River Float

A great part about living on the river is that we get to take the float trek often that everyone seems to think a novelty. River floating has become a weekend event for us. When we first got out here, we wanted to get on the river right away so before taking time to decide on the proper floatage tools, we just went to CVS and bought $2 colorful tubes. Because these were really made for toddlers, we must have been a sight to see floating on them. When Bob sat on his, it completely went underneath the water. But it was enough to make us happy if even for a while. We even bought one for my cousin when she came out to visit. After a while though, we just could no longer stand the back pains and the comments from others, so we have moved on to bigger and better floats. Our new ones fit our whole bums (and more) and have a headrest and cupholder. We call them the lazy boys. Pictured are our old tubes. If anyone finds themselves out here in the summer, you will be enjoying a river float as well :)

Moving day

The coffee shop in our complex serves french press coffee. We love it!

We were so very blessed to be able to stay with the Hicks family when we found out we had to get to Atlanta earlier than expected. The Hicks are related to a friend of a friend in California and they readily offered their basement to us to stay in during the few days when we were still homeless. They have five beautiful and wonderful kids and it was a blast to be part of their family for those few days. Not only did they bless us with hospitality, but they graciously offered to help us move in as well. I told them that by doing that they were really saving our marriage because I don't know how else we would have made it through moving all that stuff in with just the two of us :) Anyway, it was so great to see the kids working hard and together bringing in stuff and it was so nice to have other men do some of the work. Here are a few pictures of the move in day and us enjoying the river that is our backyard.

Oh Atlanta, I hear you callin...

Our friend Brian made us a bunch of CDs for the road trip. He titled one "Play First". We took a while to put the CD in, afraid that it would be sentimental in its nature, and would have him saying something that would make us cry. Luckily, he did not do that, and instead put on it the Allison Kraus song, "Altanta". We sang it at the top of our lungs, and it became even more of the theme song as we drove in to Georgia and the city. We felt immediately welcomed here, and as you can see, I took way too many pictures of the signs. It became a running joke that we missed almost every sign welcoming us to a new state, but I made sure to get Georgia's, and every sign thereafter that said Atlanta.

The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Night

Well, since I(Bob) was the one who got really frustrated this night, I figure that it would be best told from my point of view. So here goes my first blog post...

After we had stayed at Jamie's Aunt Lissa's house (which was a great time to just relax), we decided to get as far as we could that night so that our drive into Atlanta would not be super long. Great idea right? Wrong.

By about 11:00 we stopped in some small town, but the only place that had room cost too much for us cheapskates, so we decided to go further. We saw a place on the side of the freeway that looked dumpy enough to be within our price range, so we gave it a go and pulled over. Once we got there, it felt a little creepy, but I inquired of the cost nonetheless. The Indian lady who was in charge told me, but did not seem happy about being bothered so late at night. As I was about to give her my credit card, I started to feel reservations, so I looked over at Jamie, whose expression told me no. Since she is not of the type to keep her feelings inside, she said quite to the point that this was not comfortable for her. So, I looked back at the lady and told her that we were going to look around a bit, which of course thrilled her even more.

So now we get to the frustrating part. As soon as I got back into our Penske truck (which I lovingly call "Tweeter") I realized that there was no way for me to be able to turn around in the size of parking lot that they had. Great, I thought, since this thing is almost impossible to back up.

I gave it my best shot, making an extra wide turn in space between cars to give myself the best chance, and started to use my trailer-backing skills. Now, let me just put in here that I have hauled many trailers in my work with youth groups, going to the river for vacations, and helping other people move, so I am not a novice at this by any means. What I soon discovered is that this trailer is literally impossible to back up in the opposite direction from which it is already facing. If you would like me to explain this to you, I can, but will spare all of the other readers from my prideful tirade.

Anyway, it got to the point where I realized that I was going to have to unhook the car from the trailer, move it off of it, unhook the trailer from the truck, move it into its proper place, then rehook it to the truck, then move the car back on, and then rehook the car up to the trailer, all in this parking lot of a creepy, dumpy (even too much so for us to stay in) motel. Also keep in mind that it is now about 11:30 at night.

Needless to say my language and temperament was not of the best quality. Jamie, starting to think that this is all funny, then decides to start taking pictures of this whole scene instead of trying to help her poor, angry husband. While the lady who managed the place, a few residents who came out to hear what all of the 'ruckus' was about, and my wife turned photographer watched, I proceeded to do all of this work, as sweat and curses fell from my face, with the final result being that I got everything turned around only to have to drive another hour or so to find a motel that we finally stayed in that night. Here are the pictures that illustrate this story better than I can describe it in words.

In a nutshell, it was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad night... for me. For Jamie, it was alot of laughs, pictures, and funny memories. Ha Freaking Ha is what I say.

Back porch humming birds

My aunt had a bunch of hummingbird feeders in her back yard. It was amazing how many beautiful birds were out there. Some of them would come so close to you and just hover in front of you looking into your eyes. The sounds that they made too were amazing. Bob took a bunch of pictures, but this video is the best part. If you listen carefully you can hear them.

Arkansas

My aunt and uncle live in Arkansas, where my uncle goes to school at John Brown University. We had the privilege of staying with them for an evening and enjoying their town.

My aunt took us to this cute little cafe downtown where I got some baked oatmeal (yum!) and Bob got a breakfast sandwhich. And any new place I go to like this I have to try their chai tea-- you can tell a lot about a place by thier chai. It was very sweet here, I could only drink half. And if you know me, I am usually a saver and will reheat a drink for several days until it is gone. However, this drink was so sweet that I through it away after the first half!

The road below is part of a walk we went on near my aunt and uncle's house.

We stopped at a McDonald's in Arkansas, and I had to take a picture of this. Two kinds of tea, sweet and unsweetened. Welcome to the south!

This McDonald's was so nice that even though we just got a drink, I may have actually eaten there. It's amazing how the ambiance can do that to you. The scary part for me though is that it looked a lot like a Chipotle, which I love. Which reminded me that McDonald's owns Chipotle, which I don't love. I guess I prefer that they keep their atmosphere's separate so I don't have to think about it.

It was in this McDonald's that Bob and I first truly realized we were in Arkansas. Another customer said something to both of us, to which we replied, "What?". He repeated what he said, and Bob laughed. As we walked out of the store, Bob leaned to me and said, "Did you have any idea what he just said?" Which, of course, I didn't. And it made me feel better that Bob didn't either. Still English, but another language entirely.

Headed East

Here are more mini-adventures on our trip:

Surprising to even myself, Bob and I opted to drive as far as we could before we would find a motel. This led us into some crazy parts of town, some deserted parts, and some places that we were reluctant but willing to stay. The first night we stayed at America's Best Inn. Liars! I don't know how they are legally allowed to keep that title. However, I must say that I am proud of myself because even Bob was more sketched out than me. Every time we woke up in the middle of the night though we looked out the window to make sure our stuff was still there. What we would have done if it wasn't, I don't know.

For most lunches, we ate what we had packed in a cooler. For a grocery stop we went to the nearest Trader Joes in Oklahoma-- and I think we went about 15 miles out of the way! But it felt like home as soon as we stepped in there and loaded up on familiar groceries.

These are some beautiful windmills in Oklahoma.

We had a little grasshopper friend hitch a ride for a long time. Bob swore he was still alive, but I knew otherwise. I think he companioned us for about three states though. Bob was very disappointed to find out that he was DOA.

Texas

A drive through Texas wouldn't e complete without a stop for BBQ. We opted not to go to the chain BBQ restaurant, and instead went to a more family style one. It was so fun! I ordered the ribs plate, and it came complete Texas style, with loads of sides. Too bad I didn't take a picture of that!

We both had to take a picture with this awesome horse parked out front.

Isn't it so Texas? Look at the man in the cowboy hat and the woman's hair!

Even the bathroom sink was shaped like the state. I guess these people are really proud of where they live.

Grand Canyon

I had never been to the Grand Canyon before so I definitely wanted to make that a pit stop on the way. It was very hot and dry, but also very beautiful. However, even though the canyons were majestic, our favorite part ended up being the elk that we saw eating grasses on the side of the road. I was close enough that I could have touched them, but thought for the safety of my own life, that I better stick with just taking pictures. Amazing.

What an amazing world the Lord has created, and we get to enjoy it!

Going East

Well, we made it out to our new home! Obviously there is so much to account for, so I am just going to do it in small pieces. We are so thankful we got to drive out to Atlanta. Our trip was full of laughter, silliness, tears, and great conversation. We enjoyed driving through each state and watching the scenery change. We had many fun moments and others that were just simply frustrating. Here are a few of the memories starting from the beginning.
We joked that we were homeless for a week, but this yellow Penske truly became home to us. We gave it a name (won't tell you what it is--so dorky) and it ran great. We were amazed that we could fit our material possessions in a 16 ft truck, and that we drove across the country with all that we owned.

This is where we slept the night before we left-- in our home sans furniture. Needless to say, we only had a couple of hours of real sleep, but it seemed significant to us to stay our last night in the only home that we have lived in together. We shared memories, as well as new hopes and dreams before we went to bed (or, uh, to sleeping bags).

The morning that we left was a very difficult one for us. All of our marriage has been spent in this home. Not to mention, we spend a lot of time and hard work upgrading the house. We took time to pray and take in each room, saying our goodbyes to the home. This is the last picture I took before heading to the car.

We took a picture of the sunrise in Riverside as we headed out. We joke now because there is a Riverside here in Atlanta, but it actually means that it is by the river. Hard for me to get over the other connotations of dry heat, the 91, and traffic.

This proves that I actually did some driving as well. The Penske was not quite the beast that it looks, and I handled it like it was nothing :)