The Road Home
The Road Home
After some consideration of our time with Mercy Ships, Bill and I decided that now would be a good time to start home. Family issues were calling and we terribly missed our grandchildren. With the ship in “Out-of-Service” mode for a time we made the decision to take a leave of absence.
On August 8 we began the journey. A U-Haul had been rented and Bill managed to pack all our belongings in to it. It still amazes me that we had accumulated so much “stuff” while aboard the ship, and how in the world we ever stored in is that little cabin is beyond me! Our car had been services, gas tank filled, windows washed and hooked up to the trailer.
We traveled to the IOC the first night, staying at Mercy’s Ship’s newly renovated guest hotel. Waving to us upon our arrival was the new Mr. and Mrs. Mike (Kambria) Robertson. What a surprise to see them. They were stopping over in Texas on their way to their new work in Guatemala. The hotel is being run by our dear friend, Kathy Golden so we were delighted to see her and, of course, the bonus of Don! What precious friends they all are! We settled in to a room (with a bathtub!!) and then got down to some serious catching up. Mike and Marta Toth came over as did Ciarán and Lillian and little Joy Holden. Oh, it was so good to see “family” again!
After a lovely prepared breakfast by the talented Inn Keeper (Kathy) we set off on the continued adventure home. We made it to Las Cruces, New Mexico the second night. The third night was spent in Mojave, California, and by mid afternoon of the fourth night we had made it to Bill’s Dad and sister’s house in Pleasanton, California. Bill was excited to see the “new” truck his Dad was giving him – a 1968 Ford with a canopy. Now, this vehicle seems right up Bill’s alley. You know how he loves to recycle stuff, well, in my opinion, this truck could be great in the scrap metal heap. The truck has its original color, sort of a green color, but over time it has been embellished with odd shaped symbols the color of rust paint. I think perhaps the truck is now camouflaged, and I am very happy about that because I don’t want anyone I know to know that I’m somehow attached to that truck! Bill has promised me that he will get it painted as soon as the funds materialize. This could be some time as we are living on a fixed income and new work has not yet come Bill’s way.
So, on day 5 we attached the U-Haul to the truck and began the journey northward. I had quiet in the car as I followed the truck, the U-Haul and Bill through the mountains. We had to stop about every 150 miles or so to feed the truck. I won’t tell you how much the total gas bill was to et from Chickasaw, Alabama (y’all) to Snohomish, Washington, but let me tell you it ended up being about a week’s wages of a non-existent job!
We prayed each day as we began the journey and we saw over and over again the hand of the Lord before us. We asked for traveling mercies and I prayed specifically that the Lord would surround the vehicle with his angels who would protect us from any harm. On one lonely spot in the desert (before the truck), an on-coming truck lost part of its tire so close to us that we were unable to avoid running over it. At the first available spot, Bill pulled over to check to make sure that everything under the car was OK. He saw fluid dripping from underneath the car and thought at first that we had punctured something and we were in BIG trouble. After further investigation we discovered that the suspect fluid was just water that had condensed from the air conditioner. Thank you, Lord!
There were several near misses with other vehicles, another obstacle in the road that came rolling toward us but which we were able to avoid. In Woodland, California, after feeding the truck (again!!), Bill did his routine check around the vehicles to make sure all was well. He notices that in the time it had taken us to drive from the last feeding spot to this one, the left tire of the trailer had gone bald in a few places and actually looked like it was going to burst out the side. We called the emergency number for U-Haul and waited at a friendly Shell station for a repair man to come. We sat for about 2 hours while they located a tire (this was an unusual size). It was great to see the man finally show up and he made short work of switching out the tire. He said it is a good thing we noticed it because it could have blown at any time and could have caused an accident or leave us stranded out in the middle of nowhere. So – we thank the Lord again!
On day 5 we made it to Bill’s brother’s home in Battle Ground, Washington and had a lovely dinner and visit with them. Their property has a gorgeous view of Mt. St. Helens, but, of course, it was covered with clouds. The view was beautiful, anyway. Isn’t God awesome? Even without the mountain, we could see the beauty He has created for us.
I stand amazed at the diversity of the landscape we viewed on the trip - everything from birds diving in the water for breakfast, huge live oak trees with moss dangling from them lining the streets, rain storms that were awesome in their power, lightning in the distance, cactus, desert and all of a sudden an out-cropping of huge, round boulders, roads almost covered with sand from a sudden flash flood the previous day, rolling brown hills with jagged rocks pointing to the sky, more rolling hills with hundreds of windmills busily turning. God is amazing, awesome, and to think, having made all of this and being Master of the Universe He still loves you and me with a love that is never-ending, merciful and faithful. It is beyond my comprehension! In humble gratitude, I say thank you, Lord.
Home. Grandchildren who seem to have grown at least a foot since we last saw them. Two beautiful little girls who seem to have turned in to little ladies while we were gone. One handsome young man who is now six and adores his Poppy. We are loving it!
posted by Bill and Rebecca Long @ 10:14 AM
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