what happened in Hays

We stopped around 4 o'clock to eat dinner at IHOP. Coming up the ramp we smelled something like sulfur. After we ate dinner we came out and our car wouldn't start. So after speaking with some Mexican people cfrom Monterey we had a young guy come out and jumpstart the car. Then we talked to him a little bit and he said it was all about good karma .... Polly challenged him that it was really about knowing God, to which he replied that was what he meant blut didn't want to offend anybody... Polly asked him, why don't people want to speak out for talking about God?

Well. we drove over and I had to use the bathroom so we stopped at agas station aaaand...oops! We turned the car off! So of course we couldn't start the car and the guy at the station didn't have jumper cables, so we were in trouble.

After thinking it through I went ahead and called into roadside assistance progressive to have them come to jump start us. I went inside the gas station and talked to a man to pass the time as we waited. His wife came in to join us when suddenly they realized they had a way to help ! we tried charging the battery with a battery charger butthe charger was dead. Then he realized he needed to clean the battery contacts so he did that but the battery still didn't start!

So his wife drove me to the shop with a bad battery and we tried to charge it but it was going to take 30 minutes. While we waited we took his wife and daughter and her son to McDonald's. Polly came with us and we enjoyed some time getting to know them and talking with the daughter. When they had finished eating we went back to the O'Reilly only to find that the battery was belching out acid fumes so we thought it might be time for a new one. We forked it over and the very nice man helped us put it back in the car. Then he even fixed the squealing belt that had plagued us for weeks!

We got to give out two Jesus films and a Magdalena film and we really felt after leaving that the man who came near the end from the roadside assistance program was about to get saved!! Please pray for him. Polly shared about Jesus being our good shepherd and the man was about to go feed his cattle for the night... :-)

14 hours on the road. Another day in the life of the somervillians...

That was yesterday. This morning we were so zonked with like five hours sleep we could barely spell each other fast enough driving.  13.5 today !  :0

Recent pics

 

 

 Sleepy grizzly greetings from Golden, Colorado.  By God's mercies we survived crossing the Rockies, pulling a full 17 hour trip from the Grand Canyon, up through Utah, and over the Rockies to Denver.  

 

This is called Church Rock.  We thought it looks more like a plump victorian lady complete with hoop skirt. 

 

Our last sighting of elk kind, while leaving Grand Canyon Park in the snow.  It had snowed a lot the last days were there, and we had to do a lot of snowy driving, even followed a snow tractor most of the way into Flagstaff.  Coincidence that a snowplow went before us?  I think not!!!  We lost control of the car twice, but the fluffy snow on the sides helped slow us down and regain control. 

 

Lamenting the loss of the wild Bison herds.  Ok, not really, but did you know Buffalo Bill is buried not far from here? 

 

It was a long drive.  Good naps helped keep us going:)  Will was kept going by the vision of loveliness lying quietly beside him.  That's my wife! WOW!

 

 The wild west lives on! 

  

 

The Grand Canyon (blogger has put our pictures up in random order).  Snow blows UP from the Canyon winds!   

 

Twin rocks, Utah.  

 

The watchtower on the edge of the Canyon.  Designed by Mary Coltier, a woman architect in the 30's.  Very impressive!

Below is from the gift shop in the Watchtower.  We found a warm fire and handmade native American crafts.  

Recent photos

The Bright Angel Lodge where we are staying a few nights...at the Grand Canyon!!

Making our lime chili, saffron rice and scrambled eggs for lunch out on the porch where we could operate our campstove. We ate it on the ledge.

The Canyon!!

Our drive up through New Mexico.what a light show!

Will faced of a giant watchamcallitops at the dinosaur museum we stumbled across in New Mexico. Then we made friends with the tricerotop because he was much nicer.

Our freeeezing cold campsite in Amarillo...We barely survived the night...

I am the man who has seen aflliction

Dear friends,
       Greetings from Albuquerque, New Mexico.    Polly and I have just finished getting our plans  in order for the next portion of our trip.  Lord willing our next update will be from the Grand Canyon.
       So,  a lot has transpired:)  When we set out from Columbia, it was with the confident assurance that we could tent camp our way across the country.  In like manner, Shackelton thought he could get to the South Pole using ponies.  They ended up eating the ponies.  Our tent tastes pretty bad:)
       We did survive one cold night in Amarillo, TX at the KOA campground, but pretty much decided to stay in motels and with friends for the rest of our travels.  Wisdom is a precious jewel!
        Other more positive highlights:
             - We finally got out of Louisiana (I'm sure it has its charms, we just haven't found them... of course we were both sick, and had to set up camp at midnight in this vast wilderness of pine trees, with people skinning wild pigs in the next site over with a loud generator, etc.) 
            - Seeing tumbleweeds beside the road all across Texas.
             -Getting to see Ben Forshey!  Made a quick stop in Witchita Falls, and he ran half way across the air force base to see us.  What a man.  I'm proud to have him as my new brother in law.  
            -Eating Texas Toast, in Amarillo, TX.  (And that's pronounced ama-ril-o, not with the Spanish ll=y)
            - We found a "Watch out for Rattlesnakes" sign greeting us at a rest stop!!!  
             - Seeing a road kill Porcupine (I wanted to stop so bad)
             - Stopping at a little dinosaur museum.
            - Getting to talk to my wife about dinosaurs:)
            -Watching the sun behind the mountains as we arrived into Albuquerque.
            -Getting to see the Moscow Ballet perform the nutcracker in Albuquerque!!
          And so here we are in the lobby of the Super 8 motel where we spent the night, waiting for our laundry to dry before we load back up and drive to Arizona.  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
          Love,
              -W
          

On the road again!

After a pretty bad setback that involved Polly's tummy getting very angry with some Genuine Southern Barbecue, which led to an extra day and night in Pensacola Fl (during which Will was a devoted nurse), we are back in the Baby Woo headed for the Wild West.

We have also decided to shorten our trip to the Grand Canyon and back via Denver. WA was just too ambitious. Which means more time to enjoy the road and camping!

We sure had a great time with my sister's family too.
Before that stomach incident. We almost succeeded in stowing away the little boys. But then my sister found out...

Oh yeah, that last one is us after purchasing our little gps/camera/computer aka smartphone which has been awesome and has brought to you this latest post... :)

Sunday, Dec 2nd

Dear friends,
     Our last full day as Island Honeymooners!  We got up super early this morning (8:45) to go to church with our friend Peter Conway.  He called at 9:30 to say that he had arrived to escort us in the lovely, and well traveled 'Vanna'.  So there we were, sitting on a couch in the back of Vanna, being privately escorted to church on a gloriously bright Sunday morning in the Islands... I tell you some times this Honeymoon is just too good to be true!  Thank you Heavenly Father!!!
      After a great time at Peter's church (Sermon on Acts 9, Saul's conversion; are we ready to obey the Lord like Ananias? Or suffer like God showed Saul he would?), we were riding back to our place when Polly shouted out, "LOOK THERE'S AN ALLIGATOR!!!"  Sure enough, after backing up we looked over to where, lounging lazily beside a golf course pond, lay a hefty gator.  He wasn't 29 feet long with yellow eyes and fangs like steak knives, but nevertheless he was still a formidable gator, and so we had to go stand next to him to get our picture taken.  He was very gracious about the whole thing.
        My favorite memory of the day was being woken up from a two hour nap to go sit on the beach with my honey to enjoy the sunset.  Wow! 
         Tomorrow we ride for Columbia, SC.
          -W
<psalm 50

    I just pulled a spider web out of my hair.  I must have picked it up from some hanging moss dripping from the pitch black bike alleys of the Kiawah Jungle. 
    We Got Lost! 
    Par for the course in the life of the Honeymooners.  First we couldn’t find our way to the Island, so we had to stop at a McCafe to get inetz, then we got lost coming back from a day trip to Charleston, and ended up at a place called ‘Folly Beach’, then last night we couldn’t find the right boardwalk off the beach... that was our first bike escapade in the dark, but nothing compared to tonight’s adventure! 
    We had been out for a cup of coffee (took the long way around, got our bikes stuck in the soft sand and had to retrace our tracks, but we did see some dolphins).   We didn’t leave the cafe until sunset, so we began our return trip in the deepening gloom.  Before we knew it we calling out ahead to make sure there were no alligators draped across the dark bike path in front of us as we rode under and around mossy live oaks and golf greens.  Apparently it worked. No alligator dinner tonight.
    No problem cycling blind--but before we reached our condo destination, we paid a visit to the local Fat Cat SwankPot--the five-star Sanctuary Hotel. Not only did we get our pictures taken on one of the double grand staircases, we crept unobserved through locked doors in the Grand Ballroom to have a private moonlight dance on the terrace green. Only the door wouldn’t lock again...Don’t ever tell.
    And then we returned. And only got lost one more time coming back from the hotel.
    We pulled out the spiderweb and drank our Victory blueberry kefir. Then we bought car insurance and go $8 off because Will got married.
    Woot!
    The moral of the story is--get married if you want to save money on your car insurance. But biking is more fun.
    Anyway, just get married.


~P