Trip TOTALS: 110hr 56min, 7298.3 mi
Saturday (San Diego, CA to Mountain View, CA): 2:45pm PST to 11:15pm PST
Sunday (Mountain View, CA to Red Bluff, CA): 8:45pm PST to 1:50am PST
Monday (Red Bluff, CA to Sammamish, WA): 10:12am PST to 9:54pm PST
Thursday (Sammamish, WA to Newport, WA): 9:50am PST to 6:35pm PST
A few heavy travel days mean one mega-post instead of four separate updates! Something about writing posts at 2 am just doesn’t seem to agree with me… I hope no one minds too terribly. On to the details!
Saturday saw our family piling into the minivan rather late in the day (after seeing the Hobbit with our good friends Shawn and Katie – a good cause for a later start if ever there was one!). Elayne and Titus have had a harder and harder time saying goodbye to the friends they’ve found in our travels, and this was one of their harder farewells. Yet we were able to cheer them with the thought that Mima and Tsofo lay ahead at the end of the current trip… a thought of which both heartily approved! As the sun began to set, we continued on steadily northward.
That evening, we arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and knocked on the door of my long-time friend Mark. The next moɾninɡ, we had the privilege to visit the church I’d attended in college – catching a message in the middle of their year-long “Epic” series teaching from Genesis to Christ. One surprise reunion followed another, and we got to spend some (short!) quality time with my college pastor, two friends from my college group, and a buddy from my freshman dorm who hadn’t attended that church during our years in school. The (practically perfect) day was capped off by a Christmas musical special at that church, and a quick drive by Stanford to walk around the Quad before hitting the road.
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We drove for three and a half hours on Sunday night, arriving in Red Bluff, CA for eight hours of sleep – and then on all day Monday to my parents’ home in the greater Seattle area! Our strategy of driving south to avoid snow seemed to have paid off, as we ran into our first – and only – snow flurries on the last legs of that northward trip. We were surprised by my brother Josh’s arrival with his family on Tuesday, giving us the chance to meet our brand-new nephew Owen. Our long-delayed family reunion was a huge source of joy, but one leg of the journey remained before we could unpack the minivan and take a longer rest.
Snow in the Cascade mountains prevented our return to Spokane on Wednesday, but we took advantage of a two-hour break in the flurries to push through on Thursday. The passes actually ended up being incredibly clear, and we had no trouble until – less than half a mile from Amy’s parents’ house – we found ourselves unable to crest the final small ice-covered hill! Although we remained on the road, we couldn’t move forward or backward without assistance. Eventually, help from Dad and a neighbor’s Rhino got us home – safe, tired, but relieved and thankful to finally be off the road!
With our minivan moving back from ‘mobile home’ to ‘mode of transportation’, we’re ready for Christmas and some much-needed time with our families. At the same time, we’re looking forward to telling everyone about our vision for extending the reach of God’s amazing message in Mexico. With our stateside training complete, getting to Mexico is now directly ahead of us… and our excitement level just keeps rising! 2013 will be a year for sharing how God has led us in this area, and we can’t wait for that opportunity.
Until that time arrives, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas – may we all rejoice together as we remember the birth of Jesus, our Savior and triumphant King!