Streator to York, NE

Thursday morning came way to early. We got up around 4:00ish. After a shower, getting dressed, at last look around the motel to make sure that we didn't leave anything, we pulled out of the parking lot at exactly 5:00 AM. It was hard. Just 2 miles down the road and a left turn was our daughter, grandson, and son-in-law. But we had to go home.

It is about a 20 minute drive to Ottawa, Illinois. I like Ottawa very much. If the Lord opened a door I would move to Ottawa in a heartbeat. If the Lord said you had 30 minutes to pack for a move to Ottawa, I would ask Him what He wanted me to do with the remaining 29 minutes.

About an hour later the sun came up. Shortly after that we crossed the Mississippi River leaving Illinois and entered Iowa. Most of the day was an uneventful drive across Iowa. The country was gorgeous. It was pretty flat and straight. Our conversation centered on how short the visit seemed, how happy Sharon was with all that Irene brought, and what a good time we had.

There is really nothing to say about this leg of the trip. The weather was great. The car ran like a champ. Thank God for talk radio and sports radio to break the periodic monotony. However, this trip did something that nothing else had done in 59 years. I became a basketball fan.

Up until arriving at my son-in-law's home, I hadn't seen a complete basketball game. I watched playoffs at his house on that magnificent 71 inch TV. Most of the radio programs was sports radio that featured on Miami's bid for a three-peat; whether Labron James would stay in Miami or go to Cleveland. All that basketball talk was broken up now and then with talk that centered around Johnny Football in Cleveland. After getting home, I have now watched the Spurs eliminate the Thunder. I have decided that my favorite basketball team is the Portland Trailblazers and ANY team that beats the Thunder.

We crossed Iowa with nothing to report and drove into Nebraska. I

think we drove a couple of hours into Nebraska when we came to our first motel stop which was in York, NE. York is a city and county seat of York County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,766. It is the home of York College and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women

Our first motel was The New Victorian Inn. What a motel! It was a little slice of heaven. The room was gorgeous. It had a recliner for a side chair. A recliner! You don't know what that means to me. I can only sleep for a couple hours and then the pain in my knees and legs wake me up. I switch directions on the bed and I get another couple of hours sleep. The pain wakes me up again. I go out into the living room and sleep in my recliner and I get a good nights sleep. So having this recliner meant I would get a good nights sleep.

I unloaded my power chair and "wheeled" my way to McDonald's for a chicken sandwich. We took a "walk" and then went in and got ready for the night. Was able to finish Iain Murray's book, Evangelicalism Divided before bed. Now I need to do a review on it for The Banner of Truth Trust. Let me say this is an excellent book, it is a must read, and I think you should drop what you are doing and go out and purchase this book or order it online ASAP! Thus far it is my best book of 2014.

Sorry, lights out! Time to hit the hay. Already put the do not disturb sign on the door.Tomorrow -  the leg from York, NE to Rawlins, Wyoming.

Streator, Illinois

Well, we pulled in to my daughter's driveway at 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon (18th). They have a cute little two bedroom house in Streator. They welcomed us with kisses and hugs and we went in and sat down to relax after 3 1/2 days on the road.

My daughter had gone over board on hospitality and goodies. She had enough snacks for an army. After we rested a bit and had a light lunch, we commenced to unload the trailer. My daughter loved everything that her mother had brought. She squealed in girlish delight as each item came off the trailer. She and my wife then spent the next two full days putting up, setting up, and  decorating her house.

We had Sharon buy a griddle before we arrived. I love to cook breakfast. I cooked everyone breakfast the 4 mornings we were there. We gave her the money for the griddle and left it with them so she could continue to use it. Jasson is now spoiled and wants breakfast each morning.

Streator is a quaint, small,  nice little mid-west town of about 13,000. Streator is a city in LaSalle and partially in Livingston counties in the US state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately 81 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. The city is the hometown of Clyde Tombaugh, who in 1930 discovered the dwarf planet Pluto, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt; and George "Honey Boy" Evans, who wrote "In the Good Old Summer Time." 

Irene and I fell in love with it. (This is our second visit there. We flew to Chicago and rented a car back in 2010) I brought my power chair and we were able to "wheel" downtown and around town. 

We would get up around 5:30 - 6:00 AM shower, dress, have some coffee. We would leisurely head over from the motel to their house about 7:00ish and then visit all day and head back to the motel around 9:00 or 9:30. Irene and Sharon spent every minute doing something together. When Jasson got home from work about 7:30 AM, I would cook breakfast. He would watch some sports with me until about 10:00 AM and he would go to bed. He worked the night shift 7:00 to 7:00.


I can't get over the fact that they have a 71 inch HD TV. Watching baseball or basket ball was amazing.The HD is so powerful you could see the moles and freckles on the actresses and the beard growing on the actors. I am ruined. I don't think I will ever be able to afford a 71 inch TV but I sure would like one.

One interesting tid-bit about our motel. Irene and Sharon checked us in while I watched TV with Diontre. She checked us in Sunday evening and said we would be there until Thurs morning and paid the fare. Wednesday evening we went back to the room for the night and our keys didn't work. Irene went to the desk and low and behold they had checked us out. They took everything we had in the room to the office and re-keyed the keys. They told us that they thought we were leaving on Wednesday and they hadn't seen us that day. Duh! We told them we just sleep there. But they checked the computer and gave us new keys and returned all our things.

Three and 1/2 days went by quick. Irene prettied up Sharon's house. We had a great visit. The weather was perfect. Sunshine and warm everyday. It was hard leaving Wednesday evening. The tears were flowing. We said our good-byes when we left because we were leaving for home from the Motel early Thursday morning.

We went back to the room. We relaxed a bit and went to sleep. We got up about 4:00 AM and we were on the road by 5:00 AM. It was tempting to turn around a couple of times but we had to head for home.

Tomorrow Streator to York, NE

Can You Trust God?

SERMON            GMT14-018

SERIES:              Topical – Helping the Church Learn to Suffer

SETTING:          North Kelso Baptist Church

SERVICE:          Sunday AM

SUBTITLE:        Can You Trust God?

SCRIPTURE:     Selected Scriptures

SUBJ:                  Trusting God when it hurts

SUMMARY:       I propose to you that God can be trusted in every circumstance of your life

SCHEME:           The aim of this message is that the members of NKBC trust God regardless of circumstances

1A     In order to trust God we must realize we are not exempt from suffering

2A     In order to trust God we must view circumstances through faith

3A     In order to trust God we must trust when we don’t understand

4A     In order to trust God we must know God intimately

5A     In order to trust God we must desire God’s glory

Oops - Ran Out of Time

Sorry, hoped to share some details about the 3 1/2 days we spent in Streator today. Today got away from me. Got up today around 5:25 AM. My morning routine is to shower, shave, dress, take Fi Fi around the park and block for her morning routine, then into the office where I make coffee, feed the fish, and then have my morning devotion.

Today we had to leave for Vancouver and take care of business at the other complex Irene manages. Breakfast on the road made me think I was back on our "road trip." Coffee and a sausage biscuit, yum yum - goody!

Hard drive back to Kelso - then we drove around looking for a tree for the front flower bed in the common area of our complex. We settled on a Black Dragon. (No, you google it) We then picked up some propane for the first BBQ of the summer. We then picked up some steaks at Grocery Outlet. They are soaking up the juices right now!

We fought the construction traffic and beat feet for home. Quick lunch and discovered that A and E is having a "Longmire" marathon. Love that show. Been in the easy chair for the last 3 hours, terrible isn't it.

Details on Monday! [Lord willing! :)]

From Council Bluffs to Streator, Ilinois

What a great night's sleep! After getting the chain repaired, grapes from Wal-Mart and a simple supper, we kicked back in our room and just decompressed. It felt good not to be "moving." 

Irene and I used to drive anywhere from 12-14 hours. I once drove across the US from Jacksonville, NC to San Jose, CA in 56 hours. As time went by we began to limit ourselves to 10 hours driving and then we would pull into a motel and sleep the night away. Our last trip to California last November confirmed that 10 hours was our max. This trip has shown us that our max now is about 8 hours or 500 miles is all we want to cover in a day.

We have also discovered that Motel 6 is no longer satisfactory to us. It use to be that we would check in late, around 9-11:00 PM, grab a quick shower and hit the sack and sleep until 5 or 6:00 AM and then we would hit the road. So a bed and bathroom was about all we needed or care about.

Now we want to check in around 5-6:00 PM after covering 500 miles and we want to shower, jammy up, kick back in a nice chair and watch a little TV before we hit the hay. Now we want a refrigerator, microwave, free WiFi, TV, and coffee maker in our room. We have had to upgrade to Days Inn and the likes.

Well, back to Council Bluffs. The bed was like a soft baby's blanket. We slept soundly and  woke up around 4:00 AM. After a good hot shower and throwing our few things back in the car, we were on the road again. I turned on the Swoop light, plugged in the address for my daughter's house in Streator and followed "Kate" right back on to I-80 and as they use to say, "and away we go!"

The drive across Iowa was a bit long. It was flat and uneventful. There isn't a lot to share about the portion of the trip. We are morning people so hitting the road before 5:00 AM was great. We would drive for a couple of hours and then look for somewhere to eat breakfast. Irene was resourceful and "healthy." She brought her dried oatmeal and when I got a Sausage Biscuit she would order a cup of hot water and make her own oatmeal. What kind of vacations is that?

We finally made it to Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is on the border of Iowa and Illinois. The thing that separates the two states at that point is the famous Mississippi River. It took Irene by surprise; she wondered what the Mississippi River was doing way up there. She thought it was down around Mississippi. She wondered if I had made a wrong turn somewhere. It gave me a good chuckle.

We crossed the bridge into Moline, Illinois (Rock Island, IL) and it was just a short couple of hours to my daughter's house. Illinois is beautiful, at least along that stretch. We drove by miles and miles of cornfields, farms, and ranches. I was born and raised in Ohio. I love the mid-west. I love cattle and especially beef cattle.

When we moved to California in 1966 I thought people in California ate so strange. Being from the mid-west we ate meat three (3) times a day, this is beef and pork country. Meat and potatoes land. It was good to "be home."

We pulled into my daughter's driveway at exactly 1:00 PM Sunday afternoon (18th). We hadn't seen her, her husband, and our grandson for five (5) years. Needless to say hugs and kisses were the order of the day. I can't tell you how my heart felt having finally arrived and seeing them.

Details of the visit tomorrow!

Cheyenne to Council Bluffs

I knew that I wanted a GPS for the car before our trip began. I did what I rarely do, I spent hours online researching them. I discovered that Magellan seemed to be deemed the best of the GPS systems. It happened that Magellan had just come out with an 8 inch screen. Apparently know one else had a screen that big.  I guess in the GPS world that is like having a 72 inch TV screen.

Thanks be to God, I found a place selling this wonder of wonders for a mere $119.00 with a complete packet of accessories. So I typed in all my info and credit card number and clicked on "purchase." I love it! What a neat little gadget.

I put "Kate" up on the dash, typed in the address of the first motel on the first leg and away we went. She is good. She knew the exit numbers, the side of the freeway that the exits were on and the exact route to get us where we wanted to go. However, she panics and gets a little testy when you turn off to get gas or something to eat. "Make a legal U turn!" "Turn around!" 

We typed in the Motel 6 address at Council Bluffs and pulled out of Cheyenne about 4:00 AM. Again, I really like Cheyenne - don't really know why. I like the big open sky, the flat rolling land. I have always loved the high desert. I guess I never grew out of the cowboy and Indian (oops - cowboy and native american thing) The old west still fascinates me.

Remember the broken safety chain? Well, we intended to go to a Uhaul center and have it replaced. But we got in after closing and left before opening. So we kept driving with one safety chain attached and the other wrapped around the trailer tongue.

We pulled in to Council Bluffs around 5:00 PM. We were amazed to see at the motel location, not only motels, including ours, but fast food places, shopping center, Wal-Mart and low and behold across from the motel and down a block, a UHaul center! We pulled in and they replaced the chains with brand ones.

We checked into the Motel and had a very relaxing evening. It was a very long haul across Nebraska!!!!!! It is flat and goes on forever. On I-80 there are no towns or cities. You hit Sidney some ways into the state and you better fuel and eat there because it will be a long, long, long time before anything else comes up. I thought we would never get across it and into Iowa. But thankfully we did.

I was surprised at how big Omaha (NE) was. We hadn't been in a big city since we left Portland. We navigated there massive freeway traffic at 5:00ish. We crossed the border into Iowa. Omaha and Council Bluffs (IA) are like Portland/Vancouver. Leave Vancouver, WA and pop right into Portland, OR.

We went into Wal-Mart got some fruit (grapes) and then got dinner. After a bit of conversation and mindless TV we crashed for the night and slept like babies.

God is a magnificient, wise, "talented" and creative creator. America is blessed with very beautiful landscape that is on loan from God. What variety, color, texture, and design is ours for our enjoyment and pleasure! Just be sure your windows go up often while you cross Nebraska (collective cattle can create crude concentrate.)

"The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land." (Psalm 95:5)

From Twin Falls to Cheyenne

After a horrible night of fit-full sleeping minutes at a time on a bed that was harder than I-84, we decided around 3:00 AM to throw in the towel and hit the road. Besides, I wanted to get out of Idaho anyways. I was tense the entire time of driving through that state. 

Scott, there was nothing but furniture and knick-knacks in that trailer. However, having inspected semi-trucks for contraband and explosives when working at SIAD (Sierra Army Depot - Herlong), I know what we did to those truckers who flunked the "attitude test." We would  pull everything thing we could out of anything we could pull it and put it out on the ground. Then of course we would get a kick out of watching them put all of their worldly possessions back in the sleeper part of their cab.

Those memories invaded my mind like Putin in the Ukraine. All I could think of was seeing every item in that trailer on the side of I-84. Well, thankfully we made it through Idaho without an incident.

We dropped down into the top of Utah and drove for what seemed forever before we came to any place that resembled breakfast. Irene fell in love with Utah, especially the closer we got to the border of Utah and Wyoming. 

We drove into Evanston, Wyoming and continued to climb. I had forgotten that we would cross the continental divide and reach elevations of some 8800 feet. But my old Buick pulled those hills like a champ. Of course you had to jump out every so often and catch the needle that belonged on the gas gauge as it was sucked out of the dash board. Our mileage dropped to an all time low of 22 MPG to around 25 MPG while we climbed all the way to Laramie. 

I love Cheyenne! Would love to live there. We checked into our second Motel 6. The motel was decent. The bed was acceptable. However, it was 10 feet from the rail-road tracks. It seemed a train went by every 10 minutes. We rocked and rolled all night but we did get some rest.

The funny thing, at least to me, was I asked the desk where there was a place to eat. She said, Carl's Jr. was up the road but if we wanted Mickey D's or anything else it was a little further. Little further? We never did find anything until the next morning when we drove out of town. I settled for a fish sandwich at Carl's Jr. 

Irene and I boycott Carl's Jr. We think their commercials are too sexual in nature. But "preferences" go out the window when you have driven all day and are starving. 

Psalm 121:8 ESV

"The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."