Day 13 - New Mexico,Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas - woke up around 8 am with the wind rocking the trailer, buttoned everything up and drove five hours to the RV Park where we were to stay the night. Got on PJs ate a delicious meal Jennifer cooked for us, pigs in a blanket, homemade Mac and cheese (not the box stuff) and baked beans, yummy. Drifted into a fitful sleep and then decided around 6pm that I had sufficiently been refreshed and asked the family if they wanted to just go ahead and drive the rest of the way home tonight. They all agreed, home for the New Year! So back into the vehicle and another 6 hours later saw us finishing another riveting audio book (the Clockwork Angel) and pulling into the gates of Ft. Leavenworth at 11:59pm December 31st, 2010.
Day 14- 12:00am, January 1st, 2011 we had just driven on Post into a blur of flashing police car lights, cones, and MPs directing us with flashlights into a sobriety checkpoint. We were waved into a narrow set of cones that had to be moved aside right before I could run over them, not a good start to a sobriety check point I would Imagine. I could hear our two German Shepherds barking like crazy as the MPs brought up a working dog to sniff the vehicle. "You folks going or just coming back?" He asked. "Just now coming back from 3368 miles worth of road trip." I said. "Wow, could I see your registration and insurance please?" we handed him the registration but couldn't find the insurance at all. It's USAA and current but we couldn't find it. The dogs were going crazy and the working dog was barking back, I hoped the MP realized it was because of our puppies, not because he found something suspicious. The MP said "I see the dogs are getting to know each other. You don't have to worry though, unless you have a bomb." at that second my heart missed a beat, Jennifer was rearranging papers in the glove box, and between the seats looking for the Insurance and I saw one small piece of paper partially covering the metal shape of a grenade in the cubby beneath the radio. It was the grenade we had purchased at the Army surplus store at the start of our trip. It was hollowed out, but still had a pin in it, and looked extremely real. Jennifer reached for the piece of paper covering it right as the MP said "Y'all have had a long trip. Go home, get some rest, and just make sure you have the insurance available next time." "Yes sir, Happy New Year!" We pulled away with the bomb sniffing dog still barking (not at my grenade I know, at my dogs, but still Im sure the inspection would have been far more thorough had he seen it unexpectedly exposed.) We pulled into the house, met a grateful Kitty who had been impatiently awaiting our return, and I made a New Year's Resolution to not leave my Army Surplus purchases in the cab of my truck anymore. Happy NewYear! What a fun end to a great road trip!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Day 11 and 12
Day 11 - made it to Larry's house and had Christmas all over again. Gifts were exchanged, cousins got to meet each other for the first time it was pretty cool. Being in El Paso wanted to go to an authentic Tex Mex restaurant for breakfast so Jennifer chose IHOP. It was still good though. Had a wonderful visit.
Day 12- Drove onto Ft Bliss. It might as well be called the city of Ft Bliss nowadays, it's huge! The PX is literally a mall. So much larger than when we lived here back in 97. Drove by the spot where Larry pinned me on from Specialist to 1st Lt as a Commissioned Officer. He was a Staff Sergeant. Now he is retiring from the Army as a 1SG and I am a senior CPT. Wow this trip has been one of cool memories seeing where God has brought us from. About 1:00pm decided to get on the road. It's pretty high winds but figured we'd be fine. High winds quickly turned to massive dust storm with little visibility. Dust storm turned to muddy rain, then to hail. Made it to New Mexico, turned to a blizzard with zero visibility. Driving 20 miles an hour down what I thought to be the center of the freeway. I could not see any lines on the road in the four to five feet ahead of the car the headlights let me see. Red hazard lights in the ditch on the side of the road. Several cars had slid off the road into each other, tow trucks trying to pull them out. Driving 15mph down the center of the freeway. The road signs on either side of the road were the only thing I could see so I used them like goal posts to keep the truck and camper between, scooting over slightly when oncoming traffic came toward me at their own 10 mile an hour pace. Prayed as a family for better visibility because this was just plain crazy scary driving. I didn't want to pull over because I couldn't see if "over" was a ditch we would be stuck in and New Mexico on this particular stretch had no exits for over 50 miles. Believe it or not right after our prayer we came up behind the first set of taillights I had seen since the snow started. A big semi truck. I used his lights as a guide to stay on the road and we made it to Tucumcari to a truck stop where we gratefully spent the night. Wow, fun times!
Day 12- Drove onto Ft Bliss. It might as well be called the city of Ft Bliss nowadays, it's huge! The PX is literally a mall. So much larger than when we lived here back in 97. Drove by the spot where Larry pinned me on from Specialist to 1st Lt as a Commissioned Officer. He was a Staff Sergeant. Now he is retiring from the Army as a 1SG and I am a senior CPT. Wow this trip has been one of cool memories seeing where God has brought us from. About 1:00pm decided to get on the road. It's pretty high winds but figured we'd be fine. High winds quickly turned to massive dust storm with little visibility. Dust storm turned to muddy rain, then to hail. Made it to New Mexico, turned to a blizzard with zero visibility. Driving 20 miles an hour down what I thought to be the center of the freeway. I could not see any lines on the road in the four to five feet ahead of the car the headlights let me see. Red hazard lights in the ditch on the side of the road. Several cars had slid off the road into each other, tow trucks trying to pull them out. Driving 15mph down the center of the freeway. The road signs on either side of the road were the only thing I could see so I used them like goal posts to keep the truck and camper between, scooting over slightly when oncoming traffic came toward me at their own 10 mile an hour pace. Prayed as a family for better visibility because this was just plain crazy scary driving. I didn't want to pull over because I couldn't see if "over" was a ditch we would be stuck in and New Mexico on this particular stretch had no exits for over 50 miles. Believe it or not right after our prayer we came up behind the first set of taillights I had seen since the snow started. A big semi truck. I used his lights as a guide to stay on the road and we made it to Tucumcari to a truck stop where we gratefully spent the night. Wow, fun times!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Day 10
Day 10 - Drove for 11 hours today. That was not the intention when we started out. We would cut the distance to El Paso a little more than in half and then stop at a rest area for the night, leaving three or four hours the next day to complete the trip. However we bought at half price books an audio book called "The Princess of Landover" that was filled with magic kingdoms, and knights and sword fights and daring escapes and before we knew it we were on the outskirts of El Paso 11 hours later. There was one notable diversion to the trip, as we drove through Abilene, Texas I had to swerve off to a little back route on Highway 36 to a tiny little building with a faded sign that could still be made out as reading CAFE. We stopped the vehicle and took copious amounts of pictures at what passersby might have thought was open plains, and a broken down building. To me it was my childhood and the start of a grand adventure 22 years ago, when I was still a teenager. My parents had owned the highway 36 CAFE and we lived in a little trailer beside it. The trailer was gone now, but I could still see it as I stood there with my family. 22 years ago I had stood in that very spot and decided to run away from home. Looking up into the Texas night sky seeing millions upon millions of stars I had been overwhelmed by the fact that God might actually exist and so I told Him, "God, if You do exist, You are the only one big enough to solve my problems. I make a New Year's resolution to get closer to You." instead of running away the next day I told my mother of my resolution and soon after she told me someone would be picking me up for church the next Sunday. I couldn't ever remember going to church, but I pictured large women in choir robes singing in opera voices and wasn't looking forward to it at all. On Sunday a biker came into the Cafe. Leather vests, random chains as clothing accessories, tattoos on every visible piece of skin. He asked "are you Stephen Dicks?" and I asked back a little nervously, "Who wants to know?" He said "I'm here to take you to church. My name is Mr. Kirby". I looked in the parking lot and the only vehicle beside our own was a Harley Davidson motorcycle and I thought "Church might not be so bad after all." At Potosi Baptist Church I met the Smith family who befriended me and gave me my very first Bible. Kevin Simmons the youth pastor taught me how Jesus had died for me personally and was resurrected to give me forgiveness and eternal life as an adopted Child of God! In the little trailer by the side of a less than frequently visited little Cafe I asked Jesus to save me. That if God allowed me to be His child I would follow Him even if I fell on my face for trying to do so. In that little piece of Texas 22 years ago my life changed forever. So now as a full-time Christian Chaplain for Soldiers of the United States Army, with a beautiful and loving wife and four children who each on their own have asked Jesus into their hearts as well I stood on the exact spot where Christ had answered my prayers and adopted me so long ago. A few miles down the road brought hugs and pictures with Mr. And Mrs. Smith. A little farther down the road and we pulled up to a little automotive body shop with a flag outside that said "Dont tread on me" and a shop inside filled with motorcycles. An older Mr Kirby was just opening the garage door when I walked over to him told him "You may not remember me sir, but my life was changed because you decided to give a teenager a ride to church on the back of your motorcycle one day. My children have grown up hearing about my first ride to church, I'd like you to meet them." All four children piled out of the vehicle and said "Is this Mr. Kirby?" and then smothered him in hugs. When I looked at his face he was openly weeping and yet with the biggest smile I have ever seen. He then said "This is now the perfect day, Jesus can come back right now if He wants to." I made sure before we left I got several pictures of Mr. Kirby and I by his motorcycle. Thank You Lord for the journey You've taken me on, the people I've met along the way, and the adventures still yet to come!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Day 9
Day 9 - Drove to Verizon and picked up a portable hotspot device so I can have internet wherever I happen to be. $100 was worth it for Mafia Wars, right up until the time we got back to DAV, turned on the internet and discovered it is free when ordered online. Thank you catch 22. Got to go from surfing the internet at super high speed to walking as slow as an ancient dinosaur in a riverbed. We balanced on slippery rocks and gazed at dino tracks that have been around since Neil Diamond was popular, it was pretty fun. Out of the 6 of us only Kaylee took a nose dive in the river on the way back to the vehicle, pretty successful I'd say. A good nights sleep and then off towards my brothers house tomorrow.
Day 8
Day 8
Drove to Glenrose, Texas, set up DAV and then went to Fossil Rim Wildlife Preserve. While setting up Dav I found several fossilized sea shells among the gravel of the park which set Stevies, Tina and myself off on a quest around the campsite for fossils. We found shirt loads worth! Fossilized sea-shells, petrified wood (although I'm not sure what it was so scared about), fossilized bones, claw, and a big sharp fossilized tooth! Wow! And that was just in our campsite. Tomorrow we will head to the dinosaur park to see all the Dino tracks in the local riverbed. In the meantime we drove to the wildlife preserve. It was one of the kinds that you drive slowly through and the animals all come up to the vehicle and peek their heads in the windows. The kiddos were laughing and dodging zebra tongues and emu beaks, taking hundreds of pictures! What a fun day!
Drove to Glenrose, Texas, set up DAV and then went to Fossil Rim Wildlife Preserve. While setting up Dav I found several fossilized sea shells among the gravel of the park which set Stevies, Tina and myself off on a quest around the campsite for fossils. We found shirt loads worth! Fossilized sea-shells, petrified wood (although I'm not sure what it was so scared about), fossilized bones, claw, and a big sharp fossilized tooth! Wow! And that was just in our campsite. Tomorrow we will head to the dinosaur park to see all the Dino tracks in the local riverbed. In the meantime we drove to the wildlife preserve. It was one of the kinds that you drive slowly through and the animals all come up to the vehicle and peek their heads in the windows. The kiddos were laughing and dodging zebra tongues and emu beaks, taking hundreds of pictures! What a fun day!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Day 6
Day 6 - Texas
Made it to Gamma and Auntie Mels house. Sat in front of a beautiful Christmas tree and passed out presents. We were just going to do our one nightly present like we have been doing, then open the rest on Christmas morning. Tonight however, everyone went around the room saying what they were thankful for for Gamma and after we had finished a teary-eyed Gamma passed out all the gifts to the kiddos. Snuggled into pajamas the little ones (such as they are being almost as tall as me) camped out in Gammas house while Jen and I went for a date night in DAV (Dicks Adventure Vehicle). And what was our romantic film of choice? "The Other Guys" with Will Ferrell and Mark Walberg, super funny! Merry Christmas Eve.
Day 7 - Christmas!
Delicious pork tenderloins, mashed potatoes, mesquite flavored beans, yummy. The kiddos were sitting at one table, and the grown ups at another when Auntie Mel made the observation that the kiddos had wine glasses (filled with sparkling grape juice) and the adults all had sippie cups (travel Tumblers filled with iced tea). Christmas music, the A-Team, and playing with presents, what a fun day! Took a trip to Rockwall, Texas to see Pastor Barnes and Shirley Barnes. He is 76 years old and long since retired but he will always be pastor Barnes to me. He has always been like a surrogate father to me growing up in Arizona. He was there through my heartaches, heartbreaks, joys, hearthrobs, and eventually married Jennifer and I some 15 years ago. Even when I was in Iraq and had some of my darkest days I would call him and ask "Pastor, is Jesus still on His throne?" and he would say "You know what son, He still is." and as long as he said it was so I believed it and the world was still right side up. It was a great visit. Back at Mom and Auntie Mels, will head out to Glenrose tomorrow! Merry Christmas!
Made it to Gamma and Auntie Mels house. Sat in front of a beautiful Christmas tree and passed out presents. We were just going to do our one nightly present like we have been doing, then open the rest on Christmas morning. Tonight however, everyone went around the room saying what they were thankful for for Gamma and after we had finished a teary-eyed Gamma passed out all the gifts to the kiddos. Snuggled into pajamas the little ones (such as they are being almost as tall as me) camped out in Gammas house while Jen and I went for a date night in DAV (Dicks Adventure Vehicle). And what was our romantic film of choice? "The Other Guys" with Will Ferrell and Mark Walberg, super funny! Merry Christmas Eve.
Day 7 - Christmas!
Delicious pork tenderloins, mashed potatoes, mesquite flavored beans, yummy. The kiddos were sitting at one table, and the grown ups at another when Auntie Mel made the observation that the kiddos had wine glasses (filled with sparkling grape juice) and the adults all had sippie cups (travel Tumblers filled with iced tea). Christmas music, the A-Team, and playing with presents, what a fun day! Took a trip to Rockwall, Texas to see Pastor Barnes and Shirley Barnes. He is 76 years old and long since retired but he will always be pastor Barnes to me. He has always been like a surrogate father to me growing up in Arizona. He was there through my heartaches, heartbreaks, joys, hearthrobs, and eventually married Jennifer and I some 15 years ago. Even when I was in Iraq and had some of my darkest days I would call him and ask "Pastor, is Jesus still on His throne?" and he would say "You know what son, He still is." and as long as he said it was so I believed it and the world was still right side up. It was a great visit. Back at Mom and Auntie Mels, will head out to Glenrose tomorrow! Merry Christmas!
Dicks in Arkansas
Day 5 - Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas
Loaded the vehicle, closed up camp and bade farewell to Tennessee. The plan was to drive about three or four hours then stop for the night leaving another four or five hours in the morning to mom and sisters house. I was so rested I drove for about nine hours before stopping on the Texas-Arkansas border. I suppose one reason for hastening my way through Arkansas came at a Shell gas station. I pulled in and went to drive to the farthest pump so I could pull straight through after getting gas. As I rounded the left turn to get to that side of the pump I came face to face with a two foot curb blocking the parking lot from the adjacent lot and keeping me from completing my turn. The result was I had all but jackknifed the trailer cutting off two rows of gas getters from exiting. Backing out was the only option. Jen headed inside with the kiddos for bathroom breaks and I set myself to easing out of what I had just squeezed myself into. The gentlemen at the pump in front of me walked over and said "I believe if you back up you'll be able to get out of here ok." I said, while stopping my backward progression to speak to him, "I believe you're right Sir." He said "Let me go back there and guide you back." That was very kind. He waved me back, I backed up. He waved me back some more, I backed some more. He waved me back some more...BAM! The vehicle lurched to a stop against something very solid. To my surprize he waved me back some more, I didn't comply. Sticking my head out the window and looking at him to ensure he really was waving me back still I said, "What did I just hit?" He strolled to the window, scratched his chin and said "I thought that was just a bush but it was apparently a rock. You bent up your bumper a little bit." And then he got in his Arkansas plated vehicle and drove away. Jennifer came out and said "Why are you butted up against that boulder?" I found it easy to keep driving until I was in Texas.
Loaded the vehicle, closed up camp and bade farewell to Tennessee. The plan was to drive about three or four hours then stop for the night leaving another four or five hours in the morning to mom and sisters house. I was so rested I drove for about nine hours before stopping on the Texas-Arkansas border. I suppose one reason for hastening my way through Arkansas came at a Shell gas station. I pulled in and went to drive to the farthest pump so I could pull straight through after getting gas. As I rounded the left turn to get to that side of the pump I came face to face with a two foot curb blocking the parking lot from the adjacent lot and keeping me from completing my turn. The result was I had all but jackknifed the trailer cutting off two rows of gas getters from exiting. Backing out was the only option. Jen headed inside with the kiddos for bathroom breaks and I set myself to easing out of what I had just squeezed myself into. The gentlemen at the pump in front of me walked over and said "I believe if you back up you'll be able to get out of here ok." I said, while stopping my backward progression to speak to him, "I believe you're right Sir." He said "Let me go back there and guide you back." That was very kind. He waved me back, I backed up. He waved me back some more, I backed some more. He waved me back some more...BAM! The vehicle lurched to a stop against something very solid. To my surprize he waved me back some more, I didn't comply. Sticking my head out the window and looking at him to ensure he really was waving me back still I said, "What did I just hit?" He strolled to the window, scratched his chin and said "I thought that was just a bush but it was apparently a rock. You bent up your bumper a little bit." And then he got in his Arkansas plated vehicle and drove away. Jennifer came out and said "Why are you butted up against that boulder?" I found it easy to keep driving until I was in Texas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)