Day 4 May 8
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
Psalms 24:1 NLT
Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Psalms 50:10 KJV
That verse crossed my mind many times as we traveled through the hills in Kansas. There were so many beautiful sights but we couldn't pull over at every one. We used to tell the children, “Take a picture with your eyes and remember.” We did that a lot today.
Last night we were blessed with the opportunity to fellowship with Kristi, Jose, Shelly and Esther in Hutchinson, Kansas. We are used to seeing Christi and Shelly on our Sunday morning Zoom call. It was so much more fun to get to share in person. We were treated to a Mexican meal and stayed the night at Christi's.
We left early this morning. Our first stop was just up the road at Shelly's. We got to meet her husband, Miles. Another wonderful visit.
Back on the road again we headed to Osawatomie, Kansas. We learned what many people have learned in the past – you can't always trust the Garmin to lead you to the right place, even if you have just finished updating all the maps. It all worked out in the end. As we wandered through the back roads we saw a wild turkey in a field and a heron by a pond. One dirt road narrowed down to a single lane and we drove under an old railroad bridge as a train passed over.
We found our way to Keith's place. He is a Kingman transplant. Still misses the desert but is trying to adjust to the humidity and the greenery. Got to see his wife Dana and their son in law, John.
We are grateful for all the prayers as we travel. Had a couple of issues today. As we were driving down a winding road with a 55 mph speed limit we came upon a 4-way stop without warning. By the time we saw the sign it was too late. Randy slowed but couldn't stop. Thank God the person who was waiting to cross over from the right had not entered the intersection.
The next issue was on I-35 outside of Overland Park, Kansas. Someone had lost a wheelbarrow and it was in the middle of road. Randy was able to avoid it because there was a break in traffic.
Then it started to rain hard. And the wipers malfunctioned. This time I was driving. It happened right by an exit so I was able to pull off the road. We were reminded about listening to the 'still, small voice.' When I turned on the wipers I had the thought, “Don't turn the wipers on high. Something might happen.” But I turned them on high anyway. And after 3 or 4 swipes they crossed up. Randy got into his tools to fix them but did not have the sockets or wrench he needed. Before leaving home it had crossed his mind to throw them in, but he didn't do it. The rain stopped. We made it to a Love's truck stop. He bought a set of sockets and fixed the wipers in less than 5 minutes. We now have a set of sockets for the van.
Right now we are about 7 hours out from Randy's sister in Garden City, MI. Not sure how much longer we will drive. We will check back in tomorrow.
