, PA, just down the road from our TT campground. Very friendly people. 3 hymns and a 3 point sermon...very traditional, but well done. Several people introduced themselves and asked us about ourselves. We found out that the church actually leads a Sunday Service at our campground!

A contemporary service in Ohio where the congregation seemed to be mostly young families. No one spoke to us, but God did. The pastor preached from Isaiah 1 and God really spoke to us through his message. There was a man, probably in his 40's sitting in front of us by himself. I couldn't help but notice as we were standing and singing that he had a bald spot on the crown of his head where he had a tattoo of a man pushing a lawnmower! I pointed it out to Joy and used it as a conversation starter as the service broke up. He too was visiting. I asked him if he as a Christian and he said, "I'm Methodist". We encouraged him as we could and then spoke briefly to the pastor who took the time to pray with us over something we had shared with him.

A church in Hot Springs, AR, where our friend pastors. Wonderful worship and a great message from one of several teaching pastors with a very practical and somewhat surprising application. We celebrated communion for the first time since we left VA and enjoyed a very worshipful experience in the particular way they celebrate the Lord's Supper.

A church in Del Rio, TX which we visited with Katie, CJ and Kylan where the loud praise band had some help from some hopping, dancing, hand waving young people in front. It was a very charismatic service with a good message and the preacher interrupting himself every minute with a "can I get an Amen?" He handled the Word well using a text from Haggai which really spoke to us. Not a church we would be at home at if we lived there, but we met God that Sunday and that's as much as you can ask anywhere.

The humbling part is that it really should not be surprising that as believers in Christ we can worship in all these different settings, formats, and denominations. Why? Because of this magnificent truth from God's Word:

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." (Eph 4:4-6)

Memorial Day Weekend in San Antonio

2010-05-31T17:48:00.004-04:00

(San Antonio, TX: 28-31 May) After seeing Joy's aunt in Houston, TX we headed west to San Antone to meet daughter Katie, son-in-law CJ and granddaughter Kylan for Memorial Day weekend. Joy and I found one of our Thousand Trails campgrounds about 30 miles northwest of SA in the Texas hill country at Medina Lake. We got in around noon on Friday just ahead of the 50 check-ins they were expecting! We found a site with a view of the lake and got set up then checked out the rest of the camp including the large pool. There were deer everywhere - they would let you get almost within arms reach before running off. We were planning on going to Sea World on Saturday, and since CJ had to work till 5 or so we figured we would just meet them in San Antonio. They texted and called a couple times enroute and we were excited when they decided to come on in and find our campground because Kylan wanted to see us. It worked out great. Kylan enjoyed seeing the deer. We showed off our RV remodeling work and we sat down for a short visit...Kylan got our attention. Katie said, "Kylan has something to tell you". She was bubbling with excitement as she blurted out, "I'm going to be a big sister"! They just found out and we got to be the first to know! So, we will have another Elmes grand-something around January 2011.
We had a great time the rest of the weekend seeing the sites in SA. (This is where I went to Officer Training School in the late '70s. That was the last time we were tourists here). We went to Sea World all day on Saturday and enjoyed their water park as well as the sea lion and Shamu the whale shows. Sunday we went to the Children's Museum, toured the Alamo and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (animated animals entertain you while dining in a tropical rainforest setting). Monday all of us met Joy's sister Jane and her husband Phil for breakfast. They had been near San Antonio for a family reunion. They had never met Kylan and had not seen Katie and CJ for 5 years or so.
In spite of the 100 degree temps all weekend we had a great time. To top it off Kylan came back to the campground with us and spent the night. Tuesday, 1 June we drove the 3 hours to Del Rio. We'll hang out here for a few weeks before we head to north Texas to see family and friends.

Back in Texas

2010-05-25T21:23:00.004-04:00

Houston, TX (23-26 May, 2010) One of the fun things we did when we started out on our journey was to send a map of the United States to our granddaughter, Kylan in Del Rio, Texas with some stickers. Every place we went we have sent her a postcard so she could track our journey and see when we would be at her house! So I was excited for her to know that we were now in Houston, TX and would be seeing her in just a few days!

We stopped in Houston to visit my Aunt Toadie who has always been very special in our family. Ed had some errands to run so he dropped me off and Aunt Toadie and I had a wonderful time catching up. It was fun to show her all the cemetery pictures we had taken and the Ancestry.com web site. It was also interesting to get some answers to some questions I had about our family and to go through some of her old pictures and put some faces with some names. Ed got back and we had a delicious lunch ending with her famous chocolate cake. It was a short visit but a good one.

Now we're onto San Antonio for a little R&R (like what we've been doing is work)! Can't wait to see Kylan!

Finding our roots

2010-05-25T20:57:00.009-04:00

Branson, Missouri (18-23 May, 2010) Wow, this past week has just flown by. We left Arkansas on the 18th and camped at Branson, Missouri. We had been there about 25 years ago with Erin, Katie, (and Emily in utero!) for one of the first real vacations we ever took as a family. Well, in 25 years it has sure changed! We had to make some choices about what to do because we could have really gone crazy with all the shows. We settled on the Sight and Sound "Noah" production which was really good and the set was amazing! We also had to go to The Dixie Stampede as we had gone 15 years ago in Pigeon Forge, TN and it was a fun night with some good food! We did a little shopping, enjoying the unique arts and crafts of the Ozarks.

But one of the main reasons we headed this way was to do a little cemetery searching. Ed and I have both been plugging away at our genealogy for a little over a year now and we were excited to find that we both had relatives buried within 5 miles of each other right here in Missouri! We struck out on the back roads and found our first cemetery pretty easily in the little town of Crane Mo where we found the grave of Ed's great grandmother. Our second cemetery was also an easy find and after getting ourselves oriented we found the graves of my great grandparents quickly. Our last cemetery for the day was a little harder. Our GPS took us to a residential area with no cemetery in sight. We were stumped and decided to call it a day. We stopped off at McDonalds for a drink and as I waited for Ed I made eye contact with an older gentleman. I asked him if he was from the area and if he knew where Osa (pronounced Osee) Cemetery was. Well, he did and although he struggled a bit in trying to give specific directions, he did point us in the right direction and with just a couple of wrong turns we found it! I know it sounds funny to say I had a great time at the cemetery, but I did! We found a whole bunch of relatives including my great-great grandparents. I felt like I was making a historic discovery! Anyway, it was fun. The next day we drove to Springfield and found the graves of my grandfather and grandmother. We also found a church my grandfather had pastored and the house they lived in. People were at the church so we went in and right there in the foyer is picture of my grandfather, who started the church. We talked to the current pastor's wife and she shared some of the history from what I remember from the 60's. It was not only good to hear about the building and house that I remember, but to know the ministry is alive and well; the church is growing and honoring Christ!
Then we headed to a little town west of Springfield called Aurora where my mom was born. There we met some relatives that I had connected with on Ancestry.com (a third cousin I think) who are very nice and he showed us the old homestead where our great grandparents lived and had 21 children (4 of whom died at birth or in infancy)!!!
After I talked to Aunt Toadie I realized there was even more "roots-searching" we could have done, but we'll have to save that for another trip.

Hiking Around Hot Springs...Or the Hike Where She Almost Left Me!

2010-05-16T19:23:00.005-04:00

(Hot Springs, AR: 16 May 2010) After church on Sunday we planned a hike on Sunset Trail in Hot Springs National Park. The trail is a big loop around the town of Hot Springs mostly in the National Park boundary. We had maps provided by the National Park Service, but never could find a good reading on the length of the trail. The web site said 17 miles, way too long for us...one place said 8 to 9 miles and another said 12. As we're in big thunderstorm season we checked the weather and were happy to see the chance of thunderstorms was only 20%. About noon we parked the car and struck out, not knowing the adventure this would become. The first leg was fairly easy, a short 1.6 mile jaunt to Table Rock. We kept on after that another 3 miles or so and found ourselves crossing out of the National Park boundary, something we expected, near DeSoto Park, a county park with trails maintained by who knows who. There were no signs and no markings and when we did find a trail it was overgrown with knee level grass. We often had trouble finding the trail and in several places were uncertain where to go next. We managed eventually to find a trail and made our way back into the part of the trail maintained by the National Park Service, well marked and well maintained, for which we were thankful. We had gone about 6-7 miles by now and realized we were a long way from where we parked the car. In fact we estimated we were only half way around the loop, this was about 3 o'clock, we'd been hiking for 3 hours. We started hearing thunder off in the distance and got our poncho's out (thanks Emily...these came in handy!). Within 10 minutes of hearing the thunder we were in a torrential downpour. We didn't see much lightening because of the tree cover, but with thunder rolling every 5 to 10 seconds, we knew lightening was nearby. We decided to keep going and in a short time, in spite of our Gore-Tex boots and rain gear, we were soaked to the bone. But it was a warm rain! With fogged glasses and a water-logged barely readable map I realized we were on the south slope of the mountain above "Bathhouse Row" near the historic part of Hot Springs (in other words, civilization). Looking like drowned rats we came down from the hills into town and found shelter under the large covered front porch of the Hot Springs National Park Visitors Center, itself an old bathhouse. We dried out as best we could and waited for the worst of the storm to pass. I was able to get new maps (1 to use 1 for backup) and we plotted our next assault on Sunset Trail. We disagreed on which was the shortest way to the car. If we stayed on trails it appeared to be about 4 miles, but a direct shot, which appeared a little shorter, would have us walking on the side of a narrow 2 lane no shoulder road the last mile or so. I talked Joy into the trail route. We gained about 800' elevation in the first mile. She had said she preferred to hike uphill than down, so I simply was accommodating with my route choice! Now it was about 4 o'clock and we were nearly worn out and still had 3 miles to go. We came to another decision point where the trail split. We sat down on a bench there to figure it out and Joy nearly lost it at that point. Wet, tired and concerned that we were not going to finish the hike before the Park closed and we would get locked in, she worked hard to hold back the tears. We actually talked about going back to town and calling a cab to drive us to our car. We said a prayer and "girded up our loins" (i.e. sucked it up) and pressed on. Again, mostly uphill. The rain finally stopped and we could see sun breaks here and there. Joy just put her head down and plodded on. The sun breaks made for some beautiful scenes and in a couple places the trail opened up onto incredible vistas. Looking across the hills and valleys was a beautiful view of steam coming off the forest as the sun reached down to dry up the rain. We kept on for what seemed like forever. Finally, we made it back to the car. Knowing Joy had pressed beyond her breaking point and fearing the consequences, I mustered up the nerve to ask, "So, are you going to leave me?". With no hesitation in her voice, "I'm thinking about it", she replied. Through all our aches and pains we both laughed.
In the end, according to Joy's trusty pedometer, we hiked 13 miles in about 5 1/2 hours!

Encouragement in Arkansas

2010-05-15T15:18:00.008-04:00

(Little Rock, AR 13-17 May 2010) One of things we looked forward to on this journey of ours was the opportunity it would give us to look up old friends from the past that we had lost track of to see how God had worked in their lives over these past years. Little Rock AFB was one of those spots where God gave us many interesting experiences and we had some wonderful friends who supported us through some difficult times. We were excited to come back this way and check out some of those old memory people and places. Our old house on the base has been torn down and a brand new beautiful 2 story house is there. We took a picture anyway! This was the site of an incident that happened to Katie that we have never been able to come to an agreement on as to what actually happened. We drove past the first house we ever bought. It seemed a lot smaller than I remember! But the best part was finding some friends we had lost track of so many years ago. It has been so amazing to me in all the people we have reconnected with so far how quickly we settle back into our friendships. Dru and Jo Dodson were no exception. Ed and Dru were the youngest elders at Fellowship Bible Church of North Little Rock. Dru left a promising mechanical engineering practice to attend seminary following God's calling him to ministry. Dru helped start and is now pastor of Lake Valley Community Church in Hot Springs and they also own a little cafe/gift shop called Zoes (this is what Jo's grandchildren call her, it means LIFE in Greek). We met at the cafe and had a wonderful two and a half hours catching up and encouraging one another. Including an amazing "God" story of Dru nearly dying from a heart attack over a year ago if not for a whole sequence of our sovereign merciful God having the right people in the right places at the right time. We were also treated to a delicious lunch and dessert which Jo and her staff make right there themselves from scratch! (By the way, thanks Jo for the delicious lunch!!!) God has definitely had His hand on their lives and we were so thankful to reconnect with them. It surely won't be 24 years before we connect again!

After leaving there we drove up to Little Rock for our 2nd reunion of the day with some dear friends from Suffolk who are now stationed at Little Rock AFB, the Allerheiligens. Nate is a C-130 pilot and squadron commander doing a tour in the middle east right now and Susan is holding down the home-front and keeping track of their 6 kids. She's doing an amazing job and has some good help from their oldest, Ashley and James keeping the triplets and Marc in line. We met them at a playground on the base and spent over an hour talking and playing with the kids. Again, it was a great time of catching up and encouraging one another.

These times with friends has once again reminded us that we don't have to be in a church building to experience what the church (the body of Christ) is all about...relationships and caring for one another every day, not just on Sundays!

RV Nerds

2010-05-14T16:55:00.009-04:00

(Red Bay, AL: 11-14 May) Erin and John have started calling us "RV nerds". We mentioned to them that we were going to Red Bay, AL, the location of Tiffin Motorhomes, the maker of our RV, because "everyone says you have to go". When I was researching motorhome company's to determine which brand/company has the best reputation in the industry, I read and heard nothing but good things from this little family run company in Alabama. Their service-after-the-sale is legendary. Even if you are not the original owner they will work on your motorhome and do a quality job at a reasonable rate. When we would see other Allegro's or Tiffin models in campgrounds and talk to the owners, they would ask, "have you been to Red Bay"? They spoke of it in terms almost like pilgrims making the journey to Mecca.
So, we went. We worked up our "punch list" of items we wanted fixed; everything from "big deal" items, like the leak in our bathroom skylight that dripped water into the inside whenever it rained hard, and our awning that had a small rip that started shredding the entire fabric; to the not so big deal, like the variable speed exhaust fans that only worked at one speed and the soiled entry door handles we wanted replaced.
We found Red Bay (no small task) and checked into the Tiffin-Allegro Campground fully prepared for the wait "everyone" said was ahead of us, but willing to grind it out to have the experience of the Tiffin treatment. Now you have to understand that Red Bay is a small town in northwest Alabama, about 40 miles from Tupelo, MS (where Elvis was born). The population of Red Bay is 3374. The closest Wal-Mart is 25 miles away. The one McDonalds in town is in a gas station/minute-mart. And did I mention it is in Alabama? Hot, humid, Alabama. At the campground we were given a bunch of paper work to fill out and were directed to the overflow lot. As we made our way to our spot we saw row after row of Allegro's, Phaeton's, and Zephyr's (all the models Tiffin makes) in a large flat parking area probably covering the area of four football fields that reminded me of the ramp/apron area of an airport. Later I counted over 90 RVs in the holding pattern! Their service bay warehouse-building had over 50 service bays each with an RV in some stage of repair! Everywhere we looked we could see RV owners in various stages of waiting....walking their dogs, sitting in camp chairs reading, talking to their neighbors...all waiting their turn get serviced. We completed the paper-work turned it in and were informed that "someone will be by to see you in the next day or so". At that point we would know what kind of wait we were in for, but we already found out they were 3 weeks behind! The next day about 2 pm a good ole tobacco-chewin', juice-spittin' southern boy called D-Jay came by our spot in the red station wagon with the Tiffin logo on it I was told to look for. He had my paperwork, asked me a few questions, and in between dips, chews, and spits, informed me of my options. "I kin git ya into the Express Bay by Friday [this was Tuesday] but that's 2 boys workin' on yer rig for no more than 3 hours. They won't git all this-here done. Or ya kin wait here 3 weeks and we kin git ya in and they'll work on it till they git 'er all done." He paused to spit, "But ya need to git that skylight leak fixed. This here's thunderstorm season and that'll cause damage if ya don't git 'er fixed", he said. "Their is another option. McKinney RV is across the street. He and Bob Tiffin started this business 25 years ago. He broke off a while back and started his own place doin' repairs mostly and sellin' new rigs... (If you're not the boss, you're just workin' for the man...know what I mean?) He does good work. Most of his boys come from here. Same rates as we have. He could get ya in probably tomorrow. Hop in the car, we'll go for a ride." I took the ride and met Theron McKinney, the owner. They could get me in the next day, if I had it in their driveway at 7 a.m.
We balked at the early hour (spoiled as we are by our new routine) but we took that option. A while after dropping the rig off for repairs we took the tour of the Tiffin plant. Very impressive. I can see how Tiffin has built the reputation they have for a quality product. McKinney was able to get all the work done on our list by 3 p.m. when I brought Joy over for the inspection. They passed.
We had been scouting out things to do in an around Red Bay, just in case we had to do the longer wait. We're a little disappointed that we didn't get the true taste of the Tiffin experience, but we were thankful to get everything done and be one our way inside of 4 days. We were especially thankful that we didn't get so desperate in our wait that we had to visit the Coon Dog Cemetery!

Walking in the Last Footsteps of Meriwether Lewis

2010-05-05T20:07:00.006-04:00

(Natchez Trace, TN: 5 May 2010) Lewis and Clark were heroes of mine when I was growing up in the Pacific Northwest. The story of their leading the Corps of Discovery (a military expedition) across the continent in the early 1800s is legendary. I read Stephen Ambrose's book, Undaunted Courage, a few years back and appreciate even more what they accomplished on their Oregon Journey. What is not so well known is what happens later.
The Natchez Trace is possibly the oldest continuously used road on the entire continent of North America. There is now a beautiful parkway, sometimes following the old trace exactly, often the old trace is close by, for 444 miles from Natchez, MS in the south to Franklin, TN, just outside Nashville, in the north. From animal trail to Indian trail to merchant trail, this has been an important route for centuries. We are not driving the whole trace. We have a camp 1/2 mile from the parkway near the 380 mile post, about 5 miles from the Meriwether Lewis Death & Burial Site. After the Expedition, Lewis was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and settled in St Louis. In Oct 1809 after coming partway down the Mississippi River from St Louis he was traveling overland on the Natchez Trace on his way to Washington to address issues regarding denials of payment for charges he made to the War Department as governor. He stopped at Grinder's Stand (an inn) for the night. Gunshots awoke the innkeeper during the night. Lewis died after sunrise of multiple gunshot wounds. Some think he was depressed and committed suicide. Some think he was shot when someone tried to rob him of the valuable journals of the expedition he was carrying with him in hopes of going on to Philadelphia to work with an editor to prepare the journals for publication. His death is still a great mystery.
We actually hiked around the area and finished the last mile of the hike down the Old Trace into the area where Grinders Stand was (a replica is there today) just as Lewis would have over 200 years ago.

Magnificent Mammoth Caves

2010-05-03T20:23:00.007-04:00

(Park City, KY: 29 April - 4 May) National Parks are great! Visiting Mammoth Caves National Park was just a thing to do because we have a camp here in Park City, KY. We like to be above ground better than underground, but this was interesting. We did it all. The first day at the Park we hiked all over the top of caves taking numerous trails around the Visitor Center and logging 7.8 miles on Joy's trusty pedometer. We saw wild turkey (but they wouldn't hold still to take a picture) and what we think was an Indigo Bunting bird which is one of our favorites. We were planning on going back the next day to do the underground tour, but it started raining Friday night and did not stop until late Sunday night! You may have heard about the flooding in/near Bowling Green KY and Nashville TN. We got over 12" of rain in a 48 hour period. So, we hunkered down in the RV and nearly went stir crazy. I mean non-stop rain for probably 50 hours!
So, today we did the rest of Mammoth Caves. We took a cave tour and learned that Mammoth Caves is the largest cave system in the world with over 396 miles of explored caves and an estimated 600 additional miles of unexplored caves. The "system" means they all interconnect which really is amazing. The are all naturally made over years of erosion by river water channeling into the sandstone and shale. We learned about sink-holes; above ground depressions that act as a downspout for water runoff and enter the caves many underground rivers. Before we had National Parks this was the 2nd most visited natural attraction (after Niagara Falls). People have been coming here to see the caves since the early 1800's. The tour related several interesting stories about creative uses of the caves; like for the making of saltpeter (a key ingredient in gun powder) around the time of the War of 1812 and a crazy idea to cure tuberculosis patients by housing them in the cave air. We hiked about 2 miles underground and then emerged to a gorgeous day. So, we hopped on the bikes and explored the southern end of the park. They built a beautiful bike trail on the bed of what had been the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The railroad served guests coming from the cities to the resort hotel at the Mammoth Caves (still operating). We were unsure what the rain might have done to the bike trail so we proceeded cautiously at first. We biked around 10 miles and made it back to the visitor center with only one fall. I didn't see a deep cut the rain had made in the path...about a foot across and 8 or so inches deep most of the way across the path. I braked too late and the front wheel hit the cut and fell...mostly on my feet though.
We were curious how high the Green River had risen because of the rain so after biking we hiked another mile or so to one of the places we had hiked a few days before. The water completely covered one of the boardwalk viewing areas. The spot we had walked to on Friday to look down on the river was about 500 yards below the closest place we could get to today. See pictures above. The third picture from the bottom is what the area looked like on Friday. The two pictures above it are after all the rain.
This place gets high marks from both of us. Recommend it as a "must do" if you are ever in the area.

The Right Stuff at Wright-Patt

2010-04-28T21:24:00.004-04:00

(Dayton, OH: 27-28 April) Wright-Patterson AFB is home to the Air Force Museum. The Wright Brothers were from Dayton and did most of their post Kitty Hawk NC testing and improvement here, so this really is the cradle of aviation. In fact the National Park Service runs several sites here and in connection with the Museum has developed an "Aviation Trail" you can follow where you can visit about 14 sights in and around Dayton all with significance in the history of flying. I had been to the AF museum several times, but always squeezing it in after a business trip to the base here, never with enough time to do it justice. There are 3 hangars and another silo type building full of airplanes and other items from aviation and space history as well as an outdoor park with more aircraft and a huge memorial garden. The museum took us over 8 hours to explore over 2 days it is that packed. I particularly enjoyed the early history and the story of the Wright Brothers. The museum is laid out chronologically with the early years up to and including WW I, the interwar years to WW II, the interwar years (including a great piece on the Berlin Airlift), the Korean War, Vietnam and the Cold War, and Desert Shield/Storm and Current Operations (Iraq/Afghanistan). The amazing thing about this museum is the number of original artifacts they have. Yes, some of the older stuff are reproductions, but we were amazed by the number that were not, like one of the actual early Wright Flyers. What we both appreciated is that this is not a museum with a bunch of old military equipment stuffed into some dusty hangars. It is well displayed and they try to tell you the story of aviation while highlighting the major achievements, breakthroughs and milestones, and the people who made them. Throughout the displays were well done video's, often with original footage that helped tell the story. One moving display and video presentation was on the Vietnam POW's, their ordeal, conditions and struggle to survive and endure, and their homecoming.
We had some personal memories too. We found the kind of plane Joy's Dad worked on at Beech Aircraft Industries in Wichita Kansas during World War II. I had flashbacks to my days in missiles seeing the display at the Titan II missile. And we were imagining how far aerial refueling has come (the kind of mission/plane CJ will be flying when he is done with pilot training) when we saw a picture of what is believed to be the earliest attempt at refueling a plane in the air.
This is one of the best museum's we have ever been to. Be sure to get here if you are ever in the area. You won't be disappointed.

A Home Run at Cooperstown

2010-04-23T17:51:00.012-04:00

(Cooperstown, NY: 23 April 2001) Ever since I can remember I have loved the game of baseball. My family retells a story of me when I was 3 or 4. My Dad played softball for the Navy Dispensary team at Pearl Harbor. While the grown ups were playing, the big kids would always get a ball game going behind the bleachers. I wanted to play so bad I kept bugging them to let me play. "You're too young", they said. I bugged them until they finally gave in and let me be the catcher. They instructed me to stay way back from the batter, which I did for awhile, but the ball would bounce before it would get to me, and I couldn't catch it. So I kept skooching forward. A little more, a little more. I got too close and on the next pitched ball the batter cold cocked me above the left eye and I was out like a light. Fortunately there were a bunch of medics close-by. I woke up in the Emergency Room where they stitched me up good as new. I still have the scar to prove it. The first chance I could I was back with the kids bugging them to let me play ball. I finally did get to play and continued to play through my junior year in high school. It took me that long to realize and admit to myself that I wasn't good enough to make it to the Big Leagues, much less the Hall of Fame! I played for a short time, but have been a fan a lifetime. Now I have made it to the hall of fame.
After visiting the Big Apple and having a great time with our friends in Warwick, Joy and I headed north to Cooperstown, a little village at the end of Lake Otsego, NY. In the late 1700's the father of early American writer James Fenimore Cooper (The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohican's, Leatherstocking Tales, etc.) founded this beautiful village at the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, hence it's name. It's association with the game of baseball is almost an accident. As the sport gained popularity in the years following the Civil War, people wanted to know how it got started. A newspaper writer remembered a young Abner Doubleday introducing the game to his schoolmates in Cooperstown around 1839. Doubleday went on to West Point and became a General in the Union Army during the Civil War. The writer wrote in a widely read publication, "No one will remember what Abner Doubleday did at Gettysburg, but they never forget what he did at Cooperstown." Further research has proved that neither Doubleday nor Cooperstown had anything to do with originating the game that would become the nations pastime, but the deed was done and the rest is history.
The museum not only commemorates the individual greats and hero's of the game it documents the colorful people, events, teams, evolution, and development of the game from the 1800's to the present day. The pictures may convey this better than I can in words.
I couldn't play the game I love, but I finally did make it into the Hall of Fame!
For more pictures click this link to go to our new Flickr page.

Hiking in Mohonk

2010-04-21T17:12:00.011-04:00

(Mohonk Preserve, NY: 21 April 2010) It is hard for this Oregon boy to pay to hike, but when we heard about this place from our friends we knew we had to go. This is a private non-profit nature preserve and it is only 5 miles from where we're camping. Like something out of the Bavarian Alps, the Mohonk Mountain house frames one end of a pristine mountain lake with sheer rock walls. Katy-corner to the Mountain House is a stone Tower that rises from the highest elevation on the Preserve, around 1500'. From the top of the tower we were able to see 6 states (or so they say), NJ and PA to the south, MA, VT, CT to the north and northeast and of course NY. Surrounding the house and lake are miles and miles of hiking trails. Along many of the most incredible views they have built small gazebo-like buildings with benches which encourages you to stop and sit and just enjoy the view. Which we did, many times! The Mountain Home was built by two Quaker brothers, Alfred and Albert Smiley between 1879-1910. Many of today's hiking trails were carriage trails of yesteryear. The Mountain house is on the National Register of Historic places.
Similar to our experience of having had too much of Disney and Orlando and getting much needed therapy by drinking in the beauty of Everglades National Park...today's big dose of nature and God's creation was great therapy coming after 3 days and all the noise, hustle and bustle and worldliness of New York City.
We hiked almost 9 miles according to Joy's pedometer...I'm still figuring the "miles per dollar", but whatever it is it was well worth it.

West Point and FDR Homestead

2010-04-20T16:15:00.002-04:00

(West Point & Hyde Park, NY: 20 April 2010) Even an old Air Force guy can appreciate the long grey line and the history of the United States Military Academy, otherwise known as West Point. Built on an impressive rock bluff jutting out into the Hudson River from the west, the Academy is the oldest continuously garrisoned military installation in the US and the oldest of the Service academies. We took the tour, which was great, the bad part was my camera battery conked after only a few pictures inside the installation. So imagine this... The tour was a bus ride with a guide explaining the various buildings, fields, statues, homes, etc. We stopped at two places and got out. The chapel, which was cool...lots of stained glass. I liked the sword over the entry door that made a cross. The other stop was at Trophy Point and the parade field across from the dorms. Trophy Point is a picturesque spot with incredible views looking upriver. The trophies are captured cannon from various battles and wars going all the way back to the French and Indian War, lots of them. We went across the street and sat in bleachers looking toward the dormitories and dining hall while the guide described each building and a little about cadet life. Each dorm is named after a famous graduate of West Point whose statue is displayed in front of the dorm. The guide had interesting stories to share about each one; like the fact Douglas MacArthur's mother came with him and lived at the hotel on post his entire four years; that Dwight Eisenhower was a big pranksters and earned 100's of demerits for his practical jokes; and that Patton, who did not rank high in his class academically, when asked about it would say, "I couldn't find the library". The trophy of Patton is where? Yes, outside the Library with a pair of binoculars around his neck.
After the tour we stopped at a USMA Museum which not only had more history of West Point, but had great displays on all the wars. I was humbled by the Medal of Honor wall and surprised to see a BG John P. Hatch on the list receiving the nations highest military decoration during the Civil War. I am looking forward to researching the battle and finding out whether or not he is a relative.
From West Point we drove up the beautiful Hudson River valley where spring is busting out all over. I read a book last year on FDR and was excited to realize his birthplace and Presidential Library are only about 40 miles from West Point. The home and property (some 1500 acres) are unique in that he convinced his mother Sara, who actually owned the deed, to will it all to the National Park Service before she died. She did, all of it. So what you see is actually how it was. The books in the library, the pictures on the wall, all of it. Not a replacement or approximation. I asked about a display of maybe 50 stuffed birds. The Ranger said they were Franklin's and he caught them all on the property. His father had strict rules though. He could only kill one male and one female of a species, he had to stuff the birds himself and display them. We learned how they think he contracted polio (while visiting a Boy Scout camp near his home), and about his "grand deception" (that he couldn't walk--paralyzed from the waist down). FDR was elected to 4 terms as President and died in office at the beginning of his 4th term in 1945 just a few days before V-E day, Victory in Europe. His wife Eleanor was an amazing person in her own right, leading women's rights and civil rights issues well ahead of her time and remaining politically active for some 20 years after her husbands death. Since I have no pictures, follow this link if you want to find out more about FDR.

Announcing: NEW POSTING SOP...Comprende'?

2010-04-19T17:49:00.004-04:00

By popular demand of our vast and esteemed blog-reading public we are in the process of re-posting some past blogs (back to end of March) in order to get them in actual chronological sequence on the Blog Page. Those myriads of you who are our "followers" will probably get an alert for some posts you have already read. KEEP READING...we're catching up. There will be new stuff mixed in with the old.
From now on the post date on the blog will actually be the date of the events not the date we write and post it. I hope this isn't as confusing to read/see it as it is/was to do it!

The Great Train Ride

2010-04-18T19:29:00.003-04:00

(New York, NY 18 April) I love trains. I've always longed to ride on a train. To sit in the plush seats and watch the scenery flying by has always seemed so romantic and exciting to me. HAH! Maybe I'll have that experience someday but this first time produced quite a range of emotions in me none of which felt romantic or exciting! Mostly I think terror was my main emotion. We grabbed a taxi from our hotel to Penn Station to catch the New Jersey transit back to a town close to where Bill and Sara live. To give me the opportunity to ride a train Bill kindly offered to pick us up at the station. Our first obstacle came in trying to find out where to get our tickets. People everywhere and we were absolutely confused. Got in one line and realized it wasn't right. Fortunately, our trusty tour guide Bill was just a phone call away. He quickly directed us to where we needed to be and we purchased our tickets and were told that the track would be revealed 10 minutes before the train left. As the track number came up a great rush of people scrambled towards the doors. We obligingly became one of the "herd" and found our way to the train and it was great. Nice big plus seats like I imagined and we were able to get by a window for what would be a fantastic view I was sure. Suddenly an announcement came on which informed us WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRAIN!!! We had 3 minutes to get to the right one. We grabbed our bags and ran with another "herd" of people to the right train only to find NO SEATS. So we stood. At this point I was not feeling very pleased with the whole situation and I'll admit I was in a bit of a snit. However, this first train was just a 10 minute ride and then we would switch trains. So, okay, that sounds better. Upon disembarking from the first train we were told we had 3 minutes to get to our next train which was "up the stairs and then down the stairs". Off we raced where we found the train (which fortunately was the right one the first time) found a seat just as the train began to move. Phew! So the seats weren't quite so plush but I did get to sit by the window and the scenery was pretty and the rhythm of the train was soothing. I guess it was somewhat of an appropriate end to our New York City trip. All the hustle and bustle and lines and crowds and chaos ending in a final hour of quiet peacefulness (if you discount the guy sitting in front of us with his ipod on that put out an annoying thump thumping bass sound!).

Ellis Island

2010-04-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

(NYC: 18 April 2010) Not to be overshadowed by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island is part of the same boat ride/tour by the National Parks Service. The famous island was the destination for over 10 million immigrants from its opening in 1892 to 1924 when a change in immigration law allowed processing at overseas embassies. The fact that you dock, walk up the same sidewalk, and into the same building as did so many millions of courageous people, is humbling. Again we listened to a well done audio tour as we made our way through the building. The tour tries to put you in the shoes of an immigrant who probably saved for years to earn the passage, spent weeks and sometimes months on a crowded steamship, speaks another language and is coming here from a country where likely the police are bad people...only to be greeted by stern looking uniformed immigration officials...welcome to America! The tour takes you through the whole screening processing to include what it would be like to be separated if one family member was detained for any reason. Joy and I have both worked up our family genealogies recently and are 99% sure none of our relatives came through Ellis, but over 40% of American's currently living can trace at least one relative to being processed for immigration through this very building!

The Lovely Lady

2010-04-18T10:44:00.000-04:00

(NY City: 18 April 2010) Tied for top billing on my list of "what I liked most" about NYC was the trip to Liberty Island and the famous Statue of Liberty (tied with seeing Phantom on Broadway). We learned some things we didn't know about the statue. A gift from France (we knew that) but the liberty it originally commemorated was the liberation/emancipation of the slaves as an outcome of the American Civil War. Dedicated in 1886 the statue would evolve a little later to become the symbol of freedom and opportunity to immigrants who would come to America during the peak immigration years from 1892 to 1924. The Statue as a symbol of freedom (as we learned from our recorded audio tour guide) has actually evolved several times over its history. The Statue was used to sell war bonds during World Wars and most recently was a symbol to rally patriotism in defiance to what happened right across the harbor on 9/11/2001.
We didn't even mind the extra (tougher than airport) security required to get on the boat ride and visit the statue. My mind was filled remembering my own 9/11 experience at the Pentagon as I viewed Lady Liberty and listened to her story. Adding a nice finishing touch to an already memorable experience, a high school choral group sang a patriotic song as we gazed at the Lady in all her glory. What she symbolizes is not an ephemeral will-o-the-wisp ideal, but something real and solid. Something every American should ponder from time to time. Liberty and Freedom are worth living for... and dying for.

The Met

2010-04-17T20:23:00.002-04:00

(NYC: 17 April 2010) We don't really know good art from bad but we were in New York City and we were told we must visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We found that it has something for everyone, even us! The featured exhibit was Egyptian Mummies and another was on Chinese painting. The place is so big you could easily spend 3 days looking at all the stuff. The highlights for me were the paintings from the Masters like Monet and Picasso, the display on Mid-evil Armor and the exhibit on the progressive development of various musical instruments.

Phantom of the Opera

2010-04-17T19:11:00.002-04:00

(New York, NY 17 April) One of the things we knew we had to do while in New York was to see a Broadway show. But which one? So many to choose from and they would all have been great I'm sure. After having breakfast at a diner in New York we walked around the corner to a place where you can get cheap tickets for shows that haven't sold out. The line wasn't too long when we first got there but very quickly grew. Bill and Ed checked out the shows that were available and as we discussed the possibilities we were excited to learn that Phantom of the Opera was one of them. We immediately selected that as our first choice and were thrilled there were still seats available when we got to the window! The next day we made our way to The Majestic on 44th Street and stood in line (this soon became a pattern) to go in. Ed enjoyed a sidewalk hotdog and I had a pretzel while we waited. A group of kids in front of us broke out in song which was very appreciated by everyone. Finally the doors opened and we all moved inside to find our seats. Although it's a bit like being on an airplane with no leg room and pretty close quarters what happens on the stage in front of you makes all that go away as you become involved in the show. It was amazing and I'm so glad we were able to have this experience.

Take the Tour...

2010-04-16T18:25:00.002-04:00

(NYC, 16 April 2010) After our tour guide, Big Bill P, gave us a thorough orientation to the ferrys, subways, trains, and taxi's of NYC...essential survival skills for the Big Apple, and the 3 of us inhaled our way through a big lunch at Carmine's Italian Restaurant in the heart of the Theater District, we were on our own. We took the advice of someone we met earlier in our travels, a full-time RV'er who spent 9 months doing what we're doing. We asked him if he had any advice for us, "take the tour" he said. So we have, and we did. We got a "3 fer" with the NY Citywide tour 2-day pass. A boat ride around half the island and a night top-deck bus tour starting in Times Square going downtown and over into Brooklyn and back (both of which we did Friday); and an Uptown bus tour around Central Park, into Harlem, and back to Times Square which we did on Saturday after seeing a Broadway show. The Boat Tour was cold, but we got the water view of Manhattan that really makes you appreciate how many buildings are packed into this small island sitting between the Hudson and East Rivers. The highlight of the Night Tour of Downtown was crossing the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn and stopping at Fulton's landing right under the famed Brooklyn Bridge. This is the historic site where General Washington miraculously escaped the British capture of NY when fishermen ferried his troops across the East River from Lower Manhattan at night. Our Uptown tour guide was into where all the movies stars and famous people live, so I suppose that was the highlight of that tour. One of the things we appreciate about "taking the tour" is the anecdotal information you wouldn't get on your own. Did you know that the tenants in the famed Times Square skyscraper---the building you see on New Year's Eve when millions gather in NYC to see the ball drop from it's top---did you know that they don't pay rent because of the revenue they generate from selling the electronic ads you see on the outside of the building? Did you know that if it weren't for a woman the Brooklyn Bridge (the largest suspension bridge in the world when it opened in 1883) would not have been completed? Her husband's father and her husband where Chief Engineers on the project. Both sustained injuries that kept them incapacitated at home. Using a telescope from the Brooklyn side they would watch the progress of the work and write notes to the foremen which she would carry to them and explain!
So, you should "take the tour"! You never know what gems of trivia you will pick-up to impress your neighbors and amuse your friends!

New York begins

2010-04-14T18:32:00.006-04:00

(Warwick, NY 14-18 April) One of our objectives in this journey we are taking is to reconnect with the many wonderful people God has placed in our lives at different times. People who have impacted our life and who we know will always be a part of us. We met Bill and Sara Payton while Ed and Bill were students at Dallas Theological Seminary back in 1977. Sara is a wonderful, energetic, talented, creative, and hospitable person and she and Bill share a deep love for the Lord and desire to share that love with whoever God places in their path. They are so easy to be around and full of fun and laughter. We had such a great time with them and appreciated sleeping in a home, with a great shower and the use of a washer and dryer! We also enjoyed several delicious meals that Sara provided for us. But the deepest enjoyment was the encouragement and fellowship we had while sharing the joys and hurts we have both experienced over the past 30 years. Just as God placed special people in our path over the past few weeks to give comfort and counsel He has continued to bring people into our lives, for such a time as this, who have walked where we are walking and can give us the comfort with which they have been comforted. We prayed with and for one another and even in the short time we were there saw answers to some of those prayers! They are in the process of making some "life transitions" and we are excited that we have the opportunity to pray as they wait for God to show them what's next. ( Sara, I'm praying for Colorado!!!) We left there this morning after a trip to New Jersey to their favorite breakfast place. It was a great reunion!

**As a footnote to this we want to thank Bill so much for all the help he gave us in making our trip to New York successful! He graciously helped us figure out what things we absolutely needed to do in the few short days we had. Then he even drove us to the water taxi and went with us over to New York and got us somewhat acclimated to the subway, taxis and even helped us make some backroom deals in Chinatown. Shhh! I think if he hadn't gotten us started we'd probably still be in Times Square trying to find the subway! New York, what a crazy place. But more on that later.

Gettysburg

2010-04-12T20:06:00.003-04:00

(Gettysburg, PA: 12 April 2010) We were not going to do Gettysburg this time since we had been through the whole battlefield tour when our friend Keith Neely visited from Oregon about 4 years ago. However, we heard that the new visitors center was incredible so we had to go...who knows when we'll get back this way again. And we were not disappointed. The featured display of the old visitors center was the Cyclorama, a 360 painting of the battle of Gettysburg done by a Frenchman in the late 1800's. The old building was small and worn out, frankly. This new Visitors Center is 1000X better than the old one. You start with a great film narrated by Morgan Freeman which gives a very good orientation to the causes of the Civil War and what was at stake for each side, and places the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg in the overall context of the war. When the film is done you exit the theater and make your way up escalators to a specially built viewing area of the Cyclorama painting. The painting was not only cleaned up and restored, but they built a diorama in the foreground all around creating a dramatic effect giving the feeling like you were right in the middle of the battlefield. The near life size painting comes to life with special lighting and sound taking you through key events as the 3 day battle unfolds. There is plenty of time given to view the entire painting and ask questions of the knowledgeable Rangers. After viewing the presentation you go back downstairs into the museum which takes you through the Civil War in 14 rooms. Creative use of short movies trace the lives of 5 different people from both sides as you wind your way through the various artifacts on display while also moving chronologically across the timeline of the war from the first shots at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at Appotmatox and Lincoln's assassination. I especially enjoyed the separate exhibit explaining the Gettysburg Address and the full address given in moving speech by actor Sam Wasterston. They also added a large cafeteria which not only serves good food, but adds to the education of Civil War life with displays explaining how the soldiers were fed, clothed and supplied (emphasizing the importance of logistics!).
It all was exceptionally well done. We are so glad we didn't miss it.

CHOCOLATE!

2010-04-10T17:48:00.010-04:00

(Hershey, PA 10-13 April) I know you've dreamed of having all the chocolate you could ever desire right at your fingertips haven't you? Personally I'm not a big chocolate lover, I'd take some Good N Plenty's or Sweettarts before I'd choose chocolate but then I'm a bit odd anyway. So finding myself surrounded by the sight, sounds and smells of chocolate didn't cause me to lose control like it might someone else. Hershey is another absolutely beautiful Pennsylvania town. Clean, neat, beautiful lawns and homes. Lots of friendly people (I think they put something in the chocolate to medicate them). We did the trolley tour of the town which was really interesting. Milton Hershey was quite an amazing man who gave and is still giving even in his death to young and old alike (for more on the way his fortune in chocolate continues to improve the lives of children go to Hershey School . The town in many ways is one huge monument to all he has done for the town and for mankind. And besides that it smells like chocolate! Really though, we enjoyed ourselves and even bought some chocolate because our daughter Katie doesn't know that you can buy the very same chocolate in stores so we had to buy her some! One of the fun things of coming here was that we stayed in the very same campground that my parents stayed in many years ago when they traveled in their RV; the Camp Ranger's name was Roy (my dads name)! I wish they were here so I could share our adventures with them in person. I know they have front row seats in Heaven and are getting a kick out of our many RV adventures...and misadventures !

Joseph and Esther

2010-04-09T21:00:00.002-04:00

(Lancaster PA: 8-9 April 2010) Two musicals, two plays, two biblical names, but only one biblical story. While in Lancaster PA we were told we had to visit the Sight and Sound Theater. This is a huge venue that puts on large scale spectacular productions to tell Bible stories and present the gospel. We were privileged to see a show that just opened in March on the life of Joseph. The venue itself is spectacular and the show did not disappoint. They bring live animals onto the stage and many of the scenes actually bring the action into the isles of the auditorium. Did you know Joseph flew? (When he had his big dream they had him fly to the top of the wheat stalk. That's how your Bible tells the story, right?) The story of dreams and forgiveness with a touch of added romance were the formula for a special experience we will not soon forget. We're already putting Branson, MO on our itinerary so we can see their production of Noah. Can you imagine all those animals on stage?
The next night we had an equally enjoyable (different) musical adventure. (Sorry, no pictures for this). We went to the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater and besides a nice buffet meal, enjoyed a wonderful production of Meet Me In St Louis. Joy loves musicals and can sing a line or two from many like, Oklahoma!, Hello Dolly, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Sound of Music, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and others. At one time or other she made all of us watch the movie versions of these. This story is about a family living in St Louis in the time leading up to the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. Esther is the role made famous by Judy Garland in the MGM film. For several days Joy was singing not only the Meet Me in St Louis title song, but The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It was a fun two days of seeing live musicals. We felt very cultured! But it wore off quickly.

Jesus Is In...

2010-04-07T19:21:00.007-04:00

(Paradise, PA: 04/07/2010) In case you were wondering where Jesus hangs out during the week! His office is in the heart of Paradise, PA. (Which is about 2 miles from Oregon and a mile from Christiana). Get in line, now taking appointments...but only between 9 and 5 (closed on Sundays).

The Simple Life

2010-04-06T17:23:00.004-04:00

(Lancaster, PA 6-9 April) Did you know that Pennsylvania is beautiful? I sure didn't. It's amazingly beautiful. We spent a few days in the Lancaster area where we enjoyed a buggy ride to an Amish farm for a tour. Two little girls made their entrance a few minutes after we arrived at the barn and stared at us like I imagine they get stared at a lot. On their turf, though, we were the odd ones. Their lifestyle seems a simple one, yet so very appealing. They work the land, raise their families, provide for their needs without the entrapment of the outside world. I certainly felt a small kinship with them as we are living a rather simple life ourselves right now. (Of course, to them we are still so connected to the world even in our simplified lifestyle). So, we did the buggy ride, went to several shopping areas catering to the tourist crowd, bought a few things, ate smorgasbord, and basically enjoyed the beauty of the blossoming and blooming spring landscape all around us.

On our buggy ride, Menno (our driver) was very willing to answer our questions about Amish life. We tried not to be too nosy but we did ask several questions. Ed asked him about the difference between the Mennonites and the Amish, his simple answer was, "electricity". Not sure that is all there is to it, we stopped at the Mennonite Information Center and watched a movie about the differences between the Mennonites and the Amish. It was very interesting, and very informative and it turns out it's not just "electricity"!!!

So much beauty in this area of Pennsylvania, I ALMOST could live there...if I didn't already know what Oregon is like!

Antietam

2010-04-05T17:19:00.000-04:00

(Sharpsburg, MD: 5 April 2010) Before we left Maryland I wanted to take the opportunity to visit Antietam National Battlefield. While I am not an official "Civil War buff" I do find the war interesting from many angles: the struggle to preserve the Union, the indignity and incongruity of slavery in an "all men are created equal" democracy, the battles and tactics, the overall strategies and the people and personalities to name a few. Antietam was the bloodiest one day of fighting in the Civil War. Walking through a place like "Bloody Lane", where over 5500 men lost there lives in less than 3 hours of battle, is chilling and the thoughts of what happened here disturb the soul nearly 150 years later. I was reminded once again of the costly cost of freedom. The National Battlefields are here...lest we forget. I pray we won't!

Easter With Family in Frederick

2010-04-04T16:27:00.006-04:00

(Frederick, MD 4 April) Easter provided a wonderful opportunity for us to be with family this year. My nephew, Jason, his wife Anna Claire and their two beautiful little girls, Elli-Grace who is 3 and Aria who is just 3 months old live in Frederick, Maryland. My sister Jane and her husband Phil who live just outside Dallas, Texas came up to meet their new granddaughter so we were excited to be able to see all of them over Easter. Emily and her roommate Jessica also came up from Arlington, Virginia for the day. Ed and I met the family at their church in Frederick for the early service and then had an opportunity to take Jane and Phil to our RV so they could see our new home. Then we headed back to Frederick to enjoy a delicious mean prepared by Anna Claire. It was great to be together and to get to cuddle a little baby (even though she did have an explosion on me!!!) We haven't often been able to be with family on holidays so we were thankful to have this time with them.

Quality in Quantico

2010-04-03T20:07:00.001-04:00

(03/28 to 04/03/2010) Camping at military RV campgrounds when we can has been our routine since we hit the road full-time in January. We have stayed at some good ones and some not so good ones. We booked the campsite at Lunga Park, Quantico USMC base in advance not knowing what to expect. This was by far the nicest military campground we have stayed in. Lunga Park is actually a series of 5 separate campgrounds in a secluded area on the shores of a huge man-made lake in the shape of a large "V" that lies NNE. We were in the Pine Campground on the farthest NE point of the lake. It was a beautiful setting and the sites were aligned to the lake for good views from our parked rig. We were watching the lake late one evening and a bald eagle came out of nowhere and scooped a fish out of the water with its talons and flew off. We sat on the edge of the lake one evening for about 45 minutes watching the sun set. Just a glorious spectacular site. As you probably know Quantico is one of the largest Marine training bases in the world and is where the Presidential Helicopter is based. The base also supports the FBI Academy and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Academy. One morning we were surprised by hearing what sounding like a herd of elephants running down the road from above where we were parked. Suddenly there were about 40 men and women in PT gear spread out on the point where we were parked doing leg lifts, wrestling headlocks, buddy-carries and push ups right at the waters edge. It was fun entertainment over our morning coffee! I was told later they were DEA trainees.
We haven't blogged about the campgrounds where we're staying to this point because for the most part they are pretty unremarkable. This one was a jewel. For the pure beauty and privacy of this campground we rank it as number 1 so far on our list of about 10 campgrounds so far.
Enjoy the pictures!

Friends Are Friends Forever If the Lord's the Lord of Them...

2010-04-02T20:21:00.001-04:00

(Springfield, VA 03/28-4/2/10) Moving around is part of the package when you are in the military. You pretty much know that you are going to be stationed somewhere for about 4 years and then move on. Living on base would at least provide opportunity to get to know your neighbors quickly as everyone is in the same situation of being away from family. Our family tried to plug into a church as soon as we could to enlarge that opportunity and because we knew we needed the fellowship of other believers. God was always faithful to bring people into our lives that we have been able to share some great times with in our 30 years of military moves (some of whom we're privileged to visit on our Oregon Journey). Sometimes it happened quickly, sometimes it took awhile. One of the hardest places for me to develop deep relationships was when we moved to Northern Virginia and Ed worked at the Pentagon. For several reasons I just didn't find someone that I clicked with UNTIL I found Pam! Pam Hawthorne and I met while dropping our daughters off for a church youth trip to Colorado. Our husbands had been roommates at a men's retreat and became friends, but Pam and I hadn't really been introduced. While we were waiting to pick our girls up after the trip we sat in my car and just talked. When the vans drove in our girls looked at each other and said "oh good, our moms finally found a friend". I think they thought we were both pretty pathetic! Pam and I both have similar sarcastic sides which makes our relationship fun. We've shared some fun times and some hard times that have strengthened our friendship. I know I can count on her and she can count on me. We both love "I Love Lucy" and she calls me Ethel (although truth be told she is OLDER than me) and I call her Lucy. Before we left Virginia the 4 of us went out to dinner and had a wonderful evening with Ron giving the waiter a lot of fun teasing. It was just what we needed. I'm so thankful for Ron and Pam and although I hope they come and visit us when we get settled in Oregon I know that we will have an eternity to laugh and enjoy our friendship on the New Earth (Rev 21:1-8)!

Old Clients...New Office

2010-03-31T21:19:00.001-04:00

(No VA, 03/30-31/2010) One of the reasons we had to get back to Virginia by the end of March was for me to work with my first business consulting client. This is a company I have worked with before, but not in this role. I was able to help facilitate a meeting for them over 2 days. We had a group dinner (see picture above) the evening after the first day, at a small Italian Restaurant in Vienna, VA (how appropriate). This was also a trial run to see if Joy could handle being in the RV overnight alone. I stayed in a Hotel near the company's offices in Fairfax and Joy stayed in the RV at Quantico. High winds rocked the RV most of the night and she didn't get much sleep, but other than that she was fine. We are pronouncing it a qualified success, but TBD when the next opportunity may come for another test.
Part of the deal with my client was that I would compile the notes for the meeting. I came back to the motorhome on Wednesday after the meeting with roles of butcher paper which recorded several brainstorming sessions and groups exercises we did in our sessions. I hired my 105 wpm typist wife on the spot, to help me get it done. We divided the pages... she got 10 and I got 2. To make it easier to type from we hung the butcher paper notes all around the RV (see pictures) She was done in 30 minutes...it took me about 3 hours. But we got it done!
It's called teamwork! What you learn how to do after 35 years of marriage!

Finding Strength in Trials...

2010-03-28T17:47:00.003-04:00

(03/28/2010; Northern VA) Life is unpredictable. One minute you're watching a basketball game and the next your world is shaking and your heart is in so many pieces you can't feel a thing. This is what we experienced Palm Sunday when we were given some news that put us literally into shock. As we stumbled out to our car with tears pouring down our cheeks we weren't even sure where we were or what direction to point the car. We ended up at some dear friends who put their arms around us and held us as we sobbed out our sorrow. I am so thankful for those who can comfort because they have been there and know what you're feeling. I'm thankful for those who can give wise counsel and prayers. I'm so thankful for a God whose arms are around us always.

A year ago I could not have heard this news. I wasn't ready for it and God knew I couldn't handle it. In the past 5 years my walk with the Lord has changed dramatically. I read a book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn that blew my mind. If you haven't read it you need to. That book led to some others that are too many to name but what they did was point me to the realization that I was not experiencing the abundant Christian life that God promises to those who believe. And, it wasn't HIS fault! I was afraid of it. Instead of opening my hands to take it I was closing my fists in fear. Over the years as I gradually opened my hands He was so gentle with me. The wonderful women He brought into my life allowed me to grow under their mentoring. In this past year 3 of us have done a Precepts Bible study together on the book of Job. Then another book by Randy Alcorn "If God is Good" came in the mail. Again, if you haven't read it you need to. But the most healing thing has been God's Word. Everyday He gives me some truth to hold onto for that day. Everyday I read His Word and am a stronger person than I was the day before. Everyday I write down where I'm at in this journey I'm going through and everyday I release this situation to God because only He can change it. Then I get up and LIVE! I open my hands to His abundant life, I laugh and sing and enjoy life and family and friends. And I do that through His strength, not mine.

I think it's interesting that my last blog was about some friends who are going through a time of testing and how God is using it. He has now put Ed and I in a position to live what we believe. God doesn't give us the test that we want, He gives us the test that we need. I might look at what someone else is going through and think "I could handle that" but that's probably not what needs refining in my life.

So again I quote the verse in I Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." There is a reason for this and I do rejoice that God has found us worthy to taste in such a small way what He suffered for us on the cross when He gave His life for us so that we have the power not to sin and so we could have eternal life on the new earth.

Another Supper...Another Surprise Showing

2010-03-27T20:57:00.001-04:00

(Va Beach, VA 03/27/2010) We planned a "last supper" at Bravo's Restaurant in VA Beach with a special group of friends. We had grown close over 6 years of being in the same Sunday School class at Westminster Church in Suffolk, VA, and going out for lunch after church (notice the food theme here?). We were really looking forward to spending time with these dear folks except for the fact that one couple of our group, Gary and Patty Stewart, had since moved to Charlotte and another couple, Bob and Loie Marshall are serving in the Navy in Naples, Italy and wouldn't be with us. Gary and I team taught the class and grew very close over the years. When they sold their house in a matter of weeks, in the fall of 2008, we asked them to live with us. They did, from December 2008 to end of Feb 2009, when we finally got tired of them and told them they had to leave (not!). They surprised us last July at my retirement dinner by saying they were not going to be able to make it and then showing up at the last minute (making a grand entrance right as we were getting started!). This time, however, it was the farthest thing from our minds that they would be there. Joy, I had riden in from Suffolk with Steve and Ellen Beneger and were meeting Sam and Cindy Wallwork there since they live in Va Beach. We got there within a few minutes of each other and all sat down. I noticed the table was set for 8 and remarked about it. Someone said, "they must have made a mistake". About 30 seconds later in pop Gary and Patty...surprise! We were blown away. They were actually staying with Sam and Cindy, so the whole group was in on it, but us! What special friends and what a special time we had. We talked and talked, solved all the Church's problems, and laughed and laughed over a long leisurely meal. After busting our gut by ordering dessert (some of us did) we finally had to say our "so long, not goodbyes" with hugs and maybe a few tears.
We love you guys!

Don't Tell...We Were in Suffolk!

2010-03-26T20:45:00.001-04:00

(Suffolk, VA 03/26-28/2010) With apologies to those we didn't get to see, we made a short stop-over in Suffolk on our way to No VA. I had some work in Fairfax VA 30-31 March so we parked at Davis Lakes RV Campground in Suffolk for 2 nights on our way north. We had 3 "so long, but not good bye" meals with friends over the short stay. The first was with our friends Tim and Julie Corcoran. They were heading to Richmond Friday afternoon so we were able to just catch them for lunch before they left. Tim and Julie were part of a group of 4 couples who we became very close to that started with a Sunday School social idea of groups of 4 couples having dinner at each others home over the course of 4 months (the length of a Sunday School quarter). We enjoyed it so much we kept doing it for over 2 years! We carried each others burdens through the ups and downs of family and life trials. We were remarking over lunch with Tim and Julie just how much we had grown in our relationship with Christ, and the healing we have seen in relationships, and just how much an impact we made on each others lives. We snapped this picture as we hugged our goodbyes, near the mascot for one of our favorite restaurants (guess where).
Later that evening we enjoyed dinner with our old covenant group. A small group from our church which had been a big part of our lives. (sorry we didn't get a picture!)

Blessed in Georgia (Now There's a First!)

2010-03-24T11:26:00.013-04:00

(Fair Play, SC: 3/24/2010) Well, the laundry is done, the shower has been cleaned and I've got chicken and dumplings cooking in the crock pot so I think I'll take a break and fill you in on these last few days.

We finally got out of Florida and made our way to Warner Robins, Georgia where we lived for 4 1/2 to 5 years. I give that spread of time because Ed left for the Pentagon while Katie, Emily and I remained there waiting for the house to sell. Warner Robins has many memories for us, many good ones but some hard lesson ones too. I think all the girls would agree. (Ed calls this time our "wilderness wandering" because the time here was a big time of trial and testing for us). Anyway it was fun to drive past our house and see all the improvements they have made to it! We stopped at the high school where Erin graduated and gave them a copy of the book she co-authored Golfing With Your Eyes Closed. But the best time was Monday evening when we had dinner with some dear friends, Dave and Marge Bury.

We first met Dave and Marge when we were stationed at Little Rock AFB and were so glad to meet up with them again when we were both stationed at Robins AFB. Marge is an amazing woman who is so creative and loves antiques and I had the opportunity of working for her at her business, Hickory House, while we lived there. Dave is a great husband, dad and Poppi! But what makes our relationship special is our common love for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Dave and Marge and their family have been through some amazing times in the past few years and God has used and will continue to use them to honor and glorify Him. We listened to their stories and offered encouragement as we were able, but the biggest thing we can do is to keep praying for them and entrusting them and their family to our Gracious, Merciful, and Sovereign God.

I love the book of 1 Peter and as I think of Dave, Marge and their family I can't help but go to 1 Peter 4:12: "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you...But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." God allows us to go through times of testing and trials to strengthen our faith in Him, to know Him more, to glorify Him, and to allow us to be acquainted in a small way with what He suffered for us. Everything that happens to us is for a reason (whether we can see that reason or not) and I know that as they seek Him He will continue to comfort and hold them close.

We left Warner Robins Tuesday morning and drove to just outside Atlanta for lunch with a professor of ours from Multnomah School of the Bible and his wife, Bruce and Darlene. Our time with them was too short, but we were able to fill each other in on the condensed version of what God has been doing in each others lives over the past 35+ years! Bruce was very influential in Ed and I getting together. Although his goal was to get Ed to leave me alone, it sort of backfired --which is just evidence that God's will is not thwarted!!! Our time with Bruce and Darlene was wonderful and, as usual with a coach and mentor, it stimulated us to "open the eyes of our hearts" and be willing to be stretched to fulfill all God has for us on this trip and in our future life and ministry together.

So now we are in South Carolina for a couple of days just getting some much needed quiet and together and alone time! Gearing up for another few weeks of visiting and working.

Dry Tortugas National Park

2010-03-21T21:09:00.004-04:00

(70 Miles West of Key West, FL 3/16/2010) The number two highlight of our trip to Key West was taking the 70 mile boat ride to the Dry Tortuga's National Park. The least visited in the National Park system it preserves historic Fort Jefferson and 9 keys which are home to many endangered species like the Loggerhead Turtle. The Dry Tortuga's was a favorite haunt of pirates in the early 1800's. They were a nuisance and wrecked havoc on the shipping industry so the US Navy came in around 1822 and cleared them out. In the 1830's it was recommended that a fort be built on one of the islands, Garden Key, for coastal defense. Building started and stopped and then began again in earnest during the Civil War, but the fort was never completed. Instead it was turned into a prison. The most famous prisoner was Dr Samuel Mudd. Mudd was convicted of aiding John Wilkes Booth when he set the actors broken leg as he fled after assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He was sentenced to life in prison and imprisoned at Fort Jefferson. He was paroled after only 4 years for his part in aiding the forts population during a yellow fever epidemic. (His "cell" is the picture above with the 3 slits for windows).
The boat ride takes about 2 hours and the outgoing ride was exciting for us ending in 6 foots seas. The tour of the fort was interesting, but the sweet part of the deal was being able to snorkel in the shallows of the island. I thought the above ground stuff was awe inspiring, the under water world is equally or even more amazing.

More Pictures from Key West

2010-03-21T20:33:00.006-04:00

(Key West FL, 3/15-17/2010) Another fun story
about Key West. In frustration over a Border Control crackdown which set up roadblocks in the northern Keys, the City of Key West seceded from the United States and declared itself The Conch Republic (see picture above of trolley driver holding the official flag of the Conch Republic). It was a tongue-in-cheek protest but it worked. Florida outlawed cock-fighting in the 1930s and ordered all the cocks released. Consequently there are roosters roaming the streets protected by the law!
See the painting of Hemingway and the bed with the two cats on it. Hemingway loved cats and owned over 30 at one time. One was 6 toed. So there are numerous 6 toed cats roaming the place. He named the cats after movie stars or famous people. The cat cemetery had Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, et al.
The Southernmost Point in the US is in Key West. At that point you are only 90 miles from Cuba. Also Mile 0 US Highway 1 ends/begins in Key West.

Island of Bones

2010-03-21T20:27:00.004-04:00

(Key West, FL, 3/15-17/2010) Since we made it as far south as Miami we decided to go ahead the rest of the way to the farthest end of Florida and the Continental US, to Key West. Key West is not the most western key in the chain of islands that is the Florida Keys. Rather it gets its name for an Anglicized pronunciation for the Spanish name for the island. Since the keys are largely coral, there is no where to dig. So, Indians did not bury their dead, but rather left them to the elements. When the Ponce de Leon discovered the island in the 1500's the soldiers declared it the Island of Bones.
Key West is an interesting mixture of natural beauty, man-made industry and ingenuity and the debauchery that comes with too much of a good thing. Duval street rivals New Orleans Bourbon Street for the number of bars and strip clubs. Though only a mile long, it is called the "longest street in the world" as it literally runs from the Gulf of Mexico (one sea) to the Straits of Florida (another sea). Mallory Square is a large boardwalk area on the Gulf side where every evening they celebrate the sunset. Street performers entertain the crowds in a big party atmosphere leading up to (and well after) sunset. Joy actually got volunteered to help "The Great Rondini" escape artist perform part of his act! Key West has been home or favorite vacation spot for many famous Americans perhaps the most well known story is of Earnest Hemingway. We took the tour of the home he owned where he lived from 1933-1937.
My favorite Key West story and bit of history is that of the wrecker industry that existed here in the late 1800's to early 1900's. The water's in the Straits of Florida are treacherous to navigate. On average twice a week a ship or sailing vessel would wreck on the shallow shoals. The townspeople had lookouts on rooftops and the cry would go out "wreck ashore" and the wreckers were off with their boats to see who would be the first to get to the wreck. The first one there was captain of the wrecking crewing and received 50% of whatever profit was made from the sale of the salvaged cargo 25% would go to the owner and 25% to the town. As a result, Key West in 1900 was the wealthiest city per capita in the entire United States. The industry died off with the advent of better navigating devices and steel hulled ships.
The highlight of our trip to Key West however wasn't the interesting history or the raucous tourist community this has become. The highlight by far was the visit with the Coast Guard Chaplain (as Joy shares in another blog).

Big Cypress

2010-03-21T19:29:00.007-04:00

(Big Cypress Florida, 3/14/2010) There are 3 National Parks within short driving distance of where we stayed in Miami. After being amazed by the Everglades we wanted a change of pace so we went to Biscayne Bay National Park in Homestead Fl. The Park is mostly water...a Bay, full of all kinds of fish and wildlife. We were hoping to do the glass bottom boat ride, but the day was too windy and they were not going out. Since the only way to see the Park is by boat, we opted to drive inland to the other park, Big Cypress National Preserve.
Big Cypress does not have large trees, as the name may imply, it is simply a very very large area that has cypress and other types of trees that has been set aside as a national preserve. This one is a swamp. When we arrived at the visitors center there was some commotion near the boardwalk on the other side of the entrance to the building. We found out that an alligator had gotten on the people side of the boardwalk and they were trying to get him back in! We asked the Ranger how to appreciate the preserve in a couple hours and she said it depended on whether or not you wanted to get wet. We opted for the dry option which ended up being a driving tour around a 14 mile loop. Again we were blown away by the variety of the plants and wildlife. We stopped at a roadside viewing area and a sign caught my attention, it said "No Fishing Between Signs". There was a sign in one spot and another about 20 yards away. As if they were there to add emphasis (or enforcement?) to the warning there were gators at the base of both signs!
We also found what has to be the smallest US Post Office in the country at Ochopee, FL.

God 10 Disney 1

2010-03-21T18:14:00.009-04:00

(South Florida, 3/11-12/2010) After overdosing on Disney World we were blown away by the natural beauty of the Florida Everglades. I appreciate the vision and creative genius of Walt Disney and on one level, what he was able to imagine and accomplish in building a world from his imagination is remarkable. But if there is a competition for creative genius and accomplishing the bringing together of a vast array of complex and inter-dependent parts...God wins every time.
We knew next to nothing about the Everglades and most of it was wrong. It is not a swamp as we thought, rather it is a very large (8 miles wide at one point) freshwater river that effectively collects the runoff from huge Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida and funnels it to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico in the far south of Florida. An amazing interlinking system of grasses, mangrove and cypress trees, and slight elevation (a gradual drop of 14 feet in over 100 miles) the Everglades flows in a subtle but steady current. The grasses and trees act as a filter for all the water to make it incredibly pure. The estuary formed in the south where the salt and freshwater combine, is the breeding ground for over 80% of the salt and fresh water fish found in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. The whole eco-system is home to a vast array of birds and other animals (I was hoping to see a Florida Panther; Joy was not) as well as plants and trees. We saw a bird called an Anhinga swimming in the water to catch fish for dinner. Since they have no oils in the feathers like ducks and geese to repel water, when they come out of the water they fly to a nearby tree branch and spread their wings to air dry! And alligators are everywhere. After looking hard to see a gator in or near the canals we drove by getting to the park, in just an hour or two we saw more than 30 or 40. The Ranger's estimate there are 30,000 gators in the Park. The Everglades is also the only place in North America you can find the American Crocodile. The Croc likes brackish or salt water whereas the Gator likes freshwater. We took a boat ride into the Everglades back country and finally saw a Manatee in the river, an animal we had heard so much about.
Look at the pictures and decide for yourself. Who is the better creator: God or Disney?

Florida

2010-03-20T18:02:00.008-04:00

(Somewhere in Florida; 3/20/2010) As we left Florida behind this morning Ed made the comment that we had driven from one end of Florida to the other. My reply to that was "and I didn't come across any place that I thought I'd like to live." So we can mark Florida off of our "possible places to retire" list! Even though Florida is not for me it did provide me with a couple of "people encounters" that I am thankful for. After searching for my friend, Cathy Varenkamp Rankin, I finally connected with her on Facebook and was surprised to learn that she and her family now live in Miami! We were able to visit with her, meet her husband, Randy, and 3 of their 5 kids, Andrew, Shannon and Luke, have a meal, go to church, and visit some more. It was so good getting caught up and seeing and hearing all that God has done and continues to do in their lives. Her husband, Randy, is the Director of The Baptist Children's Home, a challenging job. It was a wonderful reunion and now that we have reconnected, her family will be in our prayers.

The other connection we made was with a young Chaplain, Doug Grace, who is in the Coast Guard in Key West. His spiritual care and personal concern for the 800 men and women at that base is one that would cause many people to lose heart. The easy access to all the temptations the area has to offer can suck these young kids in and lead to adultery, divorce, financial problems, poor parenting and all the pain that goes with that. His heart for his "coasties"--the men and women who serve there, and his desire to honor and glorify God before them was so encouraging. I may never see this young man again in this life but I know that one day I will see the fruit of his life on the new earth and I will be praying for him and his family from now on.

So while Florida is not the home of my choice, it did offer some refreshment for the soul and so I'm glad I came...I'm also glad I left!!!

Disney Hollywood Studios

2010-03-10T20:56:00.006-05:00

Hollywood Studios is a separate theme park this park is supposed to take you behind the scenes of how Disney animation and films are made, stunts performed, filming done, scenery made, etc. Plus a couple of shows with real people doing scenes from Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid. Some of it was really hoakie and some if it was well done. My favorites were a stunt show based around a "filming" of the Cairo scene from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark and a really well done stunt car show. I got portions of both on video...I will try to figure out how to post them. One of Joy's favorites was a ride that took you through a dozen or more movie sets with scenes and figures from some of the most popular films of all time like Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, Tarzan, Singing In the Rain, among others. And of course we went to the Twilight Zone and experienced the Tower of Terror in the old Hollywood Hotel. Quite a thrill!

Disney in Pictures

2010-03-10T20:24:00.012-05:00

A few Magic Kingdom pictures.

DOD

2010-03-09T15:13:00.003-05:00

Is it possible to experience Disney Over Dose? After a day and a half of giggling teenagers, crying children, screaming babies, cranky parents, being crammed like sardines on the monorail or ferry, hurrying from one place to the next in order to stand in line for 10-50 minutes for a ride, eating corn dogs, funnel cakes, caramel corn, hamburgers, french fries and cokes, I say a resounding YES! Leaving the park last night, if one more person had told me to have a "magical day" I might have snapped. Fortunately, Ed got me out of there before that could happen. Now you know I'm kidding, right? Of course Disney World is great but I've come to realize that what makes it great is seeing it through the eyes of children. Sure the fireworks were fantastic, the parade was great, some of the shows we saw were fun and educational. But during the course of the ride or show or fireworks or parade I would find myself scanning the crowd to watch for the look of wonder and excitement in the children's eyes. Their cries of Ariel, or Mickey or Cinderella or whoever was there made me look in that direction with expectancy of what I would see. What to me was a boring ride became a great adventure when I watched a little girl or boy cringe in fear from a fake crocodile or jump up and down when seeing a fake Tinkerbell fly by. So I think Disney needs to have a rule for those entering the Magic Kingdom...NO ADULTS ALLOWED UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY A CHILD!

Most People Would Not Do That

2010-03-02T20:53:00.005-05:00

(Ridgeland, SC: 1 March 2010) Stealing is a sin right? Most people would not take something from a store without paying for it. That's stealing right? Is it stealing if the salesperson makes a mistake and charges you less for an item than it cost? Or what if they miss an item and don't charge you at all? Is that stealing? Is it wrong? Is it sin? If you were overcharged for an item and discovered it later would you go back to the store and point it out? What if you were undercharged? Or not charged?
On our way back from Florida in late February driving up I-95 somewhere north of Brunswick GA we had another tow-car incident. The locking pin on one side of the tow-bar that keeps the car hooked to the tow-bar hooked to the RV, somehow shook loose. The pin fell out and I was towing the car by only one bar...not good. I felt it immediately when I was driving and saw it in my rear camera. The car was slewing from side-to-side without the other bar to hold it solid. Traffic backed away and I was able to slow the rig down and stop without incident. We didn't have a replacement pin so we unhooked the car from the RV. Joy drove the car and I drove the RV. We got back on the road headed for Charlotte, NC to see our friends.
To tow the car again, I needed to find a dealer for Blue Ox, the brand of tow-bar we have, to get a pin replacement. This was the weekend of the snowstorm that hit as far south as Atlanta. About 20 miles south of Savannah we saw snow on the sides of the road. This day, there was no snow on the road and very safe, dry driving conditions, but we could see on the sides of the road evidence of what had been only a few hours before. About 20 miles into SC we found an RV dealer who was also a dealer for Blue Ox. We pulled off the highway, parked and walked into the store. People were there, but the inside was dark. We eventually found the parts man and got the explanation that a car had gone into a power pole and they were without power. They expected it to be restored soon. He had the part I needed though. We found it with a flashlight and he wrote up a ticket the old fashioned way, by hand, and took down our credit card number and I signed it. The new locking pins worked great.
Joy noticed some time later that the credit card had not gone through. The receipt didn't even have that name of the store and we couldn't remember the town where we stopped, so we were stuck. This past Monday morning we were driving down the same stretch of I-95 and we remembered to look for the store. We passed by before they were open, but we got their name and found a phone number. Joy called and explained what happened. She told the same story to three incredulous people before getting to the guy who helped us. He had tried to run it through but it didn't go through. He had written the number down wrong. Joy gave him the right numbers. He said he had written it off; that he was going to have to eat that one. He thanked Joy for calling back and settling the bill.
"Not many people would do that" he said.
Why not I ask?

Surprised in Sarasota

2010-03-02T19:37:00.005-05:00

(Sarasota, FL: 2 March 2010) We made it back to Florida for the second round of RV renovation. Since we had to be out of the way for the day we originally were planning and looking forward to some relaxing beach time. Overnight the weather turned nasty with thunderstorms coming in before dawn and raining most of the morning. We googled "off the beaten path, florida", for something to do indoors, and found a place we would have never visited. When we asked Harry, the salesmen here at Classic Coach Works, whether he had heard of the Circus Museum in Sarasota, he quickly seconded the high reviews we saw on the internet.
And we were not disappointed.
After about a 90 minute drive we arrived just in time to slip into a movie explaining the history and rebuilding of the Asolo Theater which was followed by a movie about John and Mable Ringling, the founder and benefactor of the campus of museum's we were about to see. The movie provided a great orientation. John Ringling was one of the famous Ringling Brothers of circus fame, who, in the late 1800's/early 1900's created and grew the most successful circus in history. They were 5 boys from a strict Christian family from Baraboo, Wisconsin. One year a circus came to town and captivated the boys imaginations. They worked on their own acts and started putting on shows locally. They got better and better at it. Family's appreciated them not using profanity in their acts and having a strict behavior code for their performers, they were known for their honest business dealings and their business grew. Eventually they took the show on the road and the rest is history. Eventually they moved the circus' winter home to Sarasota, Florida after John and Mable bought land around Sarasota Bay. They became wealthy not only from the amazing success of the circus operations, but from land, oil, and railroad investments. Mable built an incredible mansion, Ca' d'Zan (Home of John) and gardens here. They educated themselves in art and traveled extensively collecting art. They bought so many works of art that their home couldn't hold it all. So, they built a building, a museum; an amazing work of art in itself, to house their collection. Mable died after living in the mansion she built only three years. The Depression hit, John, the last surviving brother, lost all the circus holdings, but he managed to keep the art collection together. He was devastated financially. When he died in 1936 he had $311 in the bank. He left the mansion, the museum, the art collection and 20 acres of land on Sarasota Bay to the State of Florida. They are managed by Florida State University through a trust and a foundation. The museum is said to be the 20th most significant art museum in the US. The two circus museum's were actually established after Ringling's death. One museum has circus memorabilia, wagons, costumes, handbills and advertising and stuff from the filming of the movie The Greatest Show on Earth, filmed on location in Sarasota. The most incredible part of the circus museum though is an entire Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus circa 1919-1938 in miniature! That's right the entire circus...everything you could possibly think of connected to the circus, carved and built from wood! It was made by a man named Howard Tibbals and took him over 50 years to complete!
Yes, were were definitely pleasantly surprised by Sarasota!

An Eatin' Adventure

2010-02-27T22:09:00.008-05:00

(Holly Hill, SC: 27 Feb 2010) One important criteria to check off on a state as having been "Hatched" is to experience a local eatery. I wanted to make this very specific and say, experience local barbecue, but decided to keep it open. Although Jestine's Kitchen in Charleston certainly filled that quota and we could have called it quits, I found another candidate on chowhound.com that was a bit more adventurous and fit the barbecue category. Sweatman's BBQ in Holly Hill, SC was the target.
It was adventurous because it is way off the beaten path (about 30 miles off the interstate) and because one of the reviews made compared the building and location to Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Mississippi Burning. We expected good food, but we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. In the end the food was very good...not the best BBQ I (we) have ever had, but very good, and the reviewer was a little over dramatic in his description. It certainly is out in the middle of nowhere and it is a very non-descript building, but the people were nice and the setting fit the down home taste of the food. There was dark and white pulled pork with a "hash" sauce. Also ribs, rice, skin, coleslaw and pickles served buffet style with all the sweet tea you can drink. The sauces were very basic; a mustard based sauce and a ketchup based sauce. The hash sauce was also mustard based.
On the way back home (to the RV!) Joy and I compared notes on what makes good BBQ. We realize that the cooking process of smoking the meat so the juices cook into and don't dry out the meat is the real key. But for both of us, we really like the sauce and we tend to like the more western, Texas style ketchup based sauces. So the food at Sweatman's gets high marks for the quality, flavor and texture of the meat, but low for the sauces. (I admit I am a self-proclaimed BBQ connoisseur and sometimes snob)
We'll keep you posted as to how this ranks in our Roady eating experiences, but it was worth the trip.

Doin' the Charleston X 2

2010-02-27T20:48:00.010-05:00

(Charleston, SC: 26-27 Feb 2010) You were going to have to imagine how beautiful Charleston is, because when we got downtown after the 30 minute drive from our RV campground, we realized we forgot the camera. But it is such a beautiful old city it was worth having an excuse to go back a second day, with the camera, to capture it not only in our mind's eye, but in digits too so you can see what we saw. A bit about the city. One of the oldest cities in the U.S. first settled around 1670. Big slave city early on; 3 of every 4 slaves that came to North America before 1800 came through Charleston. The fourth largest city in the colonies at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Two signers of the Constitution are from Charleston and buried here (we actually saw their graves): Charles Pinckney and John Rutledge. And of course this is where the Civil War began with the firing on the Union Fort Sumter which sits about 1 mile from the tip of the peninsula on which Charleston sits.
The thing that most amazed us about this city is the architecture and the large number of incredibly preserved old old homes here. Houses from the Revolutionary War period, pre-Civil War, Civil War and later. Old churches too. There are even a few original cobblestone streets.
A highlight for us was a late lunch at Jestine's Kitchen. I found this gem on chowhound.com, a website where people are the food critics. Joy enjoyed her original southern fried chicken and I devoured the meatloaf sandwich. We topped it off with Coca-Cola cake and Pecan pie and coffee. Mmmm good. It was so good the first day, we went back to their bakery on day 2 and got some goodies for the road!
If you have never been...for the history, the buildings and the food...Charleston is worth a visit!

Winged Warrior

2010-02-27T20:00:00.010-05:00

(Charleston, SC: 25 Feb 2010) Chris Peterson is the son of our long time dear friends Pete and Pam Peterson. Chris is a Captain in the Air Force and flies C-17 cargo/airlift aircraft out of Charleston AFB. He just got back from Qatar in January after a four month deployment serving in the war effort. We came to Charleston primarily to catch up with Chris. Chris has had a special place in my life since 1996. When I was transferred to the Pentagon and we couldn't sell our house in GA which kept Joy and the girls from moving with me, I stayed with Pete and Pam and Chris in their townhouse in Springfield, VA. Later when Pete and Pam were sent to Turkey and Chris stayed back in VA to finish his high school senior year, I got to be Chris's stand-in dad on several occasions.
We enjoyed dinner together and catching up on Chris's life in the Air Force and here in Charleston. Since our son-in-law CJ is in the middle of AF pilot training we quizzed Chris extensively about his experience, not that long ago, in pilot training. It was not an easy time for Chris. He struggled greatly and several times came close to being eliminated from the program. He was not the first in his class, but eventually he received the prized pilot wings. He was however, the first to recognize how God used this experience and other things that were going on to humble him and strengthen his faith. Through the hard times he hung in there, kept faith, worked hard, and tried to keep a positive attitude. In the end he didn't just get his wings, he also got his choice of assignments. He took Charleston, perhaps the premier C-17 base in the Air Force. He continues to work hard, keep faith, and wait on God for what's next (like maybe bringing the right woman into his life!)
Chris has a special place in our hearts. It was great to see him. We were encouraged in our own faith as we saw God's faithfulness in his life.

A Christmas Experience

2010-02-24T20:07:00.010-05:00

(Easley, SC: 23-24 Feb 2010) I have known BC Christmas for almost 20 years, but had never met his family. And though we were both on active duty at the same time and were both Air Force logisticians what we have in common is bigger than that - - the core of our friendship is our faith in Jesus Christ. BC retired in the mid 90's and went to work as a DoD contractor. I kept up with him through mutual friends and then our paths crossed more regularly when he got work at Joint Forces Command where I was assigned. When Joy stayed in Alaska after Kylan was born, BC stayed with me at the house in Suffolk and we were able to deepen our friendship in Christ. BC is one of those few people I had in my professional life who could walk into the office after not seeing each other for months or years and nearly the first words out of his mouth are, "How's your walk with the Lord!" We need friends like that.
Joy and I had the privilege of experiencing the entire Christmas Clan in a brief visit to their home outside Easley, SC. When you visit a family with 5 school age kids you don't just visit you participate. That is, you just step into their events and activities and connect with them as life happens. We parked the big rig in a big parking lot in town where we hooked up with BC and his wife Kimberly. This was the first time I met Kimberly and BC met Joy for the first time. We drove with them to pick up their younger daughters Kari, and Katherine at school while Kimberly ran another daughter Kirsten to flute lessons. We then drove to a gymnasium at Bob Jones University (all the kids are enrolled in the Bob Jones school system which is a unique...perhaps one of a kind "K to PhD" program) to watch son Will play an exciting intramural basketball game (triple overtime!). The game ended being up being the family meeting place that afternoon and we met oldest child, daughter Kasey.
We were able to park the RV and camp in the front yard of the Christmas Corral, their hilltop homestead with majestic views of the Great Smokey Mountains. After surviving the greeting by their four, yes, 4 Golden Retrievers, we enjoyed a wonderful family meal and were introduced to the family tradition of reciting 1st Corinthians 10:31 before giving thanks for the meal.
We got up late and they had already taken the kids to school. Kimberly and BC cooked up a great breakfast and lingered over coffee (some of us drank lots of coffee) and we shared story after story of how God has worked in our lives over the years. BC had always bragged on his talented and beautiful family and he has described his home to me many times before, but seeing was indeed believing. This was a Christmas experience which we will not soon forget.

Andy, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea

2010-02-24T15:24:00.006-05:00

(Mt Airy, NC: 22 Feb 2010) My friend Pam and I share a love for the Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy. So while she may own the Andy Griffith Board Game I was able to actually visit "Mayberry", or at least the town that claims to be Mayberry! Mt. Airy, North Carolina, where Andy Griffith once lived has taken on the appearance of Mayberry. We visited the Andy Griffith Playhouse & Memorabilia Collection, took a picture of Floyd's Barber Shop (where a man who looks remarkably like Floyd was cutting hair). He actually took our picture to put on his wall; so if you ever go there see if you can find us! We ate lunch at Snappy Lunch, the only restaurant in town that Andy spoke of going to eat at. Then we got some candy at Opie's Candy Store. We visited the courthouse where I entered Otis' cell and Ed sat behind Andy's desk to make an important phone call. Next door was Wally's Gas Station where we were tempted to buy one of Goober's famous hats but felt that would have been going a bit too far! While it really looked nothing like what I envisioned Mayberry looking like, it was fun and we met some interesting people. But the most important thing is that I one upped Pam and sent her a postcard telling her so!

Now besides Pam does anyone know if or how Andy and Barney were related?????

Around the World in 8 Hours...

2010-02-22T21:14:00.006-05:00

(Orlando, FL: 10 Feb 2010) In a one day excursion through Disney's Epcot Center we toured UK, Morocco, Italy, Norway, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico, Japan, France, and of course the USA. A Future World also exists in Epcot with venues for Land, Sea, and Space among others. It was a balmy 56 degrees in Central Florida with a gusty 10-15 mph wind. We lunched in France and then predictably had dinner in America at the Liberty Inn. One of our favorite attractions was The Sea with Nemo and Friends where we learned to talk Turtle with Crush the "dude" talking cartoon turtle from the movie Finding Nemo. The country attractions were cool; Canada was a hit with a 360 degree film showing the incredible beauty of our northern neighbor narrated by Martin Short. We enjoyed a cappella singers in the America Adventure building and watched amazing Chinese acrobats in the China pavilion.
A really cool nice touch of detail that only Disney could pull off; all the workers in each of the countries were not only in country costume, but had authentic accents. Imported ambiance.

A Holy Land Experience

2010-02-22T20:19:00.005-05:00

(Orlando, FL: 8 Feb 2010) In the theme park Mecca of Orlando is a surprise and incredibly unique park called The Holy Land Experience. Trinity Broadcasting Corporation owns and manages the park which has been around for 9 years and, as the name states, tries to provide a mini experience of the Holy Land through a Christian and Biblical perspective. You enter through Noah's Ark like animal menagerie on one side and a manager scene on the other side; you walk through streets that are filled with characters in 1st century Palestine costume along buildings and displays made to look authentic to the time. There is a an outdoor 1/6th scale replica of Herod's Temple that existed in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. There are indoor exhibits/attractions like the Wilderness Temple, where a man dressed like a Levitical priest blows the Shofar horn and explains and acts part of the Passover sacrificial ceremony. In another building is a huge scale model of the city of Jerusalem at the time of Christ. A man stands in the middle of the model and explains the history of Jerusalem from the time of it's founding by King David from the City of Jebus to the razing of the city by the Romans in 70 AD. A building called The Scriptorium houses one of the largest private collections of Biblical documents and manuscripts in existence. Small groups of visitors are moved through 14 rooms of artifacts and displays every seven minutes, telling the story of the translation and preservation of the Bible over thousands of years. One room has a copy of Matthews Bible, which was an English translation done in the early 1500's in England. This was the period in English history of the oppression of religious worship and limited freedom. The copy of Matthew's Bible in the collection actually has a blood stain across the pages where the owner was attacked and brutalized for owning a Bible!
We saw an abbreviated street play of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The strangest experience of all was having communion with John and Jesus. After communion Jesus came through the crowd and touched each person and pronounced blessings on all (it was weird).
There were not huge crowds the day we went, but I will commend TBN for taking an opportunity to share the gospel at every opportunity.
This was truly an unexpected and pleasant surprise...A Holy (land) Experience in Orlando!

Catching Up in Greensboro

2010-02-22T19:48:00.007-05:00

(Greensboro, NC: 2/21/2010) Had a great time catching up with nephews Michael and Chris Vargas and Michael's girlfriend Valerie. We attended their church, Central Community Church and then went out to lunch. The church is trying to reach people lost, unchurched or burned-out on church. They have a high powered band that leads the worship...they call it Ignite Worship (Chris plays drums). We appreciated them handing out ear plugs! It is the first time we ever had the preacher invite the congregation to text him during the service and at the end of his sermon he answered the questions that had been texted! Hey...whatever works...and this seemed to work. We were the oldest folks there by far, but we heard the Word preached, lifted our hearts in worship and met God....and that's what it's all about!
It was good to see how God is providing for the boys.The both have jobs and Chris is making plans to go back to college in the fall. Valerie is a delight and Joy now has a Facebook friend to keep tabs on the boys!

Welcoming Change

2010-02-18T08:19:00.002-05:00

"All change is uncomfortable. Even when it is desired, change can be disturbing, for it disrupts your normal way of doing things. It introduces the unknown, the unexperienced. It can leave you feeling disoriented. It can call into question your strength and confidence. Strong emotions may arise within you, ones you'd rather not face, or ones you don't know how to face. Whatever this change means to you, at one time or another it will create a sense of unease. Or it may bring something even more unpleasant--a pain that won't go away."

A few days after we left Suffolk I found myself spiraling into a hole that I could not crawl out of. I felt lost, disconnected, disoriented, angry, confused, lonely, lethargic and a lot more. The more Ed prodded me the more angry and guilty I felt.

Staying in a little apartment at Wycliffe Headquarters waiting for the RV to be carpeted I came across a book, "Welcoming Change..Discovering Hope in Life's Transitions". The words I read expressed all that was happening to me and why I was feeling the way I was feeling. Even though this "new beginning" was something we had dreamed of, planned for, hoped for, waited for, it also meant something was ending. "The beginning of any transition is not really a beginning--it's an ending." I hadn't thought of that and it took me by surprise these emotions that came upon me and overwhelmed me.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." Anatole France

As I enter this new beginning I'm learning to let go of what is ending. But just as I'm leaving a part of myself behind I'm also taking a part of those I'm leaving with me. Good memories, great conversations, wonderful times of sharing, laughter, spiritual refreshment, crying, holding one another accountable, praying for one another through hard times, studying God's word. Thanks ladies, we'll do it again!

A Worthy Crusade...

2010-02-06T16:12:00.010-05:00

The only tour offered by Campus Crusade introduces groups to The Jesus Film Project, just one of over 40 ministries under the umbrella of Campus Crusade for Christ International. But what a ministry it is. We were a little familiar with the Jesus Film, but the tour and presentation gave us a whole new appreciation for this amazing presentation of the life of Christ and how the Lord has used this tool over the past 30 years to tell the old old story of Jesus and his love for the world.
The project started with a vision to reach the people groups in the world with the gospel who have no written language. Over 50% of the world has only an oral means to hear and learn about the world. The first class film production was first made in English in 1979. Since then the film has been translated into 1082 languages and over 200 MILLION people (that's right MILLION) have accepted Christ as their personal savior through viewing the film. There are over 500 Jesus Film teams working in 72 countries around the world today. Almost every flavor of Christian denomination, Catholic and Protestant and many ministry organizations have effectively used the film. Many missionaries in countries with hard to reach people groups are using the film to plant churches.
The tour is about 45 minutes and explains the technology behind recording the sound and doing the dubbing and lip synching necessary to make the film a credible presentation in one's own tongue. It's amazing what they do.
The most humbling part of the tour is seeing the Wall of Honor. The wall honors the names and stories of those who have been killed...martyred, trying to show the film or get the film produced in their own language.
If you're interested in a meaningful missions trip, check out the 2 week trips that you can take with a Jesus Film team showing the film to people who have never heard the story of Jesus and the good news of salvation in Him.

Small World...BIG God

2010-02-06T15:24:00.013-05:00

Joy and I went to a really small college in Portland, Oregon. There were maybe 800 students at Multnomah School of the Bible (now Multnomah University) in the 70's. Our class size was all of 150-175 students. We have a handful of close friends from those days we keep up with, but they all live in the Pacific Northwest. The last thing in the world we expected while getting some work done on our RV and checking out the sights in and around Orlando, Florida was to run into a friend from college.
While here we didn't just want to do the Disney tourist thing, but also to check out a couple ministries we have supported over the years. Campus Crusade for Christ and Wycliffe Bible Translators both have their headquarters here in Orlando. We have a friend who is a Bible translator and I have always been fascinated by the work and challenge of Bible translation, so we went there first (they are actually right next door to each other). Wycliffe has put together a fantastic hand's on display and interactive experience called WordSpring Discovery Center. There you learn about the long history of Bible translation as well as the relatively young history of the Wycliffe organization and ministry itself. We timed it to get there for the one time a day they have a face-to-face time with a missionary, before going on the self-guided tour. We arrived a little late and the missionary had already started. It was a small group and he was asking all of us where we were from, we said, "Virginia, but moving to Oregon". He made a comment about having gone to college in Oregon and having fond memories of it. Initially we didn't think anything of it and settled in for the fascinating presentation about the work of Bible translation around the world. As the guy got going we realized we knew him. "That's Gary Peterson", Joy elbowed and whispered to me (not in that order). The "Gary" on his nametag helped, but his expressions, mannerisms and look (though the years have been kind to him) was familiar. When the session finished up we had to wait while others cornered Gary to get their own questions answered. We finally got him aside and asked him if he had gone to Multnomah. He said he had and then looked at us with a closer knowing look. When I re-introduced myself after 35 years, he said, "I thought when you guys came in that you looked familiar". We had a great time that day catching up and sharing about our spiritual pilgrimage since Bible college days. We went back again the next day and had lunch with him, shared family pictures and did the "who's who" update of who we have kept up with since college days. It was a special and unexpected blessing and just like God to give us this gift of blessing as a token of what is to come on our Oregon Journey.

See ya later...Not Goodbye

2010-02-01T16:58:00.006-05:00

(Suffolk, VA 1/26-27/2010) We made some great friends during our 7 years in Suffolk. Some of them threw a Bon Voyage party for us on our last Saturday in town. There was even a cake decorated with a toy car (representing our motorhome) and tow-truck. I asked if the toys were prophetic symbols like in Isaiah and Jeremiah...of impending doom, or something that was going to happen and they were indicating we would have many breakdowns along the way. The car and tow-truck are on opposite ends of the cake, I was informed, so the implication is a blessing and a prayer that God would keep us from breakdowns.
So, when you cut a cake at a going away party for people who are getting ready to travel for months on end, what is the appropriate song to sing? Happy Trails, of course. So, our friends sang, "Happy Trails to you, until we meet again".
The next day at church we ran into someone who doesn't like saying goodbye. As we hugged he reminded us that this is, "see ya later", not "goodbye".
And so it is...

Colonel and Mrs Hatch...Departing

2010-02-01T16:08:00.004-05:00

(Suffolk, VA 1/26/2010) As we motored our land-yacht and dinghy (RV and tow-car) out Virginia Highway 58 past the familiar sights and we saw Suffolk VA in our rear-view mirrors I asked Joy to pucker up. ---
One of the things I enjoyed about the last 10 years of my Air Force career was the opportunity to work in the "joint" world. Joint in military parlance is when all four military services are working under the same command. As a blue Air Force guy, I had to learn the ways and traditions of Army green, Marine khaki and Navy blue...the mix of colors in the joint world we affectionately call Purple. The Navy traditions particularly interested me since my Dad was a career Navy officer. Joy and I had a special privilege several years ago to see these traditions up close and personal when a former co-worker, CDR Joe Leonard, took command of a Navy ship in Pascagoula, MS and we were invited to attend. The change of command was conducted while the ship was dockside. After the ceremony we were given the opportunity to board the ship for tours. As a Colonel, Joy was impressed that I was given the courtesy of being piped aboard the ship and announced over the ships PA system. Careful to render the proper military courtesy's I saluted the US flag flying at the ship's stern before stepping onto the gangplank to make our way "over the side". At the top of the gangplank I returned the salute of the officer of the watch and we stepped on board (OBTW: I am pretty sure I did it right in person, if I am explaining it wrong I am sure some of my Navy friends will correct me). The bosun's pipe shrilled it's melodious OooEEEooo whistle. "Colonel and Mrs Hatch...arriving" the loud speaker blared. We had our own tour guide and crawled around the entire ship for a good while. After some refreshment we reversed the ceremonial procedure for our departure. The bosun's pipe shrilled, OooEeeooo, as we stepped down the gangplank. "Colonel and Mrs Hatch departing", we heard behind us just as our feet hit the dock.

As we pulled our rig away from Suffolk, our home for the past 7 years, full of our own individual memories, and took a navigation heading South to eventually head West, I said again to my wife.

"Joy, pucker up".

"You're driving", she scolded.

"No not that. Get your whistler ready. You're a better whistler than I". I reminded her of the Navy ceremony.

"WoooEeeOooo" we both whistled mimicking the shrill of the bosun's pipe.

"Colonel and Mrs Hatch. Departing"

Flex-ability

2010-01-27T11:47:00.003-05:00

Several people have been wondering how I was going to do living in an RV for an indefinite period of time. Will I miss a permanent home, having all my possessions around me, a good shower, a place to go to be alone. Certainly all of those things are different now but I think the thing that is going to stretch me the most is-will I be able to handle the bumps in the road. I like routine, I like knowing what is going to happen, having plans and sticking to them, to-do lists, getting things done. I don't do well with glitches or unexpected problems. I don't like having to make a plan B,C and D!!! I want to go with plan A!

But that's what life is going to be like now. I can't count on plan A happening. I have to learn to accept that sometimes things are going to come up that I can't control that will mean adjusting to a new plan. For instance, just trying to leave Suffolk meant going to plan C on the spur of the moment. Buy it also meant getting to have dinner with some friends and having a wonderful reunion with some friends who happened to be in town from Italy for one day! If we'd gone with plan A we would have been long gone and missed both those opportunities.

I just finished a study on Job and one of the greatest verses I am taking away from that study is 26:14. "Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?" I see just the outskirts of His ways. I don't know all that is happening and why so I need to put my hand over my mouth and trust His sovereignty.

As I write this we are sitting in the parking lot of Camping World in Savannah, Georgia. Our blinkers stopped working for some reason and we are waiting to have them checked. Plan B is now in motion.

The Columbia River of God's Faithfulness

2010-01-20T14:26:00.010-05:00

(Eastern Oregon: 1/8/2010) Coming into Oregon from the east always makes me think of Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery. I wonder how much of the country they explored on their great adventure has really changed since 1804-06. They rode the river, we rode the interstate and crossed the Snake River in Idaho about 7 times before negotiating the ascent of the Blue Mountains on the boarder of Idaho-Oregon. As you come down from the mountains the terrain clearly changes after 25 miles or so and there is a distinct transition of entering the majestic Columbia River gorge. Joy was doing a crossword puzzle and I was enjoying the glorious scenery and anticipating our first view of the historic river. Over the years of traveling with the kids we realized they got antsy the longer they were in the car and the closer we got to our destination. As a way of occupying them we would ask them to look for something that was ahead on our route. When we lived in Little Rock, AR and visited Grandma and Grandpa Vinyard in Plano, TX we would challenge the girls to see "who can see the water tower first"; the objective being a large water tower just outside town with Plano and a Texas star painted on it. On the to way to the Oregon coast when we lived here before we said, "see who can see the ocean first". With little more than 3 hours of driving left on the end of our 7 day journey I played the game with myself with keen anticipation for the first view of the Columbia. Thinking of the mighty river led me to think about the imagery of water and rivers in the Bible and Christian music and writing. The strong, steady,and certain flowing of a river particularly images God's power and faithfulness. As I thought about God's faithfulness to us over the past 8 months of having our house on the market, the past 7 years of life Suffolk, VA and closing out my Air Force career, and the 17 years since we have been away from our beloved Oregon...the River came into view. "I see the river first", I said to Joy. Just then her phone rang. For some reason I looked at the clock; it was 8:05 a.m. Pacific Time, 11:05 Eastern Time Friday 8 January 2010. The day of the closing on the sale of our house. We had signed a power of attorney over to our realtor Maggi Davis, and as Joy talked I realized it was Maggi calling telling us that the closing was complete, the paperwork was all signed and we were officially homeless! I had no sense of emptiness or loss, but really rather a sense of true closure and a profound and almost tangible feeling of peace. When Joy hung up from talking to Maggi I played another game with her we often play. I asked her what song she could think of with the word "river" in it. She immediately replied, "Like a River Glorious". All the while our truck's huge windshield is filled with a view of the mighty AND majestic Columbia River. "Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, over all victorious in it's bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth perfect every day. Perfect yet it floweth deeper all the way." And the chorus: "Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding as he promised perfect peace and rest." Great God exalting words on which to meditate while viewing the Columbia!
And then, as if the Lord added an exclamation point to these events and thoughts what hymn would we sing on Sunday morning when we worshipped at Newberg Friends Church with John and Erin? ...Like a River Glorious!!

Oregon's Green "Cradle-to-Grave" Life-Style

2010-01-19T12:43:00.008-05:00

(Manzanita, Oregon: 1/13/2010) Oregon has always been a leader in protecting and taking care of the environment. Lately they are trying to crank it up a notch and be national leaders in wind energy and energy conservation while continuing to encourage and even extend policies and practices of recycling. But when we saw this sign off Hwy 101 on the Oregon Coast, we realized they are really out on the edge in the life-cycle of all things "green".

Del Rio family reunion part I

2010-01-18T09:07:00.011-05:00

When your family is spread out across the United States like ours is you have to plan and take advantage of the times you can be together. You take 'em when you can get 'em. With Katie, CJ and Kylan in Texas for a just a year and since we were not able to to be together over the holidays we thought the first long weekend in the new year would be a great time to get the family together for a few days. Ed and I really enjoy these special times as we catch up with each other and appreciate the blessing of a family who loves each other. We especially enjoy seeing the girls laughing and teasing with one another...which they do as adults with a greater gusto and competitiveness than they did growing up! Invariably we all come to belly-laughs as we retell for the umpteenth time the "remember when" old stories and memories. Ed enjoys having time with the sons-in-law, playing golf and growing in his relationship with them. We are so thankful and proud of our girls. I think Kylan just eats up all the attention that she gets with Mamaw, Papaw, Aunt Emily, Aunt Erin and Uncle John to play with. It's also great having photographers in the family to document these times!

Del Rio reunion part II

2010-01-18T09:00:00.015-05:00

This weekend has been great. The weather has cooperated allowing us to be outdoors and active (in the 60's and low 70s). On Saturday Ed, CJ and John took advantage of that and played golf while Joy and the girls took Kylan to the playground and had relay races, played freeze tag, climbed on the toys, slid down the slides, ran and jumped and skipped and pretty much exhausted everybody but Kylan! Katie has been a wonderful hostess and the food has been great. We had a Wii tournament (video games) in the evening and ended with a rousing game of chick-a-boom to end the day. Sunday we went to church at Del Rio Bible Church and then headed out to the lake to enjoy the low 70's temperature on the water. Emily, John and CJ were brave enough to put on a shorty wet suit and jump into the 52 degree water for some wakeboarding. The rest of us cheered and encouraged them on. We came back to the house for a bbq cookout with several of CJ and Katie's friends. Monday morning we made our first trip back to the airport to send Emily back to her home in Virginia on the 6:15 a.m. flight. Tuesday, Erin and John were to leave on the same flight only to have their plans upset with ground fog and a canceled flight. We're praying for clearing weather so they can catch the only other flight out of DRT at 4:15. As the family again scatters to four winds and their respective homes we are full of thanks to God our faithful provider that we have these times and look forward in faith to the next reunion whenever and wherever it may be.

The Family Comes Through...

2010-01-13T18:02:00.006-05:00

(Newberg, OR: 1/9/2010) John and Erin confused us the first time they said they were getting together with "the family". "The fam" for short, we came to realize these were not blood relations, but an incredible network of family (by blood and marriage) and friends they have made from school, work, and living in the great Northwest. Numbering over 30 at times John and Erin are truly blessed by their heavenly Father to know this family and to call them friends (check out John 15:15). So in some ways it was no surprise when we asked if they could come up with some help to unload the moving truck at the storage place we rented in Newberg, that they said, "no problem, we'll just call the fam to help". So, Saturday 9 January we connected with another part of our extended family when we were blessed to have some from J&E's fam help us unload the truck and pack the storage shed with our stuff. Sherry Macy even brought early morning coffee for the gang. So a big thanks to some of the fam...Rochelle, Jonathan and Rachel, Pete and Linsey, Uncle Howard, and John and Erin for all the help!