"The Journal" of our 10 Day Trip to Flovilla - Part 1

Since we are taking ten days to cross the country from Sun City to Flovilla, Georgia we decided to post traveling journals every few days for those readers who want to keep up with our progress. This first journal entry covers our first three days and is without pictures. Pushing on at 300-350 miles a day leaves little time to sightsee and picture take for now.

Forward to the Journal:

Difficult to leave- It was an interesting pre-trip time for this leg of our Great Adventure. Still being excited at the endless adventures that await us this summer, nonetheless we had a difficult time getting ready to leave. Leaving friends, neighbors, a very comfortable home and community and a fantastic church caused us to procrastinate a bit in getting prepared to take off.  (The added fact that the area of the country we are heading to has experienced an unusual amount of larger than normal tornado activity probably contributed to our feet-dragging. This is where the “Faith” that we wrote about in the last update MUST come to the forefront of our minds. It is God…not us that controls the weather.)

April was a whirlwind of activity with friends, and we put off thinking seriously about preparing for the trip. Finally Jim brought the rig to the house on the Saturday morning before our Tuesday departure date, but only after we had attended our neighborhood monthly block breakfast – the last for us until we return in October. We are so blessed to live on this particular street in Sun City. We are surrounded by many warm and loving neighbors who are steadily becoming friends. The remainder of the day was spent trying to focus on what needed to be packed. Then, after a wonderful Easter Sunday church service we headed home to continue the packing chore. But we took a break Sunday evening to go to the last free open air concert for us for this season at the Sun Bowl just down the street. (They have them every Sunday night from October thru December and again from February through May. A variety of top entertainers are brought in. It’s a great way to spend a relaxing evening with some of our church friends. This one was a marimba/marange group from Cal State Northridge. Lots of great music with a whole lot of energy!!)) After the concert we and four other couples went out for ice cream and our final good-byes. One couple will be heading back to Washington State for the summer, one to Denver, while the other two live full time in Sun City. However one of them has a summer condo near Flagstaff where they can get away in the roaring heat of the Phoenix summer, and the other couple will be doing some travels of their own to the east coast. Knowing we were all going our separate ways made the goodbyes even more bitter sweet. Again, we have been so incredibly blessed to form such friendships in such a short time with these wonderful Christians. Even though we know we will meet lots of great people while on the road, we will miss the camaraderie of these folks. It amazes us how deep these friendship bonds have become in the short seven months we have lived in Sun City!

At last, on Monday (the day before “blast off”) we got serious and spent at least 14 hours straight packing the rig and getting the house prepared for the summer. We were exhausted by day’s end. We must try harder to focus on the tasks at hand next summer! (Will somebody remind me of that then??)

Day One- 6am Tuesday morning we were up and finishing the final tasks. (Remember from last year- one being to put saran wrap over the toilets?) By 8am with toilets tightly wrapped and a final prayer said, we were on the road heading to Deming, New Mexico. The trip was fairly uneventful, except for the first fill up outside of Wilcox, Arizona (242 miles from home) when I had to calm myself as we pulled up to the pump to be greeted by a price tag of $4.16/gal. Added to that, we had been bucking a severe head wind several miles west of Wilcox that caused our gas consumption to be less than efficient. The winds continued all the way to Deming (as I kept eying the gas gage) and we encountered a “delightful” New Mexico wind and dust storm all the way to the RV park. With temperatures in the 80’s, the winds were gusting to well over 60 mph and the dust was so heavy at times it was hard to see the road. As we set up the rig, it was swaying like a baby’s cradle caught in a stiff breeze. At last, around 8pm the winds subsided and the air cleared and the temperatures cooled down. Sleep should come easy now.

Day Two Wednesday – Didn’t sleep as well as expected….too much on my mind! On the road from Deming at 8:30am heading to Balmorhea, Texas (pronounced Bal-more-ray’). A pretty name for a drab place. No longer windy, the weather was clear and mild, in the high 70’s to low 80’s. Easy driving the 305 miles all on I-10. Before reaching the Texas border, we passed thru Las Cruces, New Mexico. Surprisingly, it’s a lot greener than any of the rest of New Mexico that we have seen on this trip. Lots of Pecan orchards and some hay farms. Upon entering Texas, the only really big town we passed through was El Paso. It is NOT green or pretty and it spreads out for miles along I-10. It borders the Rio Grande with Juarez Mexico just on the other side of the river. As we drove along the freeway through El Paso, we could see parts of Juarez. What a contrast….poverty and dirty old run-down neighborhoods on one side of the river….big newer commercial buildings, businesses and large new homes on the other side. 

After El Paso, the drive was along a whole lot of wide open spaces. West Texas is dry and brown with a lot of nothing to look at. Not my idea of a place to return for an extended vacation. We dedicated our entry into Texas by playing Waylon Jennings and Willy Nelson music! After six plus boring hours of driving we reached Balmorhea. The campground we stayed at was a “no frills” park just off the freeway outside of town, but the spaces were large and level and the full hookups were just fine (especially since we only paid $10 for the night on a Passport America rate.) The other plus for the day was the fact that we were not bucking head winds as we did the day before, so our gas mileage increased from 10.35 to 11.5 mpg. The gas prices are still over $4/gallon. We will be getting an early start tomorrow. We have 350+ miles to cover to our next stop in Ranger, Texas. 

The high spot of day two actually occurred on the freeway coming through El Paso. A young man in an older sports utility vehicle passed us and gave us a big smile, a wave and a “thumbs up”. He had seen the MMAP logos on our rig and was telling us he appreciated what we were doing! I waved back and gave him the sign for thank you. That was encouraging!

Day Three Thursday – Got an early start and as we left the RV Park in Balmorhea, we both agreed it was going to be a long boring day driving through West Texas. Well, that was partly true. The weather was clear, warm and windless and for the first 200 miles of the 350 mile trip not much happened. We marveled at all of the falling down and abandoned farm houses and barns along the way and wondered how the countless oil wells dotting the landscape worked and if the people in the area were mostly supported by the oil or by nothing at all. (All of these questions deserve a Google search at a later time.) But for the most part the tedious drive was made bearable by listening to the local country western radio stations. 

Around noon we decided a stop at the next rest area for lunch and a stretch was a good idea. That put us about 150 miles west of our destination. As is our practice, while I started lunch, Jim walked around the rig checking for any problems. So glad he did, because before the sandwiches were made he informed me, “I think we have a problem.” Hmmm…what could that be? It appeared the right front tire on the trailer was losing its side wall and looked like it could blow out at any time. (For our long-time readers, you will remember this same thing happened in January 2010 on our way from Washington to Arizona. Same tire! This was the one we replaced at that time with the spare tire and subsequently bought a brand new tire for the spare.) So, “no problem” we reasoned. We had a brand new spare tire, so all we had to do was call AAA Roadside Service to change out the defective tire with the spare and then we could buy another new tire down the road in a day or two. And again we thanked God we found the problem while safely parked in the rest area and not during a dangerous blow out while traveling down the interstate at 60+ mph. AAA was called and said they could be out to help within the hour. So back to the sandwich making….or so I thought. Jim, ever thorough, decided to give the other tires a closer look. Ooops….the left rear was showing a significant bulge in its sidewall as well. Not good! What to do, what to do? Having no second new tire to replace it, we decided AAA service would do us no good. So we canceled them and started calling tire shops in the area east of us going toward our destination. The closest one in that direction was 50 miles away and could offer us two new trailer tires. But should we chance a 50 mile drive with two very bad tires? Not a wise idea. Then Jim remembered seeing a tire dealer along the interstate approximately 10 miles back where we had come from. A quick call determined that they had three new tires available for us, so we gobbled down the hastily made sandwiches, said a prayer and gingerly headed back west. I think I held my breath the entire 10 miles, but we got to the dealer all in one piece and had them install all three new tires as well as replacing the fourth tire with the new spare and using the best one of the old tires for a spare. 600+ dollars and two hours later we were back on the road with a full set of new tires. We arrived at the RV park in Ranger by 5pm, wearier than we had anticipated when the day began – but safe yet again by the protective hand of God. This is definitely turning out to be the trip of Faith!

The interesting thing is that we had discussed the shape of the tires before we left Sun City (since they were all the original ones when we purchased the rig in 2006). We looked them all over very carefully before leaving home and decided they looked good enough to make this trip, but knew that we would have to start setting aside some cash in the fall to replace all four when we returned. So, although the added cost for the three tires was an unexpected expense on an already tight summer budget, we thanked God for the fact we had a credit card that had a zero balance to charge the tires to. (The operative word of course is “had”….but we will just have to cut other expenses on the trip and convince ourselves that the price we paid would have been what we would have paid this fall when we returned to Arizona. You can’t change what is…so just make the best of it. You know how that saying goes – when you get handed a load of lemons, don’t dwell on how sour life is. Just make lemonade and enjoy it!)

Living by the Three "F's" - FAITH, FLEXIBILITY AND FUN

Less than two weeks and counting until The Great Adventure - Part 2 begins. Right after Easter we will be shutting up the Arizona house and heading out in the RV for more adventures and three more MMAP projects. This time our destination is points east. Our next MMAP project (scheduled for the first three weeks of May) will be in Flovilla, Georgia at a place called Indian Springs Holiness Campground. Never heard of it, you say? Well, neither had we. But looking at the map we see it is a small place 50 miles southeast of Atlanta.  We'll have more information and pictures for you at the end of May.

Here's where the first of the "Three F's" comes in........We are still going to head 'em up and point the rig toward the east having Faith that God will allow us to do three projects and also be able to include the added traveling, but not break the bank in the doing. RV space is provided free of charge during the three weeks on project, and so far we are finding some good deals on other RV spots along the way to Georgia. But the soaring gas prices are certainly an issue. However, if we can keep our other expenses down, we are stepping out in faith that God will get us there and back!

(A note to those of you that pray for us - please keep the gas price issue in your prayers, as well as safe travel and safety on the projects for us and the other 100+ MMAPers who are out doing the same thing we are. Also ask God to give us lots of opportunities to share the Good News with those we meet along the way.)


Our initial plan was to do the Georgia project in May, travel a bit around the south and up to Washington DC in June, do two more projects (Northern Pennsylvania in July and New Hampshire in August), then travel some more in September, and head back to Arizona in October. However, we are learning that being Flexible has a great deal to do with being successful as MMAPers.

Many times between the time we get a list of potential projects around the country (usually each September) and the actual time we are allowed to request a certain project (usually three to four months ahead of the project date), plans change. Four months prior to a project date, the MMAP headquarters asks us to request at least three choices of projects we can go to in that fourth month. Then we have to wait another month from our request before we hear back from headquarters confirming which of our three choices we get. Because there are other MMAPers that may be requesting the same location, there may be too many couples asking for the same project. So we don't always get our first choice. And sometimes, due to a shortage of MMAP volunteers to man a project, or due to budget shortfalls or other problems of the hosting organization a project can be taken off the books. So being flexible to go where God wants you to go is a big part of being a MMAP volunteer.

These varying factors have already started to impact our plans. We are confirmed at the project in Flovilla - it was our first choice for May. But we just got word that the project we wanted to go to in August has been canceled, although is available in July. Additionally, the project we were interested in for July is struggling for volunteers in June. So with the "F" of flexible in mind, we are going to see if we can go directly from Flovilla at the end of May to the project in Spring Creek, PA in June and then on to Windsor, NH in July. We can then do our sightseeing of the northeast in August and head to DC and the southern states to sight-see in September. Confusing??? To us, maybe. But God in His wisdom knows where he needs us and the other MMAP volunteers. FAITH.....FLEXIBILITY! And....as yet we don't know if this will even be the final plan. We'll keep you posted!

In the meantime - following are pictures and comments from our February MMAP project in San Bernardino and also some pictures and comments from our kids visit to Arizona in March.

So, what about the last "F"...FUN? Someone once said that the joy is not in arriving at the destination, but in the adventures that happen while getting there. Therefore, no matter where our adventures take us, we will always look for the fun in them. We hope you do the same in your life's adventures!

MMAP PROJECT - FEBRUARY 2011 - COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH, SAN BERNARDINO, CA

The church is located at the base of the foothills on the way to Lake Arrowhead. It's in a neighborhood that used to be fairly upscale years ago - but relocation and urban sprawl has changed it to a lower middle class neighborhood with lots of surrounding gang activity. Approximately nine or ten years ago its membership had dwindled down from hundreds to only 32 families. That is when the current pastor took over and changed their priorities to reach out to the community in a more relevant way. He realized that part of that outreach was to improve the facilities. So he asked for help from MMAP, and for the past nine years MMAP volunteers have come to work on the church buildings and grounds. This help coupled with the pastor’s innovative ways to reach out to the community has changed the church to a membership of over 300 families with two Sunday services and an active and growing youth group. Many of the people attending the church are former gang members.

I spoke to one young man just before church one Sunday who told me how his life had been eight years ago before the pastor's dad hired him to work at his construction company and then invited him to church. This man was constantly in trouble with the law and on the verge of losing his wife and kids - but coming back to the church turned his life totally around. As he finished telling me this, his wife and four kids arrived to join him for church service - all smiling and enjoying each other. The love was evident! God is good!!

One other day, as I was walking the dog around the neighborhood (safe during daylight hours - but not recommended at night) I started to round the corner near the church. I overheard a man's voice talking very loudly. My first thought was - "YIKE, is there a fight going on? Why didn't I bring my cell phone with me in case I need to call for help?" But to my surprise, as I eased around the corner I saw an older Hispanic gentleman sitting in his electric wheel chair at the front of the church praying for all he was worth. With hands lifted high, he was pleading with God to protect the church and its people and bring peace and love to the neighborhood. I just stood in awe as he finished his prayer, then I thanked him for what he was doing. He shared with me that although he could not walk and couldn't physically help the churches, he spent his days driving his electric wheel chair from church to church in the neighborhood, praying for each pastor, their congregations and the neighborhoods. What an experience!

There were six couples on the project. We set up our rigs on the church parking lot and ran our electric cords and water lines to one electric hookup and one faucet. The sewer hook up consisted of using a macerator every few days that ground up our waste and then dumped it through a small hose into the church sewer outlet. It was not "RV Resort quality" - but it worked and we had a beautiful view behind us of the foothills. The weather was a little cool - but not as smoggy as I remembered that area to be as a teenager growing up in neighboring Riverside county. All in all it was a blessing to serve there.

The church property is totally fenced and each night the gates were locked tight.

Our electric and water lines from each RV sharing one hookup.

Looking toward the hills on the way to Lake Arrowhead.

This year the tasks were to enlarge the audio/visual area in the sanctuary balcony, build a block wall around the trash area and do some painting of the nursery and another classroom.





Jim worked on the audio/visual area with project coordinator, Jim Hodsdon (a retired electrical engineer from Oregon) and Dock Adams, (a retired electrician from Alabama)

Cutting holes in the balcony floor to add larger light fixtures below.

Dock "hamming it up" for the camera.  Did he really think he could knock some sense into Jim?

Dock

Jim - aka "Darth Vader"

Jim Hodsdon - the "boss" 

Rod Chipman from Washington and John Digilas from Montana built the block wall. This was an accomplishment, since Rod (retired from Boeing) and John (a retired high school shop teacher) had never built a block wall before this. They did a great job:

Rod taking a break BEFORE they get started! It's going to be a lot of heavy hard work.

John hefting those heavy cement blocks. Not too bad for an "old guy". Think you young men could keep up?

"So - is it high enough yet?"

"Whew....finally finished!"

The sixth MMAPer, Morris Weaver (a retired science professor from Oregon) did the painting. Morris (or "Doc") is in his mid 80's. He and his wife Helen have been in MMAP for several years and have done countless projects. He is a delight to work with and I helped him do some of the painting.

Just make sure you DON'T paint over this nursery wall mural!

And try to keep the paint on the walls - not on you!

We played Sequence

Evenings were spent playing cards and games with the other MMAPers. Weekends (Friday-Sunday) we took sightseeing trips and also had a chance to visit Jim's son, Erik who lived a short distance away in Banning. A couple of times the ladies took a mid-week "Ladies Day Out", and we were also treated to a MMAP potluck and tour of the MMAP Headquarters (located in Calimesa a few miles from our project) and an appreciation dinner put on by church members at the Pastor's home.

We also learned a card game called Hand & Foot

And one night we had a dessert night and an early celebration of Jim's birthday

One Ladies' Day Out was to old town Redlands. This was lunch in a place called "The Eating Room"....Yummy!

The Group: Left to right~ Doc and Helen Weaver, John and Carol Digilas, Dock and Billie Adams, Jim and Jean Hodsdon, us, Rod and Dorothy Chipman

Pastor Ron and his wife with ladies from the church and Rhonda Dickey (a retired MMAPer) who fed us a great appreciation dinner at the Pastor's home

In March our kids from Washington came down for a visit. Skyler (now "sweet 16") flew in a week ahead of Meleea, Scott and Scotti. For her belated birthday gift, we treated her to a night out at a local production of the musical "Hello Dolly" at a small theater in the round in Gilbert, Arizona. We also took her to the Mesa Market and Swap Meet - a MUST for anyone coming to visit. It's housed in 4 buildings each over 300 feet long. You can buy everything imaginable there. Skyler, the consummate shopper, loved it! When the rest of the family arrived, we had fun at a Mariner's Spring Training game, the nearby Wildlife Park & Aquarium and a day at the Science Center (where we saw the "Body Works" exhibition) and of course swimming and playing miniature golf, pool and ping pong at our local rec centers.

At the ballpark

Feeding the giraffes at the Wildlife Park. Giraffes are my favorite animal!

Scotti & Sky feeding the lorries

Meleea and girls feeding the rays

The girls wanted to take these cuties home!

Sky and Scott on the tram ride over the Wildlife Park

Sky at the Science Center - riding a bike on a cable high above the onlookers on the floor below.

Scotti trying out the bed of nails at the Science Center. Can you say "OUCH!"

And of course lots of swimming. Here the girls swim in one of our pools with friends from Canada.

It has been a great winter here in Sun City! On the one hand, we don't want to leave all the fun, friends and great sunny climate. But we know the weather will heat up to temperatures we probably won't like very soon, and besides, we are both anxious to get back on the road and on with the GREAT ADVENTURE!