Lessons Learned

3/18/16. After last night’s brief scare of strong winds and rain and remembering “be not anxious “ this mornings Psalm reading was 104, all about the greatness of God. He’s got this! No matter what...I am in His care. HalleluJAH!

3/19/16 Left Gulfport about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Stopped 45 minutes later right before crossing into Alabama at a wayside to double check the wheels on the car to make sure they were secure. One of the straps came off on an earlier trip so we’re being extra careful to make sure they’re on correctly. All good. (We thank God for His grace in giving us this and many other opportunities to learn how to manage our new life well.) Feeling much more peaceful as we drive. I have my moments and quickly remember that I won’t gain any time on my life by anxious thoughts and reactions. People do this everyday, and by the grace of God, so can we.

As we traveled Interstate 10 from Mississippi through Alabama into Florida panhandle, we made several stretching rest stops and one diesel stop. Bill really needs to stretch. (Please continue to pray for Bill’s shoulder/upper arm pain. You can also pray for back & bottom pain due to these long driving times.) Me, I can get up and walk around for which I am very grateful. When we stopped for diesel, we got to the pump and we’re confused by the type it was…bio-diesel. What’s that? Is it okay to use on a motorhome? They had no other options, so it must be okay, right? Being new we wanted to be sure so we went inside to ask someone. They weren’t sure either. Sooooo, what did we  do…we called our good  friend, Bill Munson. The bio-diesel is fine. Another lesson learned. Thank you, Lord!

The weather been quite beautiful and the highway landscape, looks like we could be in Wisconsin in June, tree lined and green. I’m overjoyed to report that I’ve been mostly peaceful on this leg of our journey. So very different than our trip from Texas to Gulfport. So very grateful for the peace that comes from the One who gives it liberally, if only we will receive it. I will say it again…thanks for all your prayers and praise God for His faithful Scripture encouragement. Worry won’t add an hour to my life. More like it steals those times of my life. Blessings to all you prayer warriors.

By 6 o’clock Saturday, we were getting close to Lake City, Florida where we planned on boondocking at Walmart. For those of you who don’t know what boondocking is, it’s parking your motorhome in a public parking lot or rest area for free overnight parking (where it is permitted). Most Walmarts allow this.  We called ahead to make sure.

I’d like to interject here how busy I can be as Bill drives. I’m checking Google Maps for the best route, letting Bill know how many miles to the next exit and the exit number. I’m checking the Truckers Path app and/or Pilot service station app (both of which Bill M recommended) to find rest areas or truck stops for fueling. Of course, I did a bunch of Googling to find a place to boondock. Walmart won out this time. And then there’s my wifely duties…making Bill a sandwich, getting him a snack or a soda or responding to a thud to see what we didn’t secure tightly. So far, one of the kitchen drawers came open and another time I forgot to secure the closet door. Nothing broken. Another good lesson.

I must admit boondocking  was fun even though I was a little nervous. Plenty of lighting and other rigs and trucks around. At first, I wasn’t sure how Bill would maneuver us into the lot but he did a fabulous job. Got a great night’s sleep. It was actually quieter than the motorhome park where we were in Gulfport as we very close to the Interstate.

3/20/16 Happy Palm Sunday! Sure wish we could be worshipping together. Unfortunately, we’ve been doing a lot of our traveling on Sunday’s which I’m not all that happy about….but it is what it is and we’ll learn how to plan better going forward.

As I write this we’re about an hour to an hour and a half from our next destination…Wickham County Park in Melbourne. We’ll be with our son and granddaughter for the next week. So excited. Not sure how much posting I’ll be doing in the next week but know that we’re thinking and praying for all our dear friends and family. Blessings to you all.