Christmas Morning with my family.
Hello and Happy New Year:
We are just about to place 2021 in our rear-view mirror. Another page added into our history books. For most if not all of us, it has been a year of loss. It seems that as we get older, so do those that we know, love, and care about. (Strange coincidence) But also it has been a year that has brought some new joy and excitement, at least for me and I hope it has for you.
In December of 2018 I lost my life mate, Beatrice, after having been blessed for 49 years with her. So, 2019 was a year of first. Getting used to being by myself. Spring of 2020 found us with a new addition to our vocabulary, “covid”. Being in the trucking business, it is considered essential. If trucks stop moving, life stops. So very little changed except that I got my temperature taken every time I went to load, unload and sometimes in-between. I ramped up what I was taking to help keep my immune system working at its best, and leave the rest in the Lords hands. That brings me to 2021.
March found me winter backpacking with 32 of my youth at Mt. Cheaha Park. Weather was good and we had a wonderful weekend.
For the last several years, Alex and Sara, (my grandson and his wife) have taken a two-week vacation and gone “overland camping”, a term used for off the beaten road camping. They plan out the trip with special maps of forest roads, staying off pavement for hundreds of miles in some of the most scenic, rural areas of our country. This year they were headed to Montana. The couple that frequently goes with them was not going this year so my son and his wife, (Robert & Tara) along with grandpa, (me) decided to give chase.
Spring and early summer found me spending many of my free days getting ready for that August trip. Sold my old 4/4 pickup with 400+ thousand miles on it and bought a 2015 F 250 6.7D 4/4 with 72,000 miles on it. Bought a camper shell in Caroline and went after it. Built out some storage inside over the wheel wells. With my sons help, fabricated rooftop brackets for the shell, installed a rack on top, then drove up to Tennessee to Alex’s to mount a rooftop tent, (his first one) that he had since replaced with a different style. I find out that this type of camping is becoming very popular and there is a year+ waiting list for new roof top tents.
With the truck ready it was time to see if grandpa and his pickup was up to the task of keeping up. The three generations of us headed up along the Tennessee/ Caroline border for a weekend of off-road camping. We had a very enjoyable trip. Then back home to tweak out a few things and start picking up items that I found were needed to make things more enjoyable in the back country.
During July on a truck trip to Ohio (yes, I’m still trucking) I made contact with a family I had gotten to know back in the late 1980’s. The “kids” that I knew then, now had teenagers of their own. I had done some work with their grandpa. One of them remembered me from a pathfinder camporee in 1994. I found we had a common interest in motorcycles. So made plans to meet up and do a ride sometime.
August came and it was time to pack the pickup and head to Montana. I left a week ahead of my son and grandson as I wanted to make a couple of stops in Wyoming. Also, I was doing all the driving in my truck and they were planning on driving straight through, swapping out driving with their wives. I went out through Ten Sleep, WY. Bea and I had been through there years ago and had always planned to return. Then went to Thermopolis and enjoyed the hot springs. Finally arriving at the Grand Tetons. From there I turned north through Yellowstone and on to Livingston Montana by Friday evening. Went to church at Livingston before driving on to Plains, MT. Spent Sabbath afternoon and night with a cousin in Plains. MT. Sunday, I drove back east, meeting up with my family at East Glaser when they arrived.
We drove the “highway to the sun” over to Kalispell, then around Flathead Lake. Was a gorgeous drive. From there the days just blended together as we left the beaten highways and headed north toward the Canadian border. We had planned to go into Canada a way but the border was closed due to covid. We stopped at the community of Polebridge, MT for lunch, (best vegetarian sandwich on the road) then continued to a lake along the border. Had planned to spend every night at a different campsite but this one was absolutely stunning. So, we spent a full day and a second night on the lake. Back through Polebridge, and then on west. Many think the road ends at Polebridge, but that is only if you are not in a 4/4. We bumped the border a couple of more times at lakes in the high mountains. Following the streams then up along the ridges, them back through yet another valley. It alternated from being awesome, to breath taking, gorgeous, then back to awesome again. Each night we were camped either along a stream or beside a lake. We spent most of two weeks and drove a thousand miles of back country roads while there. The little extras included picking fresh huckleberries along the roadside to go with our breakfasts, some type of late raspberries, and purchasing some of the best locally grown sweet cherries at roadside stands I’ve ever eaten. Without a doubt, a place to go back to. (In the summer. Locals at Polebridge said 40 below is not uncommon in the winter.) We dropped out of Montana into Yellowstone, WY to cross over the mountains and Bear Tooth Pass as we started our trip back east. By the time we arrived home I had put over 6,000 miles on my pickup. It was an unforgettable trip. Both the location, and making the trip with my family made it priceless.
I could fill a book of photos, but not here. I’ll give you a link where you find more photos and a video made by my grandson, Alex.
https://www.facebook.com/ScenicCityOverland/
As many of you know, ever since It Is Written moved east to Collegedale, TN I’ve been driving their audio, video, lighting, equipment truck for them to the partnership weekends and helping with the setup. September I was with them in Gettisburg PA, Orlando FL, and Gatlinburg TN.
October I was trucking except for a long weekend when I went back to Gatlinburg to meet up with my friends from Ohio. The two sisters’ rode motorcycle down to Gatlinburg to meet my son and I on our bikes. We camped at a campground just outside of town. We had an enjoyable weekend riding through the Smokies, and part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We plan to do some more of that this summer. Only without the rain. They had rain all the way back to Ohio Sunday. Eight hours is a long ride in a cold rain.
Fourth weekend of Oct. is my teen rock-climbing trip. Small group of us at the repel line. There were a total of 96 teens that showed up for the weekend.
Also, during October, I lost a close friend to covid. Her husband use to pastor in Gulf States then he became our Conference Youth and Pathfinder director. We had worked together until they moved to the Collegedale area. She was a great loss, leaving a husband and two young daughters at the university. Pastor, I feel your loss. It is at times like this that make us long for our Lord’s return even more, to bring an end to sin and suffering. We feel the loss of a friend or loved one, God feels the loss of each and every one.
November I was back on the road with It Is Written. This time it was to Palm Springs, Calif. Then up to Portland OR. Returning to Monterey, CA before returning home for Thanksgiving.
Lots of driving but enjoyable. The view outside my office window is always changing.
This brings us up to December. Last trip with It Is Written for this year was back to Gatlinburg, TN for the first weekend of December. One morning this was outside the door. No, not a fake.
Then back home to spend a little time with Buddy. My cat. He thought I had deserted him. (He had been at my son’s house).
The second weekend of December I was with some friends at church when I overheard a name I had not heard in years. Upon inquiring, it was the same young person that my wife and I had known many years ago. Her mom and Bea had been best friends at the church we attended. After the death of her mom, our paths had crossed and my wife had remained in touch but I’m not the writer that Bea was so had not heard from, or about her in years. After getting her number and sending a text, we had a great conversation catching up. It was so good to hear from her again. I believe our meeting up again was a Devine appointment.
The following weekend I attended two funerals. One Sabbath afternoon, and one Sunday afternoon. The first, of a friend I had known for over 50 years was killed in a car accident; the other was the dad of my closest childhood friend. He and my parents were neighbors before my friend and I were born just a few months apart. He was 95 and the last of that generation.
The world around us is bustling with Christmas activity with little thought to what we as Christians “say” we celebrate this time of year. Really, do we as Christians give much more thought to it? As we read the Christmas story, “the real one” we tend to place blame on the people of that day with regards to not being prepared for His birth. After all, they had the prophecy’s foretelling the time and place of His birth. He did not come as they expected, but that did not keep Him from coming. And those that were expecting Him, welcomed Him. The hourglass of time is running out for this world. It is waxing old. Just look around us. Read the prophecies of Matt. 24. and Revelation. Look at the conditions of the world in light of what prophecies say will take place. Really? Should we be surprised? Don’t let Christ second coming catch us by surprise as the first one did the people 2,021 years ago.
So, looking forward to that homecoming in Heaven.
I spent Christmas weekend with my son, grandson and their wives. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and were fortunate to spend it with family. And may you have a safe and healthy New Year.