Sunday, July 10

It was obvious that the Amish in the area had worship services, because we met many of them as we began our drive home – shortly after 7:00 AM.

This was not as comfortable a drive for me as I am usually familiar with, since Cerwin was driving the International Chapel back to Pennsylvania, and I was following in our RAV4.

I asked several people to pray for me, because driving for seven hours – mostly on interstates and turnpike – is a real stretch for me.

I don’t like on and off ramps or passing other vehicles. I like to enjoy the ride and observe things like animals, farms, people, and clouds, but I had to give that up on this day to follow a truck driver who likes to get from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. 🙂

I did get a nice break shortly after I took the above picture – when we came to a detour due to an accident. Cerwin talked to one of the traffic directors to make sure the detour was workable for a big rig. The director suggested that we wait for the accident debris to be cleaned from the road, so we were directed to move ahead a few hundred feet to not interfere with traffic behind us or the accident in front of us.

My delight of the day was rolling down the windows, turning off the engine, and enjoying coffee while listening to the birds and observing the nearby scenery.

Before long we were on our way and traveling on I-77 South. It was a beautiful morning, and Cerwin tried to be thoughtful of the little red RAV4 that was following him.

We used walkie-talkies for communication every now and then. They were much easier to use than having to call each other on a cell phone.

We enjoyed having several street rods pass us at one point.

My favorite part of the drive was calling in to our home church (with my cell phone) and listening to the Sunday school class that is hooked up to a microphone – then listening to our worship service. It made me feel like I was right there. (I had hooked up my cell phone to an auxiliary cord before we left the motel, so listened to the services through the radio sound system.)

It was good to see the Pennsylvania tunnels because it meant we were getting closer to home.

One funny thing happened when we stopped for lunch. I parked in the car lot and he went around the building to the truck lot. After lunch, he said he would wait for me to drive around the building to the truck lot. I went around the building on the truck side of the driveway thinking it would be easier for me to find him. He had parked on the car side of the truck lot thinking it would be easier for me to find him there. Thus I could not find him. 🙂 I stopped next to a rig and called him to ask where he was parked. He was on the other side of the truck where I was parked. 🙂

Finally we were on a road where I was more comfortable.

3:00 PM – eight hours later – I made it!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us – especially for me. I felt God’s peace and strength each mile of the way.