In Oklahoma City!!

Good Evening All!
The past couple days have been days of reflecting on Edgerton. I met up with a good friend from there, drove on I-35 for a while and even Highway 75: yep, the same one that goes 7 miles from Edgerton. To top it all off, I met up with my parents here, which has been great! We have enjoyed our time together so far. I'm looking forward to the next couple of days with them before moving on. It will be a nice break.

As for the activities of the last couple days, well, many of them involved rain and/sprinkling fluid from the sky. The night of hanging out with the Harley gang, it rained hard, but I stayed mostly dry in the the tent. As I emerged from my sopping home the next morning, a heavy mist covered the entire area. Some hiking did happen, but it was wet. Honestly, Hot Springs National Park wasn't what I was expecting. There were some nice hiking trails and I enjoyed it, but I was expecting something like Yellowstone. Well, not so much. This park is based around bath houses and how people used to travel from long distances to have water treatments with the unusually pure hot water. Overall, it was cool and a neat stop. The above picture is of one of the four springs still open for the public to see. All the others are covered up and sent to the bath houses.

From Hot Springs, I made my way up to Little Rock, AR where I visited a good friend from Edgerton. We hung out, talked, caught up, went out to eat and just enjoyed the evening. Thanks a lot for a great afternoon/evening!

But, I am tired. Today, I put on about 355 miles to get from Little Rock to Oklahoma City and now a couple days off from riding before heading into Texas and New Mexico.

Enjoy your Friday and Weekend! God bless you all!

Tim

Day 47... so many stories...once again.

Friends, there is just too much to tell about what has happened from the visible poverty in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, to crossing the Mississippi River, to battles with Satan and myself to glorious times of worship in a campground all by myself and in a bathroom (I know, sounds really sketchy, but it isn't). But, for sake of space, I must refrain from those stories and tell you a few others.

First off, I finally got the picture links posted...If you scroll down, you will find them.

Second, two days ago was Day 45, which if I do get around in 90 days, this would be halfway. In accordance with that occasion, I have a few stats for you...

45 days
7,550.7 miles
167.129 gallons of gasoline
$32.80 dollars spent per day on average- total- how's that for a cheap trip!
I camped 13 of the 45 days,
I stayed with friends 28 of the 45 days,
I slept in hotels 4 of the 45 days.

Thank you so much for the people who have opened their homes to me! You really have been the reason I am still going and how I have done it so cheap so far!

Now, for one story... yesterday, I drove up to Hot Springs, Arkansas and toured around the town a little bit in the rain. It got to be about 3 or 3:30 and I decided to head over to the campground to get a place and set up before it started raining again. While riding through the campground, a group of motorcycle riders caught my attention. They all rode trikes, a three wheeled motorcycle. After setting up, I went over and introduced myself and asked them a few questions about their cycles. Soon, they had invited me to stay for supper and we were enjoying pork chops, beans and a few beers, just sitting and having a great time.

Now, you have to picture this group... the Harley t-shirts, long flowing hair, some in ponytails, tatoos on the arms, beer and cigarettes being consumed like no tomorrow. They were the stereotypical riders that you see, except maybe not as rough and tough. This group was an extremely friendly group that I had a great time chatting with and being encouraged by. No opportunities to talk about religion arose and it seemed like if I brought it up, they would have shut me up, so I just made little comments about God making certain things and how God has blessed my trip and when I left, I said "God bless you" to them and a few said it back. Actually, it would have been great to spend more time with the group because it is so hard to get to know people in such a short amount of time. Am I being effective in what I set out to do? What does being effective mean? I journaled about these questions for quite some time the other night and who knows? Maybe in God's eyes, effectiveness is just being Christ to some people. Yet, that is not a copout, or at least, it shouldn't be. We are all called to witness, both in the way we live and with out words and actions. So, what is effectiveness? That question is my big struggle on this trip.

Tim

Pictures...please...

Okay, I tried to do the links again... here goes...

Pictures 1

Pictures 2

Pictures 3

Pictures 4

Sorry Friends....

Sorry Everybody, I have been trying to put links to my pictures again and for some reason, I can't do it. Maybe I'm doing something different than before. Hopefully, sometime in the future, it will work out.

Well, right now I am in Rayville, Louisiana. It has actually been a pretty long day of driving to get here and I am shooting for a campground a little further north.

One thing exciting happened today... I crossed the Mississippi River again! I am now back on the home side of it which made me pretty excited! It is a little wider down here, but still the same ol' river.

Animals I haven't seen, but wanted to (at a safe distance of course)...

Bald Eagle
Bear
Moose
Shark
Alligator

For whatever reason, I haven't seen any of those animals on my trip so far. Even in Florida, I didn't see one alligator, but I did see Bison, which I think more of South Dakota when I think of those.

Anyway, that's about all the happenings today. I saw a sign for Wilmar and it made me think of Minnesota and remember how much I miss it and how much I miss fishing, family and familiar faces (how's that for aliteration!).

Anyway, I better get going. Have a great day everyone and I miss you all!

Tim

I tried....

Alright, I tried to post some links to pictures, but for whatever reason, this computer won't let me do it... so I'll try it later... if you have facebook, you can check them out there...

Water, Big Boats and... something.

Okay, this is now the third time I tried to write this blog. The first, it just closed out on me. The second time, I got most of the way through and the computer randomly started typing in Korean. Don't ask, I don't know...

So, I was trying to be descriptive and write well and all that jazz, but now, I'm sick of typing. Today entailed talking theology with a family friend from back in the day, and watching power boats take off on a poker run. The picture above is one of these types of boats. They have hundreds and even over 1,000 horsepower and boy do they go! Later in the day, we went on a wave runner ride and we were doing about 55 mph. Well, there was a rumbling coming up behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see what it was. Here came one of those power boats and it blew past me like we were standing still. They had to be doing about 80-90 mph, throwing a stream of water 20-30 feet in the air. Crazy.

Tomorrow, I plan on hitting the road again before the tropical storm comes in on Monday or Tuesday. The hope is to get to Mississippi somewhere and then start angling my way up towards Oklahoma because next weekend, I am meeting my parents there, which I am excited about!

Short, sweet, non-descriptive...that's what you get when I'm tired and the computer didn't want to work with me. All is well...God is good...let the name of Christ be praised!

Tim

Four strikes? Well, I guess you're out...

Hello my friends!
Frustration has set in slightly. Not because of riding, because that went very well today, but because of rejection. Today was a day where I didn't have to cover very many miles, so I planned on finding a hospital or rest home and playing some games with people. Well, as it turns out, I found 4 different hospitals and all of them were a "no go." The first hospital, none of the people who could help me were there, but they gave me the name of another hospital. So, I went there and they said that they couldn't let someone just roam the halls. It wasn't allowed. Moving further down the road, I came across another hospital, and this one doesn't really count as a rejection, because when I told them what I was up to, they said things like "you just made my day!" and "That is so awesome!" Never the less, they pointed me to a different place because they thought I could do better there. Moving to the fourth place of the day, I decided that this would be my last attempt because it was starting to get late. I strolled through the doors and asked the same question I had been asking all day only to be answered with "No, I'm sorry, but we need a background check and several references before allowing anyone back there."

Now, I can understand their reasons for not allowing me back there because you don't want any wacko walking through the hospital, but even so, I was slightly frustrated. What if Jesus walked through the door and they were like, "sorry Jesus, we need some background forms and a few references before we can let you back there to care for your people." It is really sad that we live in a world where someone who feels pushed by God to share his love with people can't do it because of some rules. It is really sad that we can't trust each other even in hospitals. It's bad enough at historical sights and monuments, but come on... hospitals? Maybe I should have flashed my Bible and said, "Here's my reference," just to see the look on their faces. Who knows, maybe I'll just "Jason Bourne" it next time and walk in, get on an elevator and find a room, somewhere.

Other than that whole fiasco, the day went really well. I am back in the Central Time zone which I was really excited for. The road led me right next to the Gulf of Mexico most of the way. It wound around corners and through the trees on the beach, tickling white sand shores and giving sights to the many colored, highrise resorts. It really was a beautiful drive! And today was what I actually envisioned Florida to be... sunshine, 85 degrees, a slight breeze blowing of the water and through the palm trees as families enjoy the white sand beaches and warm water of the Gulf. It was gorgeous.

From this point, I am not sure where I will head. I might start making my way North and I might keep following the Gulf for a while. Who knows? But, I wll keep you informed.

Please pray that God continues to challenge me through this leg of the journey. I think I will have plenty of opportunities to visit hospitals (if I can get in) or rest homes or even find people elsewhere. Please pray that God opens my eyes to the ones around me who need his love and that I do this completely for his glory and not for my own selfish reasons.

Thanks and God bless you all!
By the way, I just went over the 7,000 mile mark. crazy!

Tim