Category Archives: On the Road

On the Road, RV Life, The Adventure

Quick update

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It’s been a long day, but before we turn out the lights, I wanted share the good news that we’ve been reunited with our motor home, Lizzie.
She has a shiny new turbo (at least I’m picturing it that way), and she made it home (about a three hour drive that involved three states,

crossing the Ohio River several times,
Retrieving Lizzie
driving on big roads
Retrieving Lizzie
and through small towns.

And quite frankly, going over a few too many hills and windy roads for this girl’s comfort!) without so much as a sputter!

Even though we’ve been reunited, we still have a bit of work to do before we can actually move back in –

(Like finding the bed) so we’re still enjoying our camp accommodations for another couple of days! But it’s grand to have all our ‘stuff’ back within reach!
And on another very practical note – the repair cost was not nearly as traumatic as I was afraid it would be. Still our largest repair bill yet, but once again I can only express thanksgiving for God’s care for us! Thank you for your many prayers and offers to help- we appreciated them all.

Sweet dreams,

Steph

 

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On the Road, RV Life, The Adventure

To finish up the month

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Well, it was quite a travel day for us! We got a good early start right around our target time of 8am and began the drive to Kentucky.
Road to Emmalena
We made it through Columbus with nice easy traffic
Road to Emmalena
and made our way to Rte 23 – which pretty much was the road we would travel until very close to our destination.
Road to Emmalena
Oh, there were some towns that we drove through
Road to Emmalena
but mostly it was pretty easy driving and we were excited to see some hills in the distance.
Road to Emmalena
In fact, we were climbing one of those hills

when Gary noticed that we had no boost, and we were slowing down considerably faster than the hill warranted. A quick glance in the rear view mirror showed white smoke billowing out from the back of the rig. And then he saw some flames coming out of the exhaust pipe. (It was enough smoke that folks were stopping because they couldn’t see!) Gary pulled quickly to the shoulder, grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran to the back of the rig. The actual fire was contained in the tail pipe and was out by time Gary got there. We set up hazard signs, and began the wait for our roadside assistance to find an open repair shop and someone to tow us there!

It seems that we have blown out/burned up our turbo something or other that gets the air to the engine. So we’re not going anywhere until that gets replaced. Of course, it’s a holiday weekend, so just finding someone who could look at it was pretty tricky. It’s 11am when we stopped. The mobile service guy gets there around 2, and confirms the need for a tow truck. Then he leaves to track down a wrecker. The giant tow truck arrives at 7.

(It’s not an easy thing to tow a 15 ton motor home. You have to disconnect the drive shaft (at the rear of the rig)which they did before the wrecker arrived and then make sure the tow bar is correctly lined up from the front.


All while traffic is whizzing by. Slow down, people!)
Anywho – by 7:30 our house was being towed away!


We met up with her again as she was pulled into the repair shop,

And they got her settled in for the night. I hope they are happy where they parked her because there’s no moving her now until she’s all put back together.
As for us, we’re tucked in at a nearby Red Roof Inn (not too many choices in this neck of the woods, but it seems nice!) hoping to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we’ll pack a bag and drive the truck to our SOWER project where they are kindly providing us with a room. We won’t know until Tuesday the extent or timing of the needed repairs, (or the $$, gulp) so until then we can at least be useful. And housed!

So we left at 8am and made it to our bed at 9pm. Kind of a long day, right? But we had so much to be thankful for! First of all we were safe. We knew help was coming. We had food and air conditioning and a bathroom. We even watched a little TV. We knew friends and family were praying. Oh, there was stress – don’t get me wrong. And I’m still a little anxious about our dear Lizzie and her needed repairs. But God is still good, and we are still His. We can still give thanks in all things!

Have a blessed Lord’s Day, friends!

Steph

 

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Family and Friends, On the Road, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

Double Delight

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We had a couple of free days during this week between SOWER projects, so we decided to take a little road trip and check out some nearby (ish) sights. First stop was The Ark Encounter, just south of Cincinnati in Williamstown, KY.  We’d had some great recommendations from friends – and it did not disappoint!
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Although the Biblical telling of the catastrophic worldwide flood is familiar to many, seeing it life-size and walking through it’s decks was awe-inspiring!
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The Bible give many details about the building of the Ark, but it does not give many details of the logistics of caring for the animals that God sent to be in the Ark, or how the people managed life on the Ark. But using as much research as possible, the Ark Encounter recreated not only the size of the Ark (HUGE!!), but also gave plausible explanations of how the feeding, watering, and cleaning up after all those animals could’ve been accomplished. It really is a fabulous experience, which in its essence is very Gospel centered. It was a bit of a splurge for Gary and I and my only disappointment was in how expensive it would be for families to enjoy it. But WOW! If you can – do!
We stayed in the area overnight, and the next morning met a new friend at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati.
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We had never heard of this museum -and oh my, what a treat!

It combined history and nostalgia in such a winsome way!

An extra level of delight was our personal tour guide, Fred, who is a dear friend of Lara’s and on the board of the museum. He had so many interesting stories about many of the signs and different signage techniques.

It was such an interesting morning and all the signs were fascinating – but none so much as this sign display that caught Gary’s (Pops to his grandkiddos) eye –

How cool is that!! From gold letters to blinking bulbs to neon art to signs on the side of a building –
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it was a great experience!

If you are ever in the Cincinnati area – I highly recommend both of these attractions. They were very different, but both were so very excellent!
And the day (today!) ended with a very lovely evening with all of our Columbus kids, and most (we were missing 3 of the 8) of the grandkids.
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And this little guy is really developing some great personality!
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It was a perfect ending to two lovely days.
And it is making it really hard to think about packing up and heading out on Saturday. We start heading south about this time each year, but with that crew getting older, and that new little peanut who is changing each and every time we’ve seen him this month, this year is pulling on my heartstrings just a little bit harder.
Thanks for coming along on our Cincinnati area jaunt – and the wrap up of our Ohio month!
Steph

 

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Family and Friends, Mondays are for Memories, On the Road, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, The Adventure

Mondays are for Memories – Our First Anniversary

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It’s been fun looking back over those ‘early years’ remembering the delight that awaited us around every corner. Here is a (slightly adapted) post from August 3, 2005. My format back then was different, so I’ve added some photos to illustrate how varied that first year was!
Aug 3, 2005 –
It’s hard for us to believe that we’ve been traveling about the country (well, the eastern half of it anyway) for a full year. What had seemed like a far off dream for so very long, is now old news. It just doesn’t seem possible!
We’ve had an amazing year. We’ve been as far north as Copper Harbor, Michigan (which is only a couple of degrees farther north than our Maine stop or our visit to beautiful Georgian Bay in Ontario),
copperharbor
as far south as Fort Myers, FL,
Six Mile Cypress-3 (Six Mile Cypress Swamp)
and as far west as Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
bluespring
We’ve had our toes (or more) in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, all of the Great Lakes, and Georgian Bay.
garygeorgianbay-1

We’ve driven through mountains and valleys, and descended into caves and mines.
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All along we have continued to marvel at the amazing country we live in, and the Awesome God that has created such a place and allowed us the privilege to be traveling through it.
But more than the places to see and things to do, we’ve been able to connect with friends and family – some of whom we hadn’t seen in many, many years. We’ve made new friends and seen firsthand how beautiful and diverse the Family of God is. Our work with the SOWER Ministry has blessed us in too many ways to recount. We have been able to use our skills and abilities while still having time to see the country. The friends we’ve made and the different communities we have been a part of have all been part of the treasures of this trip.
And so we continue on. We’ve found that living in our RV has added a new dimension to our relationship to each other, our relationship to the world around us, and our relationship to our Awesome God. Until He tells us otherwise, we’re content to be serving Him from our little house on wheels. Thanks for stopping by our website – it’s good to have you along! Please feel free to add a comment or send along a hello! We’d love to hear from you!
We have so much to see, and so much yet to learn!
And yes, we are still working on getting to the West Coast!

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On the Road, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

How could I forget to mention…

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I’ve been so busy trying to figure out how to capture all of the Fabulous Family Fun from last month, that I totally forgot to mention that this past Thursday, August 1st, was our 20th anniversary of setting out on the crazy-wonderful adventure we call life these days!
lizzie
Twenty years ago two fifty-something (mostly) empty-nesters quit their jobs and ran away from home! In these twenty years we’ve traveled through (and stayed at least one night in) every state except North Dakota and Hawaii (waiting for the bridge). Our one year sabbatical (maybe two if we were careful with our funds) to celebrate staying married through raising children, renovating a pre-Civil War home and owning a small business turned (in God’s kindness) into twenty years of ministry! We’ve met the most wonderful people, seen some of the most beautiful places in this country, and seen God at work in all of the nooks and crannies of this great land! What a marvelous adventure we’ve been blessed to be a part of!

There might just a bit of reflection this month as we begin year Twenty-One!

Thanks for stopping by –
Steph

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