Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Vintage View Vednesday California Mountains 2005

Cancelations are a part of life. They happen to everyone. Schedules change, phone calls redirect our day and we move on. Right? It happens to you, does it not?

Itinerary hiccups certainly happen to evangelists. There have been several times when we came right up to a revival that has been on the program for months or even a year and the church had to cancel for an unavoidable reason. None of us can foresee death, a tragic accident, a natural disaster, sickness or mechanical breakdown. 

We had to cancel a revival earlier this year due to the bus being broken down. We positively hated to cancel, but it happens and you roll with the punches. Thankfully, Pastor Jon Isaacs and his folks were entirely gracious and understanding.

I have been telling you the last several Wednesdays about the only time when we have had two revivals scheduled back to back that had to cancel. The two revivals were scheduled back to back and each was supposed to be the better part of two weeks and they were several hundred miles apart so I had four days of travel time built in between them. Boom, we were off for a month with two phone calls! 

That is why we call that period in May and June 2005 our accidental vacation. And we had a few Sundays to visit churches we had never visited before. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!

Thankfully our debts were low and we had fuel money saved for the trip to California and back east. Thankfully my wife and daughter have great attitudes and do not get down in the dumps easily. Thankfully they love to see the beauty that God has created and do not require expensive trips to amusement parks, shows, shopping malls and fancy eateries in order to have a fantastic vacation.

Our accidental vacation in 2005 included our first time in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, our first time in Glacier National Park, our first time to meet the Metzger's, our first time in Seattle, our first time along the Oregon coast, our first time to Jedediah Smith Redwoods, our first and last time to drive a truck and trailer through San Francisco and our first time at Half Moon Bay. It stands the test of time today as one of our very best vacations. 

It was completely unplanned and spontaneous. It was almost entirely without restaurant meals and anything that cost money. It was me, Kelly Jo, Odie, the Chevy truck, the Kountry Star, a small corner of God's big beautiful world and more fun than we could pack away in a truckload of suitcases.

We closed the whole vacation down with more fun the last week of the vacation than we could have imagined. The Burris family, Bro. Jared, Bro. Benji, Bro. Cliff and their families invited us to spend a few days at their family owned house in the mountains. Wow! What an offer and what an amazing few days. We parked the Kountry Star somewhere in the valley and headed for the mountains.

Longtime readers know that the Burris Clan are some of our very best friends. Spending time with them while we are in California is always on the agenda and quality time with them any place, any time is like icing on the cake. We enjoyed the rest, we enjoyed the food, we enjoyed the hiking, we enjoyed the rides on the ATV and we mostly enjoyed our friends. What a glorious way to bring our accidental vacation to an end.
















































Thank you for joining us in revisiting our accidental vacation in 2005. I have loved every picture and every memory they produced. After the mountain house, it was back to revival and I suppose we will be visiting pictures from some vintage revival next week as well.