Waiting and wishing

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It's two months until Grace and I get on the Kawasaki 1600 Nomad and head East on I-94 to Chicago where we will get on Route 66. We leave on Memorial Day and we hope for warmer weather than last Memorial Day when it was 36 degrees!

Steph will be staying with Grandma Katie and Grandpa Les in Minot or here at home with her sister Tori. This is a trip we've planned for several months and we really have the itch to do it. Our plan is to have as little plan as possible -- to ride a few hours and find a motel or see some sights. We've never traveled the southwest, especially on motorcycle so this will be a real adventure. The total trip will be slightly over 5,000 miles and will go through prairie, Mississippi river forests, Deserts, coastal highway, Redwoods, alpine, and salt flats. We'll see old stretches of Route 66 as well as new Interstate. We'll cross the Mississippi twice and the Missouri at least twice.

Our goal is to really experience the old highway so we hope to stay on as much of the original road as we can and stay in as many of the old motels as possible as opposed to the Holiday Inns. On the front end, Grace wants to visit Mankato, MN to see where the 39 Indians were tried and hanged during the Minnesota Uprising of the Minnesota Indian war. From there we want to visit the art museum in Chicago since the road starts right in front of the museum. From there, it's anyone's guess what we will choose to visit.

Another goal is to journal each day and keep up with this travel blog. We hope to be able to produce some kind of devotional based on the theme of the road and using journey as the metaphor. The Bible is filled with both actual journey and the journey metaphor. Think of Abraham and his travel from Ur or Joseph and his travels to Egypt or Moses and the Israelites and their travels away from Egypt. Think of Johsua and his journey into the Promised Land or David and his flight from Saul. Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem and Christ traveled to the cross. Jesus met some of his followers on the Road to Emaus. Paul made three missionary journeys that began with his conversion on the Road to Damascus. The list could go on. We hope to use this metaphor to describe the journeys we make in life through joy and tragedy and how God walks with us. We hope to use some of the experiences of our journey to be the springboard for our meditations.

So, now that I've outlines what our hopes are for this three week Sabbatical from ministry, it will be interesting to see how it really turns out. In the meantime, we are waiting for the two feet of snow to melt (hey, we are already down a foot from where it started) and for time to pass so that we can be on the road. Hope you enjoy following our trip and being with us in our travels as we travel Route 66!

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Photos

Steve and the Nomad
This was not from this trip, but just to let you know what will be our mode of transportation. By the way, that's me!

Comments

[North Dakota Dating]

Nice Great Awesome
Thanks for the wonderful blog.. i enjoyed reading it... Thanks! Peace, Pernan Salvador http://www.universityloveconnection.com/university-North%20Dakota-Dating.htm