Jordan Family Quarterly Gazette

Special edition  -  November, 98

 

THE LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG TRIP

 

Compiled by Bob and Leslie Jordan and the traveling seven:

Rebecca, Andrea, Melissa, Ryan, Jessica, Amanda and Nathan

 

SEATTLE TO MISSOURI TO NORTH CAROLINA TO NEW ORLEANS TO SEATTLE

The fun and fascinating 8,500 mile, 28 day coast-to-coast road trip.

 

Greetings from the traveling Jordan’s.  We know some of you would enjoy a rundown of our trip, and others of you (and I know this to be true!) will enjoy this like you enjoy watching someone else’s home movies.  Nevertheless, we wanted to get a note out to you on our mail and email list.  If you know someone who knows us who’d like to read this email, feel free to forward it to him or her.  A map of the route is on page 16.  Thanks to Grandma Oregon (our kids’ name for Leslie’s mom) we video taped the entire trip.  We’ll be condensing it onto a regular video cassette tape.  Let us know if you’d like one!

 

The Mileage of A Motorhome Loaded Down With 9 People, Clothes, Books, Water, Fuel….

Oh, brother, you don’t want to know.  When we were shaking the motor home down (we bought it used in May 1998) we checked the mileage and had it pegged at 7.5 mpg.  I expected that on the road we’d probably get 8.0 mpg.  But overall we averaged 6.60 mpg.  I believe this lower mileage was due to the gearing of the motorhome.  We were seldom driving under 65 mph on the interstates, and often up to 70 to 85 mph (at home when we determined the mileage to be 7.5 mpg we were driving under 65 mph).  The engine is not equipped with overdrive, so we were not running in the efficient range of the engine.  But I had more money than time, so we kept the hammer down! 

 

In the mountains we got 5.9, and one tank got 7.9, but, as I said, overall it’s 6.6 mpg.  The good news is that gas is cheaper in just about all states compared to Washington.

 

Trip Costs

Some campgrounds only charged $9, and the most expensive was $42 (the one I had to stay at for four days – what a drag).  On average we’ve paid about $18-19 per night, for a total of about $500.  Fuel costs for the trip came in at $1500.  Car repairs came to $660 (more on that in the report), food and laundry and other incidentals came to $560, and souvenirs and entertainment fees added another $300.

 

Food costs were kept down and nutritional value up by not eating out hardly at all.  The kids prepared meals regularly.  Andrea’s Elegant Restaurant was in full swing for lunches and suppers

 

My friend Ron Payne at work introduced me to AAA.  I signed up for a year and got a basket full of maps, locations for campgrounds, and the history of states and attractions to see.  It also provided towing insurance, and I enjoyed discounts at various campgrounds.  Sweet

 

Overall, counting gas, propane, camp fees, food, vehicle maintenance, souvenirs, laundry, fees, we spent around $3,600.  I got a travel reimbursement from my work equivalent to the cost of air fair and hotel lodging, which amounted to about $1,200.  That made our net cost $2,400.  Deducting for food, which we would have purchased anyway had we been home the whole time, our new costs were now $1,800.  Half of the vehicle repairs would have occurred whether we took a trip or not, since they were regular items associated with any used vehicle.  Thus we figure that our “extra” costs for the trip was about $1,500. Not bad for seeing 33 states, numerous historical sights, parks, museums, family & friends.

 

Stopovers and Total Miles

We’ve missed most of our objectives, but overall we kept on schedule.  Our longest day on the road was 700 miles, and that came the day before we got home.  Up to then we usually topped out at around 500 miles per day for the heavy days, and in the 300-mile range for a calmer day. 

 

The miles traveled, from driveway to driveway at our home, was a whopping 8,529.5.  Call it 8,500 miles, not bad.  We traveled well and experienced a lot of diversification in geology, geography, customs, accents, cultures, norms and weather.

 

Beginning mileage was 59,461.2 and ending mileage was 67,990.7.  (The fuel log is at the end of the report.)  The days went as follows (location, climate, miles, etc.):

 

 

Ending odometer for the trip from Brier, WA to New Bern, North Carolina was 63453.6.  That’s 8 miles short of 4,000, and we weren’t even half way done!

 

Ending mileage was 67,990.7.  That makes the trip 8,529.5 miles.  The original trip, with no side visits, getting lost, or touring NC or New Orleans, called for 7,359 miles.  The difference is 1,170.5 miles (or 16% over budget – if I managed engineering projects like this I’d be out work.)

 

People Visited Up To And Through North Carolina

In Billings, MT we visited my great aunts Agnes and Betty.  They are the younger sisters of my mom’s dad.  They are delightful people with excellent attitudes.  A pleasure to be with.  Agnes lives in the same home she’s lived in for years.  It is very comfortable and we’ll be back again one day (we saw here five years ago when we were traveling to Wisconsin).  Agnes was in the hospital but we went there to see her.  She was surprised and delighted to see all of us.  She is a great lady, like Agnes, full of charm and grace.  Two marvelous ladies.

 

We had planned to visit my friend and electrical engineering mentor Kevin DeAngelis in Kansas.  We had car problems and didn’t get into Kansas until too late for us to rendezvous, but we did talk over the phone and we did see him in Washington this summer, and we will see him in Kansas in the future (guaranteed).  Kevin is an avid cyclist and EE wizard and I count him as a good friend and fellow professional engineer.  He tells me two-thirds of all tornadoes in the US are in Kansas.  Hang on, Kev!

 

In Missouri we saw our high school friends, twins Patty and Betty and their kids and Patty’s husband Kevin (who humbled me in basketball years ago and probably still could).  The kids rode horses and enjoyed it immensely.  They rode at Patty’s neighbors, who are delightful people.  Their 3-year old son rides and ropes, and he’s expecting a brother or sister pretty soon. I also visited with Patty and Betty’s parents, Wilbur and Irene Gross.  Mr. Gross saved my life in college.  He is a retired physicist and was my mentor for calculus, mechanics, electricity, and differential equations.  He also helped me to pass the engineer-in-training exam.  What a genius.  We spent the night in Patty’s yard after being stuffed with lunch and supper.  My original route did not include the north part of Missouri, but Leslie told me Patty told her that if we set foot in Missouri we had to see them.  Such conviction prompted me to reroute the course, and I’m so glad I did.

 

In North Carolina we met my dad’s best friend and his wife, Earl and Virginia Spence.  Earl and Virginia were in Seattle five years ago when they had gotten word that my dad had terminal cancer (the cancer wasn’t terminal, but Earl thought it was).  Earl and Virginia came right out; he is a real friend. When we arrived in Kinston Earl and Virginia took out our entire family to dinner (no small task for anyone) where we enjoyed a Southern meal along with the drink of the South: Iced Tea.  Earl showed us how to find the cemetery where my Grandpa Jordan is buried.  We visited them at their home for a while, and had some good laughs.  We called my mom in Seattle from the Spence home, and I enjoyed that.

 

The next day was the main event.  We came into New Bern and met with my Grandma Mae Jordan.  She is 87 years young.  She cried when we all came in, and she hugged all the kids and Leslie and me.  We videoed all the people we visited.  It was at grandma’s I set up the computer and started this journal.  Grandma has a lovely apartment, very comfortable and very safe.  I love my grandma.  We had planned to come here for a long time.  Grandma had never seen any of my kids, and didn’t think she ever would.  But we were all praying, and God was good to us in providing a way for us to get together.

 

Grandma was always such an excellent cook, and always kept us full of home-style meals when my brother and I were boys.  Though Grandma isn’t able to cook now she did have one of her helpers make a big pot of soup per her directions and it was absolutely delicious.  One taste transported me back many years to the smells, tastes, sights and sounds of life at Grandma and Grandpa’s home.  We had juice, crackers, cheesecake, etc. and it was a fabulous meal.

 

Repairs Along the Way (Or, An Opportunity To Develop Character)

Our repair activity began before we even left!  On the departure day, we thought we had a propane gas leak due to a sulfur odor.  To make a long story short, we eventually figured out that our deep cycle battery cooked itself dry in four of the six cells.  I yanked that battery out and put in another one I had in the garage, and we took off, four hours behind schedule, but we were off!  Before I figured out that it was the battery, I cleared the kids away from the motorhome, left the driver side door open, kept one leg out on the running board, and started her up.  Had she looked like she was going to explode (remember the Hindenburg?) I’d have maybe had a chance to jump out!  I could see tomorrows paper:  Man in prime of life blown to the next county preparing to take wife and seven kids on 8,500 mile trip.  The readers would have figured I had it coming, or that I got the better alternative.

 

While backing out of the driveway to leave on the trip, we saw that one of the low beam lights was burned out.  Bummer.  We got one at a store and installed it in the parking lot by flashlight.  I bought a second one and installed it in Indiana later in the trip.

 

While driving in Montana the car started sputtering and spitting and backfiring and losing power going up any kind of grade.  This was not too comforting of a feeling, to say the least.  I got to a safe place to pull off and took off the engine cover, tore into the carburetor, and checked the fuel filter (which I had replaced before the trip).  I pulled a metal sliver out of it and hoped that that was the problem.  Not. Numerous Montanans stopped to offer help.  We found people like this all across the nation.  One guy had a 120 mile commute to work.  We figured that with Montana having no speed limit and no traffic, and my Brier to Redmond work commute of 15 miles being so slow, we each had about the same time in the car going to work.  Anyway, we took off and the engine still sputtered.  We pulled off into a Ford dealership (remember, I have a Chevy) and told our tale of woe (it was after 6pm, and they were closing up).  If we needed a fuel pump, they would have had to order one to get the next day (not cool, I was on a schedule).  The angel in disguise as a service manager said that many RV’s have a second fuel filter under the coach by the fuel tank.  He was right, and they pulled out mine and it was filthy and plugged.  He replaced it and the engine ran like a top.  The filter was $5, plus $10 labor.  I gave him a 20 and said to keep the change and buy a coke.  I was thrilled and pleased to be on the way!

 

While driving, almost from the start, I was noticing that the engine was running on the hot side.  Not into the critical part of the range, but still quite hot.  While driving through Iowa I got concerned enough to want to do something about it (knowing that the hotter weather was still ahead on our trip).  I checked inside the radiator and sure enough most of the rods were plugged.  So on a Sunday night in Sioux City, Iowa (the hub of the nation) I pulled into the only auto parts store open and got a radiator.  To make a long and painful story short, I got it installed and we got back on the road, after a four-hour delay.  This kept me from seeing Kevin DeAngelis in Kansas (the biggest disappointment of the trip), but now the motor home runs very, very cool, even on hot days.  What a relief.  While I was playing auto mechanic (where’s my brother Dave when I really need him?) the rest of the family got a lasagna dinner cooking.  By the time I got the radiator fixed (by flashlight) and showered up in the motorhome (in the parking lot) we were ready to eat.  If you have a motorhome most delays are just opportunities to rearrange your activities.  In a car you would simply be stuck.

 

While in Illinois. the engine wouldn’t start after one of our stops.  This had happened before, but now it was at an inopportune time.  For the second time I had the engine cover off and I was working on the carburetor.  After about an hour I got it running again.  The kids played in the park and even spotted a hawk (we think).  This same thing happened (it was vapor lock) in Nashville, Tenn.  Again, at an inopportune time.  But after another hour I got it going and off we went.

 

In St. Louis I had the oil changed.  It would be 3,000 miles later that I would change it again, this time in Oklahoma City, OK.  At the Oklahoma station I had the transmission fluid replaced too.  This is because earlier in the day I put engine oil in the transmission fill port (about half a quart).  Man, did I feel stupid.  But it wasn’t something that money couldn’t fix.

 

Just before we got to Kinston, North Carolina the engine stared sputtering like it did in Montana (the first time in 2,000 miles this had happened).  I pulled off and got TWO rear filters, replaced the one, and off we went, with no problems.  I’ve been using a fuel additive, and since the coach is a 1984, I suspect it’s been cleaning out the varnish and other contaminants from the gas tank, and that the filter is plugging quick.  That’s my theory for now.

 

While cruising through Texas, about 90 miles east of Amarillo, the engine suddenly sounded like its bottom fell out; it was producing a deep-throated roar that was very, very loud!  I pulled off and determined that the tail pipe, where it was connected to the exhaust manifold, had broken off.  So after checking a few po-dunk towns with absolutely no services, we decided to drive into Amarillo to get it fixed.  So for 90 miles we had the cassette player turned up on HI and roared our way into the only big city in a 300-mile radius.  The Midas shop fixed both sides of the tail pipe, and only charged $40.  This was great.  But another situation was revealed.  While the coach was up on the lift, I noticed that one of my inner dual tires had a bald spot.  I rotated the tire and found that half had normal, deep tread, and half was worn down to the cord!  The mechanic determined that the tire had separated (steel belted radial).  We put on the spare.  I tipped the mechanic $5 and headed off to the tire store, only to find out that they didn’t have the tire size I needed.  They called the one competitor they thought might have it, and they had ONLY ONE (the only one in Amarillo – thus the only one within 300 miles!).  I said I’ll take it and went there and had it mounted.  Thank God nothing happened on the road with that bad tire.  After a cool $98 for the tire, I was back on the road.

 

Our next car woes came in New Mexico.  Here we went dead in the water in Gallup (west side of NM).  Our old friend vapor lock was back, and I couldn’t get it running.  So here we were again.  Leslie started making supper, I had the engine cowling off again and was undoing fuel lines while all the while watching that big orb we call the sun gently (rapidly) setting in the west.  I called the local garage and the manager brought me a fuel pump.  If you’ve ever tried to change an engine part, from under the engine, in the dark, where everything is engineered to be totally inaccessible, then you know what I was faced with.  By this time Ole’ Sol had set and I was back using a flashlight (you know the kind putting out the light value of a match because the batteries are pooping out). The manager was helping me out, but I decided to leave the old pump on (my only real choice) and wait for the vapor lock to release, which it did.  I still bought the pump and will probably change it out sometime in the spring (when I can get my brother Dave to do it).  After a while the engine sputtered and I replaced the rear and front fuel filters and off we went, singing as we went (yeah, right).

 

My only other vapor lock problem occurred in Utah.  This time I disassembled lots of lines under the rig and got it running in only 40 minutes, versus the two hours I spent fussing about in New Mexico.  This completed the mechanical challenges of the trip!

 

Special Sites And Anecdotes

Montana has no daytime speed limit.  We were driving 75 to 80 miles per hour, and once it got up to about 83 mph.  Most states had limits posted at 70 or 75 mph, and some at 65.  No one goes the speed limit, they all go faster.  Fuel prices vary.  Missouri, Kansas, and North Carolina all have gas for under a buck a gallon, and that’s for the middle grade of unleaded!  Out west the prices got higher.  I enjoyed buying fuel for under a buck a gallon, particularly for the top grade!

 

We hit 33 states in all, including the following: Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Oregon.  This Christmas we’ll hit California to make it 34.  Almost 70% toward the goal (see last page).

 

I think it was in South Dakota that we went into our first Wal-Mart to buy some food.  Wal-Marts are not what they used to be.  Recommended reading is Sam Walton’s “Made In America” biography and Wal-Mart story.  Sam had it arranged that if an employee came within 10 feet of a customer they had to greet them.  Well, I practically sat in the lap of employees of half a dozen Wal-Marts and no one greeted me.  (Maybe there’s a problem with me?)  Well, with Sam gone the leadership seems to have gone too.  Anyway, at our first Wal-Mart we threw a couple of items in the cart and proceeded to pay $150 at the checkout counter.  I was shocked and appalled.  Walking out I asked Leslie if this was how things were in Seattle.  She looked at me like I had three heads and said welcome to realitysville.

 

Special sights include Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, and Corn Palace, all of South Dakota, Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia and Virginia, Blue Angels show in Florida, my home for two years in Pensacola, Florida and my elementary school there, the largest cross in the western hemisphere (in Texas, of course), crossing the worlds longest bridge (23 miles across Lake Ponchartrain in New Orleans), Arches National Park in Utah, various cemeteries, civil war battlefields and museums, the Oregon Trail, and lots of other attractions.  In Utah early one morning I saw three shooting stars; a meteor shower.

 

The Blue Ridge mountain foothills are spectacular.  All colors and over huge areas.  Colors include purple, orange, brown, yellow, gold, green, fucia, and other hues, all against a brilliant blue sky with fluffy white clouds interspersed.  Man, what a sight!

 

In Nebraska an automobile body shop was advertising the good work they did on cars subjected to hail storm damage.  We saw hurricane damage signs in the South as well.  You just don’t see those kinds of signs in the Pacific Northwest!  (Of course, those places had no earthquake sale signs either.)

 

We listened to a lot of leadership and business tapes, some inspirational singing tapes, and the “Little House on the Prairie” tape with Amanda’s favorite song “Wait for the Wagon.”  We really wore this tape out (or should I say it wore us out).  We got numerous requests for this every day.

 

Our good friends and my preaching buddy Lincoln and Linda Baker are planning on moving from Seattle to Evansville, Indiana.  We drove through Evansville and saw lots of manufacturing there, so Linc (who is an engineer) should be able to land something.  He who liveth and abideth forever will instruct Linc wherein he should go and serve, and Linc will listen and obey (which is his heart).

 

The weather has been excellent.  We got a cup of rain in North Dakota, but that was all up to this point.  We saw some snow off to the side of the road in Western Montana and again at Rushmore.  It was 80 degrees in Nashville and it was hot in North Carolina and Louisiana, too.

 

When we first entered Tennessee we looked for a place to camp (and didn’t find one).  But, as we drove around the local town (at night) we saw signs about the “Trail of Tears.”  The Trail of Tears Park had the graves of two Cherokee Indian Chiefs along with a memorial.  It was indeed moving as I read the description of the Trail of Tears.  I’ll learn more later, but what I read described how the US Government forcibly moved the Indian tribes out of Tennessee and into Oklahoma.  It was bitterly cold, the Indians were suffering from hunger and sickness and many men, women and children died, and the Indian Chiefs had broken hearts because their people looked to them for help and they could not provide any.  The life-size statues depicted this.  Man’s inhumanity to man knows no bounds.

 

Coming through Tennessee on Interstate 40 was a real treat.  Every semi tractor-trailer rig in the east coast was on that highway (it is a main trucking arterial).  Those guys nearly blew me off the road, and they just kept coming, with the hammer down.  A new friend Robert at a Shell station told me a good route to take (he was a former trucker).  I was glad to get off that hiway!  We did drive right through Cookeville, Tenn.  This is where my best friend at Henry Cogswell College, Pashin, earned his Ph.D. (he is a professor of mechanical engineering).  Our kids love Pashin and we’ve broken bread together more than once.  When I saw the sign for Tennessee Technological University I told the kids that this is where Pashin went to school.  They all ran around the motor home telling each other excitedly “this is where Pashin went to school!”

 

We spent one night in Virginia, my birth state.  It was nice to be “home” as I’ve always loved Virginia.  So much history with the pilgrims and Sir Walter Raleigh and the lost colony and all that stuff.  Virginia was known as the birthplace of presidents.

 

North Carolina and South Carolina

We came into North Carolina in its northwestern part, right through Mount Airy, NC.  This is where the Maybury shows of Andy Griffith were filmed.  We got lost there due to the map being less than clear (or me being less than able, you decide).  We met Jenny Galloway and her family, who is Grandma Mae’s great granddaughter (same age as Leslie as me).  Jenny is Grandma’s favorite (on the East Coast, that is!); she helps Grandma a lot (and makes great soups) and they do many things together.  (They reminded us of our friends Matt and Debbie Reddy in Seattle.  They too have three sons, all tall and handsome, and they are a great couple and great friends too.)  During our visit in North Carolina Jenny and Tommy took us to numerous places.  (By the way, you should see their wedding pictures.)  We went to a Civil War Museum (absolutely fascinating, it even had the actual captain’s uniform worn by Leslie Howard who played Ashley Wilkes in “Gone With The Wind”).  We went to a maritime museum (this was quite interesting, with much memorabilia and miniature models that showed excellent craftsmanship).  We went to an antique store that had the original kicking machine, which is a machine where you turn the crank and a wheel with four boots rotates to kick you in the behind).  She then took us to Atlantic Beach, where we explored Fort Macon (used in the Civil War and World War II, and as a prison between the wars), and we gathered shells on the sandy beach.  Grandma Mae had given the kids plastic bags to collect shells in, and Melissa gathered so many that her bag split open.  The kids and I splashed around in the surf, and Jessica fell down and got 100% swamped in a wave.  Of course we told everyone not to get into such a position, but leave it to Jessie to push the envelope.  The kids have splashed in both the Pacific and now Atlantic oceans!  (They gathered shells on the beaches in NC, Florida, and Alabama.)  Later went on to splash in the Gulf of Mexico (which is still the Atlantic).  Jenny also showed us Kids World, where there are a lot of jungle-gym type things.

 

My Grandma’s brother Henry Willis and his wife had us over for a meal and afternoon of visiting.  We saw the damage done by Hurricanes Fran, Berta, and Bonnie.  Some tall trees were gone (he had before and after pictures), and the pier was also blown away.  He has a beautiful grass lawn, well-manicured and quite lovely.  But he showed us pictures of how the yard was absolutely covered with seashell fragments after the hurricane, and all of the oak trees and other trees that had been blown over by the hurricane.  We saw a wide-open view, but it used to be well covered by trees!  Henry and his wife are absolutely the epitome of Southern hospitality, and Henry has a keen sense of humor and a great love for children.  He remembered all my kids’ names and showed them around the waterfront.  He loves his sister Mae too, and it comforts me that my grandma has such a caring brother nearby.

 

More things we saw in North Carolina include numerous churches that have cemeteries right on site.  We saw a cemetery that had people born before the 1776 American Revolution, people who died of wounds in the Civil War at Gettysburg, and numerous other Civil War dead (their markers said C.S.A., for Confederate States of America). In one of the above ground graves (a mausoleum) we could look through the door and see the casket.  We saw the CSS (Confederate States Ship) Neuse, an ironclad on display in Kinston (not far from Kinston High School, which we saw, which is where my dad went to school).  Another site in New Bern was the place where Pepsi Cola was born.  A pharmacist named Bradham invented it 100 years ago this year and called it “Brad’s Drink” but eventually it became Pepsi.

 

Tommy and Jenny Galloway showed us lots of places, including a very old Black cemetery, where the gravesites had sunk due to collapsing of the coffins.  We saw where slave cemeteries were also, as well as graves of the first colonists to New Bern.  The bust of the founder of New Bern was there also; he was from Bern, Switzerland and he died in Switzerland also.  We went to some cotton fields and the kids picked a lot of cotton.  Getting there we drove on either the oldest or only brick road in NC.

 

In Kinston we saw the cemetery plots for my grandfather and his first two wives.  The date of my grandfather’s death is inaccurate.  It says January 27, 1980, and should say January 22, 1980.  The cemetery is well kept and looks good.  In that same cemetery are the graves of people who were born and died in the 1800s, as well as numerous infants (must have been a sad time).

 

While at our camping site we went to the river, played a bit of basketball, and the kids got to ride in a motorized train around the grounds.  Great fun!  Leslie was (briefly!) using the phone and reported back to me that she had seen a very large insect crawling around, about four inches long, two inches wide, kind of brown with long feelers.  When I immediately told her that it was a cockroach the color left her face and she needed ministry.  Since this was our next to last day in NC she kept her cool and didn’t want to know how many states these things migrated to.  I distinctly remember mom not being overly thrilled with these insects either.  Any hopes of us living in NC some day were, I’m sure, dashed that night.

 

We left New Bern and stopped over in Jacksonville, NC to see more family.  We saw the brother and sister of my blood grandmother, Ethel Lee Parker Jordan.  My great aunt is named Lillie (her husband is dead) and my great uncle is Linwood, with his wife Sallie.  Lillie’s son and daughter in law live next door to Lillie, their names are Hugh and Henrietta Hewitt.  We also met their son Nicholas and learned of the other’s son’s being in the US Navy (Jason).  The Hewitt’s had a trampoline that the kids loved, as well as a poodle named Bingo that the kids also loved!  We visited with them all for about two hours.  We enjoyed it immensely!  We have all their addresses and email addresses, and we’ll keep in touch.

 

We left Jacksonville and went to Columbia, South Carolina and there met and stayed overnight with my grandfather’s sister, Mrs. Roberta Mears.  She lives in a mansion (at least it sure seems like one!) in a lovely part of town.  We parked in her driveway.  We didn’t get there until 9:30 at night and visited until 12:30 in the morning.  We got up and had breakfast with her and visited a bit more before we had to hit the road.  Their family serves God and they are a real success story.  What a lesson.  Her son is a doctor and their daughter has graduate degrees and teaches.  All have children and Aunt Roberta has one great grand child (with a second on the way).  Aunt Roberta is about the most gracious lady one could meet.  She is strong, but very ladylike.  She too has advanced degrees and her husband Dr. Guy Mears was a dentist.

 

A note on our North Carolina and South Carolina family and friends.  Earl Spence, My Grandma Mae, Uncle Linwood, and Aunt Roberta all commented on how our son Nathan looks a great deal like my dad Frank Jordan.  I felt the same way too, and those who knew my dad ever since he was a boy and young man confirmed it.  They noted the resemblance over and over.  At Grandma’s we were calling Nathan Frank Jr., Jr.  (My dad was Frank, Jr. for years while his dad, Frank, Sr., was alive.)  Nathan loved to sit on Grandma’s lap!

 

Another thing too is that after visiting with my Aunt Roberta, I had met the two sisters of my grandfather on my mom’s side (Agnes and Betty), the sister of my grandfather on my dad’s side (Roberta), and the brother and sister of my blood grandmother on my mom’s side (Linwood and Lillie).  I could see my grandfathers in all of the sisters, and could only imagine how my blood grandmother would have looked like as I looked upon aunt Lillie.  Incidentally, the grandmother who I was raised with, Grandma Mae, though not my blood grandmother, was best friend and first cousin of my blood grandmother Ethel (so we are blood relatives).  Thus I beheld direct relations of three of my four grandparents, and my children did too.  This was a tremendous experience for me.

 

Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi

We left SC and drove through Georgia on the way to Alabama and ultimately Florida.  In Georgia we visited an old cemetery (across the nation, and particularly in the south, there are many cemeteries right in the church courtyard).  This cemetery had civil war vets too.  Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola, and New Bern, North Carolina is the home of Pepsi Cola.  We were in both places!

 

We had to go through Alabama to get to Florida.  On a complete whim we turned off the freeway and, in Montgomery, Alabama, went to the historic district.  This turned out to be one of the best stops on our trip, from a historical perspective (to all of us the best part of the trip was the family and friends we saw).  We went to the capitol building, and across the street from it, on a couple of sides, was the original and first Confederate White House that was the home to the Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis.  Here and in may parts of the south we saw how Jefferson Davis is revered, from his homes, to his books, to having streets named after him, to busts and statues, etc.  Jeff Davis was, we found out, a soldier, US Senator, Secretary of War, and ultimately the CSA president.  The literature says that he was such a leader and statesman, that if it hadn’t been for the civil war he would likely have been president of the United States.  As it was, he died without his citizenship; it was restored by presidential act by President Carter.  I read more about him when I got back home.  An interesting man, yet not the leader that President Lincoln was.  Even still, they almost won the war!

 

More sights in Montgomery include the Archive Building, which had three floors of paintings, sculpture, history of the civil rights movement (which began in Alabama), and accounts of other famous Alabamians, including Helen Keller, who was born and buried in Alabama.  We watched a 20-minute movie about her and read about her.  Incredible.  What’s our excuse for not succeeding?  She was blind and deaf, yet impacted millions, and contributed to the betterment of the blind and deaf through her works.  When I went to my business meeting in New Orleans shortly after this visit in Alabama, Helen Keller’s foundation and works were present.  (My work is in the field of ophthalmology, and the meeting was the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology.)

 

In Montgomery’s capitol building we saw more history, including the very wings where representatives from seceding states met and ratified the action to secede from the union.  On the capital steps is a star, placed by the Daughters of the Confederacy, showing the very spot where Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the Confederate States of America President.  There was so much to see in Montgomery, but the very best was still to come.

 

Just one block from the Montgomery capitol building stands the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church.  Here the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was pastor from 1954 to 1960.  We went in to the church, which is still in use as a church, and watched a short video in the church’s basement about the life of Dr. King.  Incredibly, this basement was the very place where black leaders conceived and put into motion the famous bus boycott.  This boycott lasted just over a year, and was a major step toward civil rights recognition.  In a day when no one can speak out about the ills and sins of America for fear of being branded as intolerant (today’s ultimate sin), Dr. King had the courage to stand up in the name of righteousness and call sin sin and get involved in the events of the day’s societal issues (and it cost him his life).  Today the president of the United States can disgrace the country and scarcely a word is said from the pulpit.  Commentators speak out, radio shows speak out, but the preacher is silent.  Shame.  When courage was needed, Dr. King had it.  And while speaking with the assistant at Dr. King’s church, I commented that the black community never has had a leader to replace Dr. King.  The assistant sadly acknowledged this fact.  Where are the leaders in the black community?  Where are they in any community?  How about me?  How about you?  I then had the opportunity to stand in the pulpit of the church and I delivered a short sermon to a large congregation (my family).  To think that this is the same pulpit where Dr. King preached was an honor for me.  This part of the trip had the biggest impact on me.

 

We were then on to Pensacola, Florida, where our family lived for two years in the late 60s.  Incredibly I found the corner by our house where a lady crashed her car and while everyone else drove by my dad sped to the scene and rendered aid (some things a kid never forgets).  From that corner I drove to my home.  It looked smaller, had been repainted, and the front fence was gone.  The window air conditioners were gone, so they must now have central air conditioning (or else they’re lying in the home dead, because you can’t live in Florida without an air conditioner!).  We talked with a lady in the neighborhood who caught us up on what had gone on in the 30 years since I lived there.  Two of my friends were dead, one by drug overdosing and one due to health problems related to hemophilia.  He was my brother’s best friend and ended up dying of aids.  David Lake died at age 28.  I looked up their parent’s address and our whole family visited them.  David’s older brother Jim was a good friend of mine.  He is an USAF Lt. Col. and married with two children.  The Lake’s look just as I remembered them.  They were warm and gracious to my family and we visited with them for well over an hour (maybe two). 

 

In Pensacola we saw the Blue Angels perform (Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels, and they were having a reunion the weekend we were there so they were practicing the Saturday we were there and putting on quite a show).  We also went to the beach and played in the 99% pure quartz sand, looked for shells, waded in the water, and visited with people.  Because of Hurricane Mitch we had pretty cool weather.  Two days before we got there it was 85 degrees, but it dropped 20 degrees because of Mitch.  But we still enjoyed ourselves, and remembered that in Honduras Mitch did more than change the temperature, over 10,000 people were killed. 

 

Now the kids have been to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico.  We visited with a Christian couple from Alabama and we got their address (they’ll get a copy of this journal, their names are Carol and Joel King).  Another homeschool family was there.  They were the same ages as Leslie and I, and they have two kids, and they are traveling the country for one year in a motorhome.

 

While in Pensacola we swam in a pool and spent a good deal of time in a Jacuzzi.  We were then off to New Orleans.  We traveled through the very bottom of Western Florida and took a small ferryboat ride across the inlet to Mobile Bay to the Alabama shore.  The kids loved this.  We even went up to the pilot’s room and watched the controls.  Getting there was a bit of a challenge, and again my keen sense of direction got us lost, so we arrived at the ferry 12 minutes later than the brochure departure time indicated.  But we learned that as we got there the ferry was just arriving!  This saved us 90 minutes!  Seems they had mechanical problems too (clutch problems).  The weather was fantastic and the salt water smelled good.  Pelicans were out and about in the bay, and we thought for sure one was going to land on the motorhome.  We had no vapor lock on the ferry (mercifully).  We drove across a bit of Alabama and then across Mississippi.  Here we saw a lot of damage due to Hurricane Georges.  Billboards were ripped down, large trees were knocked over, and more than one business had a 50% off hurricane sale.  One of the rest stops was partially closed down due to hurricane damage.  We didn’t stop, but in Mississippi on the gulf coast was the last home of Jefferson Davis (remember we saw the first in Montgomery!).

 

Louisiana and the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Now it’s business time!  We arrived in New Orleans on a Saturday afternoon and I went to the convention center (the largest in the world).  From Sunday through Wednesday our company presented its products and services to the Eye Doctor community.  The most striking thing to me this trip (it’s my third) was the commitment the ophthalmic community has to continuous improvement.  There are improvements in the medical devices, there are hundreds of talks on surgical subjects being presented, numerous technical papers are presented, and lots of full-blown lectures along with wet labs.  It is in these wet labs that newer doctors improve their skills by operating on pig’s eyes.  Me and one of my engineers Tim Luxon both got to do hand’s on surgery on pig’s eyes.  It is NOT easy.  Fortunately for us the pigs didn’t have lawyers present because we really botched it up good.  I had to do the surgery right handed (I’m naturally left handed) which didn’t contribute to my abilities.  It probably wouldn’t have mattered if I could have used my left hand.  I probably would have done just as well operating with my feet.  I really tore that eye up good.

 

Most of Louisiana is a swamp.  When the US bought the land the French probably thought they were getting the better side of the deal (maybe they did).  The cemeteries are works of art.  Graves are above ground and phenomenal.  New Orleans is essentially at sea level and in older times graves had to be above ground as water filled up the graves while they were being dug.  Today above ground burial is more tradition than necessity, and we did see a military cemetery were burial was done below ground.  But the above ground graves are ornate, creative, and practically all marble.  It is really a sight, but the tour books say to visit them in groups because undesirables use the graves for cover and will come out and mug you.  When Leslie drove me to and picked me up from the meeting the first day she had been reassured by the park attendant that New Orleans was safe to drive through “if you keep the car moving.”  This gave her great confidence (I refer the reader to the vehicle repair section!). I took the bus and trolley cars from the convention site to our campground after that, and sometimes rode in with fellow camper Dr. Bob Thompson, Chief of Ophthalmology at the Alabama Veteran’s hospital (responsible for central Alabama).  Dr. Thompson is a former veterinarian who switched to ophthalmology.  He was one of a handful of the 15,000 doctors who was not burdened with a coat and tie!  Next year I’m going to put in a pitch for matching polo shirts and black slacks and ditch the coat and tie.  We’ll see.

 

The locals told me to take a cab when they learned the part of town I’d be traveling through (Kenner, west of New Orleans).  People get mugged often, they said.  One lady Leslie met said her son went to college at Tulane (New Orleans) and lived three blocks from the campus but would not walk the route at night.  But I didn’t sweat it.  The Almighty watches over me.  (Also being 6-foot and 230 pounds and former City of Seattle wrestling champion gave me some confidence too.)  Leslie and I agreed that of all of the places we went, the state of Louisiana was the worst.  Crime is high, many people have bad attitudes and the place is a marshy swamp.  Still, there were nice places and nice people there.

 

(Leslie writes this paragraph)  On the last day of the meeting I arrived as planned to pick Bob up downtown in front of the “worlds largest convention center” right on schedule in my 23-foot motor home with my seven kids in downtown New Orleans.  As I was closing in on the convention center my cell phone rings.  Bob says, “there’s going to be a delay, you’ll have to find ….buzz….  His phone went dead.  Find what, I wonder, find my way back alone? Find a way to drive around with people honking at me and going 50 mph through downtown? find the new place he’s going to met me at?  “No – find a new husband!” I say as I circle the block again weaving in my sport car-like RV in the thick taxicab filled traffic.  I finally found a little-used corner with a stop sign where I could pause a while and try to look invisible with my city on wheels while muttering to myself before I felt compelled to circle again and see if he had come out of the building.  At last I found two empty parking meters together right in front of the convention center that I was able to back in to.  Problem solved right?  Wrong!  As I was parking the policewoman was moving down the line writing parking tickets at expired meters.  I looked in my pockets.  Lots of change.  However, having done the laundry that morning my $10 (or was it $100) of quarters had dwindled to 50 cents.  Of course the meters only take hacksaws and quarters, the later being good for a whopping 12 minutes.  I debated whether I should put the two quarters in one meter, or one in each (either way I know there’s trouble).  About 40 minutes (hours?) later, the kids say, “There he is!”

 

(Bob writing again)  In my own defense, two of our team had left to catch a plane.  Just as I was leaving our VP of Sales and Marketing was making a sale to a team of Chinese distributors.  Their English was marginally better than my Chinese, but I was manning the invoice and credit card operations (having just been taught to do so by our controller who was on a plane for Dallas).  It ended up taking almost an hour to get the sale done, with special things having to be done to the invoice to account for a wholesale versus retail sale.  Ultimately it got done and I was perspiring heavily by the time I was out into the 80° heat wearing my tie and jacket.  But things were mighty cool when I got in the motorhome….

 

As we left the convention we traveled across Lake Ponchartrain where the middle eight miles is so far from land that you can’t see any land.  We went through the capitol Baton Rogue and there crossed again the Mississippi river (the first time we crossed it was at the St. Louis Gateway Arch).  We saw river boat casinos on the mighty Mississippi River in Baton Rogue.

 

Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas

We went to Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas, a city that is divided between the two states.  On the Texas side was a Vietnam and Korean war memorial, along with a monument (shaped like the Washington Memorial) to the police officers of Texas who died in the line of duty.  One of the names was J.D. Tippets.  Do you remember this officer?  He is the Dallas police officer who was killed on the same day as President Kennedy, allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald.  It was in Texarkana that we got our first rain, and it rained for a couple of hours and it was a bit chilly, too.

 

Oklahoma had a lot of pretty scenery, including a beautiful waterfall that we spent some time observing.  We camped in Red Rock Canyon, which was very beautiful with sheer and tall red rock walls.  We learned about the dust bowls (a man-made disaster), passed through Norman where the great Oklahoma Sooner football team has its home, and drove through the capitol in Oklahoma City.

 

We traversed the Texas panhandle and saw the largest cross in the western hemisphere, we saw the fabled Cadillac Ranch, where 10 Cadillac's are buried sticking half way up out of the ground, and we went to the American Quarter Horse Association’s museum in Amarillo.  Rebecca especially liked this.  There are lots to do and see there; one day she’d like to own Quarter horses & spend sometime in Texas.

 

Four Corners – Arizona/New Mexico/Colorado/Utah

There is only one place in the United States where four states share one spot, and that is the Four Corners monument shared by Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.  The kids ran around from state to state, and stood on them all at the same time as we romped around this unique spot of real estate.  We spent a lot of time in New Mexico and there got a Navajo Indian watchband for Leslie (a birthday present).  In Colorado we saw snow on the ground and were thankful we didn’t come through there sooner.  Utah’s southern half is breathtakingly beautiful.  We went to Arches National Park, the area with the most natural arches in all the world – over 50.  We also drove a stretch of Interstate with no exits or services for 110 miles.  Not the place to have car trouble, and not the place to travel at night.  Speaking of Interstates, they have rules about interstates, such as no grade steeper than 6% and no overpasses lower than a certain amount.  The US Congress has authority over the states regarding interstates.  The Interstate system is called in many states the Eisenhower Interstate System, named for President Eisenhower who had the vision for interstate hi-way systems connecting cities from coast to coast. 

 

We drove as far as Salt Lake City and headed due West across the bottom of the Great Salt Lake.  There we saw the Morton Salt factory and acres upon acres of salt waiting to be further processed.

 

Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington

Casinos and desert are what I think of when I think Nevada.  Idaho looks a lot like eastern Washington.  We stayed in Boise, a booming city where the airport approach goes right over the road.  A 737 flew right over us, much to Ryan’s delight.  We also met Joe Mills, my half brother who I’ve never before met.  He’s almost two years older than me. It was a great reunion and we’ll see him over Christmas.  Oregon was our first real case of wondering if we’d need to put chains on the motor home.  Coming over the pass into Pendleton, at 4,200 feet, we encountered snow.  It was accumulating pretty good and the snow plows were on the road, but we got through before needing chains, and that was the last of our weather concerns.  This was a real blessing, in fact we had unseasonably warm weather the whole time.  The local folk said that in other years they’d be 20° cooler and have snow on the ground.

 

In Oregon we visited The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center where there was a very nicely displayed depiction of the Oregon Trail.  This was indeed interesting, and we spent over two hours there (not long enough).  They had films, wax figures and stuffed animals, artifacts, photos, and all sort of interesting things.  There are so many interesting things to learn and see about this great country of ours.  Every family should travel the country and see the beauty of it all.  With 33 states under our belt, and California this December, all that is left for us as far as first time states is the Northeast states (and also Alaska and Hawaii).  Perhaps in a couple of years we can visit them.  That would be a great trip, particularly in the fall.

 

We came into Washington and soon were traveling over Snoqualmie pass and into western Washington.  We stopped by to see our new nephew (Dave and Luesa had Nicholas on November 13).  He is cute as a button and sort of looks like Dave, but maybe he’ll be lucky and outgrow it (just kidding, Dave, you’ll still work on my fuel pump, won’t you?  Besides, we’ll watch Nick while you take a nap sometime, wadda ya say?).  We tucked into a real bed at Midnight, after 8,529.5 miles!!!

 

A Special Stop In Idaho

A real blessing during our trip was my meeting my half-brother in Boise, Idaho.  His name is Joseph Brian Mills and he was born to my mom December 6, 1956.  He was adopted into the home of a Catholic family and was raised in a happy home (he later had two sisters) in the North Cascades part of Washington State.  My brother Dave and I learned about our half brother (no one knew his name then) about 10 years ago.  We were both supportive and excited to know that we had another brother, and ever since then have wondered, as had my mom all along, how he was doing, where he was, and such things.

 

I talked with my dad about this too, about five years ago.  While in the navy he used to donate some of his check to the organization that assisted my mom during her pregnancy (my dad met my mom after she was carrying Joe).  As I look back, both my mom and dad, and my Aunt Billie, did some very honorable and sacrificial things to provide for the birth of Joe.  Back then attitudes were very different than now, and it took some real courage to do what they all believed was the right thing.

 

Just before our trip a third person on behalf of Joe contacted mom.  At the time I was leaving for our trip mom was to the point where letters were being exchanged but still the whereabouts of Joe was unknown to us.  While I was in Louisiana mom contacted me and told me that Joe lived in Boise, Idaho.  I knew that, weather permitting, I’d be passing through Boise on the way home.  Mom and I discussed it and determined that I would not contact Joe until I was sure that I’d be going through Boise.  I called him from Twin Falls, Idaho (about 2 hours from Boise) and introduced myself (he knew who I was) and we arranged for all of my family to drive to his home in Boise, which we did.  Just after Joe and I talked, and after I had called mom too to say I’d be going there, I went back to the motor home and gathered the kids and told them we were going to see my brother in Boise.  They were excited and wanted to know if he was coming back to Seattle with us!  At first I wasn’t sure how to explain it, but I decided to hit it head on and truly that turned out to be the best thing I could have done (lying and half-truths never did anyone any good).  They were delighted to have another relation and speculated to each other with glee “if mom might have such a previously unknown sibling too and how neat that would be.”

 

The meeting of my older brother was, as you may expect, a unique experience.  I was the first blood relative he ever met, and we shook hands and hugged and went in and talked for about two hours.  We videoed almost the entire talk.  Joe was very pleased that we came to see him, and was also pleased to know that mom had thought of him every day since he was born and every December 6 had sung happy birthday to him (something David and I didn’t know for years).  And get this, I’m no longer the oldest boy in the family, and I’m no longer the tallest (but now David is the third tallest!).  Joe is at or just over 6’3”.  Circumstances permitting, he’ll be up to see everyone this Christmas.  I brought back a photo album of his younger years that he wanted mom to have.  Joe is a very nice man, and I’m going to enjoy getting to know him better.

 

A Special Stop In Washington

Before we pulled into our driveway, we pulled into my brother Dave’s and his wife’s Luesa’s driveway.  We went in and met the newest Jordan, Nicholas Scott Jordan, born on November 13, 1998.  He weighed in at almost 7 pounds and has a nice crop of hair (makes his dad and uncle jealous).  We got there late in the evening, and Luesa was resting, and David was trying to hold the baby to make it stop fussing.  But he was bumbling the job, and Leslie took over and Nicholas went to sleep.  Dave was then taught to not hold the baby in the nursing position, but rather hold him up on his shoulder.  That fixed things!  Dave has a lot to learn, and he’s anxious to learn.  They have everything so well managed that you would never know that this was their first baby.  They are not afraid to ask questions and, says Leslie, have had the sense to gather more information in a week than I did in a year.  We’re very proud of Dave and Luesa and welcome to the clan the newest Jordan, Nicholas.  They will be the best of parents, and Nicholas is a fine boy.

 

This is great.  I come home with two more relatives than I left with!  A new brother and new nephew.  Says Leslie:  I got a good chuckle when they stopped at the house at 5:30pm after we’d been home a couple of days.  “We’re on our way to the grocery store!”  Luesa exclaimed.  I said how amazed I was that they were able to do this so soon.  “Oh” Luesa laughed, “don’t be too overwhelmed with our accomplishments, we started leaving our house at 9:00 this morning!”

 

Work, Business and Ministry

On the second day of our trip I stopped in at a company in Spokane, Wash. that will be doing laser welding for my medical device company.  They look good, and we’re going to go with them.  I phoned this into the company and things are rolling.  Later we drove the magic bus (my brother Dave’s name for our motor home) to New Orleans for the annual American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.  I had my suits in the closet ready to go.

 

Being gone from the plant is made possible because of the exceptionally competent and dedicated people I work with.  My own staff of Tim Luxon, Phil Berg, Brian McCroskey and (on maternity leave having given birth to Jordan Mackenzie) Margot Roche along with our expert consultant Frank Smith will keep the operation running smoothly (but hopefully not TOO smoothly!).  The others that I work with, Diana Gilkerson, Greg Milholland, Ron Payne, Larry Laks, and the chief Ed Terpilowski also made it possible for me to be on the move since they work great with my engineering team.

 

Leslie and my home based business continues to prosper.  We check our voice mail messages daily and listen to leadership cassette tapes while driving.  We are very excited about our business.  People everywhere across the USA are looking to add to their current income or get more time in their lives, or both, and when we get back to Seattle we’re going to take our business to another level.  While in New Bern we met two couples whom, if we had been in Seattle, we would have introduced them to our business. (private franchising; streamlining distribution of products from 1,200 manufacturers).

 

I brought some engineering books with me, since in January I’ll be teaching a new mechanical engineering course.  I opened the book once, but quickly closed it when I got sleepy and hungry (a very common event), but in time I’ll start getting the book and auxiliary problems ready to go.  The class will consist of 13 lectures, on various engineering subjects (thermodynamics, machine design, hydraulic machines, etc.).

 

Last but not least is the leadership course I’m writing for Prisoners for Christ Outreach Ministries.  I have the outline roughed out, and expect to have the first draft ready by December 1, 1998.  Again, I did very little work on it on the trip, but I meditated on the content more and will have it done by the deadline.  I will teach this class to our group leader volunteers the third week in January.  We passed numerous prisons so far, and my heart tugs as we do.  In Montana the Women's Prison is on the main road through Billings.  The grass is green and the wall are painted and the sign is new, but it is still a place where those who have broken man’s and God’s laws are serving time.  Truly it is a place of the brokenhearted, with brokenhearted family members waiting on the outside.  In North Carolina I saw many inmates playing basketball in the open yard.  The message of the gospel applies to every one of them.  In Oklahoma we passed more than a couple of signs that said “Hitch Hikers May Be Escaped Inmates.”  We never saw a hitchhiker, but if we had I’d have had a message for him!  Ironically, one of the correctional facilities we saw was in Liberty, Oklahoma.

 

Lessons from the Lord

Occasionally we have had to drive into the night.  The kids slept in the coach having perfect trust in Dad’s driving.  While I had my eyes peeled for deer jumping in the way (there were bear warnings driving into New Bern!), and spent time working on the engine, the kids played or slept at perfect peace, knowing I’d handle anything.  Meanwhile, I’m stressed out working on the engine, trying to keep a schedule, fighting off semi trucks, and searching out a place to stay each night.  The Almighty reminded me that my kids trust me and that I should trust Him.  Easier said than done, but I will improve in this area, God willing (and I know He is).

 

The second lesson is the lesson of God’s beautiful creation.  Truly the United States is a land rich in resources, scenery, and many, many fine people.  Accents are different in the Deep South versus home sweet home in Seattle, but people are kind and quick to lend a helping hand.  While God’s creation is awesome, God’s people are even more of a joy, making it all worthwhile.

 

Rich versus poor is another lesson.  When we’ve driven through some towns (like when I get lost), it is striking how some neighborhoods look prosperous and some businesses look prosperous too, but further down the road we’ll hit the poor side of town.  Here the yards are not kept up, the wall need paint, garbage is in the streets, and people are standing around smoking and loitering and generally doing nothing.  God’s laws are in place and they’re fair.  If you work, serve, and add value increase will come your way.  But if you do the opposite, poverty will overtake you.  This was another lesson.

 

The fourth lesson is that everyone should be able to travel like we’re doing.  There is much to see and do and experience, and it would be a shame to keep your nose to the grindstone one’s entire life.  Life is good, and creation is good, and everyone who wants to experience it should experience it.  God is no respecter of persons; He will bless those who keep his statutes.  Life is fair and God is good.  It’s not a mystery what He doth require.  We all had a blast.  Every day is fun and new.  We visit with all sorts of people and see all sorts of things.  We do have our moments, but through it all we’re drawing closer to each other and the Lord God Almighty.  We’re all ready to go out and do it again.  Traveling in a motorhome is so much more relaxing than a car.  We’re not even tired.

 

The fifth lesson came at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church.  Men of honor and purpose set out to face the issues of society head on.  Being a Christian means more than going to church and saying your prayers, but it means standing up for the oppressed and denouncing wickedness and speaking out on the difference between right and wrong.  People didn’t like it when the preacher and prophet in Bible times spoke out, and they didn’t like it when Dr. King spoke out, and they’re not going to like it today either, but will the Christian still speak out?

 

Something too on my mind is something I heard on a tape.  The speaker said, “If the Lord wanted to bring a fresh idea and word to you, what would He have to do to get your attention.”  Another church reader board said, “Are you too busy for God?  Think about it.”  Both of those statements are worth considering.  In the end, only that done for Christ is going to matter.  Many people are coming and going and making a living, but am I and are we taking time to listen to Him who’s name is above every name, and to give Him His due, and to serve Him.  I think of this often.  Two more church reader board signs stuck with me also.  They were, “We’re saved to serve, not saved by serving,” and, “God gives every bird its food, but He doesn’t throw it in the nest.”  I could easily preach a message on either of these themes.

 

Another lesson was in Pensacola where the Brownsville revival is in its fourth year, with people still lined up outside the church hours before the doors open.  People are hungry for God, and for the pure message of hope, forgiveness, redemption and provision that is in Christ.  Is it a coincidence that almost 200,000 have been saved at that church and that people are lining up at the door to get more of God.  God’s ready and willing.  Are we?  Am I?

 

Leading up to the trip both Leslie and I had a full plate of activities.  I was teaching at college and preaching at the prison (an all day event) and keeping very busy at work and with our home business.  Leslie too was rushing about, getting things packed for being gone for a month, homeschooling, running our home business, church, getting food together.  I was getting the last of the repairs done on the motorhome, including brakes all-around, engine tune up, and fuel line repairs.  We both knew that we’d have liked to have had more time to prepare, but we did what we could and God blessed it and made up the difference.  It was an application of what I teach the jail and prison ministry teams:  Do what you can when you can with what you’ve got.  Don’t wait for everything to be perfect or you’ll get nothing done.  God blessed us through 8,500 miles.  We made a lot of relatives happy to have been able to visit them.  Surely this was within God’s will, and thus the blessing to accomplish it.  A Christian who has to have everything figured out and solved before stepping out doesn’t really need the blessings of the Lord.

 

The last lesson was about the good things that come the way of the Godly.  While in prison in September, I shared this story with the men:

 

Max Jukes lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,026 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average term of thirteen years; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family, thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to society.

 

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants, and of these 430 were ministers; 86 became university professors; 13 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; 7 were elected to the United States Congress. One was vice president of his nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.

 

I was thinking of this when I was visiting my Aunt Roberta Mears, and listening to the accomplishments of her children and grandchildren, and how they’re serving God, and how she and her late husband served God.  It’s been my experience that those who serve the Lord see his blessing in ways that could not have been planned.  In my mind’s eye I can see Max Jukes proclaiming “who needs God?, that’s for fools, I’ll be my own man, pass me another beer, my old lady’s been hassling me, I think I’ll dump her.”  His heritage speaks for itself.  Then there’s Jonathan Edwards.  He served God through thick and thin, and through good times and hard times, and the blessing was passed on to his children, and his children’s children.  What a lesson!

 

What’s Next

The map at the very end shows the route of the trip we took.  Aside from California, all the kids will have been to every state west of the Mississippi river, every Confederate state, and Illinois, Indiana, and West Virginia, for a total of 34 states (five kids have been to Wisconsin, too).

 

The goal remains (and is fulfilled - except for the new baby Karissa): Every kid and Leslie and me, as a family, visiting all 50 states and Washington, DC!  Rebecca is the oldest at 13.  By the time she’s 17 we’d like to have all 50 states completed (Update: She's now 20 and in 2005 we accomplished the goal).  Because the little ones, like Jessica, Amanda and Nathan, will not have clear memories of these states just completed, we’ll probably have to do it all over again for them.  No problem! (Another update: The new baby, Karissa, has been to 42 states but won't remember it, so we'll have to it all over AGAIN for her - again, no problem!!).

 

Closing Data

For those of you engineering nerdy types who like numbers and data, follow detailed listing of our mileage, including locations where we bought gas and how much it costs.  The grade of fuel was not recorded.  Most of the time we bought the middle grade of unleaded gas and used a fuel additive, but when the price was irresistible we used the top grade of fuel and did not use an additive.

 

Fuel costs per mile averages 17.83 cents.  Average camping fee per night is $18.38.

 

Extra expenses, after reimbursement, averaged 17.59 cents per mile. $1,500 is our net cost for the trip.

 

FUEL LOG

 

INDIVIDUAL STOPS

 

CUMULATIVE

 

Daily

date

time

odometer

$/gal

miles

$

gal

mpg

place

 miles

 $

 gal

 mpg

 

Camping Fees

21-Oct

9:50p

59461.2

 

 

 

 

 

Brier, WA

 

 

 

 

 

 

21-Oct

10:10p

59464.2

1.119

3.0

53.00

44.20

 

Bothell, WA

0.0

53.00

44.20

 

 

0.00

22-Oct

9:30a

59694.7

1.239

230.5

48.00

38.74

5.95

Ritzville, WA

233.5

101.00

82.94

5.95

 

 

22-Oct

5:54p

59953.9

1.269

259.2

50.00

39.40

6.58

Missoula, MT

492.7

151.00

122.34

6.27

 

22.88

23-Oct

9:36a

60161.5

1.209

207.6

41.85

34.62

6.00

Bozeman, MT

700.3

192.85

156.96

6.18

 

 

23-Oct

3:30p

60362

1.310

200.5

39.31

30.01

6.68

Custer, MT

900.8

232.16

186.97

6.29

 

11.44

24-Oct

10:30a

60616

1.149

254.0

46.48

40.77

6.23

Bowman, ND

1154.8

278.64

227.74

6.28

 

 

24-Oct

1:25p

60758.6

1.199

142.6

26.60

22.18

6.43

Beulah, WY

1297.4

305.24

249.92

6.29

 

 

24-Oct

9:30p

61003.6

1.229

245.0

46.30

37.68

6.50

Murdo, SD

1542.4

351.54

287.60

6.32

 

 

24-Oct

2:23P

61269

1.019

265.4

43.53

42.72

6.21

Lennox, SD

1807.8

395.07

330.32

6.31

 

13.97

25-Oct

7:30p

61339

1.149

70.0

13.00

11.32

6.19

Sioux City, IA

1877.8

408.07

341.63

6.30

 

15.00

26-Oct

7:45a

61579.5

1.019

240.5

42.90

42.10

5.71

Elwood, KS

2118.3

450.97

383.73

6.23

 

0.00

27-Oct

8:15a

61814.3

1.009

234.8

35.75

35.41

6.63

Palmyra, MO

2353.1

486.72

419.15

6.27

 

 

27-Oct

6:00p

62027.5

1.079

213.2

35.90

33.22

6.42

Mt. Vernon, IL

2566.3

522.62

452.36

6.28

 

20.00

28-Oct

2:35p

62335.5

1.099

308.0

46.16

42.00

7.33

Nashville, TN

2874.3

568.78

494.37

6.38

 

 

28-Oct

8:13p

62531.5

1.089

196.0

27.10

24.89

7.88

Dandridge, TN

3070.3

595.88

519.25

6.46

 

19.35

29-Oct

10:15a

62748.3

1.059

216.8

32.30

30.50

7.11

Bland, VA

3287.1

628.18

549.75

6.50

 

10.00

30-Oct

6:15p

63096.6

1.079

348.3

48.00

44.49

7.83

New Bern, NC

3635.4

676.18

594.24

6.60

 

19.40

2-Nov

6:30p

63453.6

0.959

357.0

46.32

48.30

7.39

New Bern, NC

3992.4

722.50

642.54

6.67

 

19.40

3-Nov

6:00p

63670.8

1.059

217.2

32.75

30.93

7.02

Dillon, SC

4209.6

755.25

673.46

6.68

 

19.40

4-Nov

3:15p

63970.6

1.059

299.8

46.50

43.91

6.83

Conyers, GA

4509.4

801.75

717.37

6.69

 

19.40

5-Nov

9:45a

64153.9

1.099

183.3

31.00

28.21

6.50

Montgomery, AL

4692.7

832.75

745.58

6.69

 

9.00

6-Nov

6:00p

64395.6

1.099

241.7

37.25

33.89

7.13

Pensacola, FL

4934.4

870.00

779.47

6.71

 

0.00

8-Nov

9:00p

64702.8

1.039

307.2

45.00

43.31

7.09

New Orleans, LA

5241.6

915.00

822.78

6.73

 

15.88

11-Nov

9:00p

64977.2

1.099

274.4

45.30

41.22

6.66

Alexandria, LA

5516.0

960.30

864.00

6.72

 

9.00

12-Nov

8:30a

65176.2

0.999

199.0

32.00

32.05

6.21

Texarkana, AK

5715.0

992.30

896.05

6.71

 

0.00

12-Nov

3:30p

65484.1

0.999

307.9

46.22

46.27

6.65

Davis, OK

6022.9

1038.52

942.32

6.70

 

20.02

13-Nov

10:00a

65751.2

1.119

267.1

51.34

42.80

6.24

Shamrock, TX

6290.0

1089.86

985.12

6.68

 

20.00

13-Nov

8:00p

65869.5

1.019

118.3

17.30

16.97

6.97

Amarillo, TX

6408.3

1107.16

1002.09

6.69

 

43.75

14-Nov

8:15a

66112.3

1.189

242.8

50.00

42.05

5.77

Clines Corner, NM

6651.1

1157.16

1044.14

6.65

 

43.75

14-Nov

2:30p

66292.1

1.119

179.8

34.00

28.36

6.34

Jamestown, NM

6830.9

1191.16

1072.50

6.64

 

43.75

15-Nov

8:30a

66344.4

1.259

52.3

12.40

9.85

5.31

Gallup, NM

6883.2

1203.56

1082.35

6.63

 

43.75

15-Nov

noon

66511.1

1.169

166.7

29.00

24.81

6.72

Cortez, CO

7049.9

1232.56

1107.16

6.63

 

17.08

15-Nov

9:00p

66708.1

1.345

197.0

38.00

28.17

6.99

Green River, UT

7246.9

1270.56

1135.33

6.64

 

 

16-Nov

1:20p

66990.7

1.229

282.6

55.00

44.75

6.31

Tooele, UT

7529.5

1325.56

1180.08

6.63

 

 

16-Nov

3:00p

67148.7

1.259

158.0

33.00

26.21

6.03

Wells, NV

7687.5

1358.56

1206.29

6.61

 

20.00

17-Nov

12:15a

67403.2

1.299

254.5

50.00

38.49

6.61

Boise, ID

7942.0

1408.56

1244.78

6.61

 

20.00

17-Nov

1:15p

67651

1.319

247.8

53.30

40.41

6.13

Pendleton, OR

8189.8

1461.86

1285.19

6.60

 

 

17-Nov

9:30p

67974.2

1.199

323.2

59.00

49.21

6.57

Everett, WA

8513.0

1520.86

1334.40

6.60

 

TOTAL FEES

17-Nov

midnight

67990.7

 

16.5

 

 

 

Brier, WA

8529.5

 

 

 

 

496.22

 

THE ROUTE

The journey started in Seattle and we headed east through the tip part of Idaho and into Montana.  We then hit a piece of North Dakota then went down to South Dakota.  There we hit a piece of Wyoming (we’ll do Yellowstone soon) and back into South Dakota and onto across that state and into a piece of Minnesota.  Then back into South Dakota and down into Iowa.  We then hit the northeast part of Nebraska and came back into Iowa and drove south into Missouri.  We went west a bit into Kansas, then back into and across Missouri.  Then we crossed the Mississippi in St. Louis and were into Illinois and then Indiana, then south through Kentucky and into Tennessee.  We drove through much of Tennessee and then up into Virginia and into a bit of West Virginia.  Then back into Virginia and into North Carolina where we made out way to the coast.  Then it was into South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama and then Florida. We then went into the southern part of Alabama again and into Mississippi and then Louisiana and to New Orleans.  Then we headed north in Louisiana and into Arkansas and Texas then into Oklahoma.  There we headed across the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico.  Then we drove into Arizona and then to the Four Corners monument.  Then we went to Cortez Colorado and then into Utah where the geology is breathtaking.  We went further north in Utah to the Great Salt Lake and headed west into Nevada, then north to Idaho. From Idaho we drove into eastern Oregon and entered our home state of Washington on the east side of the state.  We crossed the pass on bare roads and came into Seattle, 28 days and 8,529.5 miles later!