Thank God for clear roads!

I'm writing from about 20 miles northwest of Wichita Falls as we drive down Hwy 287. Now don't worry - Jesse IS driving while I'm blogging ;-)

Except for being hot, today is an absolutely beautiful day. We just finished a wonderful lunch break hosted by First Presbyterian Church of Wichita Falls. We were able to eat inside, out of the heat, then play some basketball and volleyball to spend all that pent up energy from being in the vans all morning. Thanks to Taz and First Pres!!

Once back in the vans, Calvin Poku suddenly becomes worried about the fact we won't be able to shower tonight in Canyon, Texas. He feels I should have warned the group about that little fact before letting them get hot and sweaty back in Witchita Falls! Well, sorry Calvin, it's either a "bird bath" tonight or no bath at all. Whichever you choose is fine with me as long as you're in the other van :-)

Six months ago tomorrow, I was heading down this same stretch of road towards Canyon, TX on my way to Pueblo, CO with the college mission team. That was quite the experience to say the least. Just after turning on Hwy 287 north of Ft. Worth, TX, we suddenly began to experience icy roads....and when I say icy roads I mean EXTREMELY icy road conditions. Traffic was at a stand-still much of the time and moving 15-20 mph other times. Ice had thawed and re-frozen creating huge road humps around 6-7 inches high. The result was traffic following the one and only path of tire tracks back and forth down the road....painted lines on the highway meant nothing anymore. Along the sides of the road were vehicles of all types that had left the road and become stuck – cars, trucks, 18-wheelers, news trucks. It was an amazing sight! We started counting these vehicles to pass the time, and once we hit the Amarillo area that night, we had counted over 170 vehicles stuck on the side of the road. After lunch that day in Wichita Falls, I relinquished driving duties to Carol Amlin. As we headed out on the highway once again, it appeared to be clearing and we gained some speed. Suddenly, as we go over a hill and out on a bridge, the ice once again reared its ugly head. All the drivers in front of us got nervous and started braking heavily (like any good Texan that can’t drive on icy road does!!). Carol, bless her heart, almost didn’t get the van slowed down – we were driving the van with the trailer and had quite the surge of momentum going at this point. After a few choice words screamed and some quick praying, we stopped in time and all was well.

Today I thank God for keeping us safe thus far and for the simple things in life we take for granted such as clear, dry roads!

Well apparently I type slow, because now we are entering Vernon city limits. Vernon is wonderful little town. The people here are so welcoming. Three years ago they went the extra mile to make me feel welcome as I was passing through and sent one of Texas’ finest, wearing his full uniform, just to pull me over and say welcome to Vernon!! Oh, and yes, he did want to talk about how fast I had passed through his fine town! Jesse, you better slow down, unless you want to experience the official Vernon welcome as I did 3 years ago!