The Best Laid Plans...

Circumstances change our itinerary changed, and our schedule, but G-D's alternative provisions are a reminder that it always works out for good. He is right here with us.

We left Lake City, and as we approached Dothan, our next stop, we began to see the aftermath of a recent hurricane. Much had been cleared but there was much debris. Evidence of heartbreak and destruction was everywhere. We called our friends the Basarabs who were staying with friends because of the extensive damage to their home. They drove to meet us at the Alabama-Florida line south of Dothan where we had a wonderful time of sharing. Our couch is full of books so there was nowhere to sit in the motorhome, but we chatted on.

It's always an inspiration to be around Alexei, Svetlana and their amazing kids who are free with their hugs

We had not asked, but Alexei had arranged safe and quiet parking in front of the Dothan Messianic Worship Center. It had everything except 30 amp power to run our A/C. But we were tired and slept well in spite of the heat. Was so thrilled to see this place because I have prayed for several years that a Messianic congregation would form in the Dothan area where we lived for five years.

Our cat doesn't like his litter box. He prefers to go outside and will "hold his water" for a seriously long time. Here, however, he could go out as often as he wanted. He always comes right back in a matter of minutes, no matter where we're parked.

The RVi3. We love it, and it works great.

Our RVi3 brake assist was installed in Lake City, well, the unit just sits on the floor, but they needed to thread the breakaway wiring through the firewall, etc. The system responds the inertia as the RV brakes are applied and mechanically depresses the brake pedal of the towed vehicle. The unit weighs just ten pounds and can be set in place and calibrated in about 30 seconds.  

Richard waiting for me in Camping World.

Our super slide needs serious work, so, we  unhooked the "toad" (nickname for the towed passenger vehicle behind the RV) and drove to Camping World. They didn't have time to work on it... too busy with hurricane victims. But as he told us that, the mechanic asked if we needed a place to stay, with hookups! We had not mentioned we needed to power up our generator to keep the pets cool. So, we moved to Camping World where we were parked on concrete. Richard carried Jasper over to some dirt and greenery and set him down to do his catly duty, but Jasper flipped his tail and promptly rushed back to the concrete where he released a shockingly large quantity of urine then ran to the motorhome steps to be let back in. 

We visited our old Dothan houses. When we lived here we bought two fixer-uppers, repaired and upgraded them and then resold them. That was almost twenty years ago. It was sad to see their present condition. Two are trashed and the one we lived in still looks fine.  

We lived in AL for five years, 1999-2004

We saw some of our dear friends, but could not connect with many others. We were blessed to visit the Skippers and their fascinating dogs. Jamie Skipper is our G-d daughter and it's hard to imagine she is almost an adult! Joseph, her brother, is a budding author. I am helping with some editing, mostly grammatical stuff.

Jamie and I

Carol fixed us a special dinner which included the best warm from the oven banana pudding with perfect meringue. I was not embarrassed to ask to take a portion of dinner and dessert home. 

Joseph and I

The Siglers were busy becoming grandparents and we couldn't stay until Sunday to see most of our Harvest Church friends but we got special treat with a surprise visit with Janet Fleming who we thought was out of town. We also had a nice visit with Bobby Lewis. 

Just a little under bite. He didn't bite me...

Dallas was to be our next stop where we planned to attend Shabbat services and visit special friends. We had reservations for Friday and Saturday at Lake Tawakoni, a Thousand Trails Campground (free for us), but it was flooded and we discovered widespread flooding and travel advisories all over Texas. We thought we'd go north, but ice was predicted, so we stayed as far south as possible.

Jimmy with his deaf friend

As is our pattern, we got a late start and managed to leave by early Wednesday afternoon, but that's part of the freedom of retired life on the road, isn't it?  I did the late afternoon and night driving and it was late when we finally slept at the Atchafalaya Welcome Center near Henderson, LA. It was literally jam packed with trucks and at about 4:00 AM a trucker woke us up to ask us to move so he could get his rig out.

We had reservations for Thursday night at the Colorado River RV Resort, part of our free stays at Thousand Trails campgrounds. It was so nice. All kinds of wildlife, and the camp sites were arranged in small groups all over the property. 

This girl is made of nothing but love and hair.

We made 438 miles today, each driving about half of that and are parked at a small truck stop in west Texas at the 261 mile marker. 

All systems continue to be go. Only small rainy patches along the way. We've eaten most of our meals in the motorhome... In fact we have only bought one meal since we started thanks to sweet friends who have either bought us food or cooked it.

G-D has taken excellent loving care of us and now it is Shabbat, the Day of Rest...  and we shall.