We arrived safely in Gainesville about 5:30p on Thursday, June 12th. God truly blessed our travels - even as we were driving in, the kids said the trip went quick - but I think we were all looking forward to getting out of the RV and exploring this new area. There was lots of excitement to see the rental house for the first time (literally - since we rented it "sight unseen")... to our joy (and relief) the house seems to be a perfect fit for our family.
We got the keys on Friday and the day unpacking the RV and preparing for the movers.
Saturday was Move-in day... have you ever felt buried in boxes? :-) Since then, we've been busy unpacking, and dealing all the changes involved in a move - getting utilities setup, finding stores, doctors, etc. We've still got a ways to go before we'll feel "settled" - but we're well on our way.
I've been very please with my new job - some really nice people, and a great work atmosphere. Looking forward to see how God will use me here.
Please keep us in your prayers, as you'll be in ours. Specifically as we look for a new church home and seek God's will for us here in Florida.
-David
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Day 8 and 9 and 10
Ahhhhh, a little break from driving. :-)
After a quick jaunt (1 1/2 hours) from Carthage, we arrived in Branson, MO. We spent 2 nights here, and could have easily spent a week - there is so much to do... and it's mostly family friendly. The area has a Christian heritage with many of the attractions based on the book "Shepherd of the Hills", written by a pioneer pastor who settled there. Our highlights included: "The Dixie Stampede" (a dinner-theatre, most of it done on horses)... Jared and Jenny even got involved as they were selected to join in one of the competitions! "The New Shanghai Circus" - a show with some AMAZING acrobatics. And "Silver Dollar City" - a fun amusement park with a 1800's Ozark theme... we had a great time despite getting soaked to the bone from the rain!
On Day 10, we had to pack our bags and hit the road again - this time we had EASY driving, with no winds! PTL!! We arrived in Sikeston, MO around 8pm and asked the hotel clerk if she knew of any good local restaurants... boy did she ever! Pastor Chuck would LOVE "Lambert's Cafe" - he had suggested we search for some good ol' Southern cookin' along the way - and Lambert's fits the bill to a T. Now I would normally not bother to mention a restaurant, but this is not just a place to eat - its an experience! It's known as the home of the "Throwed Rolls" - because they throw these softball-sized rolls to you from across the room. I can't even begin to describe how much food they give you - and all for pennies on the dollar. Let me just say this - we ordered $40 of food for 7 people, and after absolutely stuffing ourselves - we boxed up about $50 of food to take home. :-) Courtney said afterward that she only ate the "pass-arounds", the 6 side dishes they give out before, during and after the meal - things like fried okra, crispy potatoes and onions, black-eyed peas, etc. We probably had 6 waiters and waitresses constantly stopping by to top off our drinks and pass-arounds - all with that sweet Southern hospitality. There are 3 Lambert's in the midwest, 2 in Missouri and one in Alabama. We were wondering if Mike Potts has been to one? If so, did you ever try the frog legs and hog jowl that they have on the menu!!?? Noone in our family was brave enough. : )
After all that food, I'm really sleepy. Good-night.
-David
After a quick jaunt (1 1/2 hours) from Carthage, we arrived in Branson, MO. We spent 2 nights here, and could have easily spent a week - there is so much to do... and it's mostly family friendly. The area has a Christian heritage with many of the attractions based on the book "Shepherd of the Hills", written by a pioneer pastor who settled there. Our highlights included: "The Dixie Stampede" (a dinner-theatre, most of it done on horses)... Jared and Jenny even got involved as they were selected to join in one of the competitions! "The New Shanghai Circus" - a show with some AMAZING acrobatics. And "Silver Dollar City" - a fun amusement park with a 1800's Ozark theme... we had a great time despite getting soaked to the bone from the rain!
On Day 10, we had to pack our bags and hit the road again - this time we had EASY driving, with no winds! PTL!! We arrived in Sikeston, MO around 8pm and asked the hotel clerk if she knew of any good local restaurants... boy did she ever! Pastor Chuck would LOVE "Lambert's Cafe" - he had suggested we search for some good ol' Southern cookin' along the way - and Lambert's fits the bill to a T. Now I would normally not bother to mention a restaurant, but this is not just a place to eat - its an experience! It's known as the home of the "Throwed Rolls" - because they throw these softball-sized rolls to you from across the room. I can't even begin to describe how much food they give you - and all for pennies on the dollar. Let me just say this - we ordered $40 of food for 7 people, and after absolutely stuffing ourselves - we boxed up about $50 of food to take home. :-) Courtney said afterward that she only ate the "pass-arounds", the 6 side dishes they give out before, during and after the meal - things like fried okra, crispy potatoes and onions, black-eyed peas, etc. We probably had 6 waiters and waitresses constantly stopping by to top off our drinks and pass-arounds - all with that sweet Southern hospitality. There are 3 Lambert's in the midwest, 2 in Missouri and one in Alabama. We were wondering if Mike Potts has been to one? If so, did you ever try the frog legs and hog jowl that they have on the menu!!?? Noone in our family was brave enough. : )
After all that food, I'm really sleepy. Good-night.
-David
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Day 6 and 7
Out of the mountains of Colorado and onto the WINDY plains of Kansas.
Friday morning we awoke in Westcliffe to the beautiful mountains of the Sangre de Cristo range. We ventured out about 5 miles out of town and found Janna's great grandpa's cabin - the roof was gone, and the front wall starting to lean... but all in all, it was in pretty good shape! It was very sentimental for Janice (Janna's mom) to visit the place where her mother was born. We took lots of pics, and some wood scraps for souvenirs. Afterward we took a stroll downtown Westcliffe, then hit the road - lots of driving to make it to Dodge City, KA.
Saturday we had a looong, stressful drive to Carthage, Missouri - I called it the "Kansas road dance" because the RV was constantly shakin' and bakin'... We had strong and steady gusts from the South, trying to blow us either into oncoming traffic, or off the road. My knuckles were white and my nerves fried when we finally pulled into our hotel. I thank God for His protection and safe delivery of our family - we know it could have been much worse (we passed right through Greensburg, KA - the town that was devastated by a tornado earlier this month)
Friday morning we awoke in Westcliffe to the beautiful mountains of the Sangre de Cristo range. We ventured out about 5 miles out of town and found Janna's great grandpa's cabin - the roof was gone, and the front wall starting to lean... but all in all, it was in pretty good shape! It was very sentimental for Janice (Janna's mom) to visit the place where her mother was born. We took lots of pics, and some wood scraps for souvenirs. Afterward we took a stroll downtown Westcliffe, then hit the road - lots of driving to make it to Dodge City, KA.
Saturday we had a looong, stressful drive to Carthage, Missouri - I called it the "Kansas road dance" because the RV was constantly shakin' and bakin'... We had strong and steady gusts from the South, trying to blow us either into oncoming traffic, or off the road. My knuckles were white and my nerves fried when we finally pulled into our hotel. I thank God for His protection and safe delivery of our family - we know it could have been much worse (we passed right through Greensburg, KA - the town that was devastated by a tornado earlier this month)
We've been blessed to meet lots of great people along the way. "Ben" was the manager at the hotel in Westcliffe, and a fellow believer. After talking with him a little while, he felt compelled to pray for us and our travels - I believe those prayers were answered after surviving those Kansas winds!
God bless you all!
-David
Friday, June 6, 2008
Day 4 and 5...
Southern Utah is absolutely incredible! (With 5 national parks, I guess that's no surprise)The highlight of Day 4 was a little lesser known gem of Utah, called Goblin Valley State Park. If you ever are passing through, it's definitely worth the stop - your kids will love it! I think of it as God's jungle gym - with a whole valley of rock formations that look like mushrooms, and marshmallows, and space aliens, etc (I was half expecting to find the Keebler Elves there :-). The great part about it, is that it's really easy for kids to climb on, so they just have a ball (Ok, Ok, the parents have a blast too).
Day 5 we visited Arches National Park. Again, the landscape is absolutely stunning - with over 2000 natural stone archways, cliffs jutting up from out of no where, huge suspension rocks just balancing... wow. Unfortunately we were pressed for time, so we did the drive by tour and did not get a chance to get out and hike - we would have loved to have spent more time there.
After Arches, we drove to Westcliffe where we hope to visit Janna's great grandpa's cabin that he built back in 1922.
We're truly having a blessed time, and praise the Lord - the RV has survived the mountains! Now onto to the prairies and flat lands... hopefully we'll get better gas mileage. :-)
God Bless you all,
-David
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Day 2 and 3...
Well we've seen a lot of beautiful country - God is an amazing artist!
We made it to Boise for our 2nd night, cruising up Hwy 26 from Redmond... Mountains and Valleys and Gorges - Oh my. Just beautiful.
We made one stop at a very unusual "pair" tree, out in the middle of nowhere between Mitchell and John Day. An old tree with literally hundreds of pairs of old shoes strung on the branches. So we just had to stop and add to the collection. :-)
Note: the sign says "No cherries, no peaches, just a few pairs"
Day 3 was mostly about driving - we pressed onward to make it to Janna's aunt and uncle's house in Draper UT near Salt Lake City. Tomorrow we plan to see the sights of southern Utah.
That's all for now. God Bless!
-David
Sunday, June 1, 2008
On The Road!
Well... after MANY long days of packing and cleaning, we left our home around 12:30pm and began our journey to Florida. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to all who helped us prepare for this adventure that lies before us, and for all the prayers that have been and continue to be offered on our behalf. We saw love in ACTION and feel so blessed by God to have such dear friends and family - you all make it extremely difficult to leave Oregon.
Our first day on the road provided a few ups and downs... it started with me losing my credit cards (thankfully there have been no fraudulent charges - yet). I also managed to leave the gas cap at our first station... I blame it all on sleep deprivation. :-) But we also had highlights, like attending my niece and nephew's graduation party, and getting to see David's extended family one more time.
So far the RV seem to be doing fine - apart from going 25mph up hills, and guzzling gas. :-) The kids enjoyed playing games and taking naps. Jenny has started a "road kill" log - so far we have 3 entries! We made a quick stop to play in the snow just past Detroit lake (not much snow in FL, so we figured we'd better have one last snowball fight). We're spending our first night in Redmond OR. We hope to make it to Twin Falls, ID tomorrow... 8+ hours, so I'd better get some sleep!
We LOVE you all!
-David
Our first day on the road provided a few ups and downs... it started with me losing my credit cards (thankfully there have been no fraudulent charges - yet). I also managed to leave the gas cap at our first station... I blame it all on sleep deprivation. :-) But we also had highlights, like attending my niece and nephew's graduation party, and getting to see David's extended family one more time.
So far the RV seem to be doing fine - apart from going 25mph up hills, and guzzling gas. :-) The kids enjoyed playing games and taking naps. Jenny has started a "road kill" log - so far we have 3 entries! We made a quick stop to play in the snow just past Detroit lake (not much snow in FL, so we figured we'd better have one last snowball fight). We're spending our first night in Redmond OR. We hope to make it to Twin Falls, ID tomorrow... 8+ hours, so I'd better get some sleep!
We LOVE you all!
-David
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