Day Seven

Due to technical difficulties, this morning's post is going up now. I did end up riding my bike at Arches. :-)

I love sitting on a KOA porch swing. I'm here, slowly swinging, before most of the campers have woken up. There are a couple of bleary eyed people meandering to the bathroom, but everything else has the feeling of a ghost town.

Today is day seven. But it's not a day of rest. Today I'll be riding my bicycle through Arches National Park.

Day five was spent meandering my way to Boulder where I reconnected with my cousin and his wife. The morning of day six was spent hiking on a mountain, and then curling up in a comfy chair and working on my book. Then we went out to eat, and they sent me off with a cooler full of fried chicken and potato salad.

From there I drove through the Rockies. In a thunderstorm. With a minimum speed limit of 55.
 Ok, ok, no one was actually driving that fast in the storm and I never actually heard any thunder - just lots of heavy rain and lightning. The tunnels under the mountains made for some peaceful driving. It was a bit of white knuckle driving -- but when you come through the storm you're left with the feeling 'if I can do that, I can do anything.'

I got to my KOA just before eight. Enjoyed some fried chicken, did a little writing, then went to bed. I'm getting very close to halfway through my road trip budget. Time to start planning the trip home. Through Houston.

After I ride my bike in Arches.

Good morning from, hold on, I'm in... Oh yeah, Nebraska

Day four
Am I really already on day five???

Day three was a long day of driving. I woke up in Pennsylvania, then I spread out my blanket in the sun and had a picnic lunch somewhere in Ohio. At a mid afternoon bathroom break I picked up a Starbuck's refresher. I've never tried an energy drink, and I don't drink coffee, so I was left refreshed enough to drive right through Indiana and into Illinois. I also slipped into another time zone and gained an hour of driving time. 682 miles. Not my longest, but a good day.

Day four was more relaxed. I got an earlier start and squeezed in more sightseeing. Only about 530 miles that day. I saw eight windmill turbines being driven down the highway. I popped into "American Picker"'s Antique Archeology. I saw the world's largest truck stop - with 900 trucker spots. I saw an 11 foot Easter Island type Maui head, walked through a garden that trumps Tower Hill, took some pictures of Freedom Rock, and stood underneath a VW bug that had been transformed into a huge spider. Really. I'll show you a picture.

The best part, though, was walking along the longest pedestrian bridge linking two states and taking a picture while standing in both. Not quite Four Corners, but on a bridge, in two states, taking a picture - as the sun was thinking about setting. This is why I road trip.

Well, that, and all of the alone time to chat with Abba. And the friends and family I greet along the way. Today I'm hoping to bump into a cousin in Boulder. Then I'll turn my car in a more southerly direction and head on down to Houston.

Thanks for all the comments on my pics - it kind of feels like you're along for the ride with me. :-)

A Side Story

I ripped the strap on one of the dresses that I brought for my trip. Hopefully I can pick up a cheap sewing kit along the way. I didn't bring one because, well, I don't sew.

Yesterday I explored a bit of Pennsylvania. I even stopped to see a house built in the shape of a shoe -- 'the only one like it in the world'! At four o'clock, I began looking at my aps to find a stopping place for the night. I called three KOAs, all in the right direction and within a three hour drive, but none had available kabins.

I looked at the clock - it was 4:30. 'OK, God. I'm putting this one in your hands. I'd like to eat at five, then we'll figure out lodging.' So I pulled back out onto the highway and headed west.

At about 4:55, I passed a billboard advertising Denny's at a Flying J Truck stop and my heart grinned. That had been my favorite restaurant on my very first solo road trip. I must have eaten there at least four days in a row. I plugged it into my gps and took the next exit. It wasn't right off the highway, so I had a couple of turns to make, and along the way I passed an Econo Lodge. Hmmmm.... Tonight's stopping place?

I ate dinner (bourbon chicken with broccoli and a side of Mac and cheese, I ordered grapefruit juice but she brought me cranberry), then returned to the Econo Lodge.
'How much for a room?'
'Well, we've got a promotion going on...'

For only ten dollars more than my kamping kabin, I got ac, cable, my own bathroom, and a complimentary breakfast. But wait, there's more. The best part was when the manager handed me a complementary sewing kit.

Well played, Abba. I'm glad I'm on Your team.

On the road. Again.

On the road again.
Yes, I had to type that. :-). I'm sitting on the porch swing of kabin 4 at the Unadilla KOA. My sleeping bag is rolled, my car is packed, and I'm ready to take off for day two. As soon as I figure out which direction to turn from the driveway.
Day one is always the simplest - I just get into my car and drive until I can't go any further. I got a late start yesterday so I really didn't make it too far.

But yesterday was still a Big Day.

A friend from the C.S. Lewis society pointed me in the direction of the Booklovers' Gourmet - a beautiful little coffee and book shop in Webster. Mom and I drove out there yesterday and the owner agreed to sell my book on consignment. My little book is now on an actual store bookshelf. Stop by and get a picture of it for me (if you do, post it to In His Hands on Facebook -- hey, while you're at it, post a picture of yourself reading my book, too!).

Save the date -- on Saturday, October 18th I'll be doing a book reading/signing at the Booklovers' Gourmet. Be sure to come. I'm hoping to have my second book (All Is Well: Poems From the Detour) available by then. That's one of my tasks for this road trip - I'm planning to retype and format two poems a night. I did meet quota last night.

So, I'm going to post this, then get on with the journey.
Thanks again for traveling with me.

I'd love to hear from some of you -- what 'detours' has God brought you along lately?

It's Time

It's time.
At breakfast today, my mom asked me what I'd write about the last few days. I told her that I didn't know. I never know what I'm going to say until I actually sit down and start typing.
Well, it's time.
I'm lounging on a red lawn chair, looking through the yellow fence at the noisy waves of the Atlantic ocean. The fence is for my "protection" - it keeps all of the vendors out. If I want to buy anything, I simply have to go over to the pavilion by the pool. It's full of wooden carvings, manned by a man who grew up up north on the Mali boarder. What he doesn't have, he's happy to go find.
But I think I'm done shopping. I can't fit much else in my suitcase. I had to sit on the top to get it zipped this morning, and I've still got to squeeze my bathing suit in.
I've enjoyed these last few days at the beach. Breaking doctor's orders and sitting in direct African sunlight, walking deep into the bowels of the marche to get mom a birthday pedicure (and causing the whole marche to temporarily lose electricity), eating a demi-poulet avec frites for one last time...
But it's time.
It's time to wrap it all up and stick it in a carry-on. It's time to change out of my bathing suit and into my travel clothes. It's time to begin the long journey home, and the difficult transition back into the world that has become my reality.
At least for the time being.
Pray us safely back to the States, please.  It's a tiring trip. And pray for Mom and Dad as they begin the next phase of their ministry - whatever that may turn out to be.
Godspeed!

Village Baptiste

I'm back at ICA, sitting on a screened-in porch of house #7 on the upper campus. It's called Village Baptiste now, and there's a university using many of the buildings. When we passed by this morning, Muslim praying echoed from one of the old elementary classrooms. There's also a poured concrete wall all around the campus.

We left Torogo around six o'clock and drove down to Bouake in the dark. Although it's rather like a video game - dodging lane-width potholes at 110 kilometers an hour - there is much less traffic at night. There were many police checks on the road, but most of the guards were hesitant to leave their warm campfires, so they just opened the barrier and waved us through. We arrived on campus around 9:30, and were welcomed with a delicious meal of rice and peanut sauce. This morning we explored the campus, then walked around the wall, down to the marigot. It's a rest day.

At what felt like the last minute, Mom got all of the PEDEBE books corrected and archived. There are copies in different discs and memory cards which have been strategically distributed so that the books will never have to be retyped again. She also passed out more than 500 copies of the audio bible in several different languages. We gave one to the groundskeeper at ICA today. He's a pastor (most of the pastors here need to take on other jobs), and was very grateful for the sd card with the bible in French and Jula. He said it was a gift from God which would be very helpful.

Many people have asked me if I'll come out to take Mom and Dad's place here. There's certainly going to be a gap left by their absence. This past term was filled with relationships. Everyone at the church calls them Papa and Maman - and I was adopted quickly as a sister. Although ready to go home and be with friends and family in the states, I can tell that Mom and Dad are already plotting out their next journey back to this continent.

It's hard not to. It's hard to think about leaving this country forever. Yes, I will come back - not sure when, but I will come back. :-)

Wapie cangaa

Online Again

Wow! Internet twice in one week. I'm getting spoiled. :-)
Today we're in town running last minute errands and saying good-byes. We'll swing by the tailors, stop off at the bank to get some money, buy some food for our trip down south, and stop off at the Internet cafe to try to book a ride home from the airport on the 12th.
There's still so much to do, but not so much time. I've been cleaning out cabinets. Dad's been rearranging pounds in suitcases, and Mom was up until 12:30 last night printing out book 8. Because of power fluctuations the printer wasn't working very well, but she us making good progress. She's still got a couple of books left to finish.
Today Dad and I took a four mile bicycle ride out through the corn and cotton fields. Now he's getting the bikes ready to deliver to their new owners.
Tomorrow Mom and I are getting our hair braided. Sunday is the good-bye celebration. Our good-bye gift to the church is a meal - $400 worth of rice, sauce, and beef for about 200 people.
Please pray us through the next couple of days - that we can get everything done, while savoring every moment we've got left.

Checking in...

Checking in...
I've been postponing writing this entry for an hour now. Not because I have nothing to say, but because there's so much to say that I know I can never cram it into a handful of paragraphs. Maybe I should write another book...
Here's a synopsis of the past week. I'll fill in the details later.

Friday -- I made some more glow-in-the-dark bracelets, then we all hopped on the bike and drove out to the Bible school where we gave out the Bibles, erasers, pencils, and sharpeners I'd brought out (thank you to those who donated!). I also tied a lot of bracelets onto a lot of little wrists. Then we rode into town for lunch and errands. Back at the house, someone stopped by for a couple more downloaded audio Bibles. Mom has already given out 482 copies! She's just about out of sd cards, and the man who gets them for her is sick with malaria. Please pray, both for his complete healing and that mom can get more memory cards.

Saturday -- Ceremonie de remise de diplomes le 12eme (graduation)
Eleven students became pastors, with their wives seated behind them. There were a lot of speeches and gifts given throughout the ceremony which was followed by a luncheon of rice and sauce. People broke into family groups seated and squatting around huge basins of food. There were also a couple of long tables where the missionaries and some of the other Bible students and leaders sat, served on individual plates. As a fundraiser for the meal, the graduating students pick a cloth from the marche to sell. Usually that first cloth runs out and they have to pick out a second. Almost everyone at the ceremony was dressed in an outfit created from that cloth. Mom wore a shirt and pagne from the first, my outfit was the second cloth. Dad wore a vest made from the first.

Sunday -- We rode the bike in to the Bible school for church today. This time we were stopped at the barrier (police check) where the guard told us not to put three people on the bike anymore. At church, all of the visitors stood up and introduced themselves - Dad introduced me. The message was preached in English by a visiting pastor from Maine, translated into French, and then summarized in Cebaara. After the service, the visitors left the building first and everyone shook our hands as they left, joining the end of the line to shake hands with the others still coming out.

After church, we went in to town to pick up some cloth, then went to a tailor to order a couple of outfits. Then mom and I took a taxi home and dad followed on the bike.
We got back home to find that our toilet had leaked and the whole back of the house was flooded. A suitcase that dad had already started packing was soaked through, so we emptied it and spread everything out to dry. Then Mom and I mopped up the floor with rags and a bucket while Dad worked on the toilet. The only casualty was a favorite old book.

Monday -- I began cleaning out the kitchen cabinets and bookshelves today. The plumbers came by to fix the toilet.

Tuesday -- Leah, the wife of one of the graduates, took Mom and I in to town to find the ingredients for a special sauce. We rode mototaxis (motorcycles with a yellow cloth draped over the gas tank -- it's apparently ok to ride three to a bike if the driver isn't white). This time when we were stopped at the barrier, the guard merely asked us where our helmets were (the Africans don't wear them). We picked out a rooster from a cage at the marche, and for 100cfa (about a quarter) they offered to kill and pluck it for us.
The rest of the morning was spent in a cooking lesson, preparing the meal, which Leah's family joined us to eat. The food was delicious and the conversation interesting with a blend of three languages being used.
Dad was doing laundry when the outside faucet broke, but he was able to McGyverise it with a ten franc coin and a piece of inner tube rubber. I got a few more cabinets cleaned out, and Dad got a suitcase packed before we walked across the compound for a prayer meeting with some of the other missionaries.
Mom has been working almost non-stop on the final edits of the PEDEBE books. Yesterday someone stopped by with the last two. He's been editing the hard copies and she then has to make all of the changes on the computer. The goal is to have all fifteen books finished and printed out before we leave Torogo on Monday. Please pray for her as the time left begins to dwindle.

Wednesday -- Today we've got some errands to run. Hopefully we'll get a chance to stop by the internet cafe where I can upload this note. It's definitely longer than I meant it to be, but so much shorter than it would be if I could sit down beside you and tell you what's going on over here. Thank you for your prayers. Know I'm praying for you as well.