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Pat and I spent several days in the high desert of Arizona enjoying the cooler weather. We, and our cats, were so happy to be away from those sizzling summer temps in Phoenix! Then we started east to our next destination in Albuquerque, NM.
Upon arrival at MCC Albuquerque, we were glad to be back and settled in quickly. We set up on Saturday for Sunday services and before we knew it, Sunday morning had arrived. At the first service we sang for a large crowd for so early in the morning, then again at the later service. We debuted our new song, “I Love You” for the late service and it was a hit! After service we went with Pastor Judy and a group from church to the local Chili’s for lunch. We had a great time visiting!
Pastor Judy kindly loaned us her car for a few days. This is a huge gift when we are traveling in our RV… no worries about getting to local stores and pharmacies for necessities! Thank you MCC Albuquerque!
Our next stop was Pikes Peak MCC, Colorado Springs, CO! Once again, this was a repeat visit and we were excited about our return. Upon arrival, we were plugged in to power in no time. On Saturday we set up for Sunday services with great helpers! We sang in both morning services and then quickly packed up our equipment. They were a wonderful group but we had a concert scheduled for that evening in Pueblo so we were in a bit of a hurry. Pastor and long time friend, Dan Koeshall took us to lunch and then we were off to Pueblo.
We arrived at MCC Pueblo where Rev John Mark Hild greeted us and helped us unload our equipment. We sang to a small but appreciative crowd. Afterward they took us to dinner and, although pleased with the days events, we were pooped!! We stayed that evening at the church and the following afternoon began our trek to Kansas City, MO.
But we aren’t finished yet!! From Kansas City, we started south driving the relatively short route to Denton, TX where our long time friends Revs Marty and Maria Luna-Wolfe lived. We parked our home in front of their house for a few days of visiting and rest! We always have a great time with them!
Friday we drove to Dallas, TX and Promise MCC. They were having a meeting at the church so we had a good number of helpers, including Pastor Jon Haack, to get us plugged in to power and water. It took a little finagling to get the power working but once they got it… we were set! The next day we set up for the concert and Sunday’s service. It was a church work day so we had plenty of help! We sang for a wonderful group… I thought Pastor Jon was going to have a coronary, he laughed so hard at Pat’s “Mama” sketch! We had a great time and made several new friends! Thank you Promise MCC!!
When we left you, it was July 2007… But I forgot to tell you about the wind storm in Phoenix! So we’ll back track a little and fill that story in… Hmmm… let’s start with a quiet morning at the conference center.
It was the last day of conference and most people were in meetings so the booth area where Pat and I were sitting was quiet. Pat was beading as she usually does during down time at conferences… I looked out the windows across from where we were sitting… saw that the wind was picking up and walked over and opened the door. The flags were whipping around their poles and tumble weeds were actually blowing across the parking lot! I didn’t realize they still did that! I thought that was just an old western movie happening… Then I noticed that there was a “fog” of dust in the distance in the general direction of where our RV was parked! “Oh NO!” I thought, “Our RV awning is extended!” I turned to Pat, grabbed my car keys and told her I needed to go! When I got to the car, I could tell that the wind was really strong so I headed to the RV. There was a grayish brown fog in the distance blocking the view of the mountains. By the time I got to the RV Park, the 20 minute later, the storm had passed, and as I rounded the corner approaching our RV, I saw other RVs with awnings blown off. My heart sank as I saw our RV with the awning pulled loose and blown over the top of the RV! The side of the RV was scratched and the supports were in pieces on the ground. And the most immediate concern was that the awning was lying over the air conditioning unit on the roof! And it wouldn’t take long to burn out the unit in this heat! Did I mention that it was 117 degrees outside? And then we would be up the creek, so to speak! I knew that I couldn’t get the awning off of the RV by myself (it’s 12 feet high) so I walked down the row until I found some guys outside piecing together their awnings. I told them my situation and all 4 of them dropped what they were doing and climbed up on top our RV, pulled down the awning and put our broken supports back together! I was stunned! With the exception of the scratches on the side, you couldn’t even tell that the awning had been blown off! Then one of the men gave me the bolts from the awning support and said, “If you can find these at a hardware store, I’ll put them on for you.” I thanked them all repeatedly!
The next day, I returned with the needed bolts and our RV neighbor and his son re-attached the awning supports! Angels truly are everywhere!
When we left you, it was March 2007 and we were on our way home!
During the remainder of March and through April, Carolyn worked 12 hour shifts for the IRS. The tax season hits suddenly and ends just as abruptly. Pat continued her long hours as usual. Since I was working nights and Pat was working days, we rarely saw each other for about six weeks! But May first, we began preparing for the tour that was to begin in June!
We started our tour off with a stop at our home church, Christ Covenant MCC, for the ordination service of our good friend, Rev. Jane Acuff. The service was incredible!
Then we left home two days later, headed to Harvest MCC, Denton, TX! We arrived a day early at the home of our friends, Rev Marty and Rev. Maria Luna-Wolfe. We always have a wonderful time visiting and laughing with them and the many friends we have made in Denton. Rev Marty had been ill for so long, it was great to see her up and functioning again! Unfortunately, our joy was clouded by a church tragedy… the sudden death of an active church board member… We did our best to minister to a grieving congregation. The concert/service that Sunday went well and we were glad we could be there for Harvest MCC! .
On the following day, we left Denton for Scottsdale, AZ and the UFMCC General Conference! As we drove the final miles from Flagstaff to Phoenix, we noticed that the temperature in our RV was rising. I even stopped at a rest area to check and see if the air conditioner and generator were functioning properly. Everything looked good! Hmmm... After we checked into our RV Park, we quickly realized that the RV roof air conditioner was not powerful enough to combat the 117 plus degree heat of the July desert! Ouch! The temperature quickly climbed to 100 degrees inside our “air conditioned” RV!! Not only were we hot, but our equipment, inventory and our CATS were being exposed to extreme heat! Pat and I at least had the option of going to the conference center or a store to cool off! We called the vet back home to ask if we needed to find a cool place to board our long-haired fur babies! He told us that as long as they stayed hydrated and had fresh cool water; they should be OK at 100 degrees. OK, how do you leave cool water for them during the long 100 degree hours we were to be at the conference center? Well… we rented a car and headed to the local Wal-Mart and bought sun blockers to put in every window in the coach to cut the brutal sun. Then we found an RV shop to get sun shades for the large dash windows. The inside of our coach now looked like a cave! Then after dark… we moved all our sound equipment and inventory inside the coach, which even at 100 degrees was cooler than the RV basement storage compartments. We then put water in a Glad-Ware container and froze it so that we’d have ice to put in the cats’ water bowl. We decided that one of us would need to come back to the RV every afternoon and replace the ice in their bowls and make sure they were drinking water. That night and every night during our stay, the temperature INSIDE the RV didn’t cool down to 80 until midnight. It was HOT! Now… we are ready for Conference!
We had a great location for our booth… just outside the main meeting room! All our many friends and acquaintances were there, I can’t even begin to name them all! It really feels good to have so many church groups claim us as their own! Thank you all for making us feel so loved! We sang in the Tuesday morning service and had a great time visiting with our friends from the road during the week!
After conference ended on Friday, we drove over to Community Church Of Hope, Phoenix, AZ. We had great help for Saturday setup… it was also wonderful to see our long-time friend Rev Patrick Stout. We were still hot but enjoyed our visit none-the-less! The concert went very well! Thank you Community Church Of Hope! After the Sunday service, we went to dinner with Rev Stout and then on to the home of our friends Ray and Ruth. They are a wonderful pair and we always enjoy seeing them. But after our visit, we loaded up the RV and headed north! We were overdue for cooler temperatures and we knew that altitude was the answer! Ray and Ruth were kind enough to let us park in their mountain home driveway! We arrived around midnight and it was a luscious 55 degrees! The cats ran up and down the length of the RV! They hadn’t moved that fast since our arrival in Phoenix! Pat and I opened all the windows and reveled in the cool night air! Thank you SO much Ray and Ruth!!!
January is always filled with Carolyn knee-deep in year-end financial reporting, giving statements, and of course IRS and sales tax reports. Pat goes back to working 40-60 hours plus a week to support our time off the road. As we have said before, the ministry usually pays for the travel expenses but does not pay us... and we have bills just like anybody else, so Pat's job, at this point anyway, is essential. Once the year end reporting is complete, Carolyn begins the task of booking the year's tours. So our time at home is not as "relaxed" as some might think. There is always work to be done!
March 15, 2007 we started out for MCC Rehoboth, Rehoboth Beach, DE… We arrived after driving for 2 and a half days in POURING rain. We pulled into the church and our long time friends Shila and Mary were there to greet us and get us plugged into power. They are experienced RVers and knew how to do everything we needed!
The following day, Shila and Mary returned to help us set up… the rain had stopped long enough to get the equipment inside the church. But when I opened the compartment doors, I noticed that the carpet was wet! It is always something, isn’t it? We elected to deal with it later and just get set for the concert. We were set up rather quickly with help from a few church members and retired to the RV to rest a little and then dress for the concert. They were to have a spaghetti dinner and the concert was to follow… The concert went well and afterward everyone scrambled to get everything taken down and loaded into cars and SUVs. We didn’t want to put our equipment in the RV compartments until we had a chance to look at them in the daylight and determine what was wrong.
The next morning at 6 a.m. (yes you read that time right!), all the vehicles carrying our equipment arrived at the church service location to get us set up for morning worship. Since the church met in rented space, we weren’t able to set up until morning. Our experienced helpers got us up quickly and we went back to the RV to get dressed…. The service was great! The congregation was wonderful! After the service, we again loaded our equipment into 2 cars and went back to Shila and Mary’s new home on the beach! (J Our job does have a few perks!) There we spent the afternoon talking and catching up with Shila and Mary… we also enjoyed our time with their friends Jo and Nancy, before retiring for the night to the driveway and our home on wheels!
We spent the next couple of days with our friends. It had been several years since we’d had the luxury of spending much time with them. On day two, we decided to take a look at the compartments, and to the best of our knowledge, there was no plumbing leak! Thank You God!! We think that the hours of intense rain we drove through must have seeped up through some rust spots on the compartment base! J And that is under warranty!!! We decided not to take any chances with the equipment, so with Mary’s help we found trash bags and XXL and XXXL Ziploc bags in which to pack everything! NOTE: We now, as a rule, store all sound equipment in plastic bags!
For trip home we had perfect spring weather: sunny and warm! We stopped at our favorite little farmers market in Virginia for some of the best homemade cream Easter eggs you have ever tasted!
When we left you it was November 2006 and we were in Tacoma, WA… Pat and I did a Saturday evening concert and Sunday morning service music. We and the Pastor, Rev. Jan Skaggs had been watching the weather because we all knew that we needed to cross back over the Cascades and Blue Mountains on our way back east. Pat and I decided that we would depart after service on Sunday and try to get ahead of the wind and winter storms which were forecast for the Cascade Mountains. So we packed up with great help from the church youth group, said our goodbyes and started our journey. As the sun set, our journey began to rise in altitude. There was light snow but the signs along the pass posted the pavement temperature at above freezing, so we knew we were safe. At least we were safe from freezing pavement... But safe from needing a windshield defroster was another story. The sun set quickly and the temperatures hovered around freezing. Then the problem started…. The windshield began to fog. We turned the air conditioner on to defrost the windshield but as the temps dropped (and the temp inside the coach hovered around 39 degrees) it was not enough. Pat had to lie across the dashboard with a towel and a squeegee, wiping the condensation off the windshield so that we could continue. There would be nowhere to stop for another 2 hours. It was a long night and one we hoped we would not need to repeat as we crossed the Blue Mountains the following day.
The next day, God had mercy on us and the temperatures and sun kept us frost-free. The mountains were beautiful as the snow (that thankfully was on the ground) glistened in the sunlight. Two days later on Wednesday, we passed through Salt Lake City, UT and started through the mountain pass toward Wyoming. Then the wind began to pick up… there was a storm front about 48 hours behind us and the winds were peaking at around 30 MPH. And remember, we were driving a 32 foot long, 12 foot high “sail”! The winds were a constant fight and at times were pretty scary. When one of those high wind gusts would catch the side of the coach, there was nothing I could do to keep the coach from veering into the other lane… We were moving slowly and weaving a lot!!
That night we stayed at the Little America travel stop. And since the next day was Thanksgiving, we prepped for our feast! Thanksgiving morning, the sun was high and the winds even higher! We loaded our crock-pot with our little thanksgiving bird and started down the road. The winds were peaking at around 35 MPH and with our top speed of around 50 MPH; it was a very long day! The dilemma was between the storm behind us and the winds in front of us… oh, and then there was the date we had in Colorado Springs! That night we stopped in Cheyenne, WY for our holiday meal. The winds howled and rocked the coach all night long!
Friday, we drove the remaining miles to Colorado Springs. The winds were not quite as high and the sun was warm and shining. The winter storm had stalled on the other side of the Rocky Mountains and it turned out to be a really gorgeous day!
Sharon and her partner met us at Pike’s Peak MCC, Colorado Springs, CO. They helped us get plugged into power and settled for the night. Then the next day, they returned to help us set up for Sunday services. We were received wonderfully and had a great time with the congregation. But once again, we were watching the weather forecasts and decided to depart after Sunday services to get ahead of the winter storm that was forecast for Monday. And it was a good thing we did…
When we left Colorado Springs, the temperature was around 70 degrees and the sun was shining… the next morning we awoke to winds and a winter storm warning for that evening! This scenario continued for the next 6 days of our journey home. Thankfully, we were able to stay about 12 hours ahead of the winter storm. The winds were fierce but we found that preferable to ice and snow!
It was a long trip home but we made it safely and were thankful to be at home. Even if it was storming… we didn’t have to DRIVE ANYWHERE!!
Thank you all for your prayers! We have no doubt that your prayers and the hand of God carried us through a very difficult situation! God is Good!
