Thursday, July 06, 2006

Vanderhoof to Leduc

so, the first half of our tuesday went like this:

we woke up in the early am at the campground we stayed at in vanderhoof, ate, packed up, and finally headed out at about 10 am. we got to prince george bout noonish, and spent some time in wally world there, and had lunch at the wally world mcd's. we headed out with the intention of going all the way to edmonton!

but a few klicks out of mcbride we overheated again, and spent an hour or so at a little rest stop. while mishun played around with the engine, i played around with the camera and kids, and got some adorable pics of jordan trying to climb the hill to see momma! as we were heading out, after mishun put some more water in the rad, i got a video of a poor bumblebee drinking himself on the antifreeze spill we left behind. so cute! and so sad.... the effects of civilization on nature.

rather than veering off the highway to jasper to get dinner, we kept on until the kiddos woke up hungry..... and we could find no rest stop, no rest stop, no rest stop.... so we finally picnic'd on the side of the highway where there was a resort driveway we could drive into and pull off of. so we sat on a blanket, true hippie chicks, eating pickles while mishun cooked din din in the cracklin' dry weeds.... no fire, hallelujah!!!! while banff nation park is beautiful, it's cracklin' dry, and camp fires are currently banned, and we passed what looked to be the start of a forest fire, prolly caused by the lightning we heard.

the kicker of our little picnic on the side of the road is that we gave the babes 'showers' right then and there - stood them on the bid rocks that were there, and doused them with the lukewarm water, dried them off, jammied them, and tucked them in for the night. by the time we left there it was 9:30 pm, and we figured we'd still try for edmonton.

well, it soon was evident we had a long long way to go, so we thought we'd try findin a motel in hinton, which was coming up..... but as soon as we were close to town both me and mishun started having allergies due to the polluted, smokey air, so we thought we'd try for edson... my mom's hometown! i thought kewl, i can say to mom we spent the night in your hometown, take some pics in the daylight..... but there were NO vacancies... NONE. so, off to edmonton we decided to go for after all... and if edmonton, it might as well be leduc which is only about 20 minutes out of edmonton. leduc being our ultimate destination for a couple days.

well, somehow in the woodwork, we got totally turned around in edmonton.... and eventually realized we were totally lost. we'd headed down a road that said 'red deer' (which is further on the same highway we were trying to get onto... but somehow we wound up first in a construction area, then the freeway petered out and we turned around at a sign that said "---> to rabbit hill" with a skier on it. yah, quite the rabbit trail we went on. so we headed back the way we came, to get to edmonton, but again, somehow, we lost the highway (how does one leave a highway without knowing it??? good grief?).... and we came to the conclusion the signage in alberta/edmonton is CRAP!!!!!!! so finally, after driving around trying to find something open where we could get directions for like an hour or more, about 4 am, we found a 7-11 that was open... and our story gave the lady behind the counter a good laugh!!!!!

[this whole trip has been one divine appointment after another.... i am convinced she needed a good laugh!]

so, at the 7-11, we bough a map and got some directions from another customer and headed out. well, guess what? the directions were wrong~!!!!!!!! at a main corner they had said to turn left, and we did.... but after a while we realized it was not right and after scouring the map i said the directions were wrong, we should have turned right there...... by then mishun's brain was short circuiting while mine was goin' like mad, stoked with the sense of God's grand adventure..... so i navigated us all the way to leduc. lesson learned: buy a danged map, in the first place!!!! lol. once we got to leduc MY brain shut down, mishun's kicked in, an at about 5 am local time we booked into the leduc inn to get some shut eye.

BUT... the blessed 'happy camper' babes had slept the whole night, so were wide awake. i think we got maybe an hour of disrupted sleep, so about 8 am on the 5th, wednesday, we went to get breakfast at tim hortons, and say hi to mishun's friend carol, who we came to see. then we went shopping, and when jojo conked out, we went back to the inn to get some shut eye. mishun was desperate for sleep, and i felt wide awake.... but i slept like a baby and she got none. none!!!!! so, after having lunch at the inn, checking out and loading up, we went to wally world in leduc (the irony of this is that wally is my arch nemesis), then met up with carol and her kids, went to the dollarama, then headed out to carol's house.

by the time we got to carols, i was overheated and dehydrated and i was a zombie all evening. mishun put up the tent with carols help, and i crashed at 10pm with grace. we both slepts until at least 8 am this morning, mishun and the babe came and went at some point, and keven i didnt see until morning, as he stayed up all night in the house with carol's 9 year old son.

so here it is, thursday morning, in leduc, i'm typing on carol's puter, trying to stay cool (at least it's not likely to hit 34 again today, it's totally overcast hallelujah. after nightmares of tornados, i woke up feeling anxious, then while i was semi awake, mishun discovered the door on the van went again, and i fell over in bed cranky as can be.

and once again God spoke to me as he has done so many times this trip, saying, basically, this was His tornado in our lives for this day,... so i went back to sleep peacefully and had dreames of being in a tent in kansas and our tent flying up in a tornado, held up with God's hands, thinking we're not in kansas anymore, toto.... lol. God's grand grace-led adventure. whoo hoo!!!!!

today, hopefully i will see my friend nicole, a good friend in high school. other than that, we have no real plans other than getting the door fixed/replaced. and we're both so at peace it's hilarious. we have a funny God, hallelujah!!!!

oh, and while driving, i discovered the best way to tie my hair so i don't get ends flying in my face all the time is to put it up in pigtails on each side of my head. i got a few looks after that! lol.

1 Comments:

Blogger Christy said...

I am loving this blog girls!! Sounds like you are having a lot of fun despite no sleep and getting lost! Praying for you and regularly checking out the blog!
Love you guys!

1:52 PM  

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OUR ITINERARY:
(tentative/flexible)

June
1 ~ main pack
2 ~ final pack!
3 ~ leave early am for PG
4 ~ PG to leduc/edmonton to visit MiShun's friend
5
6
7 ~ leduc/edmonton to saskatoon
8 ~ saskatoon to winnipeg
9 ~ winnipeg to thunder bay
10~ thunder bay to timmins
11
12~ timmins to ottawa
13~
14~
15~ Cry 2 Him rally at the parliament buildings!
16~
17~
18~
19~ ottawa to timmins
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

August
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 ~ timmins to thunder bay
9 ~ thunder bay to winnipeg
10~ winnipeg to saskatoon
11~ saskatoon to leduc/edmonton
12
13~ leduc/edmonton to PG
14~ PG to home~!!!
15
16
17
18
19
20
21


  • for us, for safe travel, divine appointments, great fellowship and times of growth, happy campers, and GOD's TOTAL WILL!!!

  • for Roy, MiShun's dear hubby - who is staying back home on his own... pray for God to keep him safe, and to have great times with God while we're gone!!!!

  • for Carol, MiShun's dear friend in Leduc... her family is struggling right now, please pray for God's will in the situation!!!!

  • for Pam, Clover's dear friend... that she will have lots to do, the peace that passes understanding, and plenty of godly fellowship to build her up in the faith while Clover is away!!!!

  • for MiShun's dear mama... pray for God's will, and if it be healing, let her be a-healed! amen!

  • for Pat, Clovers dear momma... that she will be well, have lots to do, and God, please bring some fellowship into her life!!!!! amen!!!!

Yes, and AMEN~!