There and Back Again

We left on January 2nd, driving south and west. We returned home on March 20th, road weary but rejoicing.

On the way west, we headed to Chicago to pick up the trail of Route 66. It’s the highway known as America’s “Mother Road”, running from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California.

We generally stayed on the interstate highways that parallel old Route 66, making excursions to see some of the attractions along the way–like the Cars on the Route gas station in Kansas, the Blue Whale in Oklahoma and the End of the Trail Sign at the Santa Monica Pier in California.

In California, we enjoyed connecting with a number of dear friends and several churches we served before coming to Canada. We spent five days at Rick’s “favourite place on the planet”–Mt Hermon Conference Center near Santa Cruz, California. It was at Mt. Hermon that Rick sensed a renewed calling to “train pastors, leaders and missionaries” back in 2011. This was part of the process God used to move us to Heritage College and Seminary.

From California, we headed north to Portland, Oregon to visit Rick’s mother and sisters.

Our son, Michael, and his family flew out to join us. What fun we had together.

From Oregon, it was up to Lynden, Washington, to be with Linda’s mother and her brothers.

In mid-March, we headed home, making a dash through the midwest on some beautifully, sunny days. While we enjoyed the entire trip, it was wonderful to sleep in our own bed again.

In all, we drove through 17 States and travelled over 16,000 km! God graciously kept us safe and well all along the way. Our hearts were moved to worship as we saw spectacularly beautiful scenery and walked the west coast beaches. The time with friends and family refreshed our souls and left with with many special memories. We thank God for bringing us there and back again!