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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

On the road again..........

 My last post gave a little glimpse of our latest trip.  We are currently on our way to eastern Tennessee to spend approximately eight weeks there, and then spend another four or so weeks traveling up the coast, from Florida to North Carolina.  Then we plan to attend an NCFIC conference, and after that drive home.  It will be longer than our previous Big Trip of 2011, and with a whole other purpose!  This time, instead of pulling a trailer, we are pulling a 21-foot ski boat!  We have rented a house on Loudon Lake and one on Watts Bar Lake, and plan on boating more often, since both houses have private docks.  Dad and Mom have always wanted to do this!  

So, we left our house on Friday, July 26th, and headed to Lake Las Vegas outside Henderson, where Dad had booked us a nice hotel for half-price (thank you Priceline!!).  The next morning, we drove to nearby Lake Mead to enjoy a few hours boating.  The lake is really, really big, and we sped around for a while, enjoying the starkly beautiful scenery and occasionally jumping in the VERY warm water for a swim.  We had lunch next to Hoover Dam, where we enjoyed a view of the dam and the bridge beyond it!  The weather was overcast with patches of sunlight, which made the heat very bearable.  Dad skiid once, and we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon swimming and touring around the lake.

Dad’s plan was to reach FlagstaffArizona, by 10:00, and spend a couple nights with our friends the Gindorf’s.  According to the GPS, it would take us roughly 3.5 hours to get there.  So we sped along the Interstate 40 and watched the rain drizzle down and occasional bolts of lightning crack across the sky.  At one point, when we had just left a little town called Kingman,AZ, we passed a neon sign alerting that the road was closed 75 miles ahead.  But we continued on until we began to near the 75 mile mark.  After hearing reports of flooding that closed part of the I40, we stopped at a tiny little town to wait for some news.  By this time we were already a little behind schedule and getting tired.  Finally, someone told us that the road was open, and we proceeded down the highway.  Not 15 minutes into the drive though, we were stopped dead in our tracks and eventually turned off the truck to conserve gas.  For the next hour and a half, we sat there.  We watched two episodes of Drive Thru History, dozed, texted and just sat.  At last a police car came blaring down the shoulder with it’s siren on, waking us up and telling us to start moving!  Everyone cheered and travels went smoothly after that.  We arrived at the Gindorf’s just before midnight!

Sunday came bright and early, and we attended church with the Gindorf's in the morning.  Mr. Gindorf preached a great sermon and we had wonderful fellowship with the believers there.  The Wales' showed up that day, much to both of our surprise!  They were passing through on their way home from a trip.  It was great to see them and spend time with them as well!!  That night we all went to the church hymn sing.  It was a rich and delightful time of fellowship and psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  I even played my violin, and enjoyed playing accompaniments with the guitars and piano.  

We spent most of Monday at the Gindorf's house, but we had to move on.  We left at 4:00 and drove all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is were we are now!  Tomorrow we will move on to Oklahoma.  Then we'll drive some more and get to Tennessee on Sunday, Lord willing.  Please pray that we have safe travels!

Here are pictures of the trip so far.  Look out!  I will be keeping this trip well documented! ;)
                       

Lastly, this is a video that Emma, Delaney and Sophie made on Monday.  They hope to become Youtube sensations over this!  Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. Great pictures, Haley! I love the one of you with your sunglasses! ;) They look very similar! ;) I miss you! :)

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  2. Oh it looks like you are having a fantastic time!!! I love the video of Soph and Delaney. Hannah and I were laughing soooo hard when we watched it. I think they might be on to something though :):)

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  3. Great pictures! It definitely looks like you are enjoying your trip!
    The video that Delaney and Sophie made is absolutely hilarious:)!!!
    Praying that the Lord would continue to bless ya'll with safe travels.
    ~Melissa Nichols~

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