THE TRIP BEGINS--FINAL CHECK

May 23, 2011-Monday

Beginning mileage-118,878

It was already daylight when we woke at six.

A few minutes later we were out of bed and making preparations for the day.

After dressing, breakfast was taken before one last trip was made into the house. A final check was made, a few more things gathered and taken to the coach, then the alarm was set and the house was closed, for the summer.

The house will have a few visitors while we are gone. Our neighbor, Jim Johnson, will be checking the house and grounds periodically and his wife, Polly, will be there on occasion. Our daughter and her friend Garnett will be there also and probably spend a few nights so the house won’t be too lonesome.

The fruit trees we planted in early spring, plums, pears, kumquats and persimmons will be tended and watered. The shrubs and flowers will bloom for all who visit. The birds and squirrels we have fed all spring are now orphans and will have to fend for themselves no longer eating from our well stocked larder of seeds. Welfare, as they have come to know it is now at an end. Those who don’t work won’t eat, an idea they won’t find too traumatic. Strange how even the smallest of animals know and understand this rule while those at the top of the food chain can’t grasp or embrace the concept.

While the house was now quiet the coach came to life with a deep growl from the Cummins. Slides came in, powered by the electric driven motors. Jacks came up as the hydraulic pump reclaimed the fluid that had been forced into them when they were extended.

With the Allison engaged and Onie on the ground to direct the driver, the coach was backed away from the house and lined up in the drive, pointed toward 150 and places that were beckoning.

We both took a lingering look at the house and the bird houses Onie had put up this spring. They would wait for our return.

The Altima that had been in the coach garage was put in the house garage and that door closed. The toad, aka the Subaru, was driven up, by Onie, behind the Marlin and the driver hitched up the tow gear.

All in readiness the navigator and driver took their places inside the coach, took a last glimpse, for a while, and then the coach began moving forward.

Another summertime adventure was underway. Both occupants of the coach had worked harder than ever before getting the rig ready for the trip and the results were that the coach was spotless inside, dust free, cabinets polished, refrigerator sparkling and the carpet and tiled floor were so clean they smelled wonderful. And we looked good outside too with the roof re-caulked, washed, compounded and waxed as well as the front and back caps. The sides will get attention while we are resting on the road.

Easing out the drive and down Lake Road we watched the trees gently swaying in the early morning, eight o’clock breeze. Squirrels scampered across the road in front of us and birds serenaded us as we made our way toward Hiway 150, turned east and headed toward Cleveland and U.S 59.

The ride was pleasant on the smooth road as the Cummins seemed to idle as it pushed us along in tandem with the Allison.

One familiar with the route to Arkansas, where we are going to visit our friends, Mary and Richard Bell, would have been surprised when we turned south at U.S. 59 instead of heading north but we had a bit of a problem. The refrigerator freezer had stalactites growing from the ice maker and down the back wall. We had a choice, get it fixed or do without it for the summer. We opted to fix it so we were heading back to Channelview Supply, in Houston, to have them fix it. When we talked to them last Saturday, when we discovered the ice flow, they said an adjustment in the water supply would fix it.

We arrived at the shop a bit after nine and by ten we were ready for the road again. The driver had taken a basic class, Ice Makers 101, from the tech and felt he could now make future adjustments if necessary.

We left the shop and headed north taking a back road back to Cleveland and U.S. 59.

Our route took us past oil refineries and plastics processing plants as well as ranches with big three story houses. Lining parts of the road were huge mature live oak trees. These trees love the southern part of Texas where their roots reach down to the first water table that may be as close as ten to twelve feet from the surface. With roots firmly planted in the water table the trees drink five hundred to a thousand gallons of water a day.

With the passage of time and miles we reached Cleveland where once again we met U.S. 59. This time we headed north. Soon we had rolled through Shepherd and all the road construction there. When it is finished Shepherd will be another small town that is bypassed in the name of modernization, speed and progress. Sometimes the small towns die and sometimes they adapt. Time will tell how Shepherd fairs.

With Shepherd in the rearview mirrors we were soon past the Wal-Mart nearest our home, in Livingston, and then it was further up the road for us.

Around Legget the driver noticed the Allison shifting a bit rough.

As he drove and watched the road and dash gauges he noticed that while most gauges showed normal the voltmeter was showing sub normal. He was somewhat concerned but not overly so as he had the alternator output checked at Cummins South Plains in Houston and they had assured him the alternator was fine but the gauge should be replaced when we return from our summer trip as it is defective.

Ms. Garmin, our electronic navigator/tour guide, has been doing a good job. She has kept us on route, without a single mistake, with her visual and verbal instructions. We believe she will be a much better choice than a human tour guide as she will not want a day off for personal business, shopping, sick kids, death of her seventh grandpa, vacation or Mondayitis nor will she nag for an undeserved raise.

The farther north we went the more the Allison misbehaved. The Allison is very sensitive to low voltage as it is only fully operational with a good steady electrical supply. It seemed that the supply wasn’t all there.

Dry creek beds came and went, the result of little or no rain this spring which had been as rare as Dodo birds, and pastures prematurely brown covered some hillsides. A few hardy wildflowers decorated the roadside and some magnolia trees were blooming.

Passing the home of Foretravel Motor Coaches, in Nacogdoches, the Allison began slipping a bit. Where 1600 rpm from the Cummins had been providing a speed of 58-59 miles per hour that speed had dropped to 55-56 indicating the Allison was losing its grip on things. We were perhaps five hours into our drive and still had a ways to go before calling it a day.

At the next traffic light, there are lots of traffic lights on U.S. 59 North, the transmission had a hard time moving the coach forward. The voltmeter on the dash was reading an anemic seven. If we were to continue moving we would have to find a way to feed the Allison. We cranked the on board generator. Twenty minutes later the dash gauge was sitting on twelve, normal is about thirteen and a half, and the Allison was shifting smoothly once again.

This part of East Texas is hillier and the Cummins and Allison were handling the hills with no problem.

Apparently more rain had fallen here than at Lake Rd as the creek beds were actually carrying water, albeit a small amount, and the flora was greener.

The horse farms that are popular here had some new additions and the hay fields were showing good stands.

Continuing north we passed over Interstate 20 and a short time later made a right turn and headed east on Interstate 30.

Earlier in the day we had made a reservation to stay the night at an RV park in Arkadelphia, Arkansas but we knew we had to get the alternator fixed before venturing much further.

Cummins Mid-South is in North Little Rock, about eighty miles east of Arkadelphia. A call was placed to them to see if they could help us on the morrow. They could and if we could get there tonight we could be seen first thing in the morning. We called the RV park and cancelled our reservation with a promise to stay with them our next trip through, should there be one.

The generator had been running since we started it back in Texas and not knowing what would happen if we shut it down we let it continue to run.

Joe, the afternoon/evening, shop foreman at Cummins Mid-South had given us his cell number with instructions to call him if we would arrive before seven. Passing through Arkadelphia we called and gave him an ETA of six forty five. We arrived at six thirty. Joe met us and showed us where the RV hookups were, on their parking lot. We pulled next to some hookups, put the jacks down, the lot was perfectly level, let out the slides, shut off the generator and stopped the Cummins. Then the driver went out and hooked up the shore power, 50 amp.

It had been a long day. Since leaving home at eight we had driven five hundred eighteen miles, much farther than we had planned on for a first day out, but we were in a safe place.

Onie started supper while the driver did a check outside before coming in to make a few notes then it was time to eat.

With the overhead air conditioners running we went to bed about nine, early for us.

In a few minutes a steady rain began falling and in a few more minutes we were fast asleep.

Ending mileage-119,396

BACK IN THE SHOP

May 24, 2011-Tuesday

We were up at 6:30. We had slept very soundly with the rain drumming on the roof.

We had our tea, coffee and breakfast before the driver went inside the Cummins office to register at 7:30. He reviewed the problem and his ideas about what was wrong then went back to get in the slides, get up the jacks, disconnect the land power and unhook the toad. Then it would be time to wait for the tech to call us.

It was a beautiful day with bright sunshine and a few high clouds in a pale blue sky and it promised to be warm. We visited while waiting for the tech. He soon appeared and announced that he was ready fo the coach. It was in the shop at 8:30.

We stayed in coach so we could help with running the engine and reading the gauges. The rear jacks were fully extended so the tech could get his big fat belly under the coach. Those were his words not the words of the writer. He started by checking batteries. They were in good shape. Then he ran some other diagnostics and it appeared the alternator was bad but he checked further to be sure. He said they had similar issues in the past and had found it wasn’t always the alternator. Further looking revealed a fuse box inside the engine compartment. That makes seven places where fuses or breakers are located in or on the coach. In the fuse box he found a blown fuse. He replaced it. That was not the problem. More checks on the alternator determined it was indeed faulty and will have to be replaced or rebuilt. Calls were made to local suppliers and a new one was not available. Ours was taken to a local electrical shop, at noon, to be rebuilt.

We had been reading during the work. Now it was lunch time. We both had salmon salad then Onie was off to Wal-Mart.

The tech finished just before five, when Onie was returning, and he ran the engine idling as well as at 2500 rpm. The dash gauge showed 13.75 volts and the tech instruments showed 13.85 volts. We were good to go.

Since it was close to quitting time for the tech, five o’clock, we pulled the coach out of Bay number five, drove out to the RV parking spaces, backed into a space and hooked up before going in to the office to square up.

Once again we would spend the night here.

We had talked to our friends in Cherokee Village a couple of times during the day to tell them of the progress on the repair as we had actually planned on being there today and they had been expecting us.

As it turned out they had bad weather today so God took care of us by keeping us in North Little Rock out of harm’s way. The writer thinks God especially watches out for fools and children and he knows he is too old to be a child.

We told our friends we will decide in the morning about whether or not to actually visit based on weather reports we see on the web. We will also call them to get their local weather report before deciding.

It was now close to eight so we had supper and then watched TV until bedtime.

MARY AND RICHARD

May 25, 2011-Wednesday

Onie was up at 7:30 and the driver rose at 8:30.

Together they watched the weather on TV and the entire state of Arkansas was under a severe weather alert with an 80% chance of a tornado occurring somewhere in Arkansas today, and it could be here. The weather forecast for Cherokee village was 70% chance of rain with wind of twenty to thirty mph with gusts to forty. While those are strong winds there was no problem there as we have driven in such winds in the past. It was basically the same forecast as Little Rock. Where a tornado might occur in Arkansas was anybody’s guess and we opined as how one might even touch down at Lake Road.

After breakfast we made the decision to go on. We called our friends, Mary and Richard Bell, and told them we would be on the road shortly and would talk to them en route to let them know an approximate arrival time. If a tornado did come and we were at their house at least we could go in their basement, for shelter, a much better place to be than our basement in the same situation.

We loaded the coach with fresh water which added about eight hundred pounds and would fill our fuel tank which would add another eight hundred pounds. The holding tanks are getting full so that is about another eight hundred pounds. We were trying to add weight to the coach to provide ballast, at the lowest level possible, knowing that it would help stabilize the Marlin in high cross winds.

When we fueled at eleven and figured our mileage it was nine point five miles to the gallon. Given that we were gaining altitude, bucking a head wind and running the generator for a good portion of the time we were satisfied.

We were leaving Cummins and North Little Rock with a beautiful sunshiny day. Overhead were blue skies and a few high white clouds. We may run into some heavy rain before the day is over but the big concern would be large damaging hail or a tornado.

We were off to Cherokee village. We headed north toward Baldknob and at eleven thirty we were out of Little Rock.

The wind, blowing about twenty-five mph was coming from the right rear quarter, or southeast, so it was not producing a lot of bad effect on the coach. In addition we were protected by tall trees on either side of road which lessened the effect of the wind.

Overhead the clouds above us were moving north. We were traveling fifty-nine mph and the shadows cast by the fast moving clouds were staying right with us. Whatever was up there was moving fast and if it came down it would be something to behold.

The farther north we went we found there were only two kinds of creeks there, those that were full of water and those that were overflowing. The hills got steeper and road had more twists and turns but the wind didn’t rise and the sunshine remained, for the most part.

Crossing the White River we could attest to the fact that today it was not white. It was a dirty brown filled with mud and running bank full.

We called and told Mary we should be at our rendezvous point about four o’clock.

Passing through Ash Flat at three forty five we had less than five miles to go to get to Cherokee Village.

Passing through a shallow water crossing we arrived a few minutes before four when we met Richard and Mary in a pullout, next to a waterfall. Hellos were exchanged then we followed them to the subdivision campground where we parked and hooked up the electric. The jacks weren’t put down so the slides weren’t extended and there was no sewer to hook up to. We would only sleep in the coach so we felt no need to extend the slides.

We rode with them to their house which overlooks the valley created by the Spring River, another good trout river except there would be no fishing this trip due to high dirty water.

Theirs is a beautiful home with a magnificent view.

The wind was blowing briskly but we still opted to sit outside on the deck, to visit. As the sun began sinking behind the mountains the air began to cool off and we moved inside from where we watched rain come across the valley and strike the house. The wind carrying the rain moved fast and the rain fell hard but in five minutes both the wind and the rain were gone.

Even though the rain and wind was gone we were still alert to NOAA radio which was broadcasting up to the minute weather information in another room. We were under a tornado watch until 10 P.M. Every few minutes an alarm would sound on the radio and Richard or Mary would go listen then report on a strong thunderstorm close by. After one such alarm Richard announced that a tornado had touched down some ten miles south of us and we should seek shelter in the basement. We did. We stayed about fifteen minutes then went back upstairs. The storm was moving fast and would have struck us within five to ten minutes of the warning if it had come our way and touched down on top of us. It hadn’t. God was still watching over us.

Back upstairs we saw skies that were clear and it was just beautiful the rest of day.

Mary served a delicious shrimp/pasta dish, garlic bread, salad and fresh fruit for supper. A glass of nice white wine accompanied it. It was a wonderful meal and a real dining experience.

Richard took us back to the coach at eight.

Folks who travel in RVs like to stay in their rigs even though they may be visiting friends. After all, everything one needs is there. It is your home. We have had friends in RVs visit us on Lake Road and even though we have a nice guest room they prefer the privacy of their own “home”.

We both read a bit then went to bed.

It was cool so we opened the overhead vents, pulled the covers under our chins and went to sleep.

BRUNCH

May 26, 2011-Thursday

We got up together at seven thirty, had chai tea and coffee and took our showers.

Richard came for us at ten.

At the house Mary had brunch waiting; eggs, bacon, wild rice, English muffin, fresh fruit and orange juice. Visiting went on while we ate a leisurely meal.

When the meal was at an end we moved to the deck where the visiting continued while Onie and I admired all of Mary’s wonderfully beautiful flowers. Yesterday she had them out of the wind so we didn’t see them. Today the wind is gentle, the sun is high and the sky is clear.

Richard delivered us back to the coach shortly before noon and by twelve fifteen we were on the road again.

Headed back toward Ash Flat we crossed the low water crossing, splashing our way through, and at Ash Flat we took a right, going out the way we came in.

A little way down the road we took another right and headed toward Mountain Home. The road was a surprisingly good asphalt surface with lots of passing lanes where it wasn’t actually four lanes.

Taking the bypass around Mountain Home we headed on toward Eureka Springs and Wanderlust RV Park. Still the roads were mostly good three and four lanes with good surfaces. There were lots of hills and curves and we got to almost 1000 ft. elevation.

Four o’clock found Onie checking us in to Wanderlust. The host led us to site fifty eight which overlooked a tree filled valley.

The jacks went down, the slides went out and the Cummins idled and died.

Power, water and sewer were connected. The holding tanks were drained then the driver went inside where he and the navigator enjoyed long showers.

At the bidding of the boss/navigator the driver rested while she fixed supper; salad, brussel sprouts, and sea trout caught by Richard on the Texas Gulf Coast where he and Mary spend their winters. We each had a cookie for desert.

We read ‘til nine then went to bed.

THE PASSION PLAY

May 27, 2011-Friday

We were up by eight having our chai tea and coffee.

While Onie fixed breakfast the driver put notes on the recorder.

After breakfast came showers then we dressed.

Both of us got on the web to check our email for the first time since we left. We also checked the market and the weather for where we were, where we had been and where we will be going in a couple of days.

The driver called his friend, Jim Johnson, to check on a mutual friend who is in the hospital and may be nearing the end of his earthly existence. The news wasn’t good but not entirely unexpected. When that conversation came to an end a call was placed to Kurt, in Iowa. We chatted for a while before saying adios.

Then it was time to work on a story and read a little.

Lunch was eaten at one and then we headed off to the Living Bible Tour. To our chagrin we found the last tour was at one. The website we had visited showed the last tour to be at three.

We decided we would take the Living Bible Tour tomorrow and headed to the gift shops and art museum where we lingered until a quarter of five.

Crossing the street we went into the Top of the Mountain Theater for dinner and a show. Dinner was good and the show was better. A group from Texas, called The Texans, put on a show of gospel and patriotic music. It was uplifting.

Six thirty found us back on the street and headed to see David the shepherd. He carried a rod, a staff and a sling and explained the use of each of them demonstrating as he went along; then he related how Christ is the Good Shepherd, laying down His life for his sheep.

David’s presentation was followed by the potter who spun an old fashioned potter’s wheel, that weighed about four or five hundred pounds, with his foot as he worked a lump of shapeless clay into a beautiful graceful pot. He talked about how the shapeless lump of clay can be molded by the potter’s hands, mainly his palms, and how the clay can come from the bottom of a clay pit where the bottom is full of mire. One stuck in the mire at the bottom of the pit cannot get out without the help of a friend and Jesus is the friend who helps us out of the miry clay then molds us into something we could never become on our own.

His presentation was over at eight and we left to walk to the amphitheater where The Passion Play is presented at eight thirty.

We walked down several steps and took seats on row twenty four. We got popcorn and a coke while we waited for the play to begin.

It was cool and I was wearing a light jacket while Onie was in short sleeves.

The Play started at eighty thirty and was absolutely magnificent, realistic, inspiring and Biblically accurate. The drive and cost would have been worth it if we had only been coming here to see the play. After it was over at ten forty five we agreed everyone should see it and thought perhaps a group from Coldspring could come up in our church bus.

We got home at eleven and Onie was in bed asleep by twelve. The writer stayed up checking his email and writing stories until two.

The air conditioner was running.

THE LIVING BIBLE

May 28, 2011-Saturday

Onie rose an hour before I did and when I did get up, at 8:30, she had already had two cups of coffee.

I fixed me a chai tea and started the jasmine tea water, fixing the tea ball after the water began heating.

With my chai tea in hand I talked to my friend, Jim, to check on our mutual friend, Pat. Jim had talked to one of the deacons in the church who had visited Pat in the hospital, and according to the deacon’s assessment, Pat is in bad shape. The doctors have started him back on some kind of chemo but he has taken it before and it was not very effective. Jim will keep me updated on Pat’s condition and in the meantime we continue to remember him and his family in our prayers.

After talking to Jim I called Kurt to tell him we are laying over a day so we should arrive in Sheldon on Monday instead of tomorrow, Sunday.

Onie had breakfast ready; coffee and jasmine tea, bacon, green eggs and grits. The green eggs were not the Dr. Seuss variety but the real thing. A lady in Coldspring raises free range chickens for the eggs, and they lay green eggs. That is the shells are green but the yolks are yellow and the whites are white. They are just green on the outside unless one keeps them a long long time in a damp warm spot and then they might turn green on the inside.

After breakfast we had our showers, dressed and got out of the coach at 11:30. On the way out of the park we stopped and registered for another night.

Yesterday we missed the Living Bible tour so we are going to do it today. They begin at 10:00 A.M. and leave the Eastern Gate every fifteen minutes thereafter until one.

The tour is a walking tour where one goes from place to place. At each place is some kind of structure and a personage, actor, from the Bible.

The first stop is at the shepherd, David, where there is a sheep cote but it actually holds a donkey, one they call a cross donkey. Legend, not the Bible, has it that the donkey Christ rode into Jerusalem followed him to the cross, on its own accord. It stood in the shadow of the cross and the shadow was emblazoned on its back. It has passed the cross down through the ages to all its descendants.

David, the shepherd, was dressed in period costume, as are all the narrators. His dress included his sling as well as a rod and a staff. The rod, staff and sling are needed for him to carry out his duties of protecting the sheep and in the case of the staff he can use it to retrieve sheep that have strayed into dangerous territory.

If the reader is familiar with the 23^rd Psalm he will recognize these are the same instruments the Psalmist says God used to protect him and pull him back from danger. David’s job is also to find good pasture and water for the sheep, again as the Psalmist says God does for His sheep. David pointed out that Jesus was the perfect shepherd going so far as to lay down His life for His sheep and that He has never and will never lose one.

We stepped forward in time to the day Christ sat by Jacob’s well where he met a Samarian woman. One may remember that Jacob had dug the well centuries before and it was still in use. The Jewish women drew water early in the morning but because Jews and Samarians didn’t intermingle the woman came later in the day. When she got there Christ asked her for a drink, he was obviously a Jew and as such shouldn’t even have spoken to her but he did and she was surprised. They talked and he asked about her husband which she correctly said she didn’t have. She had been married five times and was living with a sixth man. Christ offered her Living Water assuring her that such water would cure her thirst for eternity.

The offer stands today.

A few steps and we were back in time to the Passover House where Hannah lived.

She told us how the Children of Israel suffered at Pharaoh’s hand during their captivity. How there had been just seventy when they were captured but over four hundred thirty years their number had increased to two to three million. Moses was sent by God, another story, to tell Pharaoh to let the people go. Nine times he refused. On the tenth time God sent the death angel to take every first born male, man and beast, living in Egypt. God instructed the Hebrew Children to kill an unblemished lamb, take the blood and put it on the lintel and doorpost. When the death angel saw the blood he passed over the house leaving the first born alive. After the death angel passed, Pharaoh not only urged the Children of Israel to leave but gave them gifts including silver and gold, to leave. Jews still commemorate this event with Passover. It is the blood of Christ that causes the death angel to pass over Christians thus assuring them eternity in Heaven.

After the Children of Israel left Egypt they wandered for forty years in the wilderness, because of their ingratitude, rebelliousness and stubbornness. During this time God gave them instructions on how to build a tabernacle to worship him. This was the next stop where the priest explained how each family, once a year, brought an unblemished lamb, a pet, to be sacrificed as an offering for the sins of the family for the past year. We saw the killing tables for the lambs and the oxen.

We also saw an exact replica of the tabernacle.

Inside the tabernacle was the holy of holy where only priests could go. We could see inside because a side of the tabernacle had been replaced by a window. We could see into the holy of holies as well as seeing the Ark of the Covenant.

After the presentation we stayed a while to reflect on the tabernacle and killing tables. The killing tables were replaced by the cross where Christ paid the sin debt for all who receive Him and accept the payment He made.

At this juncture the planners made a place for the tired and thirsty. Later in the summer it will be very hot and visitors will be more than ready for a seat in the shade and an ice cream and/or water. Today we had both even though it wasn’t overly hot.

Ice cream in hand we went to the next stop on the tour, the threshing floor where Ruth waited for us.

She told us her story how she and her mother-in-law, Naomi, were widowed, destitute and almost homeless. Ruth went to a barley field to glean and Boaz, the owner of the field fell in love with her, married her, took in Naomi, and redeemed their property. She told us Christ had done the same for, rescued them from the destitution and condemnation of sin, all who will accept him and his redemption.

Peter, at our next stop, asked me if I was a fisherman. I told him we both were fishermen. He was standing next to his boat, a one third replica of his actual boat. Nets were draped across his boat.

Peter, also known as Simon, told us how Christ had found him and his brother after they had fished all night without catching anything. At Christ’s biding they cast their nets on the other side of the boat and the nets were filled to breaking. Then Christ told them he would make them fishers of men if they followed Him. The left their nets and followed Him. This is just part of the story but you can read the rest in the New Testament and how Christ even forgave betrayal and denial.

A few more steps took us back in time, once again.

Moses was standing close to steles displaying the Ten Commandments.

He related how God had interacted with him through the years, first saving him as a baby, then having him reared in the house of Pharaoh until he was 40 , having him tend sheep until he was 80 and then appointing him as the one to deliver His, God’s, messages to Pharaoh concerning the freedom of the Children of Israel. He also talked about his own rebellion but how God forgave him as He will all who accept His son Jesus. If the reader would like to read the whole story go to Exodus in your Bible. It is all there.

Our next few steps took us several centuries forward to a community well where we met Mary, the mother of Jesus. She talked about Jesus, His childhood and ministry and how He brought Living Water to the world.

As most of the western world knows Christ died on Golgotha, also known as the place of the skull. It was Mary Magdalene, one of His most devoted followers, who related this part of the Living Bible to us and told us of the dark hours following the crucifixion and how frightened she had been. How over the next three days Christians had been terrified and afraid that Roman soldiers would come after them and crucify them as well. Then on the third day, Mary Magdalene said that as she visited the tomb where Christ had been laid, He appeared to her, raised from the dead, in a glorified body. He told her the sin debt had been paid for all who receive him, that His work on earth was almost at an end, and that in forty days He would go to be with His Father but that He would come again someday to claim all who believe on Him.

Mary Magdalene did not mention it but it is very important to note that He told her that even He does not know the day or hour of His return, only His Father knows. Those who purport to know the day and time should be viewed for what they are, fakes.

Our walking tour was over. It was after three. We visited the gift shops, where the writer bought a couple of books, and the art museum where there was an astounding collection of Christian art.

We also took the opportunity to take a couple of photos of the Passion Play stage during the daylight hours.

In the car we drove to Christ of the Ozarks, the largest statue of Christ in the U.S. Its sheer size made it impossible to photograph without a wide angle lens, which we don’t have.

It was after four when we got back to the coach.

Onie was tired and opted for a nap.

The writer sat with carrots, from the garden on Lake Road, dipped them in hummus and made notes and wrote.

Onie was up at six when she fixed a salad and smoked salmon with garlic/butter pasta for supper. The writer took a break to eat.

After supper Onie was off to the washateria at seven and the writer continued to write.

The writer’s friend, Jim called at nine. It is not looking good for our friend, Pat. We agreed to talk again tomorrow.

Then it was back to writing.

With the laundry folded and ready to be put away Onie returned at ten.

We put the clean clothes away and then she sat down to spend some time on the web with email and Facebook

The writer was still plugging away with the stories.

We both enjoyed some fresh cherries as we sat at our keyboards.

By eleven the navigator announced it was time for a break and a little TV. We retired to the bedroom where we watched ID until we went to sleep.

FAILURE TO START

May 29, 2011-Sunday

The A/C didn’t run last night as it was cool but when the sun hit the coach early this morning it kicked on at seven thirty.

We rose at eight thirty to the bright sunshine. Outside the trees whipped in a stiff wind.

At nine we sat down to our breakfast of steel cut oats, walnuts, honey and strawberries, chai tea and coffee.

While the writer made notes Onie vacuumed and showered.

Wheels were turning as we were on the road again at 11:05 under mostly sunny skies with the temp hovering at 83. Our odometer read 119,678. The south wind was blowing fifteen to twenty miles an hour with gusts a little higher.

Gospel music played on the iPod.

The Missouri roads are a little better. Arkansas roads were smooth and winding but had no shoulder. On the other hand the Missouri roads are smooth, not quite so winding with much better shoulders.

Beautiful scenery lined the roadway on a beautiful Sunday morning.

We crossed the Roaring River which isn’t big but is popular for trout fishing and the popularity is well deserved according to those who fish it.

We were following a scenic route. The folks of Missouri want to be sure one sees all the beauty on the way. The speed limit is 35 mph but most of the time in the curves it is an actual speed of 15-25 mph and sometimes the indicated speeds are actually a little bit fast.

We were enjoying the scenic ride. The road surface was good even if it was very hilly and winding with sharp, sharp turns.

We drove through Cassville, Missouri at noon. It was 83. The folks of Cassville appear to run a very frugal town. There are no shoulders on the streets anywhere in town but where an attempt was made to have one it may be 2 inches but that is generous.

On highway 37 we were in northwestern Missouri passing through Purdy. South of here someone had already been making hay on the right of way. In the fields there were good stands of hay waiting to be mowed, raked and baled. While the hay crop is going to be very good the people up here paid a price for all the rain that grew the hay, in the form of tornados and bad weather but then it is an ill wind that blows no good. Many fields were already full of round and rectangular bales with more to come.

Forty four north in Missouri became our route at 1:15 in the afternoon. We were 137 miles from Kansas City and figured we should be there about 3:30. Forty four north was a nice change after the roads we were on earlier. They had no shoulders and 9 foot lanes which gave me six inches on either side of coach. For meeting wide loads it was either in the grass or the ditch or in an oncoming lane of traffic. This road is a freeway. The wind is now behind us instead of coming from the left side where it was trying to push us into the ditch.

Gospel music was still playing.

With the wind at our back it should increase our fuel mileage. We were back on cruise instead of the real driving we had been doing. It had manual downshifting, exhaust brake, foot on the fuel feed and very alert for shoulders and oncoming traffic. It was nice to be on the super slide for a while.

We had seen diesel as low as 3.71 and Onie commented on the cheap price. It is not cheap but it is better than 4.04. We didn’t need fuel so we didn’t stop but if the price holds we will fuel before leaving Missouri.

Passing within 12-15 miles of Joplin, Missouri we didn’t see a whole lot of damage but did see a few trees down, a couple of signs down and a couple of structures with roof damage. The damage may have been caused by straight line winds.

Near Ridgeville, Missouri at 2:30 we found we were in the land of at least one outspoken person who is still not afraid to express his opinion. On an old 18 wheeler trailer sitting in his pasture is a message for all passersby to see. He asks the question; “Are you a producer or a parasite?” Then answers his own question with a statement; “Democratic, party of the parasites.” Whether one believes it or agrees with him or not he still has the right to express his opinion and hopefully all who see the sign will agree with that right. That is what good men and women have fought and died for, freedom of speech, among other things. Exercise it while you can because it is being eroded every day with too much political correctness. The political correctness movement has cowed many people into silence when what they should be doing is speaking out for what they believe in.

Speech should not be designed to inflict hurt on others but rather to advance one’s own principals, believing what one says and saying what one believes, even in the face of bitter opposition. A good position can be advanced without personally attacking those who differ. Personal attacks do nothing to advance any idea. If people, pastors, in the 1700s hadn’t brought up and espoused an unpopular idea, freedom from England, we would still be British subjects. One should speak out to advance their ideas, liberal, conservative, middle of the road or off the charts but be willing to listen and discuss other viewpoints. The bottom line is that every day people, the populace, should be standing up, espousing their viewpoints, being heard in letters to the editors, emails to TV hosts, emails to elected officials, personal appearances at town hall meetings, school board meetings and any place a public forum is available. It is time for the silent majority to no longer be silent. They should be the vocal majority.

If one hasn’t been following the weather news Missouri has gotten a lot of rain in the last few days and weeks. All rivers and creeks are running full or overfull. There is water standing in fields plowed this spring, some almost leveled by water running through them. These are near creeks and rivers, bottom lands. The road is built up 10 to 15 feet above the creek level or it too would have been flooded in these lowlands.

Missouri had a huge armadillo population and may still have a big population but it has been reduced substantially by road kill. Perhaps they have been driven out of the lowlands by the floods. For whatever reason they are on the road and they certainly don’t know how to deal with traffic.

We were passing through Kansas City a bit before 4. It appeared to be a very clean town at least from Hiway 71 that we were on.

Finding traffic lights on an interstate is a little disconcerting but that is what we dealt with on 71 in Kansas City.

The gospel music that had started before we left this morning had been playing all day and was still continuing. With the iPod there are no CDs to load or transport. There may be 17 albums of gospel music and 400 plus songs loaded on the iPod so it will play all day and then some.

We crossed the Missouri River in Kansas City. It was certainly bank full and may have been flooding. It was very muddy. It might be muddy all of the time. We don’t know.

Ms. Garmin brought us right through Kansas City without any difficulties. There was lots of splitting of the Hiway but she always had us in the right lane to continue without a hitch.

We stopped for fuel at Cameron Point, Missouri. When the tank was full we calculated our mileage at 10.4 mpg.

We were in ST. Joseph, Missouri at 5:05 and still rolling. We had logged 1070 miles since we left the house.

We continued north of St. Joseph on Highway 29. There was a lot of cultivated land and also lots of evidence of an abundance of rain. Everything not plowed or already harvested was lush green.

The shadows were lengthening and we were watching for deer. Missouri deer are bigger than Texas deer and we would like to see a live one, but not in the middle of the road.

We would be stopping for the night very soon at a road side park/rest area. When the Cummins fell silent the ending mileage was 119,985.

Onie set the supper table with salad and skinny chicken soup.

When we tried to start the generator it failed to start. We thought it may have a clogged fuel filter as it had been running good earlier in the trip. We will get a new filter in Sheldon. We replaced the filter just before we left the house but the filters are prone to clog with the smallest amount of dirt or water.

After supper we were sitting in the roadside park waiting for it to cool off so we could get to sleep.

We were 251 miles from Sheldon and just south of Council Bluffs.