Long Roads and Long Days (Post # 2)

The weather has been beautiful for the past two days.  Hot and very humid in Checotah, OK, at Lake Eufaula and very HOT (104) and very windy here in Amarillo, TX.  The RV park people said this wind wasn’t very windy, though.  Just a breeze they said.  It is literally rocking the RV back and forth.  It’s always windy when we come through Oklahoma and Texas, and it causes our fuel mileage to drop considerably.  Oh, well, we’re just thankful for service stations that sell diesel fuel.

The hours and miles roll by when we’re traveling these wide, open spaces in Oklahoma and Texas.  We make frequent stops to stretch our legs, usually by making a Walmart run for groceries or using Google maps to find a thrift store.  Yes, we sometimes stop at a thrift store just to walk around some.  We usually look for books, DVDs, or knitting needles and supplies. Doing this makes a six or seven hour driving day longer, but we aren’t as tired when we get to where we’re making camp for the night.  (Remember what I said about camping in the first blog? It’s glamping.)

Last night when we rolled into Lake Eufaula State Park, Paul had just begun his outside work of hooking up the RV when a gentleman came over to talk.  He said he saw us when we pulled in and came over to ask about our motor home.  This happens a lot because it seems a lot of people are interested in a Mercedes Winnebago View.  Paul answered his questions about the RV and then they started talking about where we were headed.  When Paul told him Alaska, he said, “I have someone you must talk to.”  His brother was back at their campsite and this man wanted us to meet him.  This other man and his wife have traveled to Alaska by RV eight times!  Yep, I said EIGHT times.  So, after we finished our set-up chores, we headed over to their camping spot.  It seems their whole family was there camping together!  It’s always good to see big families enjoying each other’s company.  We met the brother, Dan, first, and we talked quite a while about places to see and things to do in Alaska.  Then his wife, Joan, got there and we talked even more.  During all this conversation, it became quite evident that they were Christians too.  I’m so amazed at how God orchestrates our lives!  By the time we got ready to leave their campsite we all felt like we’d known each other for a while.  We got each other’s phone numbers and emails to keep in touch because—they are headed to Alaska again!!  We checked our schedules and found out that our paths should cross again in Alaska because they will be in some of the same areas as us at about the same time.  That is so amazing to me.  How likely is something like this to happen?  God is the divine master planner!

 

Old Glory!  Long may she wave!

They grow a lot of these in Texas! LOL

Some of my favorite pictures are always of this cross in Groom, Texas.  We've stopped here many times and didn't take time to stop today.  If you ever come this way and have never seen this, don't pass this without stopping.  All around the cross there are statues of the Passion of Christ from His trial to His resurrection.  What a beautiful memorial!
Tomorrow, on to Santa Fe, New Mexico.