7,891.8…

In my last entry I told you that I was picking my Mama up at the airport in Denver to enjoy a final week on the road in Colorado.  And enjoy it we did!  We saw some more of my beloved red rocks at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs…

Mama and I enjoyed the trails that led through these giant examples of God’s imagination.

We discovered every inch of this place and the only reason we left is because we had so little daylight left.

We visited the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings.

These dwellings were the home of the Anasazi Indians. The Anasazi lived and roamed the Four Corners area of the United States Southwest from 1200 B.C. to A.D. 1300.  It seems that the stones were taken from a collapsed Anasazi site near Cortez in southwest Colorado, shipped by railroad to Manitou Springs, and assembled in their present form.

Mama and I both decided that we would rather see the dwellings in this setting where it was easy to get to than to hike and climb to see the ones at Mesa Verda National Park!

We also spent a day at Rocky Mountain National Park. As my little Saturn faithfully climbed higher and higher we were overwhelmed at how majestic God’s creation really is.

And speaking of climbing heights…we also went to Pike’s Peak! That was the climb of a lifetime!  We could have taken the Cog Train up the mountain but I wanted to drive it.  So…we turned the A/C off, dropped it into a lower gear and headed on up to what felt like the top of the world!

The drive was scary!  Much of the road had no rails and sometimes it felt like I was going to drive off into the sky.  My knuckles were white from time to time and when we finally got to the top I had a mild case of altitude sickness.  Headache pressure, heart fluttering, shortness of breath and dizziness.  Mama was fine…You weren’t gonna catch me sitting that close to the edge!!

 

 

 

The drive down was much better.  I was able to pull over and enjoy some of the scenery…

I’m glad we went but I must say…I was also extremely pleased to come down to earth!

We also spent a day on the Peak to Peak Scenic Biway…a beautiful stretch of road between Estes Park and Colorado Springs.  We started with a stop at the Stanley Hotel, the hotel that was used as the setting for “The Shining”…a novel written by Stephen King.

Once on the road we stopped and enjoyed the COLD waters of a mountain creek.

We also took a wrong turn and wound up in a little town called Lyons.  We were glad we did though because we got to see this…

…another spot ripped right out of an old Glen Ford western. Red rocks, cactus, red dirt, sagebrush…you get the picture.

Back on the correct road we encountered more mountain grandeur…

…and we ended the day with this view…

After several days on the road and our souls satisfied with a taste of God’s country, we decided to head on home.  We arrived home…tired but satisfied.  I had a few minor things go wrong on the road but all in all I had been beyond blessed!

I  kept a running tab on my GPS of all the miles I was travelling and took this photo when I got home. Seven thousand eight hundred ninety-one point 8….that was the final tally on my GPS after 56 days on the road.  You can actually add about another 150 miles to that since I didn’t use my GPS during my time at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  That’s a lot of miles…alot of time away from home.  And, if you’ll forgive my tendency to be melodramatic, it’s  a  number that has forever changed my life.

This number represents a two year period of prayer to make sure I was hearing God’s call and not my own desires.  It represents a leap of faith.  It is a number that speaks volumes about the people who believe in and support this ministry.  And above all else, it is a number that symbolizes God’s faithfulness.

Yes, I am home right now and even though I’m melting, I’m glad to be here…but my heart is still “out there.”  On the road. With those children. In a land with no humidity!

My next order of business is to work on my financial statements, visit with friends, speak in some new churches and plan my next mission.  My heart’s desire is to work with as many Native American tribes as possible.  The fields are ripe and the laborers are few…won’t you join me?