The Long Leg

Saturday we woke up in Albuquerque, NM at Bella Vista Baptist Church. Sam had a good conversation with the Pastor there and we headed down the road towards Arizona around 10:00 am with a full tank of gas, thanks to our nail biting adventure the day before. I put a load of clothes in the wash right before we left….mmmmm…I wonder how I did that since we don’t have washing machine in the RV, more on that in a later blog.

We rolled across NM, stopping along the road to pick up some Subway sandwiches with lots of raw veggies and some lava rocks. Adelina went on excitedly about rocks and minerals as she searched for just the right rock to take along. It was Sam’s idea to let the kids pick a rock which was highly unusual for him, he is always concerned with our limited space, but in the name of making memories we picked out some rocks and continued on.

We crossed over into Arizona and crossed the Continental Divide, or is it the other way around?

Somewhere around here I finished Sam’s never-ending cable design scarf I have been working on forever.

The highway we were on was going right through the middle of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. I have always been fascinated by the Petrified Forest, so we stopped in to check about admission. Saturday National Parks were free, so that was just the right price for us. The children really enjoyed the park and we talked all about how there was a huge forest there at one point and how a huge flood could have changed things so drastically. It is really amazing to see.
From there we took a more scenic route. It was a little quicker and a really pretty drive. Amazing to go from desert and cactus to pine forest and back to desert and cactus. We arrived at Canyon Springs Baptist Church in the Phoenix, AZ area about 12 hours after we started. It was a long travel day.
When we arrived at the church, the wind was blowing up a storm—literally it looked like a storm was blowing in. Sam told the kids they could get out while he situated the RV. It was crazy! The kids leaped from the truck and ran for the playground, jumping and running and yelling. They had reached their limit. They jumped from the slide and the swings, all while this incredible wind was howling and threating to blow everything away. Lena literally ran circles yelling, as if she had lost her mind!
After letting off a little steam we all settled down and went to sleep. Sundays are big days for us, since we are usually at a church, trying to look presentable and missionary like. The kids always do a wonderful job of making a good impression, while being themselves. I forgot to take pictures of Sunday, so many wonderful Christians all over this great country, it was great to worship with Canyon Springs Baptist Church in Junction City, AZ.
Now it’s Monday and we are enjoying a down day. The kids got up at 7:00 am and played until 10:00am, then came in to cool off. Currently it is 107F here!