A Grand Tour

Good day!
Today...ah, where do I start? Not knowing what time it is for the last 24 hours? The beautiful canyon next to me? The soreness in my shoulders after a 12 mile hike? The crazy songs and thoughts that ran through my head as I hiked? There is just too much to tell!

Well, I guess the time issue is ... strange. I got to the Grand Canyon yesterday and went to call home. My Cell Phone had switched to Pacific time, but I was pretty sure I was still in Mountain time. It didn't phase me, so I just went about my business. But, this morning, I was planning a long hike and wanted to be going down the canyon as the sun was rising. Well, a flyer said the sun would rise at 6 a.m., so I thought I would be smart and wake up at 5, Mountain Time. The alarm went off and I thought, "Boy, it's aweful dark for only being an hour from sunrise." The stars were bright and the night was cool, so I slept a little more. When my clock got to about 6 Mountain Time I headed out and was going down the trail at about 6:50, Mountain Time. Well, the sun came up at about 7, Mountain Time, but the flyer said it was going to rise at 6 and supposedly, all those times were in Mountain Time. To this point, I still don't know what time it is. This computer says 2:55, but I don't know which time zone...ah! So confusing!

Anyway, I ended up hiking about 6 miles down into the canyon, which dropped, vertically, about 3,000 feet. From that spot, I was not to the bottom, but I had some awesome views of the Colorado River. At that time, I think it was about 9 (?), it was about 92 degrees in the shade. So, I started hiking back up. On the way up, I had many random songs running through my head, and most of them were from Dordt Choir this past year... Pai Duli (ya, that's right, Pai Duli), Bright Morning Stars... it was so random! But, I also did a lot of thinking and reflection on the way up, but there is not enought space to get into that. If only I could record my thoughts and just post those. It would be way more interesting.

Basically, God is good and his creation is awesome! I'm tired and sore and covered in dust, but it was a great day of talking with random people, hearing exclamations in all kinds of languages and reflection on God and his creation. It was good.

God bless you all!

Tim

Day 55... to the big scratch!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
To fill you in a little bit about what happened in the last 24 hours, I ended up finding an outlet and got a hold of some awesome people who put me up for the night. It was great to talk with them and enjoy the evening. Thank you so much!

Right now, I am in a public library in Flagstaff, AZ and after this, I plan on making the trek up to the Grand Canyon. I plan on being there all day tomorrow and then leaving the next day, but I don't know when I will be able to update the blog again, so I thought I should fill you in. After that, I'm not quite sure... the Hoover Dam is on the agenda, but from there, I'm not sure. Ridgecrest, CA is the destination, but I'm not sure on the route yet.

After I blogged yesterday, it was an interesting ride. I drove to the Four Corners to touch 4 states at the same time and then I headed south through the red, very arid soil of Arizona. Mesas and blood red cliffs rose up all around as I cut my way through the dust. Thunderheads and rain showers also surrounded me. Truly, it was a great sight to see!

Also on this ride, I went through several phases. One, I got kind of down and out, for whatever reason, but I started listening to Chris Tomlin and just belted the songs out as I rode and that really cheered me up. But, after that, I started to get down on myself and also I realized various ways Satan was getting to me. Even now, I am having a hard time writing exactly what I felt, but I realized how Satan was using my bad decisions to frustrate me. I was becoming bitter towards myself and the world around me.

Also, yesterday, at a gas station, a guy came up to me and started talking and he wanted some money. I told him I didn't have anything to give him and I was in a hurry, so I was slightly annoyed and wanted to get going. Man am I ashamed of that. As I was riding down the road, it just hit me. That morning, I had done devotions reflecting on how love isn't rude and I had listened to Hebrews, James and 1 Peter where we are told to entertain strangers and called to an action of loving. I had just blown that guy off, when it was a perfect opportunity to minister to someone. But no. I was too caught up on my schedule...

So, it was a challenging afternoon of riding where I had to face many things in myself of how Satan was getting to me throughout the trip in ways I didn't see. Please pray that I can break through and keep fighting against Satan and his demons.

Once again, I apologize for the length and for not writing so coherently. I only have a very limited time to get everything done, so it is type as fast as I can and move on. God's blessings to you all!

Tim

To the Desert!

Yo! (just thought I would try a different greeting)
I am now in Cortez, CO ready to start traveling across the hot, stinking desert of Arizona. (well, at least as ready as I'll ever be.) After blogging in Ridgeway yesterday, I made my way down through Telluride and to Mesa Verde National Park. There, I camped for the night. It was pretty crazy, and I guess this is what the weather is like in the desert, but when I showed up, it was about 90-95 degrees, yet as evening came, it kept getting colder and colder and when I woke up this morning, it was again 57 degrees. A little brisk.

Mesa Verde was awesome! I had been there before, about 10 years ago and this time was also special. This park is up on a huge Mesa that stands far above the desert floor and in the canyons, ancient Indians made homes out of the rock on top of the Mesa, but also in the walls. These cliff dwellings are what most people come to see and it is truly spectacular! So, I toured a few of those places and drove through the park enjoying the scenery. But, again, it is time to move on.

Honestly, I don't know where I will end up tonight. I haven't been able to get a hold of the friends I was going to visit and if I don't do that soon, I'm going to cut across country and be at the Grand Canyon, tonight. See, my cell phone died completely, so I can't call, unless I find an outlet somewhere. Unless I find an outlet to call and get a hold of them, I will probably be at the Grand Canyon tonight.

How do I begin to talk about the struggles in my head? When you are traveling alone, there is so much time to think and I come to so many realizations about myself and life in general. I fight with myself and with Satan. Honestly, at the end of yesterday, again, I was ready to turn around and go home. The thread of my adventure string is getting pretty thin and I keep questioning what I am doing. Yet, then I think about the people I have met and about the cool stuff to see and about how this is my last opportunity to do a trip like this. So, I continue to battle, even more than I can write, inside my own head and with Satan. Please pray for this battle. The plan is, since I'm this far, to continue for sure to California to visit friends there and then, we will see.

But, I have written to long... I'm going to try find an outlet.
God bless you all!

Tim

no words to describe

Hello All!
The last two days have been amazing driving! As of right now, I am in Ridgeway, Colorado, after a morning of driving one of the most beautiful roads in the country! The picture above is of Ouray, Colorado, probably one of my favorite towns!

This morning, I woke up after a cold, windy night. My tent was set up down in a valley between the mountains and the wind was howling through there at about 30 mph. It would pick up and then slow down and pick up again. Once I woke up this morning, the thermometer said it was 57 degrees, just a little chilly. So, after a hot shower, devotions, some breakfast and a conversation with an older gentleman while watching the Durango-Silverton Train rumble past, I took off up into the mountains. Now, there is just no was of describing the scenery along the Million Dollar Highway, as those of you who have been there know. Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to post some more pictures, even though they do not do justice.

Basically, this road is cut straight into the side of the mountains and in many places, it is staight up on one side and staight down on the other. Mountain peaks rise above 13,000 feet all around and I was just trying to look and stay on the road at the same time. It is the type of country where I am truly humbled before God. Who am I to brag about anything when I serve a God who set all these mountains in place and formed the beautiful river valleys? Who am I to be proud when the almighty has created such huge structures, where there are no words to describe and jaws just drop? God is so good and so huge and mighty, yet he loves each and every one of us even more than we could possibly imagine! That is something even more unfathomable to me than the size of those mountains!

Today has been a day of being lost in wonder of God the creator and lost in his artwork. There have been a few very good conversations with people along the road sharing the same awe and wonder. As of right now, I am just trying to soak in the wonder of God and hopefully continue to share it with the people that I meet.

From here, I head south through Telluride to Mesa Verde National Park and then, in a couple days, hopefully the Grand Canyon!

As I sat down for breakfast, devotions and prayer, I had "Praise To The Lord" running through my head. That, I have claimed, is the theme song for the past couple days.

Well, time to ride. God bless you all!

Tim

Day 52- Colorado!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
After a very tough day and after a day of beautiful driving, I find myself in Durango, CO. The weekend with my parents was awesome, and like I figured, all I wanted to do on my drive Sunday was turn around and go home.

Yet, I kept going. Today, I drove up through Santa Fe, through the ruged beauty (there is no other way to describe it), to the mountains and into Colorado. The Northwest corner of New Mexico was very beautiful as rock spires rose out of the rocky soil, colored with layers and layers of red rocks, tan rock and white rock. It was truly spectacular! The plan now is to drive through the mountains a little bit and then head back south and make my way over to the Grand Canyon, eventually. So, some beautiful driving to happen in the future.

As I said, yesterday was very tough. I think I drove about 460 miles, which was my biggest day by far and during that drive, I just wanted to go home. Maybe part of it was because Oklahoma, Texas and the eastern part of New Mexico don't have much for scenery. No, I just missed watching the olympics with my parents and I thought about talking about it the next day with the guys at work. I miss the people of home: my friends and I miss the activities.

C.S. Lewis wrote about contentment and the need for adventure in one of his Screwtape Letters. Screwtape said that humans are designed to have both in them. We are creatures who like things the same every day and yet have a need for change. That is one reason God created seasons. In the chapter, Screwtape was discussing on how to take this and use it against humans. As I thought about it, I considered it in my own life and I seem to be stuck in the middle. Some people can live in one place their whole life and work well for the kingdom where as others need to move every couple months. They yearn for adventure. Myself, I am stuck in the middle. When I am at home for a while, in the routine of life, I get antsy and need to do something. Yet, when I do something adventurous, like this trip, I feel the need to be back home and have structure. That has been one of my main thought processes over the last few days. Kind of frustrating. Maybe, someday, I'll find my place, or when I get home, I will discover the right things to do in that place, at least for a while... until the next adventure comes along.

God bless you all!

Tim

Day 51, time to embark once again

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
This is an updated map of where I have been, up to where I am right now. It is late, so I will be brief, but wanted to keep you up to date.

It has been an awesome weekend with my parents in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Actually, I know it will be very hard to leave tomorrow, so prayers about the next few days and me pressing on will be good. In this time, we visited the Oklahoma Memorial site for the bombing of 1995 and we visited a firefighters museum/memorial, a train museum/park and we hung out and had a great time. It truly was blessed!

The plan is, from here, to head west down I-40 to Santa Fe, NM and then start angling my way up to Durango, CO to ride a few sweet roads there through the mountains and then come back down into Arizona and move towards the Grand Canyon. So, I'm planning on putting in a few big days to get through New Mexico.

The motorcycle is running great thus far. The Lord has definitely answered prayers on that account. Thank you so much for all your comments on my blog and in my emails! I greatly appreciate the comments, even if I forget to or don't comment back! It is so awesome to know how many people are supporting me on this trip! I just pray that the Lord will help me to continue to be "faithful", as some of you commented on my last post. :)

I love you all and look forward to more adventures as the west half of the country excursion begins tomorrow. God bless you all!

Tim

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