Friday February 4, 2011

 

 

We’re Still in Texarkana

Friday, February 4

 

 

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The view from our table in Denny’s at the truck stop. It’s the same view as yesterday.

 

 

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This is the TV that keeps us updated on the world outside the truck stop.

 

 

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Outside our window in the restaurant.

 

 

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A row of trucks in an overflow lot

 

 

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“Our” table for the last day and a half.

 

 

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When I was looking for the cardinals that had been flitting from bush to tree and tree to tree, one of the waitresses asked if I noticed the kitten on the window sill. I had not.

 

 

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I think it was there to get out of the rain and snow.

 

 

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Finally the cardinal was close enough to photograph.

 

 

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There were at least two pair.

 

 

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The same trucks were still here in the late afternoon when the snow began to melt. It was about this time that we learned the activities for which we had come are canceled for the weekend – a tailgate party and parade that were planned to bring attention to the trafficking of young women through truck stops and at the Super Bowl.

 

 

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At first I thought this was a crow, but I don’t think crows have yellow eyes.

 

 

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I liked the reflection of the chapel in the water.

~~~

We were expecting our trucker friend Gene Gehman to join us in the truck stop this evening, but he just called to say that he is stuck in traffic on I-30 out of Dallas.

 

 

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Friday February 4, 2011

 

 

Snow in Texarkana This Morning

Friday, February 4

 

This is what it looks like where we are – 8:00 a.m.

 

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We are staying here for a few hours – maybe until this afternoon.

 

 

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Friday February 4, 2011

 

If I don’t post for a few days, it’s because I don’t have access to the Internet. We will be in the Dallas area until Monday morning – staying in someone’s home.

 

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Friday February 4, 2011

 

The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.

Psalm 19:7 (The Message)

 

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Friday February 4, 2011

 

The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.

Psalm 19:7 (The Message)


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Thursday February 3, 2011

 

 

Today’s Trip

Denmark, Tennessee, to Texarkana, Arkansas

Thursday, February 3

 

 

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We pulled out of the travel plaza about 5:45 a.m. – before I should have been taking pictures without a flash. I like to have fun with no-flash and traffic lights when it is dark.

 

 

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These crosses near Memphis looked pretty in the early morning light.

 

 

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The Mississippi River is the border between Tennessee and Arkansas.

 

 

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Cerwin and I don’t think we were ever in Arkansas.

 

 

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The Mississippi

 

 

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The temperature was twenty-two degrees at this point.

 

 

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We have gone through four or five weigh stations so far. Most are quite easy – as you just drive through slowly. At this one we had to stop on the scales, but of course a mobile chapel is not overweight.

 

 

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Arkansas is very flat on Route I-40.

 

 

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Our breakfast stop. I think Love’s is a neat name for a travel plaza.

 

 

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The view from where we parked.

The driver to my immediate right (not in photo) was from Fries, Virginia. I told him that the name on his truck reminded me of our vacation last summer when we went to the Fiddlers Competition in Fries. He said he and his wife went to Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, on their vacation – to visit friends. So we just exchanged states for our vacations.

 

 

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The remains of a cotton crop from last summer.

 

 

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We went through a snow flurry about 9:00 a.m. Central Time

 

 

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For some reason this reminded me of the many people who carry oversized spiritual and emotional loads – not realizing that Jesus came to help us carry the load.

 

 

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A nice car-carrier with a full load of nice cars.

 

 

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Texarkana here we come!

 

 

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There are lots of low lands and swampy areas in this area.

 

 

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I find them quite pretty.

 

 

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Crossing the Arkansas River as we traveled south of Little Rock.

 

 

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The barge from another view.

 

 

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We saw miles and miles of this kind of scenery.

This is when I played a long game of Skip-Bo on my computer. I like this game for traveling, because it is not timed (it just waits until I get back to it), the cards are large, and I have computer competitors.

The only problem today was that there were a lot of rough stretches of road – making it difficult to always get the card where it belonged. That wasn’t usually a problem, because the card just went back to where it had been in my deck – unless it was a Skip-Bo. There were a few times when the Skip-Bo went to the incorrect pile, messing up my plan.

 

 

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We haven’t seen many animals on this trip – the reason I noticed this steer.

 

 

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A short time later there was a horse close to the road.

 

 

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I expect this farm equipment looked very nice in its day.

 

 

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This sweet Mustang was just ahead of us as we went into the Flying J travel plaza late this afternoon.

Cerwin chose this as our final destination for today so we don’t arrive in Dallas at night. Also, we are scheduled to be there at noon tomorrow.

 

 

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The view from our parking spot. This Trucker’s Chapel is the outreach of another ministry. Good for them! The red building behind them is an Adult Book Store (which I didn’t find necessary to photograph). Sadly, I expect more drivers go there than to the chapel.

 

 

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The fence is a divider between counties.

 

 

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The truck wash is also on the other side of the fence. The chapel needs a bath, but Cerwin plans to wait until we are closer to our destination.

~~~

We are enjoying a leisurely evening in Denny’s Restaurant – a section of the Flying J. Because the only part of the restaurant that has outlets is a small room to the side of the main dining area, we have an area to ourselves. Cerwin is watching Fox News while I work (or play) on my computer.

 

 

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Thursday February 3, 2011

 

I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.

Psalm 59:16 (New Living Translation)

 

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Wednesday February 2, 2011

 

 

Today’s Trip

Wytheville, Virginia, to Denmark, Tennessee

Wednesday, February 2

 

 

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My bunk

I thought you might like to see my area of the truck.  The step on the right is for Cerwin to get to the top bunk.

 

 

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There are several little storage bins. This one is where I store my sweaters.

 

 

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My office on the dash of the truck: power converter (to run my computer), pen, cell phone, coffee cup. We had the BEST coffee this morning. Cerwin chose the extra strong. The flavor and strength was perfect. I savored each swallow.

 

 

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We left Wytheville shortly after 6:00 a.m.

 

 

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A large cross along the highway.

 

A picture from home

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Our daughter Diane sent this picture of our front yard from her cell phone. This is why we left a day early. We had lots of ice, but she said the power did not go off.

 

 

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Back to our road trip.

 

 

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We stopped at the Knoxville, Tennessee, Travel Center about 10:15 for fuel and brunch.

 

 

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This truck was parked to our left – just in front of the fuel island. He was hauling two antiques – an old baler and tractor.

 

 

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The rig in which we are traveling.

 

 

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TFC’s chapel at the Knoxville Travel Center.

 

 

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We had a good visit with Volunteer Chaplain Prentiss who was on duty today.

 

 

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After enjoying Subway breakfast sandwiches, we were on our way again.

 

 

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Approaching Kingston

 

 

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Driving through a quick snow flurry.

 

 

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We also had a lot of sunny skies.

 

 

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Entering Nashville

 

 

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We had good traveling weather today.

 

 

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We saw our shadow on Groundhog Day – even though the groundhogs in Pennsylvania did not.

 

 

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A wide load going by us.

 

 

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He stirred up some dust when passing other rigs, because he had to get to the edge of the road.

 

 

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We saw a large variety of loads.

 

 

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A neat sign on the back of a trailer.

 

 

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When we pulled into a parking spot at our final destination – east of Memphis – this man asked if he could wash our windows for $2.00. The windows were very dirty, so we left him do it.

 

We are relaxing in the restaurant – after a refreshing truck stop shower and supper. I had a chicken salad sandwich and sweet tea, and Cerwin had lasagna and coffee.

Now it’s time for bed in preparation for another day of travel tomorrow.

 

 

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Wednesday February 2, 2011

 

You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me.

Psalm 119:114 (The Message)

 

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Tuesday February 1, 2011

 

Catching Up

Saturday Evening to Tuesday Evening

January 29 – February 1

 

 

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Supper at Chili’s with our children

Left to right: Jeff, Chris, Jere, Kristen, Diane, Deb, Roy, Cerwin was sitting next to Roy.

Because our daughter Diane was here from Maine (to attend the Ladies’ Day of Refreshment) we decided it would be fun to go out for supper. The grandchildren were at our place.

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They surprised me with a small birthday cake – which we shared. Notice the “singing candle”. It played Happy Birthday. My birthday is a week away, but we will be on our road trip then.

 

 

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Sunday morning fog in our valley

 

 

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After church we went out for lunch, and were seated next to Al and Doris Herr (back) and their friends. I’ve known Doris since one-room school days, and Cerwin used to deliver propane to their chicken houses.

 

 

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I was supposed to be speaking at another Ladies’ Day on Tuesday, so we drove to the church after lunch, because I wasn’t sure of its location.

 

 

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Passing an Amish buggy

 

 

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An interesting row of silos and storage bins

 

 

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A pretty farm setting not far from our house

 

 

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A pretty creek

 

 

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We had surprise visitors on Sunday night – Mary Ann and Daniel Yutzy – buckeyegirlie. They discovered that they were in our area for an anniversary celebration and called to see if we were home. We had a delightful visit.

 

 

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On Monday Diane and I did some office and housework, while her daughter Abigail drove to Pennsylvania from Maine for the funeral of Nathaniel’s (her fiance) grandfather. Diane decided to not go back to Maine with the van load of ladies on Sunday, but wait to go home with Abigail.

Because of the impending ice and snow storm the Ladies’ Day of Refreshment at Faith Mennonite was postponed until March 1.

I took the above picture this morning (Tuesday) just before we left for our road trip to Texas in TFC’s International Chapel. How nice to have Diane here to clean up after breakfast. After my speaking engagement was canceled today, Cerwin decided to leave for Texas a day early to get away from the ice and snow storm.

 

 

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This is what the road looked like when we left the TFC Office about 10:35 a.m. today.

 

 

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About three minutes later, we met our son Jeff going the opposite direction. I missed getting a picture of him, but did get this one of Cerwin talking to him on the CB.

 

 

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Crossing the frozen Susquehanna. There are lots of bridges in the Harrisburg area, and you can see at least three of them.

 

 

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Scenery along the way

 

 

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Our drive through Maryland, West Virginia, and upper Virginia was on dry roads.

 

 

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Scenery behind a rest area in Virginia

 

 

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A snowman at the rest stop

 

 

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I think it looks like a Dr Seuss character.

 

 

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Three crosses

 

 

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We went through a bit of rain during the late afternoon.

 

 

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