Leaving Oklahoma June 2, 2009

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Today we left Erick, Oklahoma and almost immediately entered Texas since we were only 7 miles from the Texas border. The problem was, we couldn't get out of our motel room until 11:00 a.m. because of the heavy rains, lightening and thunder. Neither Grace nor I are fond of playing lightening rod at 70 mph on the back of a motorcycle.

Our first stop was in Shamrock, TX where we stopped at the "U Drop Inn" which is no longer a service station or restaurant but is an information center and gift shop on Route 66. The claim to fame of this place is its Art Deco design that was exactly duplicated in the movie "Cars" as Ramone's Paint Shop. If you saw it, you would recognize it from the movie. From there we traveled toward Amarillo taking time to stop at a huge 200 ft. or so cross in central Texas. It was kind of a religious shrine complete with the Stations of the Cross and bronze statues depicting scenes from the Bible. A powerful image that caught my attention was a statue of Jesus kneeling at a monument to the unborn. Jesus is weeping and in his hand was a small fetus. Kind of sobering!

After getting back on the road, we went on to Amarillo and stopped at The Big Texan, home of the free 72 oz. steak. There's just one catch, the steak dinner is about $75 but it's free if you can eat the whole thing. Believe it or not, quite a few people have actually done it. I didn't try. However, a couple guys from United Kingdom were there and one of them was trying. I don't think he made it, but we didn't stay the full hour to see if he did. We stopped outside Amarillo at the Cadilac Ranch where about 10 old Cadilacs are planted on end in the middle of a field. Not really much point, just a work of "art", I guess.

We crossed over into New Mexico and noticed an immediate change in landscape. We were suddenly in the desert. We raced to Tucumcari to beat a storm and we went right in between two storm systems and didn't get wet! We stayed at the Blue Swallow Motel which is a classic on Route 66. It is a court style motel built in 1929 and is complete with awnings and each room had its own garage with private entry (at least it did in its heyday). Some of the garages were still available for motocycles to park but cars are too big to fit in them since they were built for older cars. So, I parked the Nomad inside for the night.

Our scripture today was from Ruth 1:6-10. Naomi and her husband had moved to Moab while Judah was facing severe famine. While they were there, their two sons took Moabite wives. One married Ruth and the other Orpah. Naomi's huband died, and later, both of her sons died as well. Now Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were widowed with no means of support. Naomi suggests to the two women that they return to their own mother's house where they can find support. Ruth instead said she wanted to return to Bethehem of Judea with Naomi. Think of the risk this Moabite woman was taking. No Social Security and going to a strange land. Yet she believed it was the right thing to do. When she went to Bethlehem, she and Naomi gleaned wheat in a farmers field, she and the farmer fell in love and she became married to a wealthy man.

I was thinking as I read this how relucant I am to take risks. As I'm getting older, I tend to take fewer risks. What kind of blessings do I miss because I'm unwilling to take a risk? When we were preparing for this trip, so many people thought we were crazy to take such a trip. It would have been easy for us to say, "You're right! We shouldn't do it. We'll just stay home." Yet, what would we have missed? The experiences, the scenery, the people along the way. God calls us to risk and to step outside our comfort zone. That is when God begins to do amazing things.

Steve

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