Tag: From Sea to Shining Sea: The Great Road Trip of 2013

Unfortunately we were not anywhere near the Field of Dreams.  (Gil checked…..because, of course, I really wanted to see a baseball diamond in a corn field.) (Umm…that was sarcasm.)

But what we did see was a whole lot better….our wonderful friends, Peter and Becca and their kids.

We’ve known Peter and Becca since our college days, when Becca and I lived in #9.  In fact, the prank war that I mentioned in that post?  Peter was one of those guys.  

Later, we both joined the same mission, but went to totally different parts of the world.  Now they are in Iowa.  We hadn’t seen them in 8 years.  Feeds the soul to spend time with old friends.  The amazing corn on the cob helped too.  

I met Melodie in first grade.

We were the only two white girls in the class (I am on the far left).

Melodie and me in second grade sewing class

I had not seen Melodie since our freshman year of high school.  But we’ve stayed in touch, as MK’s often do.  We have millions of shared memories that only other ELWA kids can relate to.

So it was very special to see Melodie again and to meet her family.

At the Y with Melodie’s kids.  Shoot…I want a Y too.

We also got to visit with a wonderful mentor from my college days, Marlene.  Marlene taught me so much about ministry and is partially responsible for who I am today.  

Another family to visit in Colorado was of a high school friend, Maria.

1993

(Please nobody kill me for posting this picture!)

Junior girls from our high school youth group.  I’m in the front and Maria in the back.

 And that’s us yesterday.

Our last stop in Colorado was in a little town near the border of Nebraska, to visit our friend Eileen.  We’ve known Eileen since she was a little girl, and 8 years ago, she was on the very first team we hosted in Tanzania to put on our very first Youth Camp.   

Eileen gave the kids each their own horse back riding lesson, and the kids were super excited to meet a real live Cowgirl!

Colorado was significantly more interesting than the previous states….partly because it is far more beautiful, but also because the company was wonderful!

Mommy, it says here that the state flower of Nevada is sagebrush.  What is sagebrush?

Look around, Darlin’, look around.  

Grace wrote in her journal, “Nevada is a desert.  And there are a lot of casinos.”

And that pretty much sums up Nevada.

In Utah, there was salt.  

And in Salt Lake City, there was a free planetarium.

We stayed the second night in Middle of Nowhere, Wyoming.  

We learned that Wyoming is the least populated state of America.

Yep.

I can tell you all are so excited about our trip so far.

I think the most interesting part was when we all did the Hokey Pokey, in the car.

But I don’t have a picture of that.  

Today is the day!

I am writing this post from the car.  We’ve been on the road two hours.  I think we’re somewhere near Sacramento….

Our trusty Honda Odyssey will be our home for the next six weeks.  We’re going through Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana….all the way to the east coast, down to Georgia, and then back to southern California through the southern states.

We will visit New York, Washington DC, the Grand Canyon….

but most importantly, and the reason we’re doing this crazy trip–

We will be visiting about 30 homes.  Friends from California who have moved to other parts of the country, former staff from HOPAC, and old friends that even go as far back as my Liberia days–people I haven’t seen in over 20 years.  

Our itinerary is over 6 pages long.  

But we’ve got a GPS, we’ve got Kindle Fires and Leapsters, we’ve even got a tiny fridge that runs on the car battery.  We’ve got stickers and a prize box and plastic containers that fit into every nook and cranny of the car!

I am going to attempt to blog about every state we visit.  Very sorry for those of you who want to hear about Africa and now get a U.S. travel blog.  I won’t be offended if you take a six-week hiatus from reading.  🙂

Destination of the Day:  Middle of Nowhere, Nevada.  Nothing like starting off the trip with a bang.