Day Two in San Jose

     We spent another restful day at the Howell's house today.  Erin was able to ride a horse but I was helping with something up at the house so I didn't get any pictures. Bummer!  We're going to try again tomorrow to get pictures of her riding the horse.  Apparently the horse got spooked by something and start running with Erin on it.  She was rescued quickly and was just fine. While discussing it tonight over dessert (yummy strawberry shortcake), we decided that perhaps the horse was stung by a bee since the horse she was riding was one of the gentlest horses they have and the horse quickly changed to running.  I am just glad she was fine.  Loisa was impressed that Erin stayed calm held on. 
     The kids also had some more pool time which was fun.  After the pool time, we went back down to the ranch and Erin collected some more eggs.  She was putting them away when I noticed that the chickens were all out.  Oops!  Adrian showed her the best way to get the chickens back in the chicken coop by sprinkling food in the coop.  It worked great.  Erin also helped feed the horses and the goats. 
     Later in the evening, after dinner, Adrian took Jonathan and Erin and his two grandsons to his favorite frozen yogurt place.  That was a hit with both Erin and Jonathan.
     I have pictures from today but we accidently forgot our laptop at Adrian and Gloria's house so I will have to put pictures on in the morning.
     Well, that's all for tonight.  Keep checking back for updates and for our departure date from San Jose to head out on our last leg of our trip to Oregon.

A Restful Day

Today we had a restful day at the Howell's house sitting by the pool, swimming and doing laundry.  Jim helped Adrian with some things around the ranch.  Erin also helped bathe a horse which she was very excited about and she collected chicken eggs.   It was a great day and it was so good to not be in the car all day.  We enjoyed catching up with Adrian and Gloria and their daughter, Stacey, and her two little boys. 

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This is Cassie, Erin's favorite horse. 

She enjoyed the baby bunnies also.

Getting the chicken eggs.

This one wanted to keep laying on her eggs.

Erin collected these eggs.

This is Bubba.  He was dancing with me.

A mama goat and her two babies.

Swimming in the pool

Erin was showing Stacie a cup trick.

DJ, Stacie's son, was playing with cups too.  Too cute!

We're in San Jose, California

     We have now traveled over 3,000 miles since leaving Puebla, Mexico on Monday morning. As we were heading into Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world and we could tell just by smelling the garlic. It was a good day of travel but everyone is ready for a break. We will be staying a few days in San Jose. Jim worked 29 years for his friend, Adrian, before we left to go to Mexico and we will be visiting him and his family as well as other friends.

     Today we started out in Arizona and soon crossed over into California. We traveled through some very hot areas as we went through the Mojave Desert. God has blessed us with very good weather this trip. Although we have run into some very heavy rains, the temperatures have been cool which is very good for traveling. We are so thankful!

     Our daughter, Kristen, is getting very excited for our return to Oregon. She plans on having her family there at the house when we arrive in the Portland area. Jim's mom is pretty excited also. She is already planning dinner for our arrival. We are getting very excited to see everyone also. I have grand babies that I am (we are) longing to hold and hug and kiss.
     It is wonderful to have had this opportunity to see the country by driving through it. We drove on the historic Route 66 today (and yesterday) and watched the movie Cars which was fun. After that, we'd go by semi-trucks and say, “We got ourselves a nodder.” If you haven't seen the movie, you might not understand that.
     While driving along I-5 in California, we came across a caravan of vans with the first one we saw had “Mexico or Bust” written on the back window. The vans farther up had “Honk if you Love Jesus” written on them. We were honking and giving them a thumbs up whenever we passed them. One of vehicles had a sign on it saying Covenant to Mexico Missions. With that, we came to the conclusion that they must have been returning from a mission trip to Mexico.
     Tonight, we are having dinner at Red Robin. We have not eaten there in over 15 months. Once we reach home, the eating our will be few and far between so we are eating at a couple of our favorite places along the way.   Next, it is off to the hotel and for a swim.  We'll keep updating you as we go.
      Again, we want to thank all of you for your prayers. I can't say enough that we have felt them along the way and throughout the last 15 months.

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This picture was from last night.  It was not the hotel we stayed at but it was cool that it was called Motel 66.

The scenery today was not as impressive but it was still pretty.

See the Route 66 sign?

And we entered California.

I liked the stair case look of this land scape.

We went through desert and then came to orchards.

San Luis Resevoir

We Made It to the Grand Canyon

     This morning started out a little different than we had planned. Jim went out to load the van with our suitcases and saw that a tire was low. After inspecting the tire, he discovered it had been punctured by a nail. Being Friday, he figured he could find a place that was open to fix it. He was wondering where a tire place might be and looked across the street and saw a big tire sign. Isn't God good? He is carrying us on this trip and for that we are truly grateful.      The rest of the day was pretty uneventful although we again hit some amazingly heavy rains. We had quite a few stops and I was wondering if we would really see the Grand Canyon today. We did not plan for it to be a long stop, we just wanted the kids to see it, which we finally did around 6:30. What an amazing sight. God is the creator of such beautiful landscapes, from the mountains, to the valleys, to the canyons. We are in awe of His wonders.
     Tonight, both kids are wanted to drive farther so we are doing some night driving. It will be our latest night and I am not sure where we will end up. In fact, I am writing this blog while we are driving so that whenever we do stop, it will be easier to get information to you. Jim actually enjoys driving at night and we have been able to see a beautiful sunset because of it.
     10:15 PM: Well, we are now stopping for the night in Kingman, Arizona. Tomorrow, we hope to make it to San Jose, California where we will spend a couple of days.
     Thank you again for all of your prayers. We do feel them and we are really looking forward to reconnecting with everyone. I am also getting very excited to meet our youngest grandson who was born in June.

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Different scenery on the way to the Grand Canyon.

We were not expecting the forest and it reminded us of Oregon.

More rain, we can't seem to get away from it.

The Grand Canyon

The sunset on the way out from the Grand Canyon

Off to See the Grand Canyon

We gained two hours last night.  We crossed over yesterday to the Mountain Time Zone which helped us gain an hour of travel time.  That was awesome but it was quite funny when we got into bed last night and the clock was an hour behind our watches.  We were going to change the hotel clock but I decided to call the front desk to see what time it was.  Sure enough, it was not 10:30 but 9:30.  I had totally forgotten that Arizona does not do Day Light Savings Time.  So, we gained another hour and for our family and friends in California and Oregon, we are on the same time zone now.  It was good for us to be in bed at 9:30 last night, even though to our bodies it was 11:30.  The great thing was getting up this morning and letting the kids know that it was almost like sleeping in.  Everyone is up now and although it is only 7:30, we can tell the kids that to them, it is like 9:30.  Erin said, "Wow, It's like I slept in this morning!"  LOL!

We have another long day of travel ahead of us, but this afternoon, we will be stopping to see the Grand Canyon.  We will be within 100 miles of it and we just cannot be that close without detouring to see it.  Please continue to pray for travel safetly and health.  We are all doing well so far.  My Fibromyalgia is acting up a little and my muscles have been sore with the lack of movement but God is getting me through.  Thank you for all of your prayers and we look forward to seeing family and friends again.