Jeff and Kristin

Oklahoma where the wind comes.....

2011-08-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

From where the last blog left off, it seems a lot has happened. I went from thinking I was going to get a job caring for a young quadriplegic woman who loves music and the arts to having no job over one week's time. Jeff was beginning to come out of his depression and gaining a different mind-set than we have had over the past year. Living in society requires a much different mind-set than walking and living out of a backpack. We are just starting to switch back over to the mind-set of paying bills every month and being organized. Not that you don't have to be organized to live out of a backpack, it's just a more simple organization. It so much easier living the simple life where you don't need much.

Jeff and I had been praying for a month or so for direction on whether we should move back to Oklahoma. We felt we were being led to do so, we just were not sure of God's timing yet. Meanwhile, we had been having fellowship and bible studies with Charles, the son, from the previous blog, (read blog to understand) and his wife and family. It turns out that they needed help organizing some papers for their business, and Jeff had actually been researching for the last two weeks almost the exact thing they needed. So they asked if Jeff could help them with the business in exchange for a little pay. We were thrilled because Jeff had been looking for a job for a while, since we arrived in CA actually. He even shaved off his big beard to try and get a one.

While we were spending many hours at their house we got to know them well and had many deep conversations. We were beginning to see that God sent us here for this family as well. God was really transforming them and he needed us to stand in the gaps for them and pray against the schemes of the enemy. There was a lot of warfare going on in the family, but God wanted to redeem them and set them free. It took Jeff about 2 weeks to do the paper work for them and we shared many good moments of prayer and bible study with them. We had many heart to heart talks with them, some were a little harder to get through than others, but we trusted that God was doing the work to bring this family into the Unity he desires them to be in. He sent us there to plant the seeds that needed to be planted and he was going to take care of the rest.

It seemed that all the doors were shutting for us to remain in CA and our hearts were longing to be back in OK. So we prayed one evening that whatever direction God wanted us to go, he would have our hearts lean toward that direction by the time our rent was due so we could put in our 30 day notice. The very next morning both of us said our hearts were leaning toward OK. So in our minds it was time to go and we were ready to go right then. However, we had to wait on the Lord. The Lord's timing IS PERFECT! So when rent was due I called our land lady and told her we would be putting in our 30 day notice and may even have some tenants to replace us. I then called one of the pastors from church to ask if he knew anyone who needed an apartment. He called back later that day because it turned out that he did. A mother and daughter who had just lost their husband and father were staying with one of the youth pastors and they were looking for a place and needed it ASAP! So I called the land lady and told her and she said if everything checked out then they could move in after we moved out. This was a blessing for all three parties because we needed to move out but also needed the rent money to get home, the mother and daughter were desperate for a place to live, and the land lady was going to get more money to pay for her own bills! Seems that all of us must really Love God, because he totally worked all of that out for our good! (Romans 8:28)

So Jeff and I were moving again! We decided we didn’t want to start completely over when we got back to OK and so we were going to take all the wonderful stuff people gave us to OK. The awesome bed was the main thing we wanted to take. A woman gave us a brand new European Sleep Works bed. It is amazing! So we needed to get a trailer hitch for our vehicle and rent a small trailer. Before leaving the Bay area we wanted to see a few of the sights we never go to see while there. So we went camping at the Marin Headlands and went to Point Reyes National Seashore, which is the place the trail we were walking on ends or begins, depending on what direction you are walking. It was spectacular! We never found the trail head though. Oh well...perhaps we will bike to it someday! Definitely not walking again. Ugh....

The last few days we were in Redwood City, a generous family from Peninsula Covenant Church (PCC) let us stay in their guest bedroom. It was a real treat and we made yet another friend from God’s family. Thank you Guy and Dianne! We love you! So after playing in the praise band for the last time at PCC and saying our goodbye’s it was time to head east. We decided to stop and see the giant trees of the Sequoia National Forest on the way. We are so glad we did. They are spectacular!

When we first got to the Bay area we were under so much spiritual attack and wanted to run away so many times. I am so glad we stuck it through though. Before we went there I was asking the Lord to refine me and when we got there the flames felt so hot! However, looking back I cannot think of a more perfect place for God to send us to be refined and to learn the things we learned while living there. While there it seemed like we were in the flames forever, but now that we are back home it seems like we haven’t even left. I can’t wait to see what this next season will bring. May the Lord bless you all! Thank you for those who are praying for us. The Lord is answering you! May His Love abide in your heart forever!

Malachi 4:6

2011-06-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

When we first knew we were supposed to come to CA we thought we were coming to help a young woman to be set free from demonic strongholds but I think God was partly using that to get us here. Once we got to the SF Bay area God planted us at this church who feed and preach to the homeless. We were immediately plugged into this ministry called "Street Church". If I am not mistaken, it was the very first night we went to street church that we met Charlie, a homeless vietnam veteran. I really felt a strong leading from the Holy Spirit to befriend this person. God was really putting him on our hearts. We began to develop a relationship with him and were going to see him a lot on our free time. We began helping him to his appointments and really encouraging him to get help for his alcoholism. He wanted to but had a lot of excuses. We brought him to church at Peninsula Covenant Church (PCC) on Sunday morning a few times. He really loved the church and the people seemed to really love him.

After about two months of knowing Charlie he checked himself into detox. Praise God!!! While he was there we really began to see some changes in his behavior. He wasn't as angry all the time, and seemed to have a more positive attitude. One day Jeff was looking at PCC's facebook and saw a comment by a Charles H. and he thought that was strange because that is Charlie's name. He clicked on his picture and it looked just like a young version of Charlie. It was Charlie's son! Jeff and I told Charlie about it and he thought it was "cool". A few weeks went by, Charlie got a room at a shelter, and we decided to befriend Charlie's son on facebook. Jeff sent him a message but he got no reply.

On Father's Day, we spotted Charles H. III (the son), and after church I went and introduced myself and told him I knew his Dad. He looked puzzled and said, "I haven't seen my Dad since I was 2 or 3 years old." I had not idea and was in awe of what was happening. He had a wife and 4 children. He said God had been preparing him to meet his Dad for a couple of years now. We told him that we had been helping his Dad and that he was in a shelter. He was speechless! We exchanged numbers and they said they would give us a call later that day. By evening time he had called us and invited us to dinner. We really enjoyed meeting them and feel that God wants to use us in their lives. They are really seeking to grow in the Lord.

The next day we told Charlie that we had met his son and spent the evening with him and his family. He thought that was really neat. Two days later we went to see Charlie and asked him if he wanted to go for a ride. He said yes so as we whisked him away he asked, "where are we going? Jeff told him we were taking him to meet his boy. He immediately said, "what, but I need a haircut, and I look horrible." We assured him that none of that mattered. I prayed for him as we pulled up to the church. Charles III wasn't there yet so we sat at a picnic area and waited. When Charles pulled up my heart just started racing with excitement! I cannot imagine what Charlie was thinking. They were both pretty much speechless for about 10 minutes. The first thing I remember Charlie saying is, "Now I have a purpose", and "when we goin' fishin'?" Jeff and I wanted to give them some time so we went for a walk and saw one of the pastors, Todd, and he came to witness the miracle and pray for Charles and Charlie.

Father and Son are now on their way to developing the relationship they never got a chance to do growing up. They have already been fishing together and Charles took his dad to the thrift store to buy his dad some clothes. It was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever witnessed. I wish I could put it in a bottle and pull it out any time I feel down. This is definitely a miracle from God!! Thank you Jesus for "turning the hearts of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers" Malachi 4:6.

So now Jeff and I have seen one of the reasons why God brought us here. It is great to see too, because we were really starting to wonder if maybe we didn't hear God correctly. I know now that we did, and I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us while we are here in the SF Bay area!!

........Until next time... Grace, Peace, and Love from the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, be with you!

Kristin

What are we here for?

2011-05-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

We have been in our apartment now for five weeks. We are both not getting many hours at work and are wondering why we are here. We both feel that music is missing from our lives. We are not sure how God wants to use our musical gifts yet but we are growing a little weary. I guess The Lord just wants us to learn to trust him more and more. We ask for prayer for strength to get through this part of our journey. We need stable jobs. We need to know why we are here in California. We just want to serve the Lord with gladness in our hearts. Please pray that we do not lose hope.

Shalom,

Kristin

My God provides

2011-04-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

So.....We have been in California for 5 weeks now. That sounds crazy. The Lord has provided us with an apartment. A spacious, cheap apartment! I could hardly believe it. The Lord is so good. I also have a part time job sitting with an elderly woman and Jeff is doing some handyman work , got a job at a hardware store, and has an audition with an event cover band next week. We have not had our own place in a year and it feels so good to have our own private space to retreat again.

So...that is it for now. All Glory, Honour, and Praise to the Father and the Lamb!!!!

OH PRAISE HIM!!! ALLELUIA!!!

He is our Yahweh- Yireh! My God provides!

Holding onto God's promises in a time of uncertainty!

2011-04-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Habbakuk 1:2

Although we do not live in a culture quite like Habakkuk did, many in the middle east can probably understand this passage in ways that we cannot. Sometimes we are stuck asking the Lord, "HOW LONG!!" How long will you allow the violence to go on? How long must we wait for your coming? How long must we wait, not knowing what is going to happen next in our own personal circumstances? Even while we wait, we have many promises we can hold onto. The bible is filled with them, and as the Church we can rely on them even when in a time of uncertainty.

Romans 8:1-2 I am free forever from condemnation.

Romans 8:28 I am assured that all things word together for good.

Romans 8:35 I cannot be separated from the Love of God.

Colossians 3:3 I am hidden with Christ in God

II Timothy 1:7 I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.

I John 5:18 I am born of God, and the evil one cannot touch me.

These are only a few of the thousands of promises breathed by The Lord God Almighty that we can stand on in these perilous times.

Please pray for the saints all over the world who are being persecuted for the name of Christ. May the Lord bless them and keep them and make his face to shine upon them.

All glory, praise, and honor to the One who sits on the throne and at His right hand.

Come Lord Jesus Come!!

God sent us to Redwood City, CA

2011-03-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Since last time we wrote, we have been to the very bottom of a deep valley, and now we are heading towards the top of the mountain again. I met with the young woman who lives here again, and we got to know each other for a couple hours and then I prayed over her apartment, and her, and her spirit almost immediately changed. So as of now, the door is not wide open for us to minister to her, but we will continue to pray for her, and I know the Lord will be working on her and will open the door again.

We took our poor car to the shop, and the woman at the front desk of the auto body shop is a christian, and was so very helpful and gave us the name of a good church in the area. We were so grateful for her help. So we then found a free campsite on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was so exited when the woman on the phone said it was free, because all the other pieces of land to pop a tent in the area were outrageously expensive. It was at the Marin Headwaters. That place has some amazing views of the ocean, the bay, the mountains, and the beautiful trees. I had been under demonic attack since before we got there so being in God's beautiful creation was very refreshing. It rained all night, and let up a little in the morning, just enough to pack up the tent and make breakfast.

After breakfast we drove around looking at different areas in the Bay area. The further away we got from the Big City the better my spirit felt, and the more peace we had. We then went to check out the area of Petaluma, CA, and it was nice. Much more peaceful than San Francisco. We looked at a little "granny cottage" in the country that would be in our price range but did not feel complete peace about it. We walked around Petaluma a little and decided to drive back south towards where the auto body shop was located. We remembered the church that the woman from the body shop recommended, and decided to go check it out to see if anyone was there. We are hoping there was possibly somewhere to camp on the property.

When we arrived at the church campus there were a bunch of teenage girls there but they were renting the building for a horse shin-dig. So nobody was there who were with the church. We hung out in the parking lot for a little while. Jeff played the guitar and I just sat and wondered why we had been wandering around for 5 days, God was being silent, and we were under so much attack. By the time night fall came, we were both so weary and had been arguing about ridiculous things for the last couple of days. I called our brother Ronnie back in Oklahoma, and told him what was going on. He told us to pray one more time and we would have our answer. We thought, "Seriously!! We have been praying all day and crying out to God for the last 5 days!" So we got off the phone and began to pray and our brother Ray called and asked what was going on because he felt an urgency in his spirit to call us. We told him we were weary and had been arguing and just simply not doing well, and were beginning to question whether or not God had actually sent us here. He knew something was wrong and just encouraged us to pray and get out of the car and go for a walk. As he was talking I remembered the scriptures the holy spirit was drawing my attention to the last couple days. Ephesians 5:22-25 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." I knew that my actions were hindering us from hearing from God and I was not trusting my husband to be in the position God had put him in. So we got out of the car to walk to a picnic table and I confessed to him that I had not been trusting him, and not submitting to him as the head of the relationship. We held each other and I cried and then we prayed and the enemy left and we were back on the same page again. We then walked around the campus of the church, which was beautiful. It has lots of old tall trees all around and was very serene. We decided when the two people who were cleaning up the church were gone we would pop our tent up in the playground, which was not very lit up. We thought our tent would be well hidden there and we would just get up at 5 before anyone arrived and pack up. So that is exactly what we did! We slept the best we had slept in probably a week, just not nearly long enough. We made some breakfast the next morning and saw that some people were setting up coffee and decided to partake.

The first person who saw us was one of the children's ministers, and he very genuinely welcomed us and asked us if it was our first time there. We told him we were traveling missionaries and someone told us about the church a couple days ago. He was very happy we were there. Many greeters and long time church attenders treated us in the same loving manner. We had not felt so loved and welcomed by a church in America in a long time, if ever. And if you have been following our blog for long, you know we have been to a lot of churches. After the warmest greeting ever, we heard a wonderful message that was perfect for what we were experiencing. It was out of Habakkuk. It was all about while you are in a valley of perplexity in your faith and waiting on God to guide you in the next step, what do you do? The key phrase, which Jeff and are totally living out was, "establish a presence, and serve!" We continued to meet many people in the church and they had a missionary lunch for a couple that have been living in Japan for the last few years. We were so happy to get to eat something besides tortillas and sandwich meat!!

During the lunch, the gentleman who was in charge of the lunch, John, who happens to be the missions director of the church, waved at us. I kinda wanted to talk to him, but I could tell he was busy. Later on after lunch and before the evening service, the lead pastor, Gary, saw us and asked if we needed to take a shower. I said with a breath of relief, "That would be amazing!!!!" So he took us over to the community center to take showers. Afterward I sat down to wait on Jeff, and John the missions director came over to talk to me. I briefly told him kinda why we were here and how we made it to Peninsula Covenant Church. Then he had to get to the church. After the evening service one of the pastors, Tony, invited us to come to a burrito joint with him and some of the young adults. While we were on our way there John texted Tony and told him we could stay the night at his house that night. What a Blessing!!

So.....We have been staying in the garage of John and Maureen for 8 days now. It has been great. They have 4 children and are very busy and needed a little help around the house with some handy man jobs and preparing meals and cleaning up afterward. So we kind of came at a perfect time for them. So we have just been establishing a presence and serving them the best we can, and they have been letting us sleep on a rather comfy bed in their garage.
The church does street ministry for the homeless 3 days a week and we have been serving in that ministry as well. We have made some friends that way too. We are having fellowship and bible study in our free time with 3 of the homeless people who sleep at the train station. It has been good for them. I would love to tell you more about them, but I feel this blog is getting rather long and I am ready to post it. So perhaps next time we can talk a little more about the ministry. You can look it up if you want to read more about street church. Go to http://www.peninsulacovenant.com/#/community/street-church
It is so amazing how God orders our steps. We get hit by a car in Oklahoma whose insurance was willing to let us have it fixed in California. So we get to California and go to the auto body shop and the front desk woman is a christian and she tells us of a church she has heard really great things about. So we wander around for 4 or 5 days and end up at that church and it appears that it is exactly where God wants us to be!!! God is so awesome! He is Yahweh- Jireh, "My God provides!!" There is no one above Him, no no, not one.

-Kristin

Prepare the way for us Lord!

2011-03-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

The enemy tried to keep us from getting to San Francisco but we made in one piece, but here is what has happened so far.....

Typed Monday March 21st:

Minutes after packing the car to leave Owasso, OK. for Norman OK. to pick up our dog Boomer, we got slammed into by another car. It crushed the whole passenger side of the car. Thankfully everyone is alright, but we will see if the insurance company tries to total out our car when we reach California. We made it to Norman and spent a few days with Kristin's family. Our dog was not feeling well so we took him to the vet and got him some shots and pills, and hopped on the road bound for the pacific. We were planning on stopping by the Grand canyon and made it to Flagstaff by nightfall. We got a hotel and crashed for the night. Boomer was still not eating and having minimal BM's. I woke up around 5:00am and took him outside to potty. He had a bad dizzy spell so I went to the store and got him some yummy canned food which he did eat. He was growing weaker. Around 11:00 we took him to Pets Mart to get some healthier canned food and some treats to stimulate his appetite. He ate like a Marine and regained some energy and perkiness. Afterward we headed up the mountain for the Grand Canyon. We checked in on our reservation and found our tent site, then we went to see "the BIG HOLE in the ground" (as Miller calls it). Let me tell you! Words cannot describe. Even Boomer was in awe!! It seemed like the walking and numerous stranger pettings did Boomer some good too. He was SOOO happy to be there. We spent several hours taking in many vistas of the canyon. Before nightfall we went back to our tent site and set up camp. We learned that a bad winter storm was due sometime during the night and the temp dropped quickly!! Being very cold, we opted to leave Boomer in the car and woke up several times during the night to warm the car for him. Around 7:30am we woke up to several inches of snow on the ground, explosive dog doo all over our car, and one very sick 11 year old puppy. We ran down to the general store to clean up the front seat as much as we could and then headed back down the 90 miles to Flagstaff. By now there as at least 5" of snow on the road and the driving was nerve racking. So we got to the vet, and didn't get the best of news. We tearfully made the decision to put him to sleep. We are very heavy hearted right now and really need to be lifted up to the Father. It seems like everything in this world has been thrown at us to keep us from doing the Lord's work in California. A lot of other things have come up that I have not time to mention, but no matter what, we will serve the Most High. Please pray for us!!

Jeff

So....it is now Thursday March 24th. We got to San Francisco yesterday around 3 p.m. We met with the young woman the Lord sent us here to help. She took us on a long walk through Downtown SF area to the bay. It started raining on the way back to her apartment so we took the bus back. We prayed for her and headed down the road to sit in the parking lot of Safeway where we cried out to the Lord God Almighty to direct us on where to stay. We still have not felt strongly led to be in any particular place yet, so we are sitting at the Travelodge Hotel. We had our car looked at by an auto collision center and the woman at the front desk is a christian and gave us the name of a good church in the area and her older brother said he would make a couple phone calls to see if he could find a room we could possibly rent. So now we are waiting on the Lord to show us his plan.

The drive from Flagstaff to San Fran was incredible. I had never seen mountains and dessert at the same time like that. It was like God came down and played in the dirt and left piles behind!! So that was awesome to see. The adversary was really attacking us, me especially, that day and night, but with much resistance, prayer, and crying out to God, he had to flee. I feel better now, but all of the prayers of the saints are appreciated. Please do not forget the saints in other parts of the world as well. The Bridegroom is refining his Bride. He is at the door. Be vigilant brothers and sisters. Pray in the spirit at all times. Do not fall asleep at such a crucial hour. May the Lord bless his Church and prepare us all for the time we are living in and what lies ahead for us. He is warning the Nations. Read your bible and pray everyday, so that you will not be deceived by the evil one. He is still lurking, but Praise God he as already lost, and Christ reigns victoriously!!!!!

May the Peace, Love, and Joy of the Y'shua ha Mashiach/ Jesus the Christ be with your souls.

Kristin

A prophet is not welcome in his own hometown.

2011-02-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

When Jeff and I first got back to Oklahoma the Lord put on our hearts two scriptures. Matthew 13:57: "And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house." This one was on Jeff's heart. The one that was on my heart was, Matthew 10:34-35: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." We have been in Tulsa for about 3 months now and it has been made very clear to us why those scriptures were burning on our minds.

The lord has put another mission on our hearts and we will be headed to California in a couple weeks from now. San Francisco of all places. We don't really know what to expect. We have heard it is a very dark place. There is a soul who lives there who the Lord is sending us to minister to. Our prayers are that we will get completely out of God's way so he can work through us. Please be in prayer with us on this matter.

~Kristin

God is in Control

2011-01-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about the Sovereignty of God. When we just look at the things going on around us we can sometimes get overwhelmed. However, if we stop and look at the big picture, the overall plan, it can be comforting, if we look at it in the scheme of God's greater plan. If God is in control of everything and nothing happens that he does not allow to happen then we begin to look at things in a little different way. Yes, bad things happen in this world. The Lord Yeshua/Jesus never told us he came to make the world perfect. He came to show us that if we truly want to follow him and be his disciple then we are to become part of his kingdom, which is completely separate from this world.

~Kristin

2010-12-15T10:23:00.001-08:00

If we ask to be made in the image of the Messiah, we should expect some growing pains!

Shalom,

Kristin

Evansville IN to Tulsa OK

2010-11-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

So I don't really remember much about the last three days we were walking except that we were so exhausted that our bodies could not go more than a half a mile without stopping. There was a man named Leeray who stopped to give us a ride to Lincoln State Park. He was a hoot! The next thing I remember is getting a ride to Evansville after barely making it down the road the next day. When we got to Evansville we got a message and it was from our brother Daniel Johnson, another guy, who like us, is walking across the country for Christ. He gave us a name and number of a contact he had in Evansville. We called them and they graciously came and picked us up and took us to their house. We were so grateful for them. They are a lovely fellowship of believers who have a coffee shop in downtown Evansville for believers to come and fellowship together. The coffee shop is called "The Refuge". We really enjoyed spending time with them and talking about like-minded things. They have felt a need to forsake a lot of the things Jeff and I feel strongly about forsaking. They do not have a traditional church fellowship, which was nice to see believers who are not caught up in the matters of a building and rules and regulations of a denomination. The first night we spent with David and Angie and their two children. Another family from their fellowship came over and we had dinner and told them our testimony. The next night we stayed with the other family, Jeff and Kara. The last three or four days Jeff and I were walking we were praying that the Lord would show us what to do about the winter months because we were just exhausted. We had both been thinking of going back to Oklahoma a lot. So for about three days we prayed about it and each day the feeling got stronger and stronger that that was God's will. The first morning we woke up in Evansville we both were 100% sure that the Lord was calling us to go back to Oklahoma. So after a couple days of getting to know the fellowship at the Refuge, and meeting several of the people in their fellowship we hopped on a bus and headed back to OK. The bus ride home was amazing. What was even more amazing is how if we would have left a day sooner, which we tried to do, what happened never would have happened.

We got on the bus at 1:30 Friday afternoon and had to change buses in St. Louis. We had about an hour layover there. While I was in the bus station Jeff stepped outside to get some fresh air and a few minutes later he was walking to the ticket desk with a woman. I was watching wondering what was going on other than the obvious, that he was buying this woman a ticket. After he payed for her ticket she walked down the hall and he went to the bathroom. I just sat there waiting for him to come back and tell me what was going on. He said this woman just came up to him and asked if he could help her. He asked her what she needed. She was obviously broken and was having a hard time even talking. She told him she needed to get home to her children and all she had was 11 dollars and her ticket was 35 dollars. So at this time, I am thinking, "where did she go, we got to go find her and pray for her!" So we walked up and down the hallway and she was nowhere to be found. As we were in line for the bus she came walking down the hall and picked up her bags and got on the bus we were waiting in line to get on. When I got on the bus, she was sitting on the second row and tears were just streaming down her face. I grabbed her and hugged her and told her she was going to be ok and Jesus loves her. She said, "I know he does, thank you." We sat down and prayed with her as everyone was loading on the bus. We did not even notice the people. It was like the Lord just had the three of us in a bubble and nobody could penetrate it. After we prayed for her she told me a little about herself and why she has to go to the veterans hospital in St. Louis. Then she just grabbed my hand and clutched it tight and laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep for the rest of her 2 hour bus ride home. She was very sweet and I am glad the Lord had us cross paths right when he did.

So about 9 hours later we pulled up to the Tulsa bus station and the bus driver said, "May Jesus Christ bless you all tonight!" I was really exited to hear that because many businesses these days won't let you get away with saying things like that. As soon as we got off the bus I ran over to the first Taxi I saw and hopped in and gave him the address to the house. It was 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning by this time and Peggy, Jeff's mom, had no idea that we were going to be at her front door in 10 minutes. When we got there Jeff just rang the door bell and lightly knocked on the door. The dogs started barking but no answer, so he called her and asked her if she was awake. We had obviously awakened her out of a dead sleep by the sound of her voice. She said, "yes I am awake, what's going on?" Jeff asked her if she was home. She said, "yes, why what is the matter? Someone is knocking on my door." Jeff and I yelled, "let us in it is getting cold out here." Peggy said, "Jeffrey is this some kind of joke? Someone is banging on my door, are you outside my house? If you are not I need to hang up and call the cops because there is someone outside my house." We just said, "LET US IN!!" She opened the door and almost immediately started crying and grabbed us and would not let us go! We stayed up for about an hour just in shock that we were actually sitting in mom's living room in Tulsa OK. Then we went to bed in the bed that I had been dreaming of sleeping in for the last few weeks. It was so amazing. We had not slept that well in months.

So we have been back in Oklahoma for 3 weeks now, and I cannot believe it has been that long. We are starting to see why the Lord wanted us to come back here. We have loved ones who need our help and being here is allowing us to see things in a totally different light than when we were here 6 months ago. It is challenging in many ways being back here because Jeff and I are totally changed people. We feel that this will definitely be a growing time and a time to process everything the Lord taught us on our journey. We do not have any plans. We are going to keep living a life of not making plans because the more we plan the less space the Lord has to work in our lives. We do not know for sure if we will be continuing the walk in the spring. We feel that we will be, but you never know what can happen in three months. We are just going to do what the Lord sets in front of us until he leads us to do something else. I will probably be writing some of the things the Lord has shown us and lessons we have learned from time to time so keep checking the blog whenever you get a chance and I will try to keep it updated as much as possible. We are so very grateful for everyone's prayers while we were on our journey. We think and pray for all our friends and brothers and sisters we met on the journey often. We are thankful that each person we met was able to be a part of our journey.

Peace and Blessings to you all!

~Kristin

2010-11-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when we are doing the will of the Father, we don't understand what it is he is trying to teach us. Sometimes it is a longer lesson than we had expected. Often he does not reveal his will till we feel like we cannot go on any longer and we become desperate for him to rescue us. The good thing is that he does rescue us. Just at the right time. We may not ever know why he tarries or sometimes we find out as time goes on and we say, "Aha, that is why he wanted me to go here and wait there or take this road to go all the way over here!" Many times it doesn't make sense until we see the whole picture. We must not get discouraged though when he will not let us see the whole picture. It usually means there is something amazing in store. A lesson that will take us to new heights in our faith. A lesson that will bring us even closer to his throne. Just TRUST and OBEY for there is no other way! When we do not have a clear direction we just have to keep doing what it is he told us to do at first until he gives us something else to do. He knows exactly how much we can handle and he has ordered our steps according to his purposes.

I am so thankful for the strength the Most High God gives me each day. I praise him for everything he does for me, even when I am weak because I know he works best in our weaknesses. I am thankful for the trials we experience because I know that they will make us perfect and complete and when it is time for us to go home, when the work he started in us is finished, and his purpose for our lives here on earth have been fulfilled, we will then be ready for the Glory he has for us in heaven. I would so love to go home and be with my savior today but I know that the workers are few and there is still work to be done. There are more seeds to be planted and watered until the harvest. So I put all my hope in the Most High God as I travel through this life as an alien to this world, knowing fully that he always provides for me and my true home is not on this earth but in heaven with my Saviour Y'shua! We are here for such a short time compared to eternity. We are but passing through this life to get to the next, and the most important thing for anyone to know while here is their creator. Not just to know of him, but to have a relationship with him. To commune with him daily. It is my greatest hope that every person put in my path will know the Lord Y'shua. He is truly the way, the truth, and the life!! Forever and ever! Amen.

Corydon IN to St. Meinrad, IN

2010-11-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

When we got to Corydon it was Wednesday and so we were trying to find a church that had a Wednesday night service. We called all the churches to see which one had a service and we could not find any. There was one that did not have an answering machine so we decided to go over and check it out. It had a couple cars parked out front so we went inside. It was actually a youth building for a church that was a few miles outside of town. We introduced ourselves and told them we were looking for a place to worship with fellow believers. The youth pastor said he could drive us over to his church, Trinity Assembly of God. We thought that sounded great! When we got there we met the pastor. My first impression of him was he is a very loving man. He told us about how he had been doing sermon's on loving like Jesus on Sundays and on Wednesdays he has been preaching on Faith. His message on this Wednesday that we just so happened to be at was perfect. He was right on the mark with his sermon and it really uplifted my spirit. I am going to include some of his key points here because they were awesome!

Romans 1:17 "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."

Key 1: We must have a thorough understanding of Submission and Authority.
He read the passage from Matthew 8:9-10 and spoke of some of the great heroes of faith from the OT. He was illustrating a point on being under the authority of God and I looked up and he had put on a Yamika. He was explaining that the Jews did this to show that they were under authority. I thought that was great! I have always wondered why they wore those things. I thought to myself, now as a New Covenant believer how do we show that we are under authority? By the fruit of the spirit. To know if someone is a true follower of the Most High you must examine their fruit. They will be a reflection of Christ and not of this world! In order to do this we must Submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and die to our own selfish desires. The fruits of the spirit are: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. The works of the flesh are the following: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Key 2: We must Worship The Lord With Reverence

The word reverence means to bow down to his Lordship. Today's churches have become very casual. Not that being casual is necessarily bad, however, when we worship the Lord we should be putting all our heart into it, not worshiping halfheartedly with a donut in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other! Don't get me wrong, I love coffee and donuts but when we are focused on feeding our physical bodies it must be difficult to focus on praising God. In the Spirit! We must ask ourselves everyday, are we making Christ Lord of our lives, are we laying down our will for his will? Are we bowing before him in spirit and in truth to receive all that he has for us?

Key 3: Be convinced of Jesus' Ability and What you Believe.

Matthew 9:28 : When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied.

^{Romans 4:20-22: 20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ²² This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

In these scriptures we see that it is by faith we are healed and it is by faith that we are made righteous, not by rules and regulations. We must truly believe God has the power to make us a new creation in order to become what he created us to be.

Key 4- Press in Regardless of the Obstacles.

Luke 8:43-48⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

This is one of my favorite passages from the gospels. This woman had to fight through the obstacle of a huge crowd, but she didn't care because her faith was so great that Jesus possessed God's power, that she knew all she had to do was touch him and she would be healed. How many of us possess that kind of faith today? All we have to do is believe that he can heal us and he will. No matter the obstacle or trial we are facing if we just put all of our Trust in the messiah we will be healed for the scriptures say: "By his stripes I am healed" That is not to say that he will always heal our physical ailments immediately. Sometimes our physical pains can humble us and make us stronger and build our endurance, which builds character, which builds hope, and hope never disappoints us.

^{2 Corinthians 4: 8-9; 16 8} We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
I read this scripture the night before I heard this sermon and it gave me so much comfort. To think that we are in this body but for a moment compared to eternity and today's problems will be gone tomorrow. The Most High definitely renewed my spirit that day because the day before I was feeling low and really needing to be rescued. The above scriptures are so true to a person who is truly living the truth in every aspect of their lives. Just when we feel that we can not go on any longer the Lord rescues us and lifts us up so that we may forget what is behind and press on toward the goal to win the prize in which he calls us heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) We also know that the suffering we experience in this body is nothing compared to the glory we will share in heaven with the Lord. What an amazing thing to hope for and look forward to.

Key 5- Exhibit Boldness in The Midst of Unbelief and Mockery

Matthew 9:24-26 "Get out! he told them. "The girl isn't dead: she's only asleep." But the crowd laughed at him. After the crowd was put outside , however, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up! The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside.

This passage shows that Jesus was not looking for man's approval. When I read this passage I ask myself if I would have the courage that Christ had in this moment. If our faith is strong it should not matter what any man says, we should be bold for Christ at any given moment. If we truly believe then we will stand up for what is TRUTH!! Even if we are being mocked by man. In the end it will be GOD we are going to have to answer to NOT MAN!!

Key 6- Be persistent in Humility.

It takes humility to be a follower of Christ. Nobody will inherit the Kingdom of God with a prideful heart. A prideful heart goes before a great fall. Pride is something that blinds many from the Truth. If you are more concerned about being right all the time then you are probably not humble. Here is a good paraphrase of Mark 8:34 that I found "Then Jesus turned to the crowd that had been following Him and said, If you intend to go the same way I'm going (the way to the Father), you'll have let go of your own self-interests every day and submit your life completely to God. You'll have to take up your cross every day as well, so you can die to self - your flesh has to go. And you'll have to follow Me continually. I'll have to show you the way, you'll never find it on your own." The more we deny our own desires the more the Father will make his will known to us and the more faith we will have. It is hard to have faith when all that dominates your thoughts are things of this world. So let us humble/die to ourselves so that Yahweh may increase our faith!

Key 7- Confess and Act Upon Your Faith.

2 Corinthians 4:13 - And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,

So..faith is spirit. We must once again die to ourselves to walk in the spirit and to have faith. The same spirit that was in Abraham which caused him to have great faith lives in us so we must not quench the spirit of Truth. If the faith is really living in us we will speak about it. What dominates our thoughts comes out in our conversations and our actions.

James 2:20-22: 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?

So....does this mean that to be righteous we must perform works? No this means that because of our faith we will reflect the Glory of God! God is not sitting on a pedestal doing nothing, he is always working. So therefore we should be a reflection of our heavenly father. Don't just sit in the pew getting spiritually fed and then go sit on the couch at home in front of the television. Jesus commanded us to "Go and make disciples!" "Go" is an action verb! How are you helping to further the kingdom of God? If you spend most of your free time in front of the television, I guarantee that you are not doing much!!!!!!!!!

So....this is not exactly how Pastor Paul's sermon went just his main points and I added my own commentary. When he finished preaching he asked us to come up and share a bit of what we had been doing the last five months. Jeff looked at the congregation and said, "Your preacher basically just said it all, what he talked about is what we have been doing for the past several months." We told them a little bit of how God called us to go on this journey and the things he has shown us so far on our way. Afterwards many people from the congregation came up to us and hugged us and thanked us for coming. Then Pastor Paul offered to let us sleep in the youth building and we were so grateful. He said he would pick us up and take us to breakfast in the morning and we thought that sounded fantastic since it is the most important meal of the day, and probably our favorite!!

~Kristin

Ok so we were picked up from the church in the morning by pastor Paul, and he took us over to a local greasy spoon to get some breakfast. It was right on the corner downtown and the concrete step going into the restaurant was worn down in the middle by at least an inch. I knew that was a sign that this was a good place to eat!! And boy was it! Paul had french toast and home-made sausage, Kristin had scrambled eggs, home fries, home-made sausage, and biscuits and gravy, and I had a breakfast burrito with hash browns. Man what a meal!! Anyway, we were able to tell pastor Paul our testimony during breakfast and we had a wonderful conversation about faith. After breakfast he took us over to the grocery store to stock up on food for the road, then we headed over to the state park we were supposed to walk through to find some better maps of the trails. When we got there we met Stanley. Stanley works for the Department of Natural Resources and was telling us that we didn't want to walk the trail through the park because no one has maintained them for the past 10 years and they have also had 2 major ice storms, and a Hurricane hit the park!! To top it all off, the only bridge at the west end of the park was unusable!! Boy, the American Discovery Trial should probably update their map for that area! Stanley strongly urged us to take hwy 62 around the forest. He was VERY convincing. After we promised him that we would be bypassing the trails and taking hwy 62, I asked him what he did to his arm. He had this crazy contraption on his wrist that looked like something out of Edward Scissor Hands meets SAW. He told us it was to help him with his nerve damage after getting run over on HWY 62!!! I said, "what!" He told us how he was hooking up a trailer to a truck and someone slammed into the trailer while he was between it and the truck!! "CRAZY" I thought. He said right after that, "62 is still safer than our trials right now. Trust me, you don't want to take the trails!" Well if they are that bad, then we are definitely going to walk around! He gave us some strong warnings about the traffic on the hwy there (obviously) and wish us good luck by giving us some Smokey the Bear pins! So pastor Paul drove us back the way we came to the highway, and prayed for us before he went back home. We crammed our groceries down into our packs and boldly headed off down the road. We made it to the next town called Leavenworth, IN before dark and found a little general store that served hot sandwiches and desserts. It was a neat little store, and it reminded me of how things must have been before "the interstate went through." After a snack we walked down a side street to the Presbyterian church and set up our tent behind the building. It was right on top of the bluffs that lined the Ohio river, and we had an incredible view of the sun setting over the river. It rained on us that evening, but we stayed dry and warm thanks to the amazing gear that we got from EDMOND SUMMIT COMPANY!! In the morning we packed up our gear and went back over to the general store that was now serving hot breakfast! We ate a standard breakfast plate and talked with some patrons and also the owner. The people took a while to warm up to us, but I think they finally figured out that we were "ok." I think my beard is starting to scare people! Ha! So from Leavenworth we continued west for quite some time, until we were stopped by Randy. Randy was a local truck driver who pulled over to see if we were alright, and offered to take us on into St. Meinrad. He told us that there was a Benedictine Monastery there and that they would probably let us camp there for a few days while we were waiting on our package at the post office. Since we weren't sure where the monastery was, and we were exhausted, we hopped into Randy's truck and let him take us over there. He was a very kind guy who was curious about our journey. We told him a little about what we do, and he told us about his horses and driving a truck. It was nice to meet such a friendly person and were thankful for the ride. It wasn't but a few minutes and we were pulling up to the monastery.

~Jeff

When we pulled up to the monastery I thought it was going to some quaint little building but it was more like a giant castle!! Just google St. Meinrad Archabbey and you will see what I am talking about. We said bye to Randy and thanked him for the ride and headed toward the guest house to see if they could accommodate us. A nice woman greeted us at the front desk and said since it was the weekend we would have to reserve a room for two nights. We said we couldn't really afford that, and were really were just wanting a place to put our tent. So she made a quick phone call and got permission for us to camp out by a beautiful lake they had on the property. We walked around to look at the architecture of the buildings and saw the church and then found the library. The abbey was having a retreat this weekend so they were serving hot meals every day. It has been quite a blessing because for not too much money at all we got to eat really delicious and healthy food. They had a salad bar too. Boy was that a treat because Lord knows we have not been getting enough greens lately!! When we we leave tomorrow we will be sad to leave the cafeteria. We met a nice young man in the library who is a student at the seminary here. He invited us to his apartment to take showers Friday night, dinner Saturday night, breakfast this morning and we will be having dinner with him this evening. We have enjoyed our fellowship with him and talking about some of the things we have always had questions about on the catholic church. We really are very thankful for this new friend and glad we got to spend time with him. We hope to meet him again someday! Lord bless you Jon!!

Jeff and I have been feeling that we are in a transition faze for a couple months now. We feel that God is teaching us something but we have not yet received all of it. Maybe it is a really long lesson. The longer we are on this journey the more we want to come out of this dark in dying world. We know that we can not leave this earth till the Father calls us home and that there is still work to be done. We just feel a longing to be molded even more into the likeness of Christ each day! We will hopefully be able to share more of our thoughts on this as time goes on and God gives us revelation on the lesson he is teaching us. Until then......Peace be with you!

~Kristin

Random Pics from the ADT

2010-11-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hi All~ This is Jeff's sister, I have recently received a full scan disk of pics from Jeff and Kristin. Most pics can be identified in previous blogs, while others I am not exactly sure of the details..... hopefully Jeff and Kristin can add a post and identify some areas or specifics.... here goes! I just wanted to say how touched I am by all the LOVE being poured out in response to this life changing journey that God has called Jeff and Kristin to. There are so many stories of lives changed and prayers answered and blessing abound. I know a lot of you following this blog have been so positively changed. I just encourage you to share this blog with anyone you can and ask them to do the same. God has a perfect plan for all of us and each of us are here to touch lives... sometimes with a simple kind word or smile... sometimes with sharing a testimony. I encourage you all to listen to that voice when you are called to do something for someone else... you never know how far the ripple effect will travel. I love you, Jeff and Kristin and I thank God that you are on this journey. Stay focused and keep your eyes on God. Your travel is literally changing lives. Take comfort, for your strength comes from the Lord.

Love, Jen

A verse that has been on my mind:Matthew 28; 16-20

16 The the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

New Albany to Corydon Indiana

2010-11-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

When we left the hotel in New Albany we headed down Corydon Pike for Corydon, IN. We passed by the pastor's house who had put us up in the hotel. We stopped and talked to him a bit and met all his doggies and then kept heading west. The road was very winding and had many crazy drivers on it. After about 3 or 4 miles we got to the top of a hill and there was a town called Edwardsville, that was a surprise because we did not think we were going to see a town until Corydon. As we came around the side of a building, where there was a great view of the valley, a couple of teenage boys came up the ridge from the woods. They started talking to us and we asked them if there were any churches in town. They said there were a few. They asked us why we were walking and I told them because God called us to. Then there was just dead silence! We got to a highway and saw the church on the right and the boys were heading left so we told them to take it easy and walked over to the church. It was a pretty large Methodist church which had a decent size yard. There were a couple cars in the parking lot and so we decided to check the doors to see if they were open. The side door was so we walked in and took our packs off and I wandered around saying " hello, is anyone here?". Nobody answered so we just sat down and relaxed for a bit. It was nice to get out of the wind. After about 20 minutes I decided to wander around again. I went downstairs and saw some offices and the lights were all on and a friendly elderly gentlemen came around the corner. I told him what we were doing and told him that we just needed a place to put up our tent. He said they were about to have a meeting so I could talk to the pastor. I took him over to meet Jeff and we had some small talk and then he led us back to the pastor's office. She greeted us with a great big smile! The elderly gentleman told her we were walking across the country. We told her Christ had called us to do so. We asked if we could possibly pop our tent in the church yard and as I was speaking she was shuffling through her desk looking for a phone-book. Not even five minutes later she had made a phone call to the motel across the street, made us a reservation, asked the motel to bill the church, and handed us $20 and said, "get yourselves some pie at Korner Kitchen!!" We were just in shock that it all happened so fast. She said all she wanted in return is for us to come to the meeting to pray for the church. So we went to the meeting and met everyone and prayed for the Lord's will to be done. They were wanting to use their building for ministry and so that is what they were having a meeting about. So if you are a prayer warrior, please pray for Edwardsville United Methodist Church that God would show them a way to be able to use their building to serve others in the community! Here is their website: http://www.edwardsvilleumc.org/Home_Page.html
We walked to our room and Jeff went to get french fries and chicken nuggets from McDonald's! Yumm!! So healthy! I decided to go for a swim in the tub and Jeff passed out. I think Jeff slept like a rock all night but I tossed and turned and thought about /prayed about where God was going to have us spend the winter. I was becoming restless. The next day we ate some breakfast at Korner Kitchen. Indiana must be one of the last states to make their restaurants non-smoking. I don't see how people smoke while eating, it makes me gag and I lose my appetite for a while. After pleasantly filling ourselves we went back to the room and I took a nap. When Jeff woke me up to pack my bag 20 minutes before check-out time I was in a pretty grumpy mood. We got packed up, checked in our key cards and walked outside and it was like the spirit of grumpidom hit me and I just wanted to throw my bag across Indiana! After I sulked for a little while we took off walking and got not even a mile before we needed to sit down and have a break. We were both very drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually. After sitting on the side of the road for just a a few minutes a couple pulled up to the stop sign and rolled down their window. The gentleman said something about hitch-hiking in the 70's and said he would bring us some sandwiches and asked us to just stay right where we were, and then they drove off. They came back 20 minutes later or so in a big red truck. I was thinking, "cool, they are going to give us a ride!" Instead the lady just got out and handed us a big plastic bag of food and said God Bless you", and they took off as quick as they came! Jeff hurriedly put on his pack and stormed off down the road while I took my time putting on my pack. As I was fastening my hip belt a police officer lady pulled over got out of her car and came up to me and asked what I was doing. I told her my husband and I were walking across the country. She asked why we would do something like that and I told her because God called us to. She asked to see my id and I yelled for Jeff to come back and right as he turned around another police officer pulled over to talk to him. The extremely rude lady officer told me someone had called in and said we looked homeless and had been looking around in people's houses. I said that was absurd because all we were doing is sitting on the side of the road. It was kinda chilly and so I naturally put my hands in my pocket. She harshly told me to take my hands out of my pockets because I was making her nervous. I thought, "that is dumb, you're the one with the gun!" I then tried to walk towards Jeff and the lady started yelling at me to stand right where she told me to. I told her I was going to get my id like she asked. She said, "No YOU WILL STAND RIGHT THERE!" I said, "why are you treating me like this I did not even do anything?" She said that we looked homeless and suspicious. I asked her when it became a crime to be homeless. I tried to walk away again because she was beginning to really aggravate me and she started yelling at me again. She said, "I commanded you to stand right where you are!" I asked her why she thought she had a right to command me to do anything, thinking God is the only one who can command me to do anything. I told her it was interesting how many lisence plates for the state of Indiana had "In God we Trust" on them but so far it seemed that most the people we have passed seem to be living in fear of strangers. She said, "this is a conservative state mam." I thought, "what does that have to do with anything?" Not even thinking I put my chilled hands back in my pockets. She got even more upset! I thought she was going to arrest me for wanting my hands to be warm!! I looked down at Jeff and the officer that was harassing him waved at the lady officer and then she got in her car and they both just drove off! So....we have now been persecuted twice on this trip, once by a man from a church and the second by the police. That should tell you something about this country!!

~Kristin

I don't even know what to say about those police officers. They were the most rude people I have ever met, and hope that God shows them the error they are living in. The officer that was verbally assaulting me asked why I was "down here" and my wife was "up there?" We were maybe 100 yrds apart and it was because we weren't in the best of moods and I started walking before she had her pack all the way on. But when the officer asked me that, I said, "well because we are bickering at one another and I started walking before she did." He asked, "what were you bickering about?" I polietly said, "well that is a personal matter between me and my wife, it doesn't concern you sir." Boy he got IRATE!! Told me to "TAKE A STEP BACK SIR!" Then gave me a speach about how he strongly suggested that I just tell him what we were fighting about because when an officer detains you it's in my best interest to blah, blah blah.... I asked him why he was being so rude and treating me like a criminal, and what this was all about? He told me that I needed to anwser his question regarding my wife. I took off my sunglasses and looked him right in the eye and, "I get it. I see what you are doing. You are the one with the gun and all the power here, and I guess my private marital conversations with my wife should be shared with you, a complete stranger. IF you must know, I have no idea what we are bickering about. We have been walking for 5 months and we are both very tired and cranky. If you go up there and ask my wife, she'll tell you the same thing." Boy he did not like that anwser!! Anyway, after being humiliated on the side of the road for 20 minutes or so, they both said something on their radios and got in their cars and left. I have to give God the glory for giving me the strength to endure that. My flesh wanted to just tear into that guy, but the Spirit urged me no remain calm. A warm night in jail was starting to sound like an AWESOME punishment for popping that guy in the jaw! OK that's just my flesh talking. I just wish we had it on video! I think the funniest part of the whole ordeal was when he asked me in amazment if this was the first time in 5 months of "walking by people's houses" that we had been questioned by the police. I said, "well no, we were stopped by one other cop back in Clarkstown, IN but he wanted to know if we needed anything, and to make sure we were alright, and he also offered us a ride!" I said, "I guess you guys have a different policy regarding traveling missionaries." Maybe that was pushing my luck, but it was true. GOD HELP THIS COUNTRY!!!

So after narrowly escaping a night in jail we had a lot to talk about while getting back on the road. Our heads were just spinning. We walked maybe another 5 miles and found a christian camp. We tried to talk to the people who owned it, and the groundskeeper, but no one answered the phones. So we just picked out a secluded pavilion and crashed for the night. The whole time I was just waiting for the cops to show up and haul us off for "trespassing." The encounter with the coppers really shook us up and we are still suffering the mental effects, but we are ready for what ever may come our way. We woke up from the camp early and made our way down the last 4.5 miles to Coydon where we are now. We ate some awesome Mexican food and walked over to the library to tell all of you about the COPS! Anyway, we love and miss all of you and hope and pray that you are all happy and healthy!!

~Jeff

Friendship, IN to New Albany, IN

2010-10-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

10.28.2010 -Right now we are camped in the back of an old country cemetery, but that story will have to wait. Let's go back to Friendship,IN where this saga ended last time...

We had heard that Cross Plains had a place where we could get some breakfast and groceries. So we woke up from the pavilion early and pointed our hiking poles west. We walked about another 6 miles to get to town and we were really hurting by the time we got there. Keep in mind that we had just eaten a whole bag of mini crullers and felt full, but we just didn't have the energy. So we dragged into this little country general store called Best Buy Groceries. It was great! They had the grill going and there were several locals in attendance to give us strange looks as we hobbled our way over to a table. Which was between the toilet paper and the catfish bait, and behind the candy rack. NO JOKE!! The man behind the counter was immediately very friendly and we soon felt right at home. His name was Ray and I think he might have owned the place but I'm not sure. So we picked out some iced teas from the drink coolers and Ray took our order. We both ordered Country Fried Steak with two eggs, hash-browns and toast! We sat there and talked with the fraternity of old men who apparently meet at Best Buy everyday. They were intrigued by what we were doing and offered a lot of "good" suggestions for us. We soon got our food and I think that was probably THE BEST country fried steak I've ever had! It wasn't the fact that we were really needing some real food, it was bonafide good!! I wolfed down mine so fast Kristin asked if I even chewed it! After eating an incredible breakfast we mustered up the courage to stand again. Our joints are really mad at us. Especially our hips. We needed some groceries and made a round through the isles and picked out a few things that didn't need to be cooked. We purchased our food stuffs and crammed them down into our bags. Ray, and the woman there, said that we better take some peanut butter fudge and pumpkin bread with us, and threw it down in our bag! You just never get tired of meeting loving, caring people!! Well, I had let my phone run completely out of battery and was charging it during this whole time, but it hadn't fully charged yet. So we had to stay there for a few more hours! Darn. We were there long enough to have the second shift come in to work. Her name was Dawn. The locals and Ray quickly filled her in on our story and soon everyone was asking lots of questions again. At this point we were trying to find a more direct route to get to Madison. Whenever we mentioned the roads the trail had us going on, everyone in the place started talking at once while shaking/scratching their heads. Apparently the trail had us going on a wild goose chase again so we asked to look at their county map. Here we are standing at the front counter with the map out, and there are about 6 fingers pointing out routes and roads and "hollers." Ray told us about an Amish family he knows about 3 miles down the road that would probably let us camp. And that there was a church just down the road from them also. We kind of settled on going to the church by the Amish house and trying to camp there for the night. After a while we were all just sitting around talking and laughing. So Dawn just came out and said, "if you guys are trying to get to Madison, I get off at 8:00. I'll just take you down there if you want."

~Jeff

Jeff and I thought about it for a little while and decided since we were so worn out and the trail was going to have us going way out of the way to get to Madison, we would just take the ride. We asked if she knew of a church in Madison that had a yard to camp on. She said her sister's church did and she could call and ask her if it would be ok. So we walked to the church down the road a couple miles and sat under their pavilion and called some people back home who we are missing. An older couple drove by and asked us how far we had gone and I asked how they knew we were walking. They said Dawn from the store had told them about us. We told them a little about what we were doing and they asked if we needed anything. I told them not unless one of them knew how to sew, because a couple nights prior I had ripped a hole in my sleeping bag. The lady said she wasn't, but the Amish right next door could probably help us. I thought that was a brilliant idea seeing as how we love the Amish folks! So we went to knock on the door of the Amish family but before we could even get to the porch several of them had come outside to greet us. The lady of the house came outside with a plateful of cookies to offer us. I told her I was hoping that she could help me with the hole in my sleeping bag. She asked to see it so I pulled it out and showed her the quick patch job I did in the tent. It's hard to sew thin nylon in the middle of the night with a straight needle and thread, while wearing a headlamp and trying to keep a gazillion feathers from going everywhere! She said she could put a patch over it and took it inside. While she was doing surgery on my sleeping bag the kids took me to see their many animals. They had goats, pigs, horses, a turkey, which I asked if they were having it for thanksgiving and they looked at me and said, no that's our pet! They also had cats and dogs and over 100 bunny rabbits. I am sure I am forgetting something but I think you get it, they had a bunch of animals!! So after the tour of the zoo we went back to the house and Mrs. Christner, the lady of the house had finished patching the bag. It looked great, I am so grateful for her help. They invited us in for dinner but we were still full from the big meal we had earlier. They invited us in anyway just to visit. She had made some homemade bread which smelled delicious and when she offered us some I could not decline it! She also made us a fresh cup of coffee. I asked if they liked to sing. They said they usually sing in the morning but before I knew it they were all holding songbooks in their hands. I asked if they knew any German songs and they said yes and began to sing it. It was so beautiful to hear the whole family singing together. I got a little tear of joy in my eye. They asked if I wanted to sing with them, I was so happy they asked. I looked through their song book to see if there were any songs I knew. There were a few and we sang them. Meanwhile, Jeff offered to sharpen Mr. Christner's pocket knife. We sang until Dawn came to pick us up. We really enjoyed spending time with the Christner's! I hope someday we will meet again, if not here, then in eternity! Dawn, her son, and her husband drove us to Madison, which was about 16 miles from where they had picked us up. They dropped us off at the North Madison Christian Church and gave us a bag of junk food. Yumm!!

That night was crazy! There were what seemed to be million miles an hour winds and that made for a noisy night. Since we set the tent up in the dark we did not take the time to stake it down. There was hardly any wind when we went to sleep, but soon after we woke up to loud gusts of wind coming up around the tent, blowing off the walls of the church and back over the other side of the tent. So we did not get much sleep that night. We still managed to wake up in a good mood though and went inside the church to thank them for letting us stay the night in their yard. There were several people there and we met the pastors who asked if we would like showers. We definitely needed showers!! So we smiled and told them that would be a blessing. A nice fella by the the name of Robbie took us to the showers and told us they also had laundry. We were so thrilled! Showers and laundry at the same time!! That might sound weird to be so exited about that, but if you have ever hiked a long distance then you know what I'm talking about! As our laundry was waiting to dry, a nice woman came and sat by us and talked to us. She asked if we needed anything. I told her we really were hoping to find a place to rest for a couple of days. She said she knew of a couple in downtown Madison that has taken in bicyclist and hikers before. My eyes lit up, it sounded like the perfect place. She told us they also had went across country on bicycles for a christian organization. She said her and her husband could drop us off downtown if we would like so we got our clean laundry and hopped in her car. It was a good thing we accepted the ride because we had just enough time to go to Dollar General and walk to the post office, where we had a package waiting on us. As soon as we got to the post office it started pouring down rain. It was so windy that the rain was coming down sideways and the gutter at the post office was unable to hold it. It looked like a water fall coming down in front of the post office door and it began seeping into the building. Jeff and I marveled at the weather for a bit and then decided we better put on our rain gear. By the time we got it all on the rain had slowed down to a sprinkle and we headed to the library to get on the computer. We wanted to check out the route the American Discovery Trail wanted to take us and see if we wanted to take a short cut. Shortly after we got to the post office the nice lady from the church who had given us a ride called and said the couple she told us about said to bring us on over. She said she would pick us up in thirty minutes to take us over there. When we got to the Canida's house Mr. Canida was there to greet us. He showed us to a beautiful upstairs quarters with our own room and bathroom and a nice view of the Ohio river. It was very beautiful and felt so peaceful, I could not wait to relax. Mr. Canida immediately started asking if there was anything we needed before he went back to work. He offered us food, showers, laundry and anything else we might need.

~Kristin

So Kristin and I got settled in at the Canida's house and hung our wet gear in the bathroom. When we went back downstairs we met "Doc" Canida. Doc was Mr. Canida's elderly father who was staying with them for a few days after having surgery. He couldn't hear or see very well anymore, but he was the nicest guy in town!! Soon after getting settled in and having some lunch, Kristin said that she would like to take a nap because we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before due to the crazy winds. So as she went upstairs to take a nap, I remembered the vintage music shop we had passed downtown on the way in. I told Mrs. Canida that I would like to walk over to the shop and have a look around. She said that sounded like a good idea and told me how to get there. When I got there I met Andrew. He was the son of the owner and we got to talking about all kinds of stuff. He let me play a bass or two and we shared hunting pictures and stories about big deer. He told me about his times working with the department of wildlife and a slew of other things. It was great to get out and be able to just relax there in the music store for a while. The name of the store is Crawdaddy Music and it has some of the coolest vintage instruments for sale! If you like vintage guitars/drums/basses/Ukuleles?... then you should give them a shout. Super nice people to talk to also! Thanks for letting me hangout in your store Crawdaddy's!

Crawdaddy's

130 E Main St

Madison, IN 47250-3411

(812) 265-6087

After spending a few hours in Crawdaddys, I realised that it was getting close to 6:00pm. Mr. Canida had told us that they were going to be picking up a friend who was in town and we were all going to go eat somewhere. So I went upstairs and woke up Kristin and we all went to pick up their friend. On the way they showed us the route we were going to be taking when we left Madison, and some of the next town over. We were grateful to have a little insight on the upcoming trail for once, and noted some of the more dangerous spots in the road. We picked up their friend and we all headed off to eat dinner. We had Italian at a locally owned restaurant and had a great time talking and laughing. After dinner we took their friend back to the Lodge where she was staying. She was in town to give a seminar to the local dentists over things like infection control and ethics. She also needed some help setting up her brand new projector, and connecting it to her computer. So we went in and made sure that she knew how to hook it all up and turn it all on. She was a lot of fun! I'm sure that all the dentists attending this mandatory seminar were glad that she was so light and bubbly! So after passing myself of as an I.T. expert, Mr. Canida, Kristin, and I went back to the house to get some sleep. The next morning Kristin and I woke up to a quiet house with a note from Mrs. Canida regarding breakfast. We helped ourselves to some cereal and coffee and toast and sat down to eat. After cleaning up from breakfast we had a few things to get done. Kristin wanted to write letters and postcards and I volunteered to go to the laundr-o-mat to wash our sleeping bags. See, that is the reason we went to the post office in the first place. We had to pick up our sleeping bag laundry soap. Edmond Summit Company continues to go above and beyond a mere retail store. Our sleeping bags were really starting to get dirty and smelly. Also, Kristin's bag is stuffed with down, and it was starting to loose some of it's "loft" or insulating properties due to being dirty. So it was time for a washing. The problem is that you can't just throw in some Tide laundry soap and walk away and forget it. It would strip the natural oils off the down feathers and destroy the bag. Down takes a special detergent which is harder to find on the trail then a 5 leafed clover! So we told John back at Edmond Summit Company and he shipped us some THAT DAY!! He and his store have been so amazing on this trip and we can't help but feel like they are just the best ever! So if you people reading this blog are ever in the need for anything outdoorsy, from technical climbing gear to a warm pullover, you should be giving Edmond Summit Company a call. They are a local business who really care about the people who are their customers, and that is so important and so increasingly rare!!

Edmond Summit Co.

100 N Broadway, Suite 118

Edmond, OK 73034

Ok, Kristin took her coffee upstairs to write letters and I grabbed our sleeping bags and took off for the laundry. I had to walk all the way to the other side of downtown to get to the laundry that had two big front-loading washing machines. It took ALL DAY to dry that down bag! You can't dry those bags on high heat or it will melt the thin nylon fabric, so you have to dry them on low heat. Man those feathers get clumped up in there so bad that you have to take it out and knead it like bread dough to break up the clumps. I was doing that every 5-10 minutes!! It took over 5 hours to wash and dry our sleeping bags! They had to be completely dry or else they would mildew and that is NO BUENO! So after paying rent at the laundr-o-mat I headed back through town to the Canida's house. Their son and daughter-in-law had invited us all over to their house for dinner that evening. After helping Mr. Canida and his son hang a few banners for their dental practice's annual "halloween candy buy back," we all headed over for dinner. When we arrived the house smelled like lasagna!! It had just come out of the oven and after a quick tour of their beautiful historic home we all sat down for an amazing home cooked meal! We were able to share our testimony and a few "trail stories" over dinner. And after dessert "Doc" asked Kristin to sing him her favorite song! I gotta tell you that I NEVER get tired of hearing my wife sing!! Every time she sings I just can't help but be reminded of how blessed I am to be her husband. I'm so grateful to God for allowing me to have such a beautiful wife!! I'm sure that Jesus is tired of the choir director of heaven tuggin on his robe, daily beggin Him to bring her home already!! I'm just glad He takes pity on me and lets her stay down here on this rock!! I can't tell you how generous and caring all of the Canidas were to us! They truly are wonderful, loving people, and we will forever keep them dear to our hearts and in our prayers. We Love you guys!!

~Jeff

When we left the Canida's we walked down the main street of Madison with all the old buildings. On the edge of downtown I saw a vets office and low and behold they had a litter of kittens in the window. I ran inside to ooh and ahh at them and asked if I could pick one up. The runt was naturally the most social of the three. I picked her up and pet her till my heart was content and knowing I couldn't stuff one in my backpack, although for a second I went over in my mind how that might be possible, I put her back with the others in the cage and we headed back down IN62. We meandered around the winding highway till we came to Hanover college, where the trail took us to walk up a long winding road where we got a beautiful view of some waterfalls and cliffs and things. When we got to the campus we were pretty hungry so we decided since there was probably not a good place in town to build a fire we would just eat at a restaurant. So we stopped at the first one we saw. Mr. Canida had told us of some property he owned just a few miles passed Hanover so we headed there and we finally reached it just a little before dark. When we found the entrance to it we thought, "Oh my I hope it doesn't all look like this!" It was overgrown and thorny and not an ideal place for our tent. We walked through thorns, Jeff got hung up by a feisty limb, we chopped down vines and sticks till we got to a corn field. The corn stalks would be too rough for our tent as well so we walked back to the road and by that time it was dark and we were exhausted. Jeff told me that the property went all the way to the cemetery. So I said we would just have to walk to the cemetery and camp there. We really had no other choice. So that is what we did. We slept on top of dead people that night. Some of them had been there since 1815. So I was pretty sure they were good and dead. Once we got into our tent I was ok but when I woke up in the middle of the night I had to make myself not think about where we were because it kinda creeped me out. I slept pretty well though! Goes to show you we can call anywhere home these days!! We had slept in pretty late that morning. I think it was 11 when we finally got started walking. We made it 10 or so miles down the road none the less. That night we knocked on a couple doors to ask if we could camp somewhere but we were not successful so we just walked into a hayfield and tucked up under some trees by a creek. It looked fairly safe. The next morning we woke up to tons of frost on the ground, on our tent, and because we forgot to move our Crocs, they were all frosted over as well. We got packed up from there pretty early because we did not want to get in trouble in case the owner of the hayfield would not approve of us camping there. We walked about 5-6 miles and then kept passing all these cars and they were mostly Kentucky liscence plates. We wondered what was going on and then we got to a line of cars that were backed up to enter in the boyscout camp. We found out that they were putting on a haunted forest and apparently advertized very well because there were hundreds of cars lined up for this thing. As we were passing all this commotion I got a phone call from a new friend of ours that found us on the web. He is a beautiful child of God who has forsaken all things of this world and has also had some amazing experiences following the truth that IS Yeshua! We had some good converstaion and hopefully when we get farther west we can meet him face to face, if that is the Father's will. We sat down on a retaining wall for a few minutes to take a break and a police officer pulled up to us and asked what we were doing. We told him we were walking across the country and he could come talk to us if he wanted because he was holding up traffic. So he turned his car around and just pulled up back in the middle of the street and talked to us for a bit. We found out that we were actually just a couple miles from a town. So after exchanging some words with the officer we headed to Charlestown IN. As we were coming into town Jeff caught his foot in a hole and twisted his ankle and fell over. He looked to be in quite a bit of pain so I threw off my backpack and leaned over to make sure he was ok. We took off his shoe and I prayed that God would not let it be broken. He said it felt like he popped something and it was on the top of his foot. After a few minutes he decided it was just a tendon or something and he would be ok. So we got up and walked a couple more blocks. I was praying that if there was one person that in this town that could find favor with us that God would let us meet that person. Then we got to a 3 way stop and were not sure which way to go to the main part of town and there just so happened to be a man outside in his yard and so I walked up to him and asked him where the eating joints were. After just a couple minutes of talking to him we were putting our backpacks in his backyard and he was driving us to town! He said we could camp in his backyard and he would drop us off at the grocery store. I was so thankful the Lord answered our prayers quickly. We ate some Taco Bell, stopped by the grocery store and walked back to the nice man's house to meet his wife. There names were Ron and Sherry. They had actually only been married for a couple weeks. When we got back to the house they said we could take showers. That was so awesome of them to offer such a wonderful thing!!! I really needed a shower. This line seems familiar, I think I have typed it before! After showers we hung out with them for a while and they offered to take us to town to Dick's sporting goods where we were heading towards anyway. We needed to get a hydro lock for my camel back so when I forget to remove it from my backpack at night I won't wake up with big puddles! (AGAIN!!) On the way home someone mentioned iceream and they said there was a Graeter's in town. My eyes got really big and I said, "oooohh can we go there?!!" So we were in the car before we knew it and at Graeter's with icecream in our hands! I tried a different flavor this time. It was something like cocunut almond fudge. It was delish!! Ron and Sherry offered to let us sleep in their spare bedroom. We had to kick the dog out of it though because that was her room. I don't think she was too happy about it because when we woke up the next morning if that dog was not in a kennel I don't think I would have a leg left! She was apparently not too fond of women. She loved Jeff, she just crawled right up in his lap and started licking him. But me, she just snarled at. When we walked back to their house from the grocery store we noticed a little church called "House of Prayer" that we though we would stop by for church since it was Sunday. So we thanked Ron and Sherry for thier hospitality and headed to church. They were having sunday school first and we studied 1 John. It was wonderful. Then as service was about to start the band was warming up and they asked if I wanted to lead singing. I guess they just knew I was a singer! They were also missing a bass player so of course Jeff came up and played! It was a blessing for us both!! After church one of the pastors said he lived in New Albany and he could give us a ride so we wouldn't have to walk on the busy highway. We said yes to the offer. We were really not looking forward to the highway walking. The pastor's name was Donnie and him and his wife took us to lunch and then insisted on putting us in a hotel room. They were such generous people. They picked us up a couple hours later so we could go to the evening service with them. On the way there we stopped at the Jeffery's place, some members of the church. They had a home where elderly people lived so they would not have to go to a nursing home. Donnie wanted to go by and see one of the women who lived there who used to go to the church. She was the sweetest little old lady. I sang her a song and we all prayed with her for her upcoming surgery. It was a very beautiful moment! I got teary eyed and so did she. Jeff wrote down our names for her because she wanted to pray for us. She thought Jeff was handsome and told him he should shave off his beard so people could see how handsome he is! I agree, you should see him these days. His beard is getting pretty crazy!! Well after the church service Donnie's son, who is just as generous as his dad took us to eat some dinner. Him and his wife were very lovely people. She is expecting a baby in just a couple weeks from now. I pray the Lord blesses them and their new baby and gives her a smooth delivery!
So we slept well in a nice bed and now we are finally finished with this blog. For those who are wanting us to blog more often (you know who you are!!), we are sorry it took so long. It is hard to type even though we got an iphone so we could do it more often. It is just a never ending process and by the end of the day we are so tired that it is hard to get a lot typed. We are getting really tired and praying that God would show us soon where to spend the winter. I am getting homesick but we don't think we are supposed to get off the trail. We are just trusting the Lord to keep us going strong until we get to the place we need to be. Please be in prayer with us about our wintering place.
Thank you to all of the wonderful brothers and sisters we have met in the last week! We have been so blessed by your kindness. We just pray that the Lord will bless you beyond imagination! We send our love to you all and pray that God will give you peace and grace and make you light in this dark and dying world! Remember to keep you mind on things above.

We love you all with the love of the Lord!

The Vandagriffs

Aurora, IN to Cross Plains, IN

2010-10-26T09:51:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends!
After typing the longest blog in our history at the Aurora library we strolled down main street to find something to eat. We passed a little Christian bookstore and decided to stop in and look around. The man there named Charlie was nice and helpful. He showed us around and asked us questions about our journey. We told him that our friend Jim Shaner who was going to pick us up to go to the creation museum was also walking the trail. He said, "Yea! He came in here a few weeks back." We thought that was pretty cool! So we picked up a few tracts and a new pendant to make me a new necklace and we were off to find food. Imagine that right? So a few doors down we saw the sign for Acapulco Mexican Restaurant! We didn't even have to ask one another if we wanted mexican, we just walked right in. My mouth started to water as soon as we opened the door. Chips and salsa and enchiladas and burritos and beans and rice and drinks!! Followed up with a couple of York Peppermint Patties! Yum. So we had a filling meal and asked our waiter where the laundromat was in Aurora. He pointed down the street and said it was less than a block away. How convenient! So we hoisted our packs up on our backs once more and set off to find the laundry. Unfortunately as we were going out the door of the restaurant I was adjusting the straps on my pack and didn't see the step down. I didn't even have time to react. I just rolled my left foot down over the step and went down hard. All my weight came down on my right knee like a jackhammer on the concrete sidewalk. Don't forget that I'm wearing a 40lb backpack! It literally made my teeth hurt it jarred so bad! Well this was not good. As I limp over to the laundry it feels like my knee cap might be broken. I propped it up in a chair and examined it while Kristin ran to get some ice for it. Luckily It looked like it might just be bruised real bad but it sure hurt like the dickens! Kristin brought back some ice and we threw our clothes in the washer. I stayed in the laundromat while Kristin went to explore the little downtown area. About the time I'm putting the wet clothes into the dryer, Kristin comes strolling back in with postcards In her hand. We found a church in the town that was having a Wednesday nite service and decided to walk over as soon as our clothes were dry.

~ Jeff

We walked quite a ways to the Assemblies of God church and when we got there we were warmly greeted by everyone in the wednesday night bible study. We came in the middle of a study they were doing about how the stars and constellations tell the story of the bible. It was pretty neat, it would probably be even more interesting if we had got the entire lesson from the beginning. It will be something I would be interested in researching more about at some point. After the study was over Jeff was talking with the pastor and he offered to put us up in a hotel. We thought this was so gracious of an offer. We told them we were very content staying in our tent, and all we needed was a piece of safe grass, but once again God's children prefer to spoil us. When we told them we were going to the creation museum with our friend Jim, they said a member of the congregation had passes. They called them and had them brought over for us at the hotel. What a wonderful gift!!! Thank you so much Hosanna Assembly of God!!! Jeff and I got a great night of rest and the next morning we woke up, showered, and waited for Jim to arrive. When Jim got there we put our packs in his tiny trunk and whisked away to the museum. We got to the museum around 10:30 and a van full of kids pulled right in before we did. They had a Jesus fish for every kid on the back door of their van so of course Jim took the opportunity to ask if they would all pray for America. They said of course and Jim tallied them up to be 11 total and marked them down in his little notebook. We left the museum around 4 p.m. and still did not see everything. It was so amazing I wish I could go again! Jim took us back to Aurora so we could return the passes to their owner. We were not sure yet where we were going to spend the night. We called Nick, the guy who owned the restaurant and he didn't answer. I knew Jim was wanting to get back to his hotel before dark so I asked the man who met us to get the museum passes if he had a backyard. He said yes so I just bluntly asked if we could camp in it and he said yes. So we followed him to his house and said till next time to Jim and went with this nice gentleman to his backyard. I had not even asked him his name I don't think. After him showing us to the flattest part in his yard I asked him what his name was, it was Tom. Tom had a dog who was apparently curious about us because after setting up our tent he came out and said he did not think things through, because they had a week old grand-baby and the dog would not stop barking so us being in the backyard was not the greatest idea. He tried to offer to put us in the hotel again but Nick, the restaurant owner, had actually called back and said we could camp on his property.

~ Kristin

So Tom said since we had another place to stay he would like to take us to dinner. We all settled on Chinese food. He took us to the "new" place in town and it was great! While we ate dinner we got to know Tom and found out he was a bassist and his wife was a musician too!! Who knows what kind of music we all could have made. So after dinner Tom drove us over to Nick's house. Nick had told us to tell his forman, Stanley, that we wanted to camp on "the point." After going down a half-mile long driveway we rounded the corner and saw Nick's place. It is a beautiful pole barn with living quarters upstairs. Stanley met us when we pulled up in the circle drive with a puzzled look on his face. We hopped out and told him who we were and what we were doing, and asked if Nick had told him about us? He said, "no but that's ok." We told him that Nick said we could camp on the point and he said ok. He started to walk in the direction of where we were going to camp and we said, "hold on we have to say goodbye to Tom!" So we gave Tom a big hug and thanked him for dinner and for driving us to Nick's. We saddled up our pack and followed Stanley. He took us back to a place where there was an over-look of the crick and a firepit with chairs. It was a perfect place to camp. On the way out there we were followed by this really friendly kitty cat. So of course that meant that Kristin no longer held the mental capacity to help me clear away the sticks and set up the tent. She was lost somewhere in her mind where she goes when she sees a kitty. I think a 12 headed alien could land their glowing spaceship on her foot and get out to take "samples," and she wouldn't even know cause, "Ooohh LOOK HUNNY!! THERES A KITTY!!" Ok so I set the tent up and sat down in one of the chairs to relax. It wasn't 10 seconds and that cat was now in MY lap obviously wanting me to do something for it. Of course Kristin was oh so helpful in translating the cat's behavior for me by saying, "Awww she wants you to pet her!" Im sure you can imagine how that turned out. Anyway we got a great night's rest and we woke up to the sounds of abundant wildlife. Then we heard Taco. Taco is a very boisterous chihuahua and is only about as big as his name sake. He sure was curious about this big yellow talking orb in his back yard. We then heard Nick's voice asking if we were awake and if we liked coffee. It was quite chilly and a thin layer of frost covered everything outside the tent. Because of the cold it had been difficult to get out of our sleeping bags, but when the word coffee reached our ears we sprang into action. We had everything torn down and when I finally put the tent in my pack and cinched it down, I looked up to see the tiny speck that was my wife. Already back across the pasture and standing on the back porch with Nick. As I walked back across the frosty field I noticed the tracks I was leaving behind. I did not however notice any other tracks going across that field. I scientifically deduced that my wife flew out of the tent and across the field in a single bound at the very mention of the word "coffee."

~Jeff

When Jeff finally caught up with Nick and I, he was inviting us inside. His house was very beautiful. He said he designed it himself. We poured coffee and Nick gave us plates for our granola bars and invited us to the living-room for coffee talk. He began asking us questions about our journey. All he knew about it was the holy spirit led us to do it. Just that simple remark left him intrigued though so he inquired about how the holy spirit led us to do such a thing. We told him it was a really long story and he leaned back in his chair and said, "I got a little time." So we shared our testimony with him as he stopped us to ask questions throughout the story. He was very inquisitive! After sharing with him, he told us a little about his project he had going on his acreage. He owned/ raised race horses. He had about 30 of them, 10 of which were babies. As he was telling us his dreams for his place he gave us a tour of the property. We were accompanied by 6 others as well. Taco and Tico, the chihuahuas, Big the great Dane, Betty and Lou, the St. Bernards, and my kitty cat friend from the previous night!! I was having a hard time paying attention to Nick from all the playfulness of the animals. Nick showed us the canoe he had that he mentioned selling to us when we first met him. He said we could take it to the next town if we wanted to and then he could come pick it up, but I think we decided not to do the canoe trip after all even though it sounded tempting.

~Kristin

So from there Nick took us on a tour of the rest of his property and then took us to see the babies. He had 10 or 11 newly weened race prospects. They were so much fun. Nick let us go into the field with them and they all came running up to us and surrounded us. They all just wanted to play and smell. They were as tall as we were already but obviously very young. After playing with the weenies we headed back to grab our packs and hit the road. Before we left, Nick offered us some hot food from his restaurant and Stanley brought out his microwave so we could heat it up. Yum!! So we ate some food as Nick left for the restaurant. As Kristin was typing on the blog I swept some of the cobwebs off the ceiling and the stalls. Nick had complained about them in passing so I figured I would do him a favor in return. We bid farewell to Stanley and headed for the unknown once again. Nick's road was not on the trail, but it paralleled the creek that the trail follows. So we just headed north until we found a cross road that would take us back over the creek and back on the trail. After a good portion of the day we finally found the trail again and made it to the right road. After walking until almost dark we found an old abandoned river house and pitched our tent on it's back porch. We were just a few yards from the creek and there was plenty of water and firewood. So as Kristin set up the tent I went to filter some water and start a fire. About the time I filtered the water and got the fire ready to cook on, Kristin was bringing over the cooking pot ready to be heated. What a well oiled machine we have become!! We ate a good hot meal of Stove Top stuffing with cheez-it crumbs and a pouch of roasted chicken. Then after making sure the fire was out, we bundled up in our sleeping bags and went to sleep. We woke up the next morning to some kayakers launching their boats in the creek. At this point in the journey we are just totally exhausted. Mentally, physically, spiritually drained! It hurts to sleep if you can imagine that. We decided to stay in bed all day and take a day of rest. It was needed but wasn't enough to rejuvenate our bodies. Not that we are complaining (although we do at times) rather, letting everyone reading this know how we are doing. Well, we're tired.

Ok so we laid in bed all day Saturday and then got up early on Sunday. We walked across the bridge to a church for service. It was a Church of Christ church. The people there were friendly and inquisitive. They all asked us a ton of questions and made sure that we had enough coffee and hot chocolate. After service we headed back down the trail. We walked about 8 miles and came across some fellas gearing up to go deer hunting. They were shocked to hear what we were doing and happily gave us a jar of homegrown green beans and a jar of canned pork. It was funny though, they were all questions and comments until we told them that God called us to walk across america. Then one of them said, "well, God is calling me to shoot a deer." They couldn't have tucked tail and ran away any taster. We thanked them for the food as they were piling into the truck and walked another 2 miles into the town of Farmer's Retreat. We found out that the Lutheran church in town owned the pavilion we wanted to camp under and were told to make our selves at home. Kristin didn't want to eat the cold pork and green beans so we ate a cold can of chili with cold tortillas and even put some leftover Horsey Sauce from Arby's on them. It sounds gross but tasted gourmet to us! We were too tired and it was way too windy to safely make a fire. After another fitful night of sleep we packed up early to head into the town of Friendship to see if they had a breakfast place. Friendship is home to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association, and they have an impressive campground and shooting range there. They don't have a breakfast place however, just a small general store. We bought some donuts and chocolate milk, some Chef Boyardee, some poptarts and a block of Colby jack cheese. That along with the pork and green beans, should get us to the next town.

~ Jeff

Mariemont, OH to Aurora Indiana (pack a lunch! it's a long one people)

2010-10-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Ok so when we left the Mariemont Library we were feeling pretty hungry so we decided to try and find something to eat. We walked around a while and then finally asked someone where we could get some food and and she pointed toward the town square. After popping into a deli and glancing at the menu, we decided they did not have hiker friendly prices. So we went a couple more blocks to a pizzeria called "La Rosa's". They did not have a sitting area to eat in but the guy who worked there very graciously brought us a little plastic folding table and sat it in front of the bench we were sitting on. It was perfect! All it lacked was a candle and some roses! After we stuffed our faces with pizza, a hikers favorite, we walked down the path following the blue blazes. A few blocks later we looked up and saw a woman walking two boxers. She had a big smile on her face as did we because we love boxers. She immediately inquired to what we were doing? We told her we were walking across America and she asked for what purpose and I just showed her my Jesus necklace and she got really exited! She asked where we were gonna sleep and we told her we usually just find a church or something to camp behind. She told us about her church which was just a couple miles up the road and said they might have a Wednesday service we could go to. As she was trying to explain how to get there a jeep pulled over and the woman immediately started talking to the driver. It was her husband! She explained to him what we were doing and he said he knew someone at the church and he could just drive us over there if we wanted. So we agreed and hopped into his car. As we approached the church Jeff and I were just thinking, wow, that's a huge church!

~ Kristin
This church is just massive and very modern. When we walked in we were hoping that this mega church wasn't going to be one of those churches that is all about money. We have seen that so many times it has made us leery of them, but I felt convicted about judging this church by it's cover. We met with a man there who had been with the church since it's beginning. He was now getting around with a mobility chair and oxygen, but he had everyone in the office emailing around to try and find us a place to stay. What a nice man! He even gave us a tour of the church. It was very nice and very huge. While we were waiting to find out the results of the emails Jerry, the man who took us to the church, said we could at the very least camp in his side yard. He told us he lived right on route 50, and we would be hearing cars go by all night. He said that if we couldn't find anything better we would definitely have a safe place to sleep. Well the emails turned up no available places so Jerry told us that he was going to prayer group at his church back across town and that we could go and maybe someone would have a better option for us than he did. He had some running around to do so he dropped us off at his church early. We waited around there for a while sitting in their cemetery. I had a strong nature call and the church was locked so I left Kristin there to read her Bible and I walked a few blocks over to the convenience store. On the way back I noticed the ominous clouds looming overhead. About the time I noticed the clouds, Jerry calls. He said that his wife Suzzie called him and told him to come and pick us up so we wouldn't get wet. She told him to give us a tour of the area!!! What a great wife/mother thing to do!! Well we hopped back in the car with Jerry and took off down the road. We made it a few blocks down the road when Gil, the man from the mega church, called us. He said that he saw the lightning and he and his wife were going to put us up in the Mariemont Inn!!!!! ~Jeff When Jerry told us what Gil was offering I immediately said that would not be necessary, we could just camp in his yard. He said no, this is what Gil wants to do and it was already decided. I immediately felt that this was too generous of an offer, but we were in the hotel, checked in, and had a key in our hands before we could even say thank you! Gil came by to pay for the room, which Jerry split with him, and say hi but he did not stay long because he had to get home to his wife. Jerry said he would be back in an hour to take us to dinner. So we walked up to our room and opened the door and just stood there in shock at this generous gift! This room had a king size Temperpedic bed and a walk-in shower with multiple shower heads! So after standing in awe for a while and feeling undeserving of such an amazing gift we decided to put the shower to use. One of the walls was a fireplace with a wall painting. Jeff stood beside the painting and said, I think there is a TV behind the painting and then pushed a button on the side of the wall and the painting ascended to reveal a flat screen TV. Jeff and I thought, "uh okay, cool, I like the painting better!".

~Kristin

So after amazing showers and putting on clean clothes we went down stairs to meet up with Jerry, his wife Suzzie, and daughter Rebecca. They wanted to take us out to dinner and then Jerry was going to take us over to the prayer meeting. Dinner was great! They took us to a Cincinnati place called Skyline Chili. For those of you who don't know about skyline chili it consists of a layer of spaghetti, a layer of chili, a layer of beans and onions, and a mound of sharp cheddar cheese!! Delish! We were able to tell them our story over dinner and then we we went to prayer service. That was amazing! I can say that Mariemont Community Church has some great people there. We prayed for the next generation coming up and also for each other and loved ones. It's nice to see people still doing that! We really enjoyed the fellowship there and miss everyone there. So from prayer service Jerry took us back to the Mariemont Inn. We slept great on that Tempurpedic! When we woke up we went to breakfast with Suzzie and Rebecca at the Inn's restaurant. We learned that Gil also paid for our breakfast! God bless you Gil! So we had a wonderful breakfast with Suzzie and Rebecca and after a few minutes it felt as if we had known each other for years. I imagine that if we lived in the area we would be close friends! Of course I don't know if anyone in that family has ever met a stranger either! We parted ways out on the square in front of the Inn where we took pictures and exchanged information. Jerry, Suzzie, Rebecca, and family - may God bless you and keep you, and make his face to shine upon you! May you pray without ceasing together as a family, and grow together in Christ. Thank you so much for everything.

~Jeff

So Jeff and I decided we were going to get an iPhone so we could update the blog more often. We checked out of the hotel and found out where the nearest ATT store was located and walked over that way, which was about 4 miles. We made it to the store and looked around at their merchandise for a while before a sales person was available. So...I have not talked about Jana yet so I am just gonna throw her in right here. When Jeff was little bitty toe-headed boy he had a babysitter named Jana, who moved to Cincinnati over fifteen years ago. When she moved there Jeff's mom drove up to Cincinnati with a daybed in her car to visit her. We had talked to her about a week before we got there and she said she would love to see us. So we called her once we were in Cinci and she said she could pick us up Thursday evening wherever we were. So we called her from the ATT store and she said she could come get us in an hour from then. So we did some business with the ATT people as we watched out the window for a silver Civic, that's what she said she would be driving. Just as we finished making our purchase for our new handy dandy phone we looked out the window and called Jana and she was sitting in her car right outside in the parking lot waving at us! We went outside, gave her hugs, and shoved our big packs in her trunk and drove off into the traffic of Cincinnati. As we pulled into Jana's driveway 2 of her 4 children were just getting off the bus, Julia her 11 year old and Ben her 8 year old. Jana's husband Tom was also waiting at the door. Their teenage boys were going to be home later. Tom went back to work and we got to know Jana and the kids while she made ice tea and coffee. When Tom and the teenage boys, Luke and Joseph, got home we all decided that Skyline Chili sounded good. Jana said we did not have to eat there since we already had it for dinner the previous day but we insisted because it was that good and how often were we going to be in Cincinnati! After we had our second helping of 5-way chili, ice-cream from Graeter's, was next on the list. Graeter's has been mentioned on the previous blog but we recently found out it's all natural and Oprah loves it so much she has it flown in!! Tom and Jana had all kinds of questions about our journey but we wanted to wait and tell them our testimony first because it answers a lot of them. However we were pretty tired and decided to postpone the long story for the next evening. Joe and Luke let us sleep in their beds even though we told them we were fine with our tent. However, Jana insisted we take the beds.

~ Kristin

The next morning we woke up and everyone had left for their respective jobs and schools. We found the coffee still hot and hung out in their living room watching the news and playing with our new phone. It's so hi-tec that it kinda scares us a little. Anyway, a few hours went by and Kristin gets a hankering for some Indian food. Well the minute she mentioned Indian food my mouth instantly started to water like Pavlov's Dog (to quote Jana) and I just had to have it too!! I think they put crack in the food over there or something. So we looked up some restaurants near by and called Jana to see if we could use their bikes to pedal across town to eat some Indian food. She said that would be fine but that they were locked up and the Key was on Tom's keys ring! So she called Tom and he said that he was getting ready to go on his lunch break and that he would come over and unlock the bikes for us. What a great guy!! Thanks Tom! So Tom made sure the bikes were in good working order and warned us about this big hill between us and the restaurant. Then he left for work. Well Kristin and I pointed our handle bars east and just followed our noses to India! As we rounded the curve our bikes began to pick up speed. We looked ahead and realized that we were looking out across all of eastern Cincinnati! It was a great vista. The only problem was that we were REALLY high above the city. As we were smoking the breaks on their bikes screaming down this road off the side of this "hill" at warp 5 I had a thought, "we're going to have come back up this monster after stuffing our faces with spicy Indian food!" There were no shoulders on either side of the road and tons of cars everywhere, but our taste buds were dragging us down that "hill." Fast forward 3.5 miles and we are chaining the bikes up to the pole out front of the restaurant. When we went in, the place was packed with people of every color and nationality! Kristin and I looked at each other and knew instantly that we were in the right place! It was some of the best Indian food we've had, except for Himalaya's back home of course, and we were so glad we rode over. Although the slow and grueling process of pushing our bikes back up that "hill" to Tom & Jana's was annoying, it was worth every bite. So we finally arrived back at the house and we were both in need of a nap from the food/workout coma setting in. Kristin zonked out on the bed and I on the couch. Before we knew it Jana and the kids were home and we were doing our best just to keep up with them! I think I blinked and stretched, and Jana was cleaning up from making a huge pot of chicken soup and something called Ooie Gooie Sticky Cake. Or something to that "flavor."

~Jeff

When I heard all the family home I got up from my nap and drug myself upstairs to see how everyone's day went. I can not imagine having 4 kids with all of them being in at least 2 extracurricular activities. I think I would need a personal assistant!! I have much respect for you Jana!! Soon after I got up the house began to fill up with the delicious smell of chicken noodle soup. Before we knew it dinner was done! It was delicious! We shared our testimony with them and talked about how God deals with everyone differently and how we are all at different steps in our walk of faith and then Julia and Ben brought out the Ooie Gooie cake and served us all. It was so good my mouth is watering just thinking of it!! The next day was Saturday and all the kids had some sort of recreational sport function to attend so we decided to get out of their hair and get back to our pilgrimage. It was such a pleasure meeting this family and we are so grateful to have been able to spend time with them. Jana and Luke dropped us off in Eden Park, where we began walking the trail again. As soon as we got out of the car, Jeff said he felt car-sick and he needed to sit down for a minute or he was gonna puke! When you don't get in a car very often and then you do once and a while and ride at high speeds down a highway, it can throw your equilibrium off a little. So I walked around looking a squirrels and things while Jeff regained his strength. While we were sitting on the side of this road a woman walked by with a miniature black poodle in a purple sweater and bows on it's ears. It was the cutest thing I had to go say hi!! Her owner approved but said our backpacks may scare her. She was okay when I walked up to her but as soon as she saw Jeff she started barking like she was ready to attack!! I can understand, he is starting to look a little bit like Sasquatch!!! If I was her I would have barked too!!!!! Well after that we decided to find the Cincinnati Art Museum, so we headed toward the general direction of it's location and asked someone to point us to its exact location. They pointed us towards this short cut that led up some really old stairs through the park. It was really neat! Hopefully we can post some pictures soon! We walked into the museum knowing they might not let us in with our huge backpacks but thankfully the guy at the front desk said we could leave them with him and he would watch them for us. Thanks museum entrance man!!! We wandered around the museum looking at sculptures, paintings from all over the world. They even had a temporary exhibit of wedding dresses from the 1800's to the 1960's. It was interesting what women would wear on their big day! You would just have to see it to know what I am talking about. While looking at the art I thought about how I used to enjoy things like that but now I feel that all that stuff is so meaningless. It is all going to pass away some day and it's just stuff that someone once owned and is now in a huge building for people to come and stare at. Oh well..... So we got our packs from the front desk and headed to down-town Cincinnati where we stopped to see some amazing views of the river and the skyline. We walked through the Bicentennial Park where there were sculptures of some Roman dude named Cincinnatus and a flying pig! Many people were out walking their dogs which made us miss Boomer and maybe a little homesick. We went under a bridge where someone had sat an upright piano painted all colorful with clouds and such. We both had a little moment of playing it and moved on toward the suspension bridge where we would cross over into Covington, Kentucky.

~Kristin

We walked across the old suspension bridge that was closed to automobiles so it could be a nice new coat of blue paint. We watched a few barges go down the Ohio and took some pictures of the Bengal's Stadium. When we reached land on the other side we were in Kentucky. We looked on our new sci-fi phone and found a few places to get something to eat, but none of them had hiker-friendly prices so we found a skyline chili a few blocks away and headed for it. When we reached the skyline, it was closed! It was the weekend and we were downtown, so I can't blame them for being closed I guess. Anyway, just a few doors down was a nice Chinese place so we stopped in there. It was pretty good, and the prices were just right! So we ate lunch and headed off to find the trail. The trail took us through Covington on 6th street. We passed a place where they had a wine tasting going on that spanned 3 city blocks! We would have liked to stop and try some but we weren't quite dressed for the occasion. We met a guy carrying a big pack going the opposite direction and stopped to talk to him, but it was kinda hard to decipher where he was headed because he was obviously stoned out of his gourd! Poor fella. So we made it to the base of the "hill" where Devou Park was and met a couple working in their yard. They were nice enough to give us some water and tell us that there were some old steps back in the woods that would take us up to the top of the park where the lookout was and we could bypass the dangerous curvy road. We talked to them for a bit and then took off to find these stairs from the 1930's. Well at the hairpin curve in the road we walked back into the woods and found the steps. They were old and crumbling, and had a vibe about them that would come straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. Think Ancient Aztec City undiscovered by modern man and you got the picture. A bazzillion steps later we reached the top! Here we are, out of breath, sweating, and making all kinds of noise with our hiking poles on the stairs, and when we crested the top there are a whole bunch of people standing like 40 yards away looking right at us! Turns out we walked right up into the lookout where there were like 4 separate weddings going on!! It was hilarious! I was so proud about making it up those steps that when all those people were staring at us I just threw my arms up in the air and said, "YES! MADE IT!" A bunch of people just laughed and went back to looking out over the city. And what a view it was! Just beautiful. You could see all of Cincinnati, Covington, Norfolk, and some other City I forgot. Plus the Great Ohio river was smack dab in the middle of the picture! We stood there for a while talking to people and taking in the vista before heading down the road to find a place to camp. We walked to the other end of the parking lot and decided to sit down at the park where a ton of kids were playing on the jungle gym and people were having a cookout and playing corn hole. We sat there and tried to get caught up on the blog and filled up on our water. After about an hour we decided it was time to go because there weren't any places to camp around there and we had several more miles to get back into Ohio. We were walking down this nice asphalt trail meandering across the top of the ridge lined with mansions and a golf course when we heard, "There aren't any mountains around here! What are you doing?" We looked up and saw an older couple pushing a baby stroller.

~Jeff

The couple was playing frisbee with a golden retriever when we saw them. The woman looked like she probably lived in this upscale neighborhood and when we told her what we were doing she said, "No your not!" and we said, "yes, we are" and she said, "your kidding!" So I told her she was right we just walk around places with hiking poles wearing big backpacks telling people we are walking across America. Right about then a man came with his dog which he was walking on a leash. By the way there was a sign posted that said you must have your dog on a leash. The golden retriever was not however on a leash and it ran up to this poor man's little dog and started attacking it. The woman who was talking to us just started saying no to her dog while her husband ran up to try to pry the dog's teeth from the other dog's throat. I said, "sir is your dog ok?!!" The woman said, "oh she was just barking!" Jeff and both just looked at each other and said, "well, have a good one, bye!" As we walked through the rest of Devou Park and down a road by a golf course we came out to a little township called Ludlow where there were three guys geocaching. They said they had been at it since early in the morning and they had already found about 15. We talked to them for a minute and left them to find their treasure. We walked a few more miles into a town called Bromley. We came upon a Baptist church that had a pretty big yard and walked back to see if it would be a good place to camp. I saw some woods and headed down into them where there was a little spot canopied with trees right beside the Ohio River. It looked like a spot homeless people may camp but it did not have any traces of recent activity by anyone so we decided to call it home for the night! When we sat down I looked around and saw a big sink hole looking thing at least 10 feet wide and I went to look in it to see what made it but could not really tell. Then I turned around and saw a sign posted on the tree that said something about a warning for Sewer overflow! EWWWWW!!! Oh well, it did not look like any rain was in the forecast so we decided it would be safe for the night. When we woke up the next morning we packed up, hoping this little township might have place we could get some eggs and coffee, but after searching a couple blocks we decided to get out our handy dandy sci-fi phone out and see where google map suggested. The only things we saw were all across the river so we decided to walk towards Anderson Ferry, where we would take the ferry back across to Ohio in West Cincinnati.

~Kristin

We walked down a nice two lane road that bordered the river for a few miles with vivid fall trees all around and the occasional sunday driver passing by. When we reached the Historic Anderson Ferry we waited for the cars to unload and load before walking on. We were greeted by Capt. Shawn who was playing deck hand that day. He was instantly friendly and very curious to know where we were headed and what we were doing. We talked to him, and a guy in his car on the ferry, for the duration of the ride and before we went back ashore, Capt. Shawn gave us his card. He said that he owned a marina about a mile and a half down the road and if we needed a safe place to stay that he would be happy to let us stay there! We were very appreciative and gave him our card that my sister had made up for us! So when we got off the ferry we headed for the United Dairy Farmers. (That is a chain of nicer convenience stores around here) We ate some super nutritious donuts, coffee, and microwave food, and got the maps out to see where the trail went. We hung out at the store for a while (they had an ice-cream shop inside with tables and chairs) and then decided to get on down the road. We had also been looking for a place to print off the map for several days now with no luck. We had only enough map to get us to the Ohio/Indiana border, and we were a day's walk from there. We made it a few miles down the road when one of us said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we just got a canoe and took it down the Ohio to the Mississippi River in Missouri?" Well we talked about this for a few minutes then decided to sit down and talk seriously about it! We've walked over 900 miles at this point and our bodies are taking a beating!! This sounded like a great way to get another 700 miles across the country and it wouldn't be walking. It was such an alluring idea that we decided to pursue it seriously. We turned around and headed back for Cincinnati! If we were going to find a canoe, we were going to have better chances of finding one back there. So we walked back to Anderson Ferry and to the Bar-n-Grill across the street. We went in and called the Captain. We told him our idea and he said that he would call around to see if he could find us a canoe! Well after an hour or so he called back with no luck on finding us a canoe. He did however offer us his Marina again as a home base of operations while we were looking for one. He said to go to the address on the card he gave us and walk down to the marina. We thought that sounded like a terrific idea! By this time it is late afternoon and Kristin and I are hungry again. We ordered some food and huddled around the Iphone to look for canoes on craigslist. We were looking for one that was dirt cheap or free so obviously we didn't find one. We spent several hours at the bar-n-grill and then decided to walk back to the marina. We found it and as soon as we came down the walkway Capt. Shawn was there to greet us. He lives on the first boat there! He showed us the head boat where we could stay. It was basically a floating house next to a 110' luxury yacht! It was so cool to stay there on the river in a floating house at the marina! One of our most memorable overnights for sure. We talked with Shawn for a while as the sun was setting over the last bend in the river with the most beautiful colors. All with boats, and barges, and birds, and other river dwellers living out their daily lives seemingly taking it all for granted. Except for Capt. Shawn, he had that certain glint in his eyes as he was talking about river life watching the sun set. You could just see that he knew days like this were special, and that he was living every minute with the utmost reverence for the river way of life. What a site indeed! We even got to do our laundry which made it even better! We told Shawn that we would know by the next day if we were really going to be getting a canoe or not, and we would not be abusing his offer to use the head boat. We fell asleep to the gentle rocking of the river serenading us to off to dream land! When we woke up we packed up our things and said farewell to Capt. Shawn. During the night Kristin and I talked about the canoe thing and realized that it would be AWESOME to do, but not really cost friendly. If the Lord really wanted us to canoe down the Ohio river He would provide a boat for us. We were just trying too hard to make it a reality. So we left the marina with hopes that a canoe would fall from the sky and land in front of us with two oars and life vests on board! So since that didn't happen immediately, we re-focused our energy on something more attainable. BREAKFAST! We hailed a cab and told her to take us downtown to the best greasy spoon restaurant she knew of! She got a smile on her face and laid the hammer down, and I swear that cab grew wings and a jet engine!! She flew us to the middle of downtown Cincinnati to a little hole in the wall place called the sports page. She said that they serve breakfast all day and that the Goetta was especially good there! We said "PERFECT!"

~Jeff (still shaky from the cab ride)

After a great breakfast and some caffeine we decided to go to the library to type some on the blog. We walked into the lobby of this ginormous place and Jeff decided he better stay outside and wait for me. I asked where the computers were and they pointed to the second floor. I got on the elevator and rode up to a room filled with computers and people. Now these were not just your average kind of people! There were yellow haired ones, blue haired ones, spiky haired ones, and ones that looked like they belonged to the band "Gwar"!!!! If you do not have a mental image yet, you can look them up on the internet. I had to wait a good 20 minutes before a computer was available. So I sat at a table with my backpack just watching all these people, who appeared to have no where to go, watch movies on the internet. Then an older man came and sat at the table with a leather book holder. I thought it looked like a bible but I was not sure until he unzipped it and pulled it out. I said, "I like your book!" He looked at me and said, "thanks, it's a pretty good one!" Then I said, "like the best one ever written!!" He smiled and said his name was Ed. He shared his daily devotional with me and I told him that my husband and I were walking across America for Christ and then he had to go. He shook my hand and said, "Kristin I will pray for you and your husband if you will pray for me", and then he was gone. I thought, "what a nice thing for God to do." He had a bible carrying old man come and sit by me at this crazy library in downtown Cincinnati. It is little things like that that really make me appreciate our pilgrimage! When I looked over at the computer I had been assigned to, it was free so I went over to get started on this blog, which is probably the longest one ever!!!!!!!!! Jeff texted me and said the bus that would take us back to West Cincinnati was leaving soon so I had to rap up my library session so we could hop on the bus. We got to the bus stop with some time to spare so we sat on the bench and I sang songs about the Most High while waiting, hoping they might touch someone! At the end of our bus ride a man who got on when we did came and sat by us and started talking to us. I think he asked where we were headed. We told him what we were doing and why and he immediately started talking about the bible and Jesus. We continued talking about the things of God and he told us a little bit of his testimony and we told him some of ours and then we all got off on the last stop of the bus route. The driver said that was as far west as she could take us. We thanked her and got off the bus in front of Shamrock bar and grill. I was very thankful because I was about to pee my pants! I used the facilities and asked where our next directions were and we headed west! The story of our lives!!! We walked a couple miles into Cleeves and ate at a local restaurant named after it's owner, Nick. We had a great home cooked meal and when we were checking out we were telling the waitress and a man, who appeared to be a chef or something, about our journey. We were asking if they knew of a church or a park we could possibly camp in and they said there really was not a place in the area. The man said he would not camp anywhere in that neighborhood. So we said, "I am sure we will find a place." Before we left, as I was heading to the powder room, the man said, "don't go anywhere!" I told him we were not leaving yet, that I was just using the bathroom. On the way back he said I have a friend who lives just down the way who will let you camp on his property. We said, "wow, really!!? Thank you so much!" He took off his apron and pulled his truck around and we hopped in! He said he was the owner of the restaurant, his name was Nick. He drove us just a couple miles down the road to some land that had a giant pavillion and a 20ft high swing set. It was perfect!!! We had heard there was rain in the forecast so we were very grateful to have a place which we could keep our tent dry. He said the owner of the property, Rusty, would probably be down to visit us in a few minutes. We thanked him once again and he headed back to the restaurant as we sat on the giant swing set watching the sun set.

~Kristin

We had our tent set up under the pavilion and our beds made before the sun set. It wasn't long before Rusty came down for a visit. He opened the door to the storage room where there were bottles of water and pop in the fridge, with stacks of lawn furniture calling my name! He told us we could help ourselves to anything in the fridge and to make our selves at home! Then he went over and unlocked the bathrooms for us! All without even really knowing who we were!! I guess Nick and Rusty must be pretty good friends. Rusty was very nice and stayed for a few minutes and chatted with us about our trip and his horseback riding trips. He had a few things to do and told us that he might be back down a little later. So we pulled out a few lawn chairs and popped open a Coke as we relaxed the night away! Pretty soon the wind picked up and nudged us into our tent to crawl into our warm sleeping bags. We were just lying in there talking about the last few days when we heard a car and an ATV pull up. It was Rusty, his wife Pattie, and their friend Ken! They all came down to talk with the crazy hikers. Well we all sat around in lawn chairs and talked for a few hours. They were all so nice and Ken had some funny stories to tell about he and Rusty. Apparently a few that Pattie didn't know about too! It was great because we don't usually get too many "house guests." So after a great night of conversation we all decided it was time to turn in and we all took pictures and left for our respective beds. We sure didn't have to walk far! Ha! So after a GREAT nights sleep, (I think that was the first night I slept all the way through the night) we were greeted by a voice in the morning saying, "Anybody awake in there?!?!" I stepped out of the tent and saw Rusty on his monster golf cart with his two black lab buddies! They were Moon Dog and Winnie. Rusty said, "sorry it's early but do you guys want to come up for breakfast and a shower?" We said "Of Course!" So Kristin and I piled on the cart with Rusty. Winnie and Moon Dog rode in my lap the whole way back to the house! How great it was to wake up and hug on a big lab while riding on a monster golf cart up a gorgeous driveway in the "hills." So when we pulled up to the house Rusty told us it was his mother's house. When we walked in his mother was there to greet us and asked if we drank coffee. This day is just getting better! We got to eat eggs and bear claws with OJ and coffee with Rusty and his mom. It was great! Pattie even came over for a bit. Kristin and I both got to take showers and Rusty even got his mother to sew up the huge rip in the seat of my pants!! It was starting to get a bit drafty down there! So we made some new friends and I got my britches stitched up and they sent us on our way with full stomachs and even more full hearts! We packed up our tent and tidied up the pavilion and set off for Indiana!! We walked a few miles and soon came to Elizabethtown, Ohio. This is where the American Discovery Trial splits into a southern route and a northern route. We flagged down a park ranger and sweet talked him into taking some pictures for us to capture this monumental occasion. He was delighted to do so! He told us a little about where we were headed and wished us a safe journey. So we walked on down the road until we reached State Line Road. It was neat walking down this road because for a mile or so Ohio was on the right side of the road and Indiana was on the left. We finally came to a T in the road where State Line intersects US 50, and we saw a state boundary marker. We were officially in INDIANA!!! It seems crazy to think that we have walked across Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and now OHIO! We ate some lunch at a little diner there at the state line and skipped on down the road deeper into Indiana. For some reason we had a little extra bounce in our step that afternoon! :)

~Jeff

We did not skip too far actually. We just went across the street to State Line Restaurant and got some grub! We have been eating at restaurants a lot in the past week because there is not really anywhere in the city we can just build a fire. Well technically I guess we could but it is probably illegal! So we had chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes and corn and a roll! It was belly fillin' good!! We wiped the gravy from the corner of our lips and saddled back up and headed to Lawrenceburg Indiana where we would get on a bike trail that followed the Ohio river called the Dearborn Trail. It was about 4 miles from the restaurant. By the time we got there I was so tired and my feet were ready to call it quits for the day. We walked through town to the CVS and I knew we were about out of wet wipes and I would be very upset if we got out of town and did not have a way to bathe!! So we stocked up on a travel pack of Wet Ones! When we left the CVS we looked across the street and saw a DUNKIN DONUTS!! We both looked at each other and said let's go get some donuts!! You might be thinking it seems like all we do is walk and eat, and you are right! We wake up, walk till we are hungry, eat, walk again, eat, and then walk to find a place to camp and sometimes eat again and then go to sleep! The next day we do it all over again!! Sounds like fun doesn't it?!! So after eating at Dunkin Donuts twice we walked to the Dearborn Trail as the sun was setting. We were hoping we would find some woods to camp in before it got to dark. After walking about a mile and a half I saw a path way that cut in behind some trees and just walked in like I knew where I was going. It just so happened to be an open field that had weeds short enough to put up a tent. So we thanked the Lord and put up our tent, typed a bit more on this crazy long blog and got a phone call from Jim Shaner, the prayer walker who came to see us on the C &O canal and at Dolly Sods. He just so happened to be prayer walking in Indiana and he was calling to see if we wanted to go with him to the Creation Museum. We thought that sounded like a lovely idea and so we now have plans for Thursday to go to the Creation Museum with our pal Jim Shaner!! After we got off the phone I slid down a little farther into my sleeping bag, cinched it up, and passed out until 11:3o when a train went by. The camp sight was about 30 feet from the train tracks. When we woke up in the morning it was soooooo cold and I realized my down sleeping bag was not doing a very good job so it probably needs to be washed. Jeff said about 8 trains went by last night but all I heard were 2. I must have been out of it! We finally mustered up enough energy to get out of our sleeping bags and packed up and headed toward Aurora on the Dearborn Trail. When we got to Aurora we asked if there was a diner near by and a nice lady who was pumping her gas said she would just take us to it because it was easier than explaining how to get there. On the way there we told her what we were doing and she thought that it was great. She then gave me a a plastic green frog she pulled out of her pocket. She said, "do you know what it is?" I said, "a frog?" She said it stands for "Fully Rely On God!" She said I could have it. What a sweet lady! She showed us where the library was and dropped us off at the diner so we could get a hot meal! We had our usual, eggs, hashbrowns, toast and coffee! After breakfast we walked just across the street to the library where we are now and are now finished typing this blog! Yeah!!!!!! I hope it did not wear you out reading it. We will try to update more often now that we are caught up. I hope you enjoyed our journey through the big city. It was very interesting to say the least! It felt like Sodom and Gomorrah at times, but hey it is a big city! What else can you expect!?

Blessings and Shalom,

~Kristin

Wiliamsburg, OH to Meriemont, OH (by way of Tammy's again!)

2010-10-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

So after we left the library at Williamsburg we headed toward the East Fork Lake. Tammy, our friend from Owensville came to hike a little with us. We walked a few miles around the lake till we came out on a road that Tammy recognized as being the road her friend lived on. So we called her husband and asked him to meet us there at her friend's house when he brought us dinner. Her friend was not home but her husband was and we sat and visited with him a bit and then Tammy's husband showed up with Arby's. Yummm!! After we ate, it was beginning to get dark and we still had a lean-to shelter to find in the woods. So we hopped in the car and headed down the road to the area the map was saying the lean-to shelter was located. We came across a hunter who was packing up and asked if he knew about the shelter and he pointed us towards it. We drove down a little and asked another hunter about it and he said he knew of it also but it was going to be tough to find since it was dark. Then hunter # 1 came over and said that we might have a better time getting to it if we went down a horse trail that was back where we had firts talked to him. So we backed up to that spot and saddled up and headed into the dark woods. I am sure Tammy was very nervous seeing us walk into the woods in the dark and I am sure Eric comforted her and reminded her we were professionals at this sort of stuff!! Hahaha!! So as we walked down ths mowed pathway Jeff saw two glowing eyes and froze. I thought, "oh no, the animal probably smells our left over Arby's bag we were carrying and was going to try to get some of it." So we got out our hiking poles and put on our armor and I clung to Jeff as we headed right toward those copper eyes that were glowing in the night. I just told myself to trust in the Lord and not be afraid of the terrors of the night. As we got closer I yelled for Jeff not to get too far away cause I did not want there to be any room between us while we were about to walk up on this wild beast! As we approached it Jeff saw the beast face to face and the next thing I heard him say was, "it's a cat", I said, "what kind of cat, a bobcat?!" "No", he said, " it's a house cat!" I walked toward it and sure enough it was an orange tabby cat sitting on a log and it came out and circled our ankles and meowed at us and went back to sit on it's log. "Whew," I thought, "What a relief". Then I thought that will be a good one for the blog and we began cracking up at ourselves!

~Kristin

After our run-in with Garfield we stumbled our way down the trail and found the hiker shelter. It is a 3 sided structure big enough for about 10 people to lay down in. We were the only ones there so we pitched our tent up in the shelter and conked out. The next day we woke up late. I woke up before Kristin and tried eating some of the leftover Arby's. Not a great idea. So I choked down as much as I could stand and "left the rest for Kristin." Then we basically just lounged around all day. We were just worn out. Both physically and mentally, because I guess the last 4 months of walking has begun to take it's toll on us. We just couldn't find the motivation to get up and walk that day. Then a couple of other hikers came up the trail looking quite lost. Come to find out the were looking for an orange flag of some sort that should have been right around the shelter. They were in some sort of big triathalon race and were looking for this flag that had points on it! It sounded like a lot of fun. I imagined for a minute that we were just in a big race and that we were really going to go home and curl up to our dog in our big comfy bed that night. That quickly faded away as I remembered where we were. So Tammy calls and says that they are on their way back from a neighboring town and that they would be passing us in about 15 minutes. We decided to catch a ride with them back to their house. So we stuffed our packs with our gear and hoofed it back to where they had dropped us off. They were surprised that we hadn't walked anywhere and quite frankly, so were we. As soon as we were in the truck I realized that I had left my shades hanging in the shelter. Grrrrr!! I have lost 2 other pairs of sunglasses on this trip and I wasn't about to do it again! So I ran back to the shelter and got them.

~Jeff

Jeff and his sunglasses, he just needs to spray paint them on! So we went to the Averwater's again to spend the weekend with them. We missed them so much the 4 days we were not with them we had to spend another weekend with them. It was wonderful and I am so glad we did. We got to go to dinner with the Galvin's and afterwards we ate icecream at Graeter's! Yummmm..... We went to church with the Averwater's again and the sunday school asked us to share out testimony with them so we did. Then we spent a couple more days there and Tammy and I got some good girl talks in! She is so great and I am so grateful to God for putting her in my path. We finally left the Averwater's on Tuesday morning even though I just wanted to stay there forever! Just a few miles down the road we ran into a nice lady on her bicycle named Betty. She was riding 20 miles, which she did often. She was exited to hear about our journey and she invited us to come stay at her house with her and her husband for the evening just a few miles up the road. So we got her address and headed that way. When we got to their house we met her husband Ken. They were both so hospitable. They let us take showers and gave a nice little room with a hideaway bed to sleep on and then took us out for dinner. We shared our testimony with them and then went to pick up our package that had been sent to the Averwater's. Jeff and I slept well but the morning came way to fast. Betty and Ken made us a wonderful breakfast with scrambled eggs and ham and some delicious zucchini bread. We walked from their house to a little coffee shop in downtown Milford. There was a group of lovely people having coffee that met there every Wednesday. They immediately asked what we were doing and one of the women bought us coffee. Thank you nice woman!! I am sorry I forgot your name! After walking down the street to check out the little shops we headed to the Little Miami bike trail and walked to Meriemont and now we are at a local library updating all our readers on our journey. We are in Cincinnati now and it will probably take 3-4 days to get to the other side depending on what happens while we are here. From here we actually head across the Ohio River and into Kentucky for a few miles to Covington and then back to Cincinnati and to Elizabethtown before crossing the river AGAIN and then we will be in Indiana. Yeah!!!

~Kristin

Peebles, OH to Williamsburg, OH

2010-10-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we prayed about which way to go. If we stayed on the trail it would have taken us 111 miles to go to a town 30 miles away. We did not feel convicted to stay on the trail so we decided to go the shorter route. Well after mapping out our route at the library, and printing off the directions for the new route, we started down the road. We started walking around 4:30pm. We made it maybe a mile down the road and we saw a church with a nice pavilion behind it. It was Peebles Baptist Church. We then noticed that they were going to be having a Wednesday night bible study so we decided to stick around and go the bible study. We were also hoping that they would let us stay in their pavilion out back since it would be dark after the service. We waited until 6:00 and went on in the church. We were warmly welcomed as guests, and Pastor Wells made sure that we were brought up to speed on what they had been talking about before starting. They were going through the book of Daniel. The bible study was great. We discussed the things in Daniel, and the pastor was right on! It's nice to hear a pastor who preaches the truth, because it doesn't always occur in some of today's churches. After bible study ended they started asking questions about our story so we told them. They were very excited to hear about how we were walking by faith and trusting in God. It was what the bible study was all about!! So we talked WAY after it was time to leave and we asked if it would be alright if we could camp behind the church in the pavilion. Well they all looked at each other and started talking about how cold it was going to get that night and the pastor asked the small congregation there if anyone objected to us sleeping in one of the back classrooms of the church. They all eagerly agreed that it would be the right thing to do. It is so wonderful to meet people who profess Christ to be their Lord and then have the actions to prove it. After exchanging information and bidding each other farewell with long good-bye's, we headed over to the back of the church to cook our dinner and get a good nights rest. It had been a few days since we had slept well. We've had a few nights of cars going by all night and cows serenading us until morning. So this safe and quiet place to sleep was a real blessing that couldn't have come at a more perfect time. We were also happy to have a quiet nights sleep that night because we knew that we had 3 days of walking down a very busy and very noisy 4 lane interstate. So we slept like babies and it was great!

~Jeff

When we awakened the next morning we decided to pack up and go to the McDonald's down the street to get our coffee fix and pollute our bodies with disgustingly delicious cardboard food! On the way out the door we saw a guy in the church, Jeff said, "How's it goin'', and we left. The guy said, "hi", and just had a puzzled look on his face. When we got to McDonald's we ordered our food and I sat down and as we sat down Jeff was approached by the man we saw in the church before we left. The man was shouting in Jeff's face about us not having permission to be in the church. Jeff told him the pastor had given us permission, but he said nobody had authority to tell anyone to be in HIS church except him. Jeff said, "really! Are you Christ?" The man got furious and continued to yell at us. I told him he was not being very Christlike and he continued to exercises his authority and making sure that all of McDonald's knew that he was the only one who had the right to let someone sleep in his church. He said he was a trustee of the church. I thought, "whatever that means!" I told him it was obvious that it is not Christ that he is serving and I told him I was going to call the pastor and he said, "go ahead and call him, I am the one who has authority of that church!" So then he said he was calling the cops and then he left. As he was going out the door Jeff asked him from across the room, "Hey wait, how do you know a Christian?" The man paused with a puzzled look, but no anwser. Jeff said, and I'm sure all of McDonald's heard, "BY THEIR FRUIT!" He just muttered something under his breath and left. I called the pastor and he said he was sorry and that that guy was not going to be on the board of trustees after this month. I think that explains his disposition. Perhaps he was bitter because he was about to lose his power! I hope God shows him how ungodly his behavior was and he is humbled by that experience. As for Jeff and I we were definitely humbled by the persecution we received. It is just sad to see the persecution coming from someone who professes to know Christ! On top of all that, he was wearing the church's sweatshirt. It said in big white letters on his back, "PEEBLES BAPTIST CHURCH." What a sad witness for that church.

So shortly after the guy left, the cops showed up and we were glad to show them our id's and give them the pastor's # and tell them what was going on. They said that there had been some break-in's to churches and they just had to make sure there was nothing unlawful going on. After they left, I sipped on my coffee a little while longer and then we headed down Measley Ridge Road where we came to a business called "Cedar Works". I had to use the powder room so I went in to see if I could use theirs. As I was using the bathroom, an Amish gentleman walked in and was talking to Jeff. He asked if we wanted to sit and talk for a bit. We agreed and went into the conference room to chat. He had just been reading a book about a guy who walked all over the world named, Steven Newman. So he was fascinated and wanted to hear more about our journey and so he invited us to come and have dinner and spend the night with him and his wife at their home. I was so exited because I have been wanting to spend time with an Amish family for a couple of years now. God knew that this would be the perfect time for that, I think that is why we took the shortcut that we did. So the Amishman, Mr. Keim, drew us a map of how to get to his house, which was only 4 or so miles and we said we would meet him there.

As we were walking down OH 32, Mr Keim and his working partner pulled up in a van and asked if we wanted to ride with them to his house, they were going home for lunch. We said we were content walking but we put our backpacks in the van so we could slack-pack. The views of the valley and the mountains were beautiful! When we got to the house we were greeted by Mrs. Keim dressed in a humble blue Amish dress and a head covering. She invited us in and gave us a cold cup of water. "How scriptural!" We got to know Mrs. Keim a bit and then took some showers. Yes showers. These Amish are not the more conservative that I have read about. They have running water and a refrigerator that uses propane to power it. They do not have electricity though. When Mr. Keim got home we helped him with a little project, putting cedar blocks together to put around a flower bed. One of their sons and grandsons came over and met us. His grandson stayed for dinner. Dinner was wonderful! After dinner we cleaned up so we could go for a horse and buggy ride! Yeah!!! After going on a trip down the road to check out the Herb festival that was being set up for this weekend we went back to their home to visit with each other. I had asked Mr. Keim to share some history of the Amish people with me and so he did. It was fascinating! Then Mrs. Keim wanted to hear our testimony and they thought that it was fascinating as well. Mr. Keim said he would be glad to take us to Williamsburg because he and his work partner were going that way anyway. We told him we would pray about it. I think he secretly wanted us to stay a couple more days. We would have loved to but Jeff and I have been feeling for a couple of days that the Lord is quickening our spirits to get farther down the path for some reason. So in the morning we had both decided to take the ride. We had a wonderful breakfast with the Keim's before we left and we said prayers for each other.

On the way to Williamsburg we stopped at a scrap metal junk yard and that was quite a site. They had these huge machinery that looked like dinosaurs that would just come grab something out of the trailer and toss it in a heaping pile of other metal junk. I was amazed that man had come up with such things and wondered how long it would take to learn how to operate one of those metal beasts without hurting someone! Jeff said probably a couple months of hands-on training. We then drove down the highway a few more miles and got to the town of Williamsburg. There was road work keeping us from going into town so we just said we would get out there and walk the rest of the way. After they drove away Jeff looked over and guess what he saw? A BLUE BLAZE TRAIL MARKER!! They had unknowingly dropped us off right on the trail! God works in mysterious ways indeed. Now we are at the library updating all our readers. I hope you are enjoying our journey as much as we are!

I am so grateful for all the friends we are making on this journey. God is so gracious to have us cross paths with all of those we have met. We pray for all of God's saints often and ask him to bless you and keep you. We miss everyone back home and cannot wait to see you again. Peace be with you all!

~Kristin

Back on the trail in Peebles

2010-10-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Tammy was such a blessing and we cannot wait to be in her company again. Bill, the brother from the church we attended with the Averwater's, drove us to the little town of Sinking Springs, popultation 130! Bill felt a little nervous dropping us off in the middle of town on the side of the road but he said he knew that is what we do and he gave us a hug and prayed for us. As we watched him drive off, we were so grateful to have met him. A nice fellow on his ATV told us where everything in town was and pointed us to the mayors house. We knocked on the door and nobody answered so we walked to the other church in town, Grace Bible Chirch, and nobody was there so we found the community center where there was a kids gymnastics class going on. The teacher just so happened to be a member of the Grace Bible Church and called to make arrangements for us to stay there. As we were sitting on the porch of the church reading the bible and picking out grass burrs a woman and her children from across the street came over and said hello. They were the preacher man's son's family. A few minutes later the preacher man's son came over and asked if we would like to come over for hot chocolate and a warm meal. We took them up on the offer and were so glad we did. After meeting them for a while we all gathered around the piano and sang hymns for at least an hour. His wife was a terrific piano player. Once we sang through everyone's favorite hymns we decided to call it a night and head over to the church and get some shut-eye!
The next morning we walked to Serpent's Mound which is a Native American effigy site where New Agers go to worship creation during the summer solstice. We decided to read God's Holy word while sitting at the serpent's head!! We walked another 5 miles to a community called Louisville and camped at a little white church. We looked at the maps and decided we have a decision to make. We can stay on the Buckeye Trail and it will take 111 miles to get to Williamsburg or we can get off the Buckeye Trail and it will only take 30 something miles. So we are praying about that right now as I type this. So if you read this on Wednesday October 6th feel free to pray that God would give us direction on this matter.
May the Lord bless all our readers and keep them, and make his face to shine upon them!!

~The Vandagriffs

Richmonddale OH to Butler Christian Camp in Sinking Springs

2010-10-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

The last night we spent with Connie and Mike in Richmond dale was an adventure. We went to Point Pleasant WV to go square dancing. Point Pleasant is also the town where the Mothman Prophecies took place. You can find out about that from the internet I am sure or hollywood made a movie all about it! So we took pics with the statue of mothman. Eva wore a pink petticoat over her pants and a Ted Strickland t-shirt. It was a great look for her! She made me laugh all night. We got to the square dancing ho-down and ate dinner and then watched the dancer's for a while before Eva and I could not keep still any longer and had to join in. We had a lot of fun! I think the old folks really got a kick out of watching us too! The next morning we headed down old Highway 35 to the trail. Jeff walked ahead of Eva and I or behind us for most of the day and Eva and I got to have some very interesting conversation. She told me more of her own beliefs and thoughts on the world. Meanwhile Jeff was apparently having an intense conversation with God. While we were hiking in the woods we were also trying to hook up with our brother Chris who was wanting to come hang out with us, but when you are walking through the woods between unmarked county roads with spotty phone service it makes it very difficult to find someone! We got to Caldwell Lake in Scioto Trail SP a little before night fall and we were all so exhausted. Chris actually found us after hunting for us for 6 hours! The next day Jeff was feeling a little under the weather and slept in and when he finally woke up he went over to the park office and someone handed him a raffle ticket and the n they drew his ticket # and he won a free night of camping!! So we camped for another night!! It was nice because we got to spend time with our friend Chris and have bible study and talk about all sorts of things. The next morning we got up early and packed up our things and headed toward Mapleberry Farms where we were planning to camp for the night. It misted all day on us but it was nice for a change from the heat. We were about 2 miles from Mapleberry Farms when a red car pulled up and Chris was sitting in the passenger seat with Mr. Rickey, the owner of Mapleberry Farms. They said they were getting worried about us because it was beginning to get dark. We were all pretty exhausted so we put our packs in the tiny red car and Jeff and I crawled in the backseat and Eva walked the rest of the way without her pack. When we pulled up to the Farm we were shown to our quarters in the tool shed which Mr. Rickey has been cleaning up for us. We dumped our packs in there and he then invited us inside. I looked through the door and saw a piano! I was in heaven. He had hymn books, a guitar and a mandolin. We sat around for a little while playing some music and chatting. Then we went outside to prepare dinner and while we were doing that Mr. Rickey brought out a pot of delicious tomato stew! And told us his wife was making us hamburgers! What a treat!! The Rickey's were such a blessing! We will hold you in our thoughts and prayers forever Mr. Rickey and family. So when we finally started walking the next morning Eva decided to take a vow of silence and Jeff and I walked a couple of hours ahead of her because we had some praying and discussion to do. Jeff and I were beginning to feel that it was time to part ways with Eva. That was a tough day of hiking. We were going up one ridge and down another all day till we got to Pike Lake. When we got there the general store was open and we went in to check out what they had to offer. We got loaded up with snickers bars, a bagel and cream cheese, some spunkmeyer muffins, juice and pop, and a couple of cans of Chef Boyardee along with a can of Manwhich.

~Kristin

OK so when we walked into the little general store I asked the guy behind the counter, "how late are you going to be open?" He said sharply, "for another eleven minutes." So that is when Kristin and I started hastily grabbing things that looked good to eat and required zero prep time to eat. When I saw that can of Manwhich sitting on that shelf, all I saw was this big tasty looking sloppy joe on the front label. So I grabbed it and threw it up on the counter too. We paid for our loot and took it outside to the picnic table to devour it like a pack of ravenous dogs. I grabbed our cooking pot and ripped open my can of beefaroni and manwhich with my bare hands and scraped then into the pot. That is when I realized that this can of manwhich looked nothing like the sloppy joe in the picture. I fearfully turned the can around to the back label where I learned that the 1/2 pound of hamburger meat was not included in the can. My heart sank as I realized that I had already mixed my chef boyardee with a can of glorified ketchup!! As hungry as we were, as tired as we were, and as worn out as we were, I couldn't bring my self to eat all of it. I feebly tried picking out the noodles, but that manwhich had permeated every molecule of edible food in the whole pot! Spoon full after spoon full of glorified ketchup went into my mouth and my appitite soon tucked tail and ran. I wound up just tossing the rest for the birds. So to make a long story short: 1) don't try to eat a can of Chef Boyardee with a can of Manwhich without the hamburger meat! And 2) make sure you look at what you are about to stuff into your face before you buy it. Let the laughing ridicule begin.....

Ok so soon after I washed out the pot and was mentally rid of this culinary disaster, my capacity to care for another human being returned. At that moment I realized that we had been there for a few hours, it was now getting dark, and Eva had not shown up yet. Kristin and I were getting concerned and decided that we would go over to the park office. They were closed but we knocked on the door anyway. A woman answered the door, took one look at our packs and invited us into the warm office! She just knew that we were walking the trail. How she knew I'll never know, but she was just the most friendly person ever! We told her what we were doing and she told us that we could stay in a campsite tonight for free! We also told her about Eva not showing up yet, and that we thought she would be alright because she had food, water, shelter, and fire. We just wanted to tell someone now in case she didn't show up in the morning. So we chatted for a while, and she noticed that we didn't have any gloves on, and gave us a pair of jersey gloves each and sent us on down to the campsite. She said that she would call the rangers and let them know about Eva. We said that was great and that we would see her in the morning. Well we had left Eva a note at the edge of the woods where the trail came out, and now that we had a campsite, we had to change the note. So Kristin ran back across the lake dam to change the note, and when she got back Eva emerged from the woods! It was just barely light enough to see her. So I went back up to the office and informed them that she had arrived and everyone was relieved. We walked down to the campsite where we promptly set up our tents and crashed out! It had been an extremely difficult day full of tough terrain and sparsely marked trail. I think that we did 14 or 15 miles that day, which is a longer day for us. I think that we all slept really well that night.

~Jeff

The next morning we woke up at 6:00 and got packed up by 7:30. We headed towards the next campsite, which was Cave Lake. Jeff and I had felt God confirmed in both of us that it was time to part ways with Eva. We were not sure how to tell her though. We walked together all day and after about 10 miles we were all getting tired because of the long day we had the day before. We got to a fish hatchery and talked to the guy who worked there for a while. Cave Lake was another 5-6 miles by way of the foot path through the forest, and I don't think any of us were up for that. So we moped around at the fish hatchery for a good 30 minutes and decided we would just walk until we found a good place to put up our tents. We did not get but a quarter mile from the fish hatchery when a woman and daughter and a big black lab pulled up beside us and asked if we would like a ride. I thought, "God is so awesome, I did not even pray for a ride and he knew exactly what I needed!" We hopped in the car and she whisked us away to Cave Lake. We told her how Jeff and I were walking for Christ and her eyes lit up. I felt that it was encouraging for her. We told her a little bit of our testimony and she was very exited for us. We hugged her and asked God's blessings upon her and wished her well. We followed a paved road to a primitive campsite and popped up our tents. I then had an uncontrollable giggle fest for 30 minutes and fell asleep.
The next morning we all got up and headed to find the blue blazes again. We sat to take a break after climbing straight up a ridge and Jeff went to find the blue blazes. I was asking God when I should tell Eva that we should part ways and I felt him lay on my spirit to just do it now and get it over with. So I told her and she was okay with it and was glad that I said something. So the rest of the day we walked knowing that that would be the last day for us to walk together because Byron, the Buckeye Trail supervisor that we met a few days ago, was taking her to a backpacking gear festival in Dayton for the weekend while Jeff and I were being picked up by a beautiful sister in Christ that we had been connected with to relax for the weekend. So we all had a few more interesting conversations about the bible and life and end times and Jesus and homosexuality and all other sorts of things that had been the topic of conversation for the last 5 weeks. Then we called Byron to make arrangements for picking Eva up and he told us to camp at Butler Christian Camp. We checked out the map and we were only about 2 miles from there so we took our time since it was still early. When we got there we were greeted by Chris. He showed us where we could camp and then took us to the convenient store where Jeff and I went crazy again and bought a bunch of junk food AGAIN!! We were invited to dinner by a lovely family that lived on the campgrounds and Eva and I did some laundry and we all took showers so we could have a big group hug without smelly armpits before we said goodbye!
So......we had a good last evening together and I tried not to get emotional and when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. I checked my voicemail and Tammy, the woman who was picking us up left a message saying she was picking us up at 8 and so we only had a couple more hours of time with Eva. I went over to the big wooden Noah's ark, where she was camped, and she was already getting packed up. Tammy pulled up just a few minutes after 8 and hopped out to greet us and boldly asked Eva why she did not believe in Jesus and then we all hugged and headed to Tammy's house.

~Kristin

We rode in Tammy's truck the whole hour and 10 minutes back to her house. One of her daughters was in the truck with her when she picked us up, and one was back at the house. Their Names are Amber and Abigale, and they are the coolest kids you could imagine. Tammy and Eric have done an awesome job raising and homeschooling them. Amber and I like to find all the hidden objects in her kids "Highlight" magazines! She says I'm her "best buddy" when it comes to finding the things in the magazines! We are going to miss them. Tammy and Eric took us to the massive outdoor car show, fed us lots of food, let us sleep in their spacious camper, and took us to church! We even spent the day after church with Tammy's parents splitting wood and eating pizza! Tammy's father Fred, a 22 year career Marine, got a kick out of my beard and told me stories about his "Great Squirrel Wars" where he fought for the birds, and their feeders, in his back yard. He finally won the upper hand when he wired up the house current electricity to the copper pole that the squirrels ran down to get to the bird feeders!! The look on that man's face when he re-lived that story warmed my heart to no end. Fred and Lois, you are such a blessing and we can't wait for the day we meet again. Either here on earth, or in eternity! We have had sooooo much fun spending time with Tammy, Eric, Abigale, and Amber and are going to be sad to part company. Luckily, we will be coming back through the area on the trail in a few weeks, and they have said that they will be happy to see us again.

While we were at church I met a man and fellow bassist named Bill. He let me play his bass and i offered to take it back to the house and give it a good set up. He came over today and took me to his house where he showed me around his "man dungeon" that is full of R.C. Helicopters, electric trains, and a full band set up! We even have a mutual friend that plays in his band! Small world. We spent some time talking about bass and music and he showed me around his property. He even offered to open his house up to Kristin and I if we needed it during the winter! He said, "I've driven 8 hours to pick up some goats. I'll certainly do that for you guys!" We have just been so blessed to meet all the good people of the world that God has sent our way. We are amazed and humbled everyday. Tammy and Bill both offered to take us back to the trail, and since Tammy has spent the majority of the time with us, she reluctantly agreed to let Bill drive us back to the trail. We have been completely spoiled here in Ohio and are excited for who God will have crossing our path down the road.

~Jeff

Logan Ohio to Richmond Dale Ohio

2010-09-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

After resting up in Logan Ohio we headed out of town to Lake Logan but on the way there we passed the largest Washboard factory in the world to take a tour. It was quite fascinating how many different styles of washboards they have. They also have a washboard festival where many people come and play washboards as musical intruments. That must be a noisy good time! After leaving there we went to Wal-mart to stock up on food. We got way too many pounds of food because we knew we would not be coming to a town for several days. When Jeff and I checked out we went to the front of the store and sat on the bench trying to pack up all of our food we had just bought. While sitting there I had a song on my heart and if you know me, when I have a song on my heart I don't usually let it sit in my head, I sing it as loud as I can no matter where I am. The song I was singing for the welcome team of Wal-Mart was "Mighty to Save". For those that do not know it, it says, "Savior, he can move the mountains, my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save, forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave, Shine your light and let the whole world see, we're singing for the glory of the risen king!" I was really enjoying myelf while singing this song and I just lost myself in the entrance to Wal-Mart and began just singing to God. I felt his presence flood my being so much that I got a little teary eyed! Just a couple minutes later Eva came out of Wal-Mart with her cart full of things and she said, "So..... this guy just came up to me while I was checking out and asked if me if Jesus was my savior?" She told him no, and so he preceded to tell her about his savior and how he had blessed him. He told her if she shook his hand then she could recieve the holy spirit. She said she did not really have any words to respond with and she did not feel led to shake his hand. Well Jeff and I were just looking at her and thinking, "WOW!!"
So we packed up and headed down the road toward Lake Logan and we were not but a couple miles passed Wal-Mart and a car pulled off the road and a guy got out of the car and walked up to Jeff and said, "Are you Jeff?" Jeff was really dumbfounded and said yes of course, and the guy told him he was the coordinator for the Old Man's Cave section of the Buckeye Trail that we were on. He had been looking for us since the day before because Andrew, the guy from the Buckeye Trail office in Shawnee, told him we were headed his way. His name is Byron and we have seen him many times since then. He was quite a blessing to have on the trail. He was our tourguide for part of the section and gave us some tips on places to camp.

~Kristin

The campsite at Lake Logan had a broken game machine. The recording went all day and night saying: "50 cent play". I wanted to play the ukelele there to the rythm of this "50 cent play" robot voice, but didn't quite have time. It's funny to not have time when there's no schedule. I was probably reading the bible and taking notes. The ukelele is going back in the mail today! It will be missed. Some volunteer opportunities have come up with the American Discovery Trail Society, which answered my non-denominational prayer. I'll be doing simple tasks for them while on the trail. Really grateful for the structure this trail provides. And everyone who contributes to it.

Byron gave us a tour on the Emma (Grandma) Gatewood trail which goes through Old Man's Cave. Both of those names make you think of respecting elders! At age 67, Grandma Gatewood was the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in one season--with a pillow case for a backpack and Keds tennis shoes. She did this two more times, walked across the United States (pre-ADT), and bought the first can of blue paint for the Buckeye Trail's blue blazes. What a cool lady. The "old man" of the cave was a recluse who lived there a few years. He befriended the Native Americans there. As Byron walked with us, he told all kinds of stories about trail maintenance, rescues in winter, environmentalists. There's a curved steel bridge that used to be straight. A flood, carying a large tree, rushed through and caused it to change shape. Byron really likes that story to show something simple like water can actually bend steel if there's enough force. The 3 miles he walked with us are on the maps as part of our route anyway. Those 3 miles were astounding--so beautiful--Byron wished he could see it through the eyes of some one new to the area. This walking trip continues to show us interesting things every day. It's hard to explain what it was like to walk the Emma Gatewood Trail, knowing we had gotten over to it walking, and not knowing where we'd sleep that night. You can see the wonders of national and state parks by taking a trip for that reason. We ended up at this one, not by accident exactly, but as part of our trip with no ending date. After rural roads and towpaths, here was this national treasure.

--Eva

Ok, I think that enough time has gone by since we were at Lake Logan that I can now tell my mother this story. When we were camped out at Lake Logan we rode out a very intense, confirmed tornadic, thunderstorm in our tents. We had a guy come running over to our tent in the craziest downpour you could imagine, and told us at the top of his lungs that we better head for the bathrooms to be protected from the tornado. I had to poke my head out of my tent and ask him 4 times what he was saying because the rain was so loud. It was so loud inside the tent from the rain that Kristin and I had to basically yell at each other to have a conversation. This guy's poor little miniture poodle looked like something you would pull up out of your shower drain with a coat hanger! Pitiful. Anyway, we decided to wait and see what happened, and so Kristin and I just prayed and put our trust in the One who makes the tornados. Right after we prayed, it stopped raining cats and dogs and the sun started to peek out. It was awesome! Some accounts say that the tornado went right over us on the map, and some say that there wasn't one at all. Who knows, but we are pretty used to twisters, coming from Oklahoma and all! Ok mom you can breathe again.

Now, on to where Eva left off......Old Man's Cave was just beautiful. It is going to be hard to describe it in words because I don't have much time for typing and consulting the thesaurus. If you want to look at pictures of Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Ash Cave, just do an image search on google. Your keywords will be "Hocking Hills State Park," or "Old Man's Cave Gorge." You should be able to find them from there. For those of you reading this that attended Kristin and I's hitchin' festival (wedding) at Robber's Cave State Park, it's kinda like that on steroids with lots of waterfalls!! Incredible. Byron had hooked us up at Hocking Hills S.P. with a free place to camp. Which is great because it was $20 for a tent site with no water, smelly pit toilets, and a half a mile walk in. We stayed in a campsite the first night, and then at the old abandoned outdoor chapel the second. What a great time. Oh and we finally got showers! It had been like a week. From there we hiked down the Grandma' Gatewood trail with Byron like Eva said. Byron left us when we reached Cedar Falls, but before he left he told me of a piece of property where we could camp for free in about 14 miles. When we got there it was all nice and mowed with a fire pit and no noises around except the natural things! It was so nice that we ended up staying 2 nights there too! Byron came down to visit us the first night and we made sure to leave the place nice and tidy with plent of fire wood already cut and laid out for the next people. We did have an interesting visitor pull up into this remote campsite to give us two warm bottles of water, which kinda put us on edge for a while, but again we just prayed for protection and a good nights rest. Which we got! Slept like a baby! So after camping there for 2 nights we headed back out on the road to get to Richmond Dale, OH where we are now. We were now going to be entering into the Scioto trail section of the Buckeye trail. That was of course after the Old Man's CAve section gave us swift kick in the rear on the way out. We got to the end of the Old Man's Cave section and had to tackle this insane jeep trail. It was straight up for what seemed like a mile or more and straight down the other side. The trail consisted of very large, very loose rocks thrown about in very loose, very dusty, very steep ruts. It was all garnished with a heavy sprinkling of very large, very round, very marble-like acorns!! We went from the beautiful scenic gorge with concrete stairs and people taking wedding pictures, to an insane iceskating rink for mountain billy goats!!! It was crazy! Thank you Old Man's Cave Section of the Buckeye Trail. I guess you had to get in the last laugh. Anyway, on the way to Richmond Dale we had to go through Tar Hollow State Forrest. When we reached the boundry for the state forrest it was getting late and we decided to guerilla camp behind the maintainece buildings for the park. We hung our food high up in the trees and camped close to the back of the buildings. It is getting dark earlier and being down in a holler behind a big building, it got dark fast! Just as I was starting to doze off I saw two large, dark, four-legged animals making their way across the grass infront of the tent. Keep in mind that we had stopped for pizza at a little gas station about 2 miles back and the man there showed us pictures of some very large black bears in the area. So this was weighing slightly on my mind. So when I saw these dark 4-legged creatures making their way infront of our tent my heart shifted into 5th gear! I watched them for a few seconds then rose up to shine the light on them. Before I could get the light turned on, they heard me and ran off. Then they proceeded to make the most distinctive sound that I am all too familiar with. They started to "blow" at us. It was a group of whitetail deer!! I chuckled at my paranoia, Kristin sighed a sigh of relief, and we drifted off to La-la-land. We woke up before sunrise as to avoid detection from any park employees and headed over to the trail. It was great! First thing in the morning we get to fight back the greenbriars going up a series of very steep switchbacks! That'll wake a person up in a hurry! So we fought our way through Tar Hollow State park and over to Pine Lake. We had to take off our packs and pass them through the tops of trees that had blown down several times. We negotiated washed out trail on the side of very tall and steep moutainsides. And worst of all, the weeds were 15 feet high in someplaces. I had to hack out the trail with my hiking poles just to find the next blue blaze!! Then half the time the blue blazes were just not there for a long time! Then as we made it to the top of the state park we encountered a fierce wind storm. Limbs and trees were being blown over everywhere and the leaves and trees that didn't fall were standing out sideways. So we came across a big shelter with picnic tables and a large fireplace. We decided to make camp there for fear of having a large tree end up in our tents in the middle of the night. We cooked an awesome meal from a can of beets, a can of sweet potatoes, a can of tuna, 2 rice sides, and some freeze dried veggies. We just threw it all in one pot and chowed down. After fighting back the forrest for a few days, that was the best meal we had ever tasted! Then at 2:00 in the morning some drunk locals rudely drove up past our tents and over to the pit toilets. They promptly got out and started removing the excess alcohol from their bodies. They stayed for about 20 minutes and then I guess they figured out that they wern't alone and drove off. That left all of us a little on edge and none of us got very much sleep. The next morning instead of fighting back the forrest and playing trail maintainers for the day again, we decided to walk the road that paralelled the trail. We went down it as far as we could until we had to jump back into the woods. We followed a well groomed horse trail for most of the day and then it came out into a clear cut logging area. It was great! They left all the trees standing that had the blue blazes marking the trail, but they had bulldozed all the tree tops over into the trail!! It was COMPLETELY IMPASSABLE! We had to climb up the side of the mountain walking ontop of the downfall and then scramble down the hillside through head high weeds and tree tops. It was pretty nasty. We eventually reached a road where we took a break. While sitting down on my backpack, I heard a car door slam pretty close to us down the road. Oh, I forgot to mention that we had run out of water early that morning back at the shelter. So we were hacking through the forrest on a very hot day with no water. OK so we made it down to where we had heard the car door and found a little trailer!

~Jeff

Jeff knocked on the door of the little trailor and a family answered the door and gave us some icecold water. They told us we could sit and relax for a while on their porch swing and their 4 year old stood on the porch talking to us. He came out and said "Jesus lives in heaven", I said "that's right, do you know where else he lives?" He said no, and I told him he lives in my heart. I said I had a song for him and sang some sunday school songs for him and then I began getting requests from the family for songs to sing. They even brought out a guitar and Jeff, Eva and I sang some spirituals and hymns. When we left their house we walked down Blue Lick Rd and before too long a man in overalls and a conductor's hat pulled up beside us and asked if we were following the blue blazes. We told him we sure were and he said he was Mr. Detty. Mr. Detty is on our map for being a good mail drop for through hikers so we were exited to see him. He asked if we were worn out and wanted a ride. He must have been reading our minds because that is exactly what we were hoping he would say! He said hop in and he would take us to Londonderry. I asked how far Richmond Dale was because Byron told us of some trail angels that lived there. He knew exactly who I was speaking of and he took us straight to their house. When we pulled up to their driveway I saw the ADT sign on the post beside the house. Then Mrs. Connie Snyder came out to see who was pulling into her driveway. Mr Detty told her he had picked up some hikers. We all got out to greet her and got our packs out of Mr. Detty's car and wished him farewell. She said she had been expecting us since yesterday. She also said she had just found out that there were 3 of us. She showed Jeff and I the hikers quarters which was in the basement. It was a nice bedroom with a full size bed and a cool shower she had rigged up just for stinky hikers!! She showed Eva to a cute little room upstairs. Then we all met and sat around and talked and got to know each other. She fixed us some yummy fruit salds and eggs with toast to tide us over for dinner. Her husband Mike came home shortly and we all sat around and talked about some of the other hikers that had been through. We decided to stay another night so we could all get the things done that we needed to get done. So now we are enjoying a nice relaxing day, typing the blog, and mailing things and such. Tonight we are going to Point Pleasant WV with the Snyder's to the place where they do square dancing. We are all really exited! I feel very fortunate to have met the Snyder's. Connie and I have sat around talking about many things. She is a very interesting woman, she used to be a Jehovah's witness and I did not know much about them until last night. I am always interested in hearing about other religions beliefs and views. Oh and she is also a fabulous cook. She made homemade pies and I tried Rubarb pie for the first time! Tomorrow we will be heading toward the Scioto Trail and Pike Lake and we have heard that there is more overgrown trail to come so until next time. I hope we all make it out alive and a little stronger!!

~Kristin

Chesterhill OH to Logan OH

2010-09-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

We have put in so many miles I don't know if I am going to be able to remember everything that has happened. We have spent a lot of time on some footpaths through the Wayne National Forest which is such a blessing. The roads really take a toll on your joints. When we left Chesterhill we walked towards Wayne National Forest (WNF) and came upon this beautiful view of the countryside with hints of autumn on its way. We were running out of water and we noticed we had cell phone service so we walked up to a lovely home and I was praying they would find favor with us so we could sit there for a while and take in the view. Not to mention they had a fabulous pavilion that looked perfect for camping under!! We walked up the sidewalk to the front door and were greeted by a kind man who immediately asked if we were walking the trail. We said yes we were on the Buckeye Trail but are actually doing a much longer trail called the American Discovery. He had a similar smile that we see on many people's faces. One that says, "Wow, that sounds fun but man you're crazy!!" He offered us some cold drinks and said he would even bring out some meatloaf sandwhiches if we were hungry. We all thought that was a beautifully generous offer and took him up on it. So he said he would tell his wife to get busy. As we sat on the porch of Steve and Joyce's house we ate our yummy sandwhiches and got to know Steve. He is a very likeable guy. He had such a kind heart and a warm personality. He said we were more than welcome to camp wherever we wanted. We told him we usually have a bible study in the evening if he would like to join us. He said that sounded great so we headed to the pavillion to make some phone calls and set up our tents. We took some great pictures of the view at sunset. (Sorry we haven't been putting any of them up lately!) When Steve came out we were still getting camp set up. Eva was very exited about her new way of organizing her pack and so she did not want to undo it. She asked Steve if she could just sleep on his porch. He said well you can just come in and sleep in the house if you want. She was so taken back by his kindness that she blushed a little. But of course she accepted the generous offer!! We studied I Timothy chp. 1-2. We has some lovely discussions and then it was getting pretty dark so Steve and Eva went to the house and Jeff and I crashed in our tent after we had a long gaze at the stars of course! The next morning Steve and Joyce invited us in for coffee and cereal. It was a great start to our day. We even read a daily devotional with them and rapped our visit up with a prayer. Then we headed off to Burr Oak State Park.

--Kristin

The Buckeye Trail has been really great for walking feet. We've put in some 10 mile days without realizing it. While we were setting up a lunch campfire, some one came by and offered us rabbit. His name was Chris, and he raises rabbit to eat on his land nearby. Now, typing this, I apologize to my vegan and vegetarian friends. You can skip down a few sentences. It's nice to know where the meat comes from, which isn't always possible with a grocery store. It was delicious. Later on, we met Norma Jean. Her family used to own portions of the park which are now available for public use. She's been connected to the land her whole life. Her car broke down, so between the three of us, we helped her, and helped her get help for it. Norma had lots of stories, life philosophies, and hysterical sense of humor. As for me, I'm still working on meshing the reality of this cross-country walk with volunteer service. I'd like to help out along the way in towns and for the trail itself. Still researching the options. I don't want to walk as a vacation. There are many ways to give back.

--Eva

OK so after we had woken up from a great nights sleep at Burr Oak State Park we took off back down the trail. We hiked around the south end of the lake and across the Dam where we found a bathroom with running water!! It's amazing how a good 'ol sink shower will brighten up your day! After freshening up and putting on clean undies, we headed back down the trail. We made it maybe 100 yrds when we ran across a Corp of Engineers office. We decided to stop to talk and found a couple of very friendly Corps. guys there. They offered us water and a snack and asked if we would sign the guestbook, which we gladly did. They were interested in our walk, but knew that we looked like we wanted to get moving so we kept it brief and started walking. About a mile down the trail we came to a highway and the blue blazes that mark the trail took a left down the highway and then promptly dissapeared. If I hadn't happen to look back over my shoulder I wouldn't have seen the trail kiosk tucked back into the woods just past the guard rail on the road. So we hopped the guard rail and headed back into WNF. The trail took us on a series of switchbacks with only a few inches of footpath between us and a steep slide down the mountain. It was pretty cool. Soon the footpath reached the top of the ridge and miandered over the hills and through the woods. It really was lovely to walk in. We hiked all day and took a few breaks. When we hit the gravel road on the other side of Trimble Wildlife Area we couldn't find a decent place to put our tents so we just had to keep walking down the gravel road. Gravel roads are pretty bad on the body. So after a few more miles of gravel we sat down to rest our feet. Still no place to pop our tent, we thought we would have to keep walking. That is, until we heard Ron's pickup coming down the ridge. He stopped to ask if we were alright and we asked how far it was to the blacktop. He said that it was a few more miles, and he must have seen our faces droop because he offered to give us a lift. We all looked at each other and nodded in approval! So we jumped in the bed of his truck and he wisked us down the road. When we started seeing houses we knocked on the back glass for him to stop and we climbed out. He said that this house right down the street would probably let us camp in their yard. So we gave Ron our blog and bid him farewell. As his truck went around the bend and out of sight we were loaded up and headed to the house he suggested. When we got there a woman was already outside unloading her groceries from her car. We asked if we could camp in the yard and she said we could. We quickly set up our tents, and while the girls were doing some stretches to unwind from the long day I figured out that we had done about 13-14 miles. It was the most we had done since Eva joined us and we all felt that it was a pretty good day of hiking. So we spent the evening talking and were serenaded to sleep by the cooing and clucking chickens. We woke up and were kind of rudely asked to leave by the woman's elderly father. So we packed up quickly and left. I guess they had second thoughts on letting us camp there or something. Anyway, once we started walking I realized that we weren't seeing any more blue blazes and that we were probably off the trail. I remembered that Ron had taken a turn and that we were farther East than we were supposed to be. No big deal though because we reached the highway we were supposed to reach and just walked down it a little further than was intended. So we ended up in Murray City anyway and asked a man where the place to get some breakfast would be. He kinda looked at us, then looked at our packs, and back at us, then kinda chuckled and said, "the American Legion 'might' be still serving food." He pointed the way and we walked over and right on in. It was a full on bar with guys in there that had obviously been there long enough to drink a few beers. It was 11:00 am. They said that they wern't officially serving breakfast anymore, but that they would fire up the grill and make us whatever we wanted anyway!!! What awesome folks! We got the best breakfast. We're talking heaps of eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast. PER PLATE!! It just made me smile from ear to ear. We had coffee, orange juice, a couple of bags of chips and they filled up our bottles with ice water. Then they only charged us $5 a piece!! Well we spent a couple hours in there telling them about our journey and just generally chatting. It was very nice and relaxing. Once we decided to leave we went next door to stock up on trail food at the carry out and stuffed it away and headed back out on the trail. After another 4 miles of gravel, we found the woodsy footpath. We walked basically straight up this ridge. Once the blue blazes reached the top of the ridge they made a hard left then came out onto a jeep trail. This is where the trail markers just vanished like Houdini. I mean we walked a couple hundred yards in every direction and found nothing!! We went back to the last known marker and they literally just dissapeared. So we walked down the jeep path (which went in the general direction we wanted, N.W.) and came to a oil pump location where we decided to set up camp for the night. Of course it started to rain as we were setting up our tents and quit just as we finished setting up. It was saturday night. Luckily we had a map of the area, thanks to Jim Shaner, and were able to deduce apporximately where we were and kept traveling unmarked trails. We crossed two roads, doubled back twice and then finally met a dead end 80 yards from the final road we had to get to. We wound up bushwacking the last 80 yards and reaching the road. I double checked the map and deduced we should go left. We would either run across the trial again, or we would come to an intersection where we could walk the road on into Shawnee. We were trying to get to Shawnee for church. Well we found the trail and after scratching our heads as to how we got off course, we put a quickening in our step and actually made it to tecumseh lake just outside of Shawnee in time for church. As we emerged from the thick woods into the manicured lake property we saw a pair of squirrel hunters coming out of the woods on the other side of the lake. We met up with them at the north end of the dam by there car. It was a father and his son, and they had each gotten a nice spuirrel. We chatted for a second and they told us where to go in town to get to a church, and they also told us where the local greasy spoon was! We parted ways and walked on into town. We stopped at the carry out (convience store) and got something to drink and continued on to church. We arrived right in the middle of sunday school and were welcomed by pastor Cliff. He told us we could leave our packs in the lobby and "come on in!" It was a little white church with nice country folks in there studying the bible. We briefly told Cliff what we were doing and he thought it as great. He also asked if we would mind sharing our testimony, and we gladly accepted the opportunity to speak.

~Jeff

The service was nice. The sermon was awesome becuase we had been explaining to Eva the significance of the law for the last few days and the sermon was all about that. It is so nifty the way the spirit works. Then the service was ended with communion. It was a great end to our Sunday morning. After church a nice lady named Joyce offered to let us do laundry and take showers so we hopped in her car and went home with her. We ended up spending all day with her and swapped God stories! She was a lot of fun and we will be keeping her in our thoughts and prayers. By evening we decided we would just go camp at the Lake and Eva mentioned seeing a sign that camping was only permitted by written notice. So Joyce called the mayor. He gave us permission and we were so grateful. After a long goodbye with Joyce we headed to the lake and stopped to get a pizza first! We all had a nice rest that night and when we got packed up Eva decided she wanted to send some emails before leaving cell phone range and so Jeff and I went to get some water from town. On the way through town we stopped at the headquarters for the Buckeye and North Country Trail. We talked to the coordinator, Andrew, for a while and thought Eva would probably have many questions for him, and so Jeff and Andrew went to pick her up in his truck. We got some emails out and made some more cards. I even sent out an email to a christian brother we met back at Dolly Sods to see if he wanted to come walk with us for a couple days. I thought I remembered him saying he lived in Ohio. We ended up leaving finally around 1 p.m. We walked through the woods a little while longer and came to a wide spot in the road and set up camp there. The next day we packed up and were all ready to go and Eva was not quite ready so we just said we would meet her down the trail so she could have some time to herself. We met back up with her ten miles down the way. Jeff and I were out of water so we were really anxious to get back to the roads. When we did we stopped at the first house and met a nice fella named Bud. He filled us up and we walked another couple miles and sat to eat some lunch and checked to see if we had phone service. When I turned my phone on I had two messages from Chris Hunter, the guy I had sent an email to about walking with us. He was in the area and was waiting on us to call him! "Wow!" I thought, I did not expect him to call so quickly. Eva came soon after that and we all headed down the road together and we stopped to say hi to some folks and they asked if we wanted a ride to Logan. We thought for just a few seconds and we all decided it would be a great idea. So we hopped in the car with them and got dropped off at the library where Chris called and said he was 15 minutes away and he would see us in a bit. When he found us we were all pretty hungry and we decided to find a cheap local place to eat. We ate at Bush's restaurant and our waitress, Haley, had all kinds of questions and said we could camp in her back yard! We said that sounds great. She was probably more exited than we were!! We went to her house and all 4 of us sat around and talked about God, prophecy, conspiracy, philosophy, and hiking!! Then it got dark so we set up our tents. Chris slept in his car. Haley came home and shared her dinner with us and said she would cook breakfast for us in the morning. That is today. She did cook us breakfast and asked us all kinds of questions. We sat around all afternoon talking and just relaxing and then decided to come to the library to type a new blog. Oh yeah and Jeff and I talked a couple days ago about checking to see if the thrift store had some long-johns, and you wouldn't believe it, Haley gave me some, and I did not even tell her I needed any!! She is a sweet young lady and she insists that we be friends for life. Before she headed to work she said she would like to have a bible study with all of us when she gets home. So we of course said YES!!! That is our favorite thing ever!!!!!! Oh and we recieved a nice box at the post office. Thanks Jenn and Mom for all the goodies! We already ate all the cookies!! Well.....until next time...Peace, grace, and love to you all!

~Kristin

Cairo WV-Belpre OH and EVA!!!

2010-09-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

So Eva has arrived. She came in on a greyhound on Sunday August 29th at 10:55 p.m. The bus actually arrived right on time. That might be a first for Greyhound. Before we went to meet Eva at the bus station, we spent the evening with a nice man named Phil. Phil is a very interesting character who was so helpful and wanted to make sure he met our every need. Phil is a veteran and has always wanted to walk the trail but has not yet had the time. So he hosts hikers that are walking the trail at his home. I personally was in heaven because Phil is the male version of the Cat Lady. He has over 10 cats in or outside of his house!!! I wish I could get a picture of all of them together! Oh and one of the cats had baby kittens the very day Jeff and I arrived. He has this one cat that I am still working on befriending. His name is Tigger and he is a huge, fluffy, orange cat. He must weigh at least 20 pounds, in fur alone!

While getting to know Phil I could not stop singing because I was so exited to meet Eva. I had been counting down the hours and minutes since I found out when she would be arriving. I think I sang probably every song I know while at Phil's Sunday evening. He said he enjoyed it, so I didn't see any reason to stop! I thought that is would be nice for Eva to have a welcome poster when she got off the bus and so I looked around for something to make it out of and I found a nice white pizza box. It was perfect!! Phil had some markers and Jeff and I decorated it nicely with her name really big. It was fun and it helped to occupy my mind while we were waiting.

~Kristin

So when we decided it was time to get on the road to pick up Eva, Kristin's bubble meter went through the roof! I think she asked 300 questions and ran over at least that many possible answers to those questions before we reached the station 20 minutes away. She was bouncin'....she was bobbin'....she was dancin'....she was singin'....and most of all, she was grinnin' from ear to ear! I don't know how Phil got us to the station alive with all that going on behind him! Must be those nerves of steel that uncle sam gave him. I was just hoping that we still had a ride back from the station! :) So we arrived a little early and Kristin was the first one out of the van. All I see is the last of Kristin's hair flowing around the building with that crazy sign in tow, and my feet haven't even hit the ground yet! Phil had a look upon his face like he had just let his best friends puppy out the front door and watched it run down the street! I'm sure he was thinking, "I hope she knows to come back." Ha! Well Phil and I catch up to Kristin just around the corner there and she is standing with both hands gripping that pizza box sign and she is jumping up and down grinning and giggling. Keep in mind that this is the major bus station hub in Parkersburg, WV. There were all of 3 people there besides us and one of them looked like a permanant fixture. The building wasn't even open they were just sitting outside on the curb. I can't even imagine what they were thinking when they saw my wife come around that corner. So we are all there waiting for Eva's bus, and Kristin is running up the sidewalk asking if she should stand here, or should she stand there, or would it be better to stand here, or where is the bus going to stop? I felt like we were in either an episode of an Alfred Hitchcock or Veggie Tales! I guess what I'm trying to say is that she was a little excited. So the bus arrives on schedule and as it's pulling in we see Eva making her way to the front, and would you believe it, Kristin gets nervous and hides behind that crazy pizza box sign! Of course, that didn't last long and after a round of hugs and introductions, we were back in the van and headed back to Phil's!

~Jeff

Before Eva got there Phil showed us his camper which had 2 beds in it perfect for Jeff and I, and Eva. I told Phil that we would like to sleep in the camper so he does not have to give up his bed. So when Eva got there we decided we would name the camper Hiker Haven. Before heading to the camper we said goodnight and thank you to Phil. Jeff, Eva and I stayed up a couple more hours and got to know each other a little bit. I think it was around 1:30 in the morning before we got to sleep. The next morning when we all were awake we hung out with Phil a little and then decided to go for a short walk down the rail trail to let Eva break in her pack. Her pack was pretty heavy but I think she sent just enough home to make it bearable. When we got back to Phil's he had returned from his engagement and wanted to make sure we had everything we needed. He was soooo.... helpful. Eva decided to make some granola with the oatmeal she had brought with her and Jeff and I packed up our bags. We were waiting on Mr. Benson to arrive so we could go with him to get his wife and take his '63 Impala back to Cairo for a day of getting to know Eva. We had to get back to Cairo by 4 p.m. because Sharon and Paul, the amazing trail angels from West Union, were going to pick us up for dinner so they could meet Eva. As soon as we got to Cairo and put our bags away in the house we walked over to the town square and Sharon and Paul were already waiting on us. We drove to Harrisville to eat Chinese food and Eva got to ask about the other hikers that had come through and stayed with Sharon and Paul. On the way back I told Eva it was ironic how the first day of her being with us we were driving in a car so much...She is walking to increase awareness about other options for transportation than cars. I will let her explain that to you though because I feel I might butcher the presentation.

~Kristin

You don't always meet a husband and wife who have given up so many attachments to follow their truth. Jeff and Kristin are a real inspiration. We've talked about theology and some of our deeper values. Then there's the silly side. Jeff showed me a video of Kristin bouncing around the Greyhound. Me: "That reminds me of myself". Jeff: "Uh-oh." It's now Monday, September 6th. We still have continueing-to-get-to-know-each other to do. This past week has gone by fast: hiking in hot weather, cooler weather, to planned and spontaneous destinations. We've read parts of Genisis by the camp fire. I am not Christian, although I come from a Christian family and believe in a higher power. I see truth in all the world religions. Kristin found a nice link between our reasons for being on the American Discovery Trail. She and Jeff are doing this to fellowship with believers about the preservation of God's Kingdom. My purpose is to work, volunteer, and walk for the environment, or the preservation of Creation.

The American Discovery Trail has already provided structure for folks who wanted to walk across the United States. However, it's not yet well-known. I hope to volunteer for the American Discovery Trail Society, or like-minded organizations to promote walking and biking as alternatives to the car culture. There are too many ideas/philosophies for me to write here. This is a summary. Some people hike this trail to raise money for charity organizations. Meanwhile, they get to know the small towns, big cities, desert, and snow-capped mountains. It's a more enriching way to get funds to non-profits than sitting at a desk. I see potential in this also becoming a "political dialogue path".

When you think about it, some organizations are linked to political ideologies. What do you want to support with your money? Ideas that affect how citizens live. Wouldn't it be exciting to send out a group of 20 cyclists, hikers, and equestrians who fill a spectrum of belief systems.= who disagree with each other. They could use the trail to raise funds for competing causes, while camping together and holding debates. They could draw a "map of ideologies" by interviewing people along the trail and color-coding geographical belief systems. When you're in a car, there's a wall between you and the neighbor car. You drive to pick up the newspaper that supports your framework of reality. Education for all ages could be expanded through walking. Slowing down, and needing to humble yourself by asking for water and a spot to camp means you have to connect to whoever is there.

"Fringe" thinkers like myself can get pretty idealistic. If I didn't have an idealist streak, I'd have let skeptic friends stop me from walking. The problem is maybe nothing grand will happen. Maybe I won't succeed in my mileage or activist goals. In day-to-day life, I try not to think too much about the "preservation of Creation". It will be hard to believe this walk has begun until more time passes. And yet, I need to keep sight of the broad goals. The oil industry is detrimental to nature. Example: the recent oil spill tragedy. It's detrimental to respectful diplomacy: the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Solar and wind power, vegetable-oil powered cars, "green" trends, all great. In addition to all that, there's a step most healthy citizens can take now. Go out and do something basic, something old, like walking. It's not really that cars are the problem, or that walking is the solution. The car vs walk is a symbol. Symbols are nifty. They get us to reflect on things.

So far, my thoughts have just been thoughts. I hope to walk all the way from here--Chesterhill, Ohio--to California. My idealist language will only mean something if it's backed up by experience. Who knows what will happen. Thanks for reading this! You're welcome to get in touch with me through Kristin and Jeff.

Even though my original reasons to walk might seem different from Jeff and Kristins', we've been having a great time so far! I respect their views. It's fascinating to talk to them about spirituality. I have a lot to learn and experience as their hiking companion, and hope we continue on as long as the weather permits.

If it weren't for Pastor Charlie's barbeque next door, I'd keep typing!

-- Eva

Ok, it's Kristin again. So that was an introduction of Eva, and I am sure she will be back on later to type some more.I really feel that God put the three of us together for more reasons than one and as we continue to walk together and learn from each other, I believe our purposes will gel together more and more. I appreciate Eva's young, free spirited way of thinking. I wish you could all get to know her. She is truly a beautiful creation of God!

So on with the story. After spending a night with the Benson's and getting to know Eva a little more we got dropped off at the Ohio river bridge which is the gateway from West Virginia to Ohio. We walked across and got all the way to a park across from Blennerhassett Island and found out that there was going to be a bluegrass show that night and so of course we stayed for it. We called Phil and invited him to join us. I am really glad we did because it turns out that he is a great dancer and Eva and I needed a dancing partner so we all three got up and did a little shimmying while Jeff watched and took pictures. After the concert was over we hopped in Phil's van and he took us to Hardees for some late night snacks and then we went to spend another night in Hiker Haven!! The next day Phil took us by the Parkersburg newspaper to be interviewed and then we walked across the bridge for a second time. We walked further that day though. We made it all the way to the Belpre library which I believe was around 4-5 miles. Phil picked us up again for one last night in the hiker haven. The next morning we all sat together and had a devotional and prayer. Phil took us back to the library and we walked to Veto Lake and when we were walking passed a house a nice gentleman yelled from his yard, "Are you guys walking the trail?" We all looked at each other and said, "yes we are". The man's name was Marvin and we were shocked that someone actually knew about the trail because not a lot of people do. Marvin knew about the trail because his son helped on the team of coordinators for the state of Ohio and he also helped to promote it by making all kinds of "American Discovery Trail" souvenirs. They invited us in for some cold drinks and we talked with them for quite a while. Eva got to talk to their son on the phone and she asked if he would like to come over in the morning so she could interview him. He agreed to come over and talk to us. Eva is also wanting to make a little documentary if possible when she is finished with the trail so we may have a youtube channel soon where people can look at some of the video's. I am really exited about that, I think it will turn out nice and will be good for our family back home so they can see us.

--Kristin

So after waking up from a very foggy and dew-filled night, we went inside the house to find Marvin's Wife making us bacon and eggs with toast! What a great bunch of people! We ate and talked until a few more people showed up. Marvin's son, Tim, being one of them. We all sat around and talked, and Eva got to interview Tim about his involvement in the ADT, until around noon I think. When we all realised that it was time to get moving.

~Jeff

It's easy to be comfortable when generous people feed and house you. Tim even offered us a ride as he drove by. If we'd have said yes, we would have missed the giant lilly pads on the lake. We walked slow to take in their beauty. That evening, we camped by the Layman church. I mentioned that my associations with the word "layman" are of non-religious people. That a monk might refer to some one who isn't ordained as a "lay-person". Kristin pointed out that "laymen" could be preachers who attained their calling by God , not by going to years of school. Which would make them very spiritual. The next day, we walked to Wagner's fruit farm. Alice shared stories-- and peaches and apples that wouldn't get sold. She said another Discovery Trail traveler had come through when there was a birthday going on! So not only did he enjoy fruit, he had a whole meal and birthday cake. We made a nice cooking fire farther down the road. The spot was so pretty and seemed okay for camping. But we still wanted to walk. Soon after our packs were on I got to thinking "what if we don't find another spot like this". Well we did. The property seemed neglected. It had an excellent view of the sunset where we read and discussed scripture. That night, a bird I didn't recognize sang its own sort of hymn. We found out today from Pastor Charlie the land we'd camped on used to belong to Basil Boggs. We met Pastor Charlie Sunday morning after packing up camp and walking up the road. It was around 10:30 am when we saw the church.

--Eva

As soon as I walked up on the porch I felt the spirit like thick fog on a river. As I walked up to the door, Jeff told me not to interupt if they were in the middle of the service. It looked like they had started so I turned around and walked away from the door and just as we had all walked the opposite way of the door a man came out and said, "Come on in!" So we said, "okay!" We walked in and the pews were completely full and they were doing prayer requests. They sang a couple hymns accapella because the piano player was sick. They then asked if anyone had a song to share and I of course raised my hand and said " I DO". So I ran to the front and sang my anthem, "I Want Jesus to Walk with Me." After I sang another woman got up and sang a special with a recording and then another got up and sang about what heaven meant to her. They were both very touching and I got a little teary eyed. Then Charlie got up and shouted a sermon about comforting each other and how God comforts us. He was great, I could tell he was speaking from his heart and not from a sheet of paper he prepared all week. After the service was over many people came to talk to us about what we were doing. We got some information on the town we were headed to and someone offered us the community building to sleep in for the night. Another family asked what we were doing for lunch and we told them we were probably going to eat something while on the side of the road. So they immediately said we could just come to their house for lunch and we took them up on the offer. I am so glad we did because we got a delicious home cooked meal and we got to meet a beautiful family, and Eva got to do an interview with one of them about the trail. They took us back to the church after we were all full. We walked a few miles and Eva and I were singing when we realized Jeff was not right behind us. He was standing in front of a house without power lines going to it. I was exited because I heard that we were going to be going through Amish country and I couldn't wait to finally meet an Amish family. We all went up to the yard and Eva knocked on the door. We were greeted by 4 young boys all dressed in their conservative Amish dress and no shoes. They asked if we wanted to see their ice house. Basically it is a giant icebox with ice that they cut out of a frozen pond the previous winter. It was surprisingly very cold. We waited for their parents to come home in their horse and buggy so we could meet them as well. When they got there we introduced ourselves and Eva took an initiative to invite them to walk with us. Much to our surprise, they said yes. So we headed towards Chesterhill with 4 Amishmen. We talked about walking and their way of living and I asked them some questions about their beliefs. Then they pointed to the direction of the community building and we bid farewell. When we got to the community building nobody was there and the doors were all locked. Just a few minutes later a nice woman named Lisa came to unlock the door for us. We went in and made ourselves at home. Beverly, a family member from the nice folks who fed us lunch came over and brought with her two nice blow up matresses and some fresh sheets and pillows. That was so thoughtful of her and we were so appreciative.
So we are still in Chesterhill because we have a package to get into at the post office and it's Labor Day so they were not open today. We will hopefully be getting on the road tomorrow morning. We are so thankful for the people we have met the last few days. This journey would not be as amazing without them. Pastor Charlie and his wife fed us a wonderful dinner tonight and Marvin, the man who lived by Veto lake has been keeping in touch and checking in on us, and Beverly even said her nephew was very taken with us and was exited to meet us and hear about our journey. It is so amazing how we are inspiring and encouraging others as they are helping to make our journey feel like we are always at home wherever we go. I am so thankful for the people God is placing in our lives. I pray that the Lord will bless you all.

~Kristin

Cairo? Yes we are back in Cairo!

2010-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

So before we left on this journey, about 6 months before, I had gone to church early to pray before anyone got there. Jeff was out of town that weekend. As I was praying I felt God saying in my spirit that someone was going to be going with us. So later that evening I called Jeff to tell him and he said he already knew. I said, "what do you mean you already know?!" He said God had told him 2 weeks ago and would not let him tell me. So since January we have been expecting a joiner on our trip. Since the second day in WV we have been talking to a young woman named Eva, on the telephone. We found out about Eva because she had sought us out on facebook. She had found us on the ADT website. She was looking for someone with whom she could walk the trail so she would not have to go alone. As soon as she messaged us I felt that she may have been this long awaited person. We gave her our phone # and we began to talk to her about the trail and possibly walking with us and tips on gear and such. After the first time we talked to her we really felt that she was the one. It seemed we talked to her around two or three times a week. In the middle of the month she found a young man who was starting the trail at the trail head in Delaware on September 1st. Then we got a little sad because we really thought she would be coming with us. So we just stayed in contact with her so we could continue to give her advice about the trail and we were developing a bit of a friendship with her. Tuesday afternoon when we got to Parkersburg we got a message from Eva. She sounded concerned and was a bit confused because she had gone home to her parents house and they were not keen on her going with the young man she was planning to go with but were more comfortable with her walking with us. So we called her as soon as we could and told her our offer still remained that she was more than welcome to join us. So she talked to her parents and called us back and said she would change her bus ticket and would now be joining us. Jeff and I were so exited that we could hardly stand it. We were about to just jump out of our skin we were so thrilled. That night we camped at Fairlawn Baptist Church where Dr. Benson, the man who we stayed with in Cairo, had arranged for us to stay. We called Dr. Benson to tell him the exiting news and he said we were more than welcome to come back to Cairo and stay a few more days. So now we are here and anxiously waiting the arrival of Eva on Sunday evening at 10:55 p.m. in Parkersburg. However we are meeting with two more divine appointments this weekend while here, and the Benson's are pretty awesome to hang out with. So I am sure we will not be too anxious seeing that our time will be well occupied!!

~Kristin

West Union to Cairo WV

2010-08-24T04:36:00.001-07:00

Cairo, WV

We spent two nights in West Union with Paul and Sharon. They are a lovely couple that are what long distance hikers like to call "trail angels". They take in ADT hikers and feed them yummy homemade food and give them a nice bed to sleep in. Paul and Sharon have taken in over 30 hikers over the last few years. They see it as their ministry to help people in that way. I know we greatly appreciated getting out of the heat for a couple days. The fact that Sharon was a fabulous cook did not hurt either! The day Sharon picked us up we only did about 4 or 5 miles and thought well if she is going to pick us up we will just sit here and wait on her. She picked us up around 3 on wednesday and took us back to her house and we met her husband Paul, "Tall Paul". When he introduced himself I had to look way up at him and I said nice to meet you, you're tall!! He said thanks, you're young! Haha! Sharon showed us to our room and when we got there I saw a bunch of stuffed kitty cats on the bed. She said she read how I Love KITTIES and that was all the kitties she had! I thought that was adorable and so thoughtful. That night for dinner we had roasted pork tenderloin, green beans, sweet potato caserole, mashed taters and gravy, homemade biscuits, handmade apple sauce, and salad. It was quite a feast! After dinner we went to the Doddridge County Fair to watch the talent show. It was very American!! Everything you would expect from a county fair! The next morning Sharon dropped us off on the trail to walk and she was going to pick us up 10 miles down the road. However as Jeff and I were walking through the town of West Union we thought it was a cute little old town and we wanted to check out some of the old buildings and houses, as well as finish typing our blog. Also, perhaps we would get a chance to minister to someone. So we got off the trail and roamed around town a while. After seeing the town and stocking up on food at the grocery store we walked down the trail a litle ways so we could walk through one of the tunnels. Sharon called shortly after and I told her she was not going to have to drive very far because we had just left West Union. We spent another evening with Paul and Sharon having dinner, telling some of our experiences and going to the fair again. It was fun and the bed was such a blessing! The next morning Sharon took us a few miles down the trail and we started walking. It was not the best morning for me because my womanhood had come for it's monthly haunting and was really hurting. We walked about 3 or 4 miles while I was crying and moaning and then Jeff said, "hunny, we don't have to walk." I was just thinking that not walking was not going to keep it from hurting so why stop. However as I thought a little bit more, stopping sounded great and so we got out the footprint to the tent and I fell down. I had a salon-pas hot patch and asked Jeff to put it on my lower back hoping it would help with the pain. I fell asleep for a while and woke up with my back on fire because of the main ingredient in the patch, capsicum extract, which I later found out is cayenne pepper. Wow was it hot! My pain was nearly gone though, so I highly recommend it to anyone with aches and pain. It can be found in most drugstores and is only a couple dollars. Feeling well now,we walked a few more miles. We got a couple miles outside of Pennsboro and put our tent up in a wide spot on the rail trail. The next day we actually did 10 miles for the first time in a long time. We made in all the way to a quaint little town called Cairo, WV. When we got to town we saw a bike shop with a huge ADT marker on it so we went in to meet the woman who owned the shop. Turns out she is the West Virginia Coordinator for the American Discovery Trail and she said she did not know about us. I guess they have not put us on the main page of the ADT website yet. She said she would put us up there and she gave us some ADT stickers and rail trail medallions. I thought I saw something on her sign about icecream and she said we should go across the street to "The Scoop" for icecream. So we took her advice and headed that way.
We got there and were greeted by the nice gentleman who owned the shop, Mr. Benson, and his 12 year old son, mr. Benson. We told him what we were doing and he said he would definitely check out our blog. He asked if we would like to eat some breakfast in the morning. We said sure. He gave us his card and told us he was a minister of the celtic apostalic church. At that point he had peaked my interest a little more so I was very exited about meeting with him and his wife the next morning. We told them to stop my our humble abode that evening if they could. Cairo had a nice little covered picnic area to pop our tent under and it was right in front of The Benson's house. Jeff and I got in the tent pretty early because it was raining and there was not much in Cairo to look at. We decided to read the book of Galatians and then started on James when we heard a loud drone and then a merry little irish tune being played on bagpipes. We knew it had to be the Benson's and we climbed out of the tent to see. It was their middle son Noble playing away. When he finished we clapped and yelled encore so he played us another. In a little while longer we saw Mr. and Mrs. Benson walking our way. We all sat at the picnic table and got to know each other a little bit and got a little history lesson from Mr. Benson, well actually he is Dr. Benson and he is quite the historian. So after talking and the Benson's maybe dedcided we we not creepy serial killers, he said maybe we should just meet for breakfast at the shop, and then we could have a bible study. We thought that was a grand idea so we agreed on a time and had a goddnight prayer and went to bed. I did not sleep a wink though because after the rain in was humid and muggy out and I had a couple days layers of sweat and grime on me. However when I finally got out of bed in the morning I felt good and energized and ready for our fellowship with the Benson's. We headed to the Scoop and helped with putting out all the chairs and tables and sat around while Mrs. Benson made breakfast. She is actually a chef so she did not need much help. I got the impression that she was a professional so I went out front and sipped coffee while she cooked away. While talking over a delicious breakfast I mentioned to the Benson's that I had a knot in my kneck and an occasional pain in my lower back and how I had been praying for a chiropracter to cross paths with us. He said well, we go see a wonderful chiropracter on Tuesday evening and he is in Parkerburg. So he proposed that we stay in Cairo for a couple days and sleep over at their friend's house who have more room for guests and they would drive us to Parkersburg on tuesdays and also hook us up with a church in town at which we could camp. Once again God has answered my prayers. Oh how he loves us so! I am so grateful for his love even though we do not deserve it.
So we have been here in Cairo for 3 nights and 2 days and have thouroughly enjoyed our time so far. We got a chance to share our testimony with both the families we have been with. They both said it has come at a perfect time because they too are experiencing a time in their life where their faith is really being strengthened but gets hard at times. Both families moved here because the holy spirit led them here and they feel very isolated because there are not many here who are following the way of Christ. It is neat to see that God has moved two mature Christian families to this little town of 200 people in West Virginia. It will be great to check back in a few months and see what God has done with them in this town. They have both been such a wonderful blessing to us as well. Jeff and I have had some nice talks with both families and have had some good time for reflecting on our journey.
While reflecting on our journey I think we have recieved some revelation on why our journey is happening the way it is. Before we left the spirit put on my heart very often to pray that our journey would be to edify the church. Last night after telling the Bastian family our testimony and sharing some of our thoughts, Mr. Bastian said some good words and Jeff felt it was God talking through him. He said we were doing "Kingdom work". When he said that I immediately thought of the scripture in Matt. "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." After he was finished speaking he said that verse. He is so right about what he said. So many people today are getting caught up in end time prophecies that they forget there is still so much work to be done. Christ will not come back for anything less than a perfect bride and the bride does not seem perfect yet to me. So many christians today are well fed from going to church and listening to the message of salvation but they have been fattened up so much they have become lazy and are not doing kingdom work. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few. ATTENTION CHILD OF GOD: IF YOU ARE NOT WORKING TO FURTHER THE KINGDOM ASK YOURSELF, WHY NOT? IF YOU ARE, GOOD JOB, KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT!!!

~ Kristin

Well Kristin has pretty much said it all. So I have only this one small thought provoking question to add. If all these signs and wonders we have been seeing across the world really are warnings of the return of the Messiah, as believers, how does that effect you? Does it change what you are to be doing here on earth? Does it change the way you think about God?

~Jeff

Grafton, WV to West Union, WV

2010-08-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ok today is Wednesday 8.11.10 and it is day 68 of our walk. Just for those interested. So after we left the library in Grafton, we got a sub sandwich, and sat down to eat and call John back at Edmond Summit Company. We have been experiencing some mildew on the rain fly of our tent because we get up early and it has either; A) rained all night and has stopped just long enough for us to get out and on the road, or B) a fog hung around all night and left everything drenched with mountain dew. Either way, we get up in the morning and put away a wet tent! We try and get it out at some point during the day to dry it out, but it's just a perpetual thing. We are really having difficulty finding the right procedure to keeping the mildew out of our tent bag, and off our tent. Luckily, there isn't anyone better to call with these kinds of questions than EDMOND SUMMIT CO - 405.513.5050 We have actually become pretty good friends with the owner there. His name is John and he is quite an interesting person, not to mention super AWESOME! If you are following along with our blog and you are an outdoor person, then you need to keep his number. Even if you don't live in Oklahoma. After all there's no Sales Tax when you Ship out of State!! He has just gone above and beyond with helping us along this journey and we can't thank him enough. So if you are looking for outdoor gear, try him first! Perhaps you could thank him for us!

Thats -

Edmond Summit Company

100 N Broadway Edmond, OK 73034

http://www.edmondsummitco.com/

Info@EdmondSummitCo.com

405.513.5050

Ok so on with the story------

~Jeff

After we left Grafton it was about 2 in the afternoon and really hot so we only got about 5 miles. But it was perfect because we were right by a cute little church called Linn Chapel and they had a nice pavilion to pop our tent under. Even though it was a nice place to camp I did not sleep well so when we got up the next day I was super sleepy. But I was ready to get to Bridgeport so we packed up quickly and headed west. We took several breaks that day and Jeff began to get a migraine so we found an old elementary school in "Hepzibah" unincorporated and cooked some lunch and took a nice nap. When we woke up we were sluggish and ready to find a place to camp. We walked maybe another mile or two and began to ask people if we could camp on their property. We were directed towards Earl Glaspell's house because he owned most of the land we were looking at. We rang his doorbell and were greeted by him and Molly, his shitzu/poodle mix. He said, why sure you can camp, I got plenty of land back there." So we walked through the pasture, which used to be a dairy, to a nice sparkling blue pond and a big blood hound named Harley barking at us. We thought it looked like the perfect place to pop the tent! So I put up the tent while Jeff sat and watched because it was dark and he was tired and still had a little bit of a headache. I then sang to Harley "You ain't nothin' but a hounddog". Then we went up to Earl's house to see if there was a water source we could use to hose off. He invited us to hang out at his gazebo with his granddaughter who had questions for us. She was actually quite shy and did not ask us much at all. Apparently she wanted to ask her grandpa all the questions and when we got there the cat had got her tongue. Earl said we could take showers in his house and so we took him up on the offer and while I was taking my shower a neighbor had dropped off some pineapple upside down cake! Yummy!! When Jeff got out of the shower Earl offered to take us to Bridgeport to get a sandwich from the Chic-fil-a. We accepted the offer and hopped in Earl's truck and got a tour of Bridgeport while we were at it. After dinner Earl dropped us off at our tent and we tried to sleep. By morning I was so tired from yet another night of not much sleep and Earl drove over to see how we were. Earl said he was going to get a haircut that morning. I asked if he was going to do that in Bridgeport and he said no. I hinted that maybe we might like a ride there because I was really sleepy and not feeling much like walking in the heat. Earl said well sure. So we packed up, played with Harley one last time and hopped back in Earl's truck to Bridgeport where he dropped us off at the Laundry mat. After doing laundry we went to the post office because we were expecting a package from momma Peg. We received the package and it was not a surprise that she had put some extra goodies in the box other than what we had asked for. We saw a sign pointing to the library so we followed it until the road came to a T. We were not sure which way to turn so I began to flag people down to ask for directions but apparently Jeff and I look like mass murderers or something to the town of Bridgeport and nobody would stop. One lady even shook her head and waved her hands in terror so I would not come up to her car. Finally someone pulled up to the stop sign whose window was already rolled down so we just shouted for directions to the library and he pointed and said that way. Finally!! I thought we were just going to have to guess which way to walk. Finally after a mile or two and what felt like a gallon of sweat all over my body we came to the library. We spent a couple hours or two there and did not really feel like typing a blog so we just checked email and such. It would be cool if we could just record ourselves speaking about what has happened and post it up to our blog. If anyone knows if that is possible please let us know.
Well after 60+ days Jeff and I were beginning to bicker and I really needed some solitude, so Jeff walked to the mall by himself. I sat at the library for a little while and decided I wanted to walk so I walked till I saw the pet store. I wanted to see if they had any kitties. No kitties but they had ferrets. It was not the same though, however it did take my mind off the heat and crankiness for a bit. I decided to walk a little further and as I was walking down Johnson St. in the middle of town I looked down and saw some credit cards and business cards scattered about on the side of the road. I thought to myself someone might be missing these. I found a card with some numbers on them and decided to call them to see if I could find the person whose name was on all the cards. As I was calling some numbers I looked down and there was the wallet that the cards came from. I picked it up and it had more cards, a bunch of cash and id's. I finally got a hold of someone who knew the fella whom the wallet belonged to and he said he would let him know. I then called Jeff and he said he would meet me at Bob Evans to get something to eat. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed some AC and met a couple and their daughter who knew a woman who we had met a few days earlier. It is such a small world, or maybe just a small state! When we asked for our check we found out that those nice folks had bought our meal. God bless you guys! You know who you are. Sorry I forgot y'alls names. Jeff and I asked if there were any churches near to camp at and they said there were a lot in the direction we had just walked from so we headed back down Johnson St. We got a phone call from the man whose wallet we found and he said he lived in N. Carolina and his girlfriend lived in Bridgeport so I told him to have her call us. She called us and told us she would meet us to pick up his wallet. When we arrived to the place of meeting there was a family standing beside her. I wasn't sure who they were, it looked like they were maybe with her but I wasn't sure. They actually were not. They said they saw us at Blackwater Falls and had wanted to talk to us then but were talking with some older gentlemen. When they saw us in their town they said they had to stop and talk to us. The woman who we returned the wallet to was very grateful and I told her God knew whose hands the wallet needed to end up in and we bid farewell and God bless. The family who pulled over to talk to us offered to buy us dinner and we said we had already eaten but were going to be in town for another day so we exchanged phone numbers and said maybe we could meet up tomorrow.

~Kristin

From there we walked up the road a ways until we saw Simpson Creek Baptist Church. There were a lot of cars parked outside and we went on in the fellowship hall. We were greeted by a bunch of smiling faces and they were all eating dinner. They offered us a meal and told us to come on in and have a seat. We weren't hungry but we took them up on a couple of bottles of water. After they ate they all sat around in the youth room for a devotional. Pastor Rick lead us in a devotional and afterward we asked if there was someplace we could pop our tent. Rick said that we could put it up behind the church if we wanted, but that we were welcome to stay there in the fellowship hall and sleep on their couches! Kristin jumped on that offer because she had not been sleeping well. We were able to set up our tent to dry it out, and we also were able to wash all of our dishes and water bottles. That was great because they hadn't been really scrubbed in quite some time. We each found a comfy couch and crashed for the night. The next morning Nellie called and offered to take us to lunch. Nellie is the woman who saw us at Blackwater and she picked us up and took us to Hank's Deli. When we got there we met several of her friends and fellow teachers from the high school, and we also met Bethany, who is Nellie's daughter. Kristin and I had a "real West Virginia Hot Dog." It was pretty good, but we know how to make 'em back in Oklahoma too! After lunch Nellie took us back to her house to hang out and do some laundry. They live on a cute little lake with houses all around it and a nice little swimming area. I got to do a little fishing too!! Soon after Nellie's friend Trina came by with her two kids Jake and Molly. A little later Nellie's friend from college came by, and she was the choir director and pianist for her church. We sat around the piano and sang hymns and had a great time. While we were doing that Nellie was busy in the kitchen making us Ratatouille and asparagus! It smelled soooo good! It wasn't too long before Nellie's husband, Brian, came home from work. When he got there he took Bethany, Jake, Molly, and myself fishing. He had picked up some meal worms on his way home and the 5 of us walked across the street to the lake. We had so much fun! It reminded me of when my grandpa, dad, sister, and friends used to go fishing. Brian and I spent time putting worms on hooks in between casting our own fishing rods. I happened to look down and see the most beautiful Monarch butterfly sitting on my shoulder (at least I think it was a monarch.) It was so big and vibrant and fuzzy! I slowly coerced it to trade my shoulder for my finger and walked it over to Bethany. She held out her finger and it jumped over to it!! She was just in awe , and with the biggest smile a kid has ever smiled she said, "Daddy LOOK!!" Brian was in awe too. She paraded that butterfly around the lake shore and it just wouldn't leave her finger. Brian ran back to the house to get the camera and on his way back over it flew off of her finger. It circled Bethany a few times, but she didn't give up hope. Nor did she let her finger down. Would you believe that the butterfly actually landed back on the tip of her finger?! Well it did. We were all just so excited at what we were witnessing. Brian got a few pictures then it flew off and came right back to her outstretched finger again! It was at this point when little Bethany said in a small sad voice, "I wish mommy was here to see this." So Brian said, "me too" and ran back to the house to get Nellie out of the kitchen. The butterfly stayed on the end of Bethany's finger until her mommy and everyone else made it over to us. Then Bethany let everyone have a turn at holding the butterfly and we all took lots of pictures. It was just the neatest thing to see. That butterfly must have been sent to us by God to lift our spirits (not that they were down or anything.) Well the clouds to our north gave off a warning of things to come and Brian decided it wasn't a good idea to be out by the lake with fishing poles anymore and we packed up to head in. Bethany still had her butterfly and she even tried to put it onto some pretty flowers before going inside, but the butterfly didn't want to leave her. So Nellie brought out the kid's dinner and put it on the porch and the butterfly just stayed around for dinner. While the kids went out on the porch, us adults went inside for a scrumptious homemade meal. We talked until late in the evening and before we turned in for the night, Trina told us she was going to be going out of town that weekend. Then she proceeded to tell us that we could stay at her house while she and her kids were away for the weekend! We were just instantly humbled by her generosity and kindness. Here we are, two stinky hikers who were just praying for some solitude and re-charging time, and Trina just stepped up and answered our prayer! Incredible.

~Jeff

Nellie and Brian insisted that we sleep in their bed that night and it was amazing. Comfy and cool! What a generous offer to strangers! Not that we felt like strangers anymore. We actually felt like part of the family already. When I woke up the next morning I went to sit on the porch and read some scripture and when I tried to go back inside I realized I had locked myself out. Oops! So finally after 30 minutes of knocking on windows, Jeff let me in. Nellie, Bethany, Jeff, and I had a pretty relaxing day of lounging around and enjoying the pretty day. We went to a sweet shop called "Almost Heaven Desserts" because I was fiending for some coffee. The barista looked very familiar but did not know why she would since we were from Oklahoma. I told her that and she said, " I just moved from Oklahoma!" Crazy! This country gets smaller and smaller every town we walk through. After coffee and some sugary snacks we went to the mall to see if Dick's sporting goods had a cap for my new bladder pack. They had exactly what I needed and so we purchased it and went to find a photo booth so we could all take a silly pic together. It turned out perfect! The Johnson's now have it hanging on their refrigerator. We noticed the time and realized we needed to get back to the house to meet Brian because we were actually meeting Colin and Jessica, the couple from Philippi, in Clarksburg for dinner before heading to Jesus Fest. We ate at a delicious Italian joint called "Minard's". I had chicken parmigiana and Jeff had ummm......I don't know, I was too busy devouring mine!! While we were waiting on our meal Bethany was continuing to wiggle her tooth that she had been working on for a couple of weeks. Finally her dad just took a napkin, reached into her little mouth and pulled the sucker out!! After dinner we were talking about how to pronounce Philippi. I said it should be pronounced like the biblical place philippi with a long "I" and Colin said everyone else pronounces it with an "-ee." The table behind us overheard us and they just so happened to be from Philippi as well and said actually it is "Philipp-ee!" We talked to them a little more and they just so happened to be the owners of a yummy ice cream shop called "Dairy King", in Philippi. Colin told him how the college probably supports him more than anyone else in town. I told them how we were walking across the country for Jesus and how awesome his ice cream was. Then before we knew it those lovely people had bought our meal! I couldn't believe it! The entire table! What generous people there are here in West Virginia!! I just cannot get over how kind people have been to us. Owners of Dairy King: God Bless you!!
When we got to Jesus fest "Seventh Day Slumber" was playing. They were in the middle of their set and after they finished the lead singer was reciting some of the letters people had written to the band and then he told his own testimony which is pretty amazing, but not surprising however because I know how big a God we serve. He said he was a coke addict for years and his mom accepted Christ when he was 20 or so. She really wanted him to find God too but he was atheist. When he was 21 he hit rock bottom and purposefully over dosed in his mother's living room. When she came in she found him convulsing and she called the ambulance. He said as he was in the ambulance he felt the hand of Jesus and he told him if he still wanted him he would give his life to him. He said he did not have anything to offer because all he was was a dirty drug addict. So Jesus spared his life of course because he is awesome and that is what he does, SAVE LIVES!!! So after telling his story he had the security guards move back all the crowd and moved the barriers. He then asked if anyone wanted to humble themselves and come to the front and kneel before God then come. I saw Jeff run to the front and fall on his knees and then half the crowd just flocked to the stage and fell down and everyone was worshipping God. It was so beautiful and humbling. I sat there just imagining how this would look if we were in heaven bowing before his throne. How great a site that will be!!!

After that another band came on but I was so tired I really did not pay attention to them. Jeff and I sat on a brick wall and listened to the band from behind the stage. Colin and Jessica found us eventually and they realized their dog Alley probably needed to be let out soon, so they took us to Trina's. When we got to Trina's we were greeted by Scooby, a sweet yellow lab who was going to be our pal for the weekend!

~Kristin

Jessica had to use the powder room so everyone got to meet Scooby! He is so sweet and we miss him already. So after a quick goodbye (yea right) Colin and Jess left for home. It was nice to have a comfy king sized bed with a memory foam topper to sleep in. Just like we used to have! We tucked in and passed out quick. In the morning we ate some sugary kids cereal and plopped down in front of her t.v.. If you know Kristin and I very well, you know that we haven't had a t.v. in about 4 years. However, sitting in front of the 'ol idiot box all day and watching the Discovery Channel was pretty nice. There for a while it didn't even seem like we were walking across the country, or even in a different state! It was nice to get that mental break for a bit. We did manage to multitask though. We repaired the few small pinholes we have gotten in our tent, we washed our dishes, and I sharpened our knife while Kristin put in some laundry. So it wasn't all wasted on the glowing box. We didn't leave the house all day except to throw the ball out back for "Scoobs." He likes chasing it down the stairs and under the big fir tree out there. We really got some good rest and it was nice to just "veg" for a day. The following morning Nellie and Bethany picked us up for church around 10:30. We went to Fellowship Bible Church in Bridgeport and it was good. The preacher was talking about the signs of the times and reminding people to not put too much stock in things such as the latest greatest book on how to survive the great tribulation. He reminded the congregation that everything we need to know is in the scriptures and how the spirit would guide us on the rest and all we have to do is keep our eye on God. He was urging us to just file the things we hear in our "I'll take note of that" file, and not dwell on it. It was a good sermon and had a lot of truth in it. After church Nellie and Bethany took us back over to Trina's to get our stuff. We said our farewells there in the van and then walked back into the house. We quickly gathered our things and tidied up the house before setting off for Clarksburg. It was 2:00pm.

~Jeff

We headed to Clarksburg to see if we could catch the last day of the Jesus fest. We got to Clarksburg and a gentleman came up to us and almost immediately started talking to us in scriptures. We were delighted to meet a fellow brother. He invited us to his porch for some cold water and some bbq that he had just cooked. We had already eaten but he insisted so Jeff took some. His friend also sent us away with some vienna sausages. Which I find repulsive but Jeff loves them so they were gone in a couple days. The gentleman said he would drive us downtown so we would not miss the festival. We got there and walked to Main Street and not many people were there, maybe just the cleanup crew and a man was saying a final prayer to wrap up the festival. So we just walked downtown towards the trail. The town seemed solemn and ghostly compared to the last couple days. We were walking for a while looking for a church to camp behind but the area did not look like the safest part of town so we kept walking. We got to a neighborhood/community called Adamston and passed a sign pointing to the United Methodist Church. We were almost passed the street to turn on and Jeff quickly said, "I think we should go this way." So we took a sharp left and walked to the Methodist church into the evening service where a cute lil' old lady was reading scripture. We quietly walked to the back, hoping not to interupt. We did a pretty good job. Even though a couple people noticed us and smiled at us. After the old lady took her seat, Etheldean Yanero, the pastor, got up to lead some songs. She asked if anyone had any intersting news to tell. I said, "we walked from Bridgeport to Clarksburg today!" Everyone turned and looked at us and said, "wasn't it hot?" We explained how we were used to it because we had walked all the way from the Atlantic Ocean. Then Etheldean asked if anyone wanted to lead the music. I raised my hand high and said, "I'll do it!" So I went up and lead a few hymns and then they asked me to sing one by myself. Of course I sang our anthem that Jeff makes me sing for everyone, "I want Jesus to Walk with Me". Then Etheldean gave her sermon on I Samuel and how we should be careful what we pray for. Afterwards we greeted everyone and Etheldean said we could stay in the church if we wanted or we could stay with her in the parsonage. We did not have a preference so we asked her to decide and she said, "well you can just come with me." So we hopped in her car and drove over to the parsonage. We were greeted by Riley, a pretty black shepard looking dog who Etheldean warned us about because he does not always play nice. She was a little worried he would not behave so she put him in his kennel. She let him in later and he was a good boy for the most part. We told Etheldean our testimony and then took showers. After I finished my shower I asked how God called her to be a preacher and she smiled and said, "do you really want to know that story?" She told us her amazing story and then we continued to talk about God till about midnight. Finally we just couldn't hold our eyes open any longer, even though we could have told God's stories all night! We went to bed and when we woke up Etheldean fixed us some coffee and we had some oatmeal and headed off to Wolf Summit where we were to get on the North Bend Rail Trail.

~Kristin

We must have missed the turn just outside of Clarksburg because we hit a dead end on old Rt 50. The directions got real ambiguous there for a few miles and we wound up having to walk along the new Rt 50 with is a four lane highway that is very busy and very noisy. We had to walk down it for a couple of miles before we finally got sick of the massive trucks screaming by us only a few feet away. So we found a little road that cut back to the N.W. and we took a chance and went that way. We had only walked down it about 1/2 a mile before we found the old rail trail! It's always nice when a plan comes together. We walked about two miles down the trail until we finally came into Wolf Summit where the Trail Head was. We were running very low on water and we happened to see the steeple of a church not far away so we headed down the road to see if we could get some water and a place to pop our tent. When we reached the church we found it to be abandonded. So we knocked on the house next door. A man named Roscoe anwsered and told us we could sit in his shady bench swing and he would bring us out some water. Soon after, his wife Eileen came out, and brought us bbq pork sandwiches and me a tomato sandwich also! The tomato was from their garden and just as ripe and red as could be! It was sooooo delish. We got to talking and Eileen told us about her future daughter-in-law backpacking across spain in her younger years. She then told us that she is now a teacher at Bridgeport H.S.. We said, "what's her name?" She replied, "Trina." Kristin and I both about fell out of the bench! We said, "That's the woman who let us stay in her house for the weekend!!!!" We were all in shock at the situation. Here we are miles down the road and we just happen across Trina's soon to be in-laws! God is so funny. Well we had a wonderful time with them and then walked over to the other church in town to sleep for the night. It was the weslyean methodist church, but no one was there so we just set up the tent anyway. The next morning we headed off down the Rail Trail. Where we met Sharon and Paul a day later. They had gotten a hold of us via the ADT website and offered to put us up for a day or two. We are currently in West Union, WV in good care of Sharon and Paul and have already attended the local county fair. We are going back tonight to see the Gospel acts. It has been an amazing journey and we can't wait to see what God has in store for us on down the road! God bless everyone who is reading and following along on here. We miss you and may God bless you and Keep you!

~Jeff

P.S. - Today is now August 19th. It has taken that long to write out this blog!

Home is where the heart is!

2010-08-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Where do you say that your home is? What about your heart? Luke 12:34 says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Do you tend to put more emphasis on the things of this world which will perish or do you focus more on storing your treasures in heaven? For Jeff and I our Home is in Jesus and our heart strives to remain there also. We really know what it is truly like for Jesus to be our home. Our house is a tent which we put into a little bag every morning and put it up in a different place every night, so our heart is always anchored in Christ as we trust that he will show us the right place to put our house! So our heart is in heaven and our home is in Christ! I hope that if you are reading this and you are a part of the body of Christ you can say the same thing no matter what your circumstances may be.

After typing our last blog we decided since it was so hot we would just spend the day in Parsons and hang out with Joe and Ashley and I am so glad we did. We suggested that we could make dinner and share our story with them and Fred, Joe's dad, came over and got word of our dinner plans. So he brought over some delicious corn, green beans, and potatoes from his garden and his wife made some delicious homemade peach and berry cobbler. We grilled some chicken breast and had a feast ready when Joe came home from work. He seemed to be really hungry and he just dug right in and his parents showed up as we took our first bite. Everything was delicious and our fellowship was refreshing. We told them our story and then asked Joe's parents, Fred and Joanne how they met and they told their story. It was really neat to hear how God put them together. Fred and Joanne were getting tired and they went home and us young-uns sat around and talked and shared pictures of weddings and dogs and such! They offered to have a pot of coffee for us in this morning so we took them up on it and headed to the tent to try and get a in little shut eye.

So after waking up, packing up our tent and enjoying some coffee ad pop tarts we said goodbye to Joe who had got up to see us off we headed down Smokey Hollow road going up and down hills and winding around the mountains. We came to a road sign with a tractor on it and I said, "look tractor crossing" Jeff said, "hmm I wonder if we will run into any wild tractors?" Just a few seconds later a wild tractor came flying by!! We turned onto Clover road and walked a couple more miles until we got to a house with a nice pavilion in the yard and thought it looked like a nice place to pop our tent. There was a man using some heavy machinery digging in some dirt and so we walked towards him to see if he was the owner of the pavilion. His name was Rock and he did not live there but was just doing a little work for the family that did. Rock was a nice guy. He had never been out of the state of West Virginia, he liked to live a simple life and was quite content doing so. He said that the Moore's would probably not mind if we camped and said the man of the house would be home at 4:30. It was around 3:00 so we just decided to hang out under the pavilion and relax because it was starting to rain. After talking to us a bit, Rock got back to his work and then headed off down the road. After cooking up a pot of noodles and propping up our feet I fell asleep. It was not too long before Mr. Moore came home and he had already heard about some hikers that were hanging out at his pavilion. Rock had let him know that some harmless strangers were there! He talked to us a bit and we met his dog "Patches" and he said his mother and wife would be home soon. His mother who was born in the farm house there on the property had gone to have cataract surgery. We told him about our visit in Parsons and how we had stopped at the library to type our blog and he said, "well you probably met my wife then, she's the librarian". What a small world!! Then again it is West Virginia and the population of the entire state is about the same as Oklahoma City!

Mr. Moore's mom sent some homemade cinnamon rolls over for us after she arrived home. They were super delish and we ate them for breakfast. The Moore's were very kind and let us take showers and greeted us in the morning with a bag of goodies! After packing up we headed toward a little village called Valley Furnace: Unincorporated. We walked another 10 or so miles that day and my pinky toe was beginning to hurt so we stopped at a house with a big yard and asked if they knew of a place to camp. The man of the house thought for a while and maybe decided we were not creepy weirdos and said we could camp on his lawn by his chicken coup. So we were grateful and walked to edge of his lawn and cooked a little instant mashed taters and set up camp. While we were eating we met the king of the roost and he wanted to show us his awesome feathers and cock-a-doodle. He was quite the sight and sound for the evening. As we were putting up our tent we heard some thunder in the distance and we put our fly on and got in and it almost immediately began a torrential downpour. So we prayed for our safety during the storm and read some of the good book and fell asleep. In the morning it had stopped raining just long enough to pack up our tent before it started to pour again. We hung out with the man of the house and decided to just walk in the rain because the rain did not look like it was going to let up any time soon. We were informed that from where we were at all the way to where we were headed there was no electricity. We stopped in Nestorville which was just a 3 mile jaunt from Valley Furnace for some coffee. Everyone had there power hooked up to generators so the store had some power. After leaving Nestorville we headed for Philippi up WV38 where in poured on us off and on all day. Finally we reached Budget Inn where we were picking up our new backpacks. They arrived just before we did. The hotel was without power and we did not really want to walk any longer in the rain so we said we would take a room. They still had hot water and that was all we needed. The owner asked what made us to decide to walk across America and we excitedly told him. "GOD!!" He said, "well that is a pretty good reason." He was so kind he decided to let us just have the room. We were so thankful! We grabbed our package and packs and headed down the hall to our room, we were anxious to get our new packs! We slashed open the box and took our packs out and John, the outfitter back home had gone over the top again! He sent us 2 boxes of cliff bars, energy jelly beans, a bunch of Summit stickers, and some instant starbucks coffee. Thanks again John!! We love you man!!

It was really good we got a room because it just continuously poured the rest of the night. The electricity came on an hour later as well so that was a blessing we didn't have to walk around with our headlamps all night! Just after we got our new packs all packed and comfy we got a surprise phonecall. It was a nice woman who found out about us on the ADT website and got in touch with us through facebook. She was coming through the area and wanted to see if we needed anything. We said it would be lovely to meet her so she came by the hotel room. As she was on her way I told Jeff it would be nice if maybe she wanted to go get icecream!! So when she arrived she asked if there was anything she could do for us. We told her, "not unless you want to go get icecream!" Well she actually already had 3 milkshakes in her hand!! I will let you imagine the big smile on my face. If you know me at all you know how I am about icecream!! We did not want to offend her with the smell of dirty feet in our room so we went to the lobby to chat. She lives on the trail up the way a little bit and said she would love to have us over when we come through so we of course said yes! After a nice meeting with her we said till we meet again and headed to the room to try and get some sleep in the nice comfy beds! We were exited about the next day because we were going to meet Jessica, the twin of the nice young lady we met in Parsons, and her fiance Collin.

~Kristin

Ok so after we left the hotel we walked on into town to go to the library to update the blog. As we were walking down the main drag there we saw a life sized statue of Jesus in front of a house. We just had to take a picture with Jesus! It was cool because there was a man there cleaning the windows on the house and he was happy to take our picture. After that we hit downtown and found the library. Alas, the library was closed for a staff meeting and we were out of luck. So we called Colin. Colin is the fiance' of Jessica, who is the twin sister of Ashley back in Parsons. Colin said to walk through town and find the covered bridge and he would meet us at the other side of the bridge where the park was. He and his grandfather took us back to Jessica's house. We instantly felt like Colin was an old childhood friend of ours and hit it off immediately. Colin is a student at AB college in Phillipi and is a music major! So obviously we all had a lot in common. After we spent some time at the house setting up our tent and getting to know one another, and his sister Whitney, we got a ride from Whitney up to the church. Colin, Kristin and I all got to sit around and play music together until Jess got off work. What a blessing that was! Thanks Colin! After playing for a bit, Colin suggested that we play some ping pong. What a worthy adversary he is too! Little did he know that my dad and I would stay up ALL NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT, playing ping pong in our back room. Muahahaha!! Colin quickly renamed me "the Oklahoma Twister." :) After music and ping pong, Jessica finally got off work and came to pick us up. We all went back to the house and arrived at the same time as Whitney on her way back from the grocery store. She had picked up stuff to make us tacos and homemade cookies!! Whitney is such a wonderful person. She is the most caring and generous sister and we were so blessed to have gotten to know her and spend time with her. Whitney quickly started in on preparing dinner as the rest of us got to know each other. Somewhere in there Ally made her way into the picture. Ally is the twin sister of Nala back in Parsons. They are both half husky, half wolf, and 4 months old. Jess and Colin had heard from Ashley and Joe that I was a dog trainer. So we all sat around and played with Ally and talked. Shortly after, I realized that Whitney had been in the kitchen all alone making us dinner. So we all got up to go help her. We all pitched in and before we knew it we had a feast in front of us! She had even made a delicious fruit juice sangria-type punch that quickly disappeared. After dinner we shared our testimony with them and then we watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It was actually a great movie! I recommend it to anyone. Great pic you guys. The next morning I woke up early and Colin took me to his church to attend the Iron Men's breakfast. Its a men's group that meets once a month for breakfast and bible study. It was great to get to spend some guy time with other christian men. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and the time we spend together, but it was nice to spend some time away for a bit. After Iron Men's breakfast we went over to Colin's friend's house. Jeremiah is the associate pastor at the church and has a lovely family. His wife and two young boys are so much fun! After a little while Jess and Kristin met us over at Jeremiah and Becky's. We all hung out and ate pizza and it felt like we were not walking across America for a while. It felt like we were just hanging out with friends and having a good time! After a few hours we went back to Jessica's and hung out there for a while. Dinner time rolled around and Colin suggested we go to Moe's for hotwings. They were DELISH!! We had a great time at dinner, but at some time during the evening I could tell that Colin really wanted to get some revenge at the ping pong table. So I just kinda quietly said, "ping pong tourney?..." and he peered over the rim of his glasses, and his eye brow slowly lifted as to say, "you're on!" So we had Jess and Kristin drop us off back at the church to settle the score. They of course didn't stick around to see us boys battle it out. We wound up play 18 games of ping pong until Jessica finally sent Colin a text that read, "are you ever going to come back home?" We had so much fun, but we finally broke the good ping pong ball and decided to call it quits. The next morning we all went to church and met the church family. Ashley and Joe came up from Parsons and Jeremiah and Becky lead worship. It was really great to worship with all the new friends we had met recently. After church we went to the mexican restaurant. We had a great time at lunch and then went back to the house to pack up. We gathered all our things and hoped in the car because Jess and Colin wanted to take us up to Tygart Lake. Well after we got there we found out it was $20 for a tent site at the park and Kristin and I weren't going to pay $20 to camp so they took us on into Grafton. We drove around looking for a map and a nice church to stay at. We found a map and then after little luck with the churches downtown, Colin took us across town to the Church of Christ. When we got out and put our packs on the grass, a nice man walked up to us and asked how far we were hiking. We had just been telling Colin and Jess how God always takes care of us and provides for us, so when this man walked up to us Colin just kind of nodded and said goodbye for now. It was bitter sweet. We miss you guys so much already, and will be praying for you and your marriage. May God bless you and keep you in the palm of His hand, together and united, for as long as He sees fit!

As they were pulling away, we start telling the man who walked up to us our testimony. We immediately saw God's love in him and knew that we were right where we needed to be. Turns out he is the pastor of the church! We gave him the Cliff Notes version of our story and then told him that we were looking for a church to camp behind before we headed back down the trail. He just sort of grinned and called his wife over to meet us. After a lightening quick introduction, he asked us (and his wife simultaneously) if we wanted to come back to their house to camp!! (I don't know how to type me jumping and dancing for joy so this will have to do...:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):!!!!!!!!!!!!************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WooooHOoooo!!) Well, that's what I was thinking anyway. I mean we hadn't been standing there 5 minutes! I don't think that Colin and Jess were even out of sight yet. God is so good.

~Jeff

We hopped in the Johnson's car and went to their beautiful Log cabin home right next to a stream and were in love with our campsite God had picked for us!! And even better than the campsite, they had.....KITTIES!!! And if any of you know me well, you know how much I love KITTIES!!!!! Love love love kitties!!!!!!!!!! So we set up camp and went in for some pizza and getting to know you time. We told them some more of the amazing stories God had given us while on the trail and talked about God's goodness till 11 p.m. Jeff was getting sleepy and so we said goodnight and had a nice prayer before heading to bed. I am pretty sure everyone slept like babies all night and when we got up this morning the coffee was alreay made. We got to spend a little more time with the Johnson's before the Mrs. had to be at work. Our time with them was not nearly long enough but hopefully we will get to see them again sometime. I know if it isn't here on earth, definitely in eternity!! So on the way into town I told Mr. Johnson we forgot to get a picture and so we stopped by the Mrs. work and snapped a quick photo with our new friends. We got dropped off here at the library and are now 2 hours into our visit here at the Grafton Public Library and my fingers are getting tired of typing. So until next time to all of our readers! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We miss everyone and send our love to you all. I pray the peace and grace of Christ for you all.

So I forgot to tie in my beginning paragraph with the rest of the blog so I am going to do that now! When I began the blog with the thought of our home being in Christ and where our heart is, I wasn't sure how I was going to tie that in with what has been happening. Mr. Johnson asked us where we consider home to be and I thought, how intersting, I was just writing about that on our journal. I think so many people today feel that the four walls of their house can protect from the evil outside but that just isn't true. We have been on the road for 60 + days now and have not been mugged, or beat up, and obviously have not run into any serial killers! I know that God will protect us no matter where we go. "For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Eph: 6:12 So brothers and sisters, if you call yourself that, do not go about your day being fearful of what is outside of your house. Yes there are evil people out there but put your faith in God and rest knowing that your true home is wherever he is and he, is wherever you are! Only then can you truly be at peace. If a stranger looks like they may be in need, put away your thoughts that they might murder you, it might be the perfect oppurtunity to witness to them, or just to show them kindness. Use the discernment God has given you and you will know if it is a bad idea or not. The things of this world can only protect you for a time but God can save you forever!

~Kristin

Love,

The Vandagriffs

Over the River and through the Woods!

2010-08-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well we have made it through the vast wilderness of the Monongahela National Forrest and are now in civilization again. Parsons W. Va. that is. If we would have come here a week later we would have been able to catch the bluegrass festival! Maybe we will catch another one on our way down the road. Since we last updated we have seen so many beautiful scenerys. Including Lindy Point which we actually camped on for Jeff's birthday. You couldn't ask for a better birthday present! We will not be able to post any pictures this time since we are using the public library computers. We will get them up as soon as we can though.
We are continuing to meet so many wonderful people and as Jeff and I reflect on how many beautiful friendships we have made in just the last two months we are amazed. When I think of being back at home in our monotonous lives, doing the same thing every day and seeing the same people I think about how it seemed like all the world was going down in the pits. However as we walk across America, without a time line and a schedule of places we have to be at at certain times, I see now that God has his people placed all over this country. Even though America is looking like Sodom and Gomorrah, God's people are being raised up and shining through all the darkness around. It is so comforting to know that we have a support system of family members of Christ everywhere we go. Jeff and I often think about the reunion we will have with all of the people we have met when we get to eternity. It will be so amazing to be in the presence of Christ with all of our brothers and sisters!

~Kristin

The Monongahela Forrest is a wonderful place. To give you an idea of what it looks like, the word Monongahela means, "River with the sliding banks" or "high banks that break off and fall down." Some sources name the Delaware tribe of Native Americans as the ones to name the area. The steep mountain walls just cut straight into the river bank! Talk about steep! It is a vast wilderness full of beautiful mountain laurel, rhododendrons, mosses & ferns of every kind, and just about every tree one could imagine too! It is truly a wild and beautiful place. After coming though this Forrest we now know why they call WV "the mountain state." up and down, up and down, up and down, etc..... :) after several thousand feet of elevation we were ready for a sit down. Luckily there are a few lean-to shelters scattered amongst the rhododendrons. We made use of one for the night. They consist of a three sided structure with a raised floor and a pitched roof. They also have a fire pit right infront of the opening, and by the looks of the fire pit, these shelters have been here a long time! We set up our tent inside, and signed the register. Then we made a fire to cook on and ate dinner. Then night fell, and let me tell you about that. Ok, close your eyes and then pull a stocking cap over your face, then find the heaviest winter coat you have and put wrap that around your face and head, then walk down into your basement and turn off all the lights. Thanks what night looks like in the mountains of the Monongahela National Forrest!!! After the sun came up and we could see again, we made it to Black Water Falls State Park and had some lunch there. Then we hiked over to see the falls. It was beautiful. It is a 57' waterfall, here's a picture. http://www.mountainhighlands.com/listings/blackwater_waterfall_1.JPG.

From there we hiked over to Lindy Point where we watched the sun go down on Blackwater Canyon from high up on top of a cliff. It was so beautiful we just decided to set up our tent and sleep there on top of the world. Here's a picture of Lindy Point. http://www.chriskaylerphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/blackwaterfallsstateparkstock2.jpg

So the next morning we walked southwest back through the national forrest and out onto a forrest service road. Let me tell you about Forrest Service road 244 now. It is 3.5 downhill miles of steep winding gravel road! It is BRUTAL on your feet and knees, but we finally made it to the blacktop and then into the back of a pickup truck for the 3 miles or so into Parsons. Thank you kind stranger for the ride into Parsons! We ate at a nice little restaurant in Parsons and then found the baptist church. It is right next door to the Catholic church and in between the two building there is a nice little grassy courtyard area. We thought that we might be able to camp there, but we wanted to get permission first. The man who lived next door to the churches told us where the pastor of the baptist church lived so we walked over to his house. When we got there we were greeted by the biggest chocolate lab we had EVER seen! He was huge, but as friendly as could be! We knocked on the door and hollered through the window, but no one was home. We even went across the street and sat under a shade tree to wait for them to get home for a few hours, but they never came home. Their dog even came over to sit with us and that was great! Wish we knew his name. We tried calling him every name in the book, but nothing perked his ear. After 8:00 we decided to just go back over to the church and set up camp anyway. When we arrived we met Fred. Fred is the man who takes care of the catholic church and he told us that he had a much better place for us to camp! He said he had a garden close by and that we would like it there much better! Boy was he right!! Nice and shady by the river, and surrounded by a beautiful garden! Thank you Fred!! God Bless you!! We woke up this morning to Fred pulling up with two coffees, some fresh apples, and homemade peach bread!! Whoa! Awesome. We met his son and his wife and were able to do a load of laundry at their house. Thank you Joe and Ashley!! So now we are at the little public library in Parsons, WV where we are checking emails and facebook, and updating the blog.

We miss everyone back home and all the friends we have made along the way. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! We can't wait to see everyone again! Either here on earth or in eternity!!

~Jeff

Take Me Home Country Roads! (John Denver)

2010-07-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, where do I start? God was definitely showing off when he painted the land in West Virginia! And the people here are just a bonus!! I could stay in this beautiful state for a long time. We have met so many beautiful people of God and have been sowing seeds in the hearts of people we meet everywhere. The day we left the Ours we got about 10 miles up the road and came over a hill and saw a spectacular view and said, "let's ask if we can camp in that yard". So we knocked on the door and were greeted by Buster the American Staffordshire Terrier, a.k.a. pitbull, and Dr. Bill Signor. He had let two other ADT hikers camp on his property a couple years ago and so he knew of the trail we were on. He said we could camp and sent Buster out to help us set up our tent! He was a great pal to have around even if he did smell like cow manure! Buster that is, not Dr. Signor!! Jeff, Buster and I sat and took in the mountain air while Dr. Signor went for a swim in his pool. Just as Jeff and I were about to pass out Dr. Signor came out and said we were welcome to come in for some hotwings if we were hungry. So we thought we should accept his hospitality and join him and his neighbor, Gayle, for some hot wings. He was a very interesting character and had lots of stories to share with us.

The next day we walked from Dr. Signor's to Greenland gap to Scherr, where we were to pick up a package. Greenland gap was a beautiful gap in the mountain. The beginning had a little spring fed creek with a small water fall which fell into a nice swimming hole about 10 feet deep or more. The water was very cold and refreshing. We met two brave young boys who were jumping off the side of the cliff into the pool of water under the water fall. It looked like fun but I decided not to try it. I thought I would just enjoy it vicariously! After cooking up a nice pot of mashed taters we saddled up and walked down the 1 mile long gap. The spring fed creek ran along side of the road the whole way. At the end of the gap we took a right to go to Scherr. Immediately as we turned right there was a giant eye sore of a major highway being built to go from Virginia to West Virginia. It really took from the beauty of the place. Another couple miles we made it to Scherr to the "Best" store, which consisted of a snacks, drinks, hunting/fishing licenses, hunter check station, telephone, post office, and the manager even had a sharpening stone and he got Jeff's knife real sharp! They had both of our packages and we could not wait to open them for we had ordered some new hiking poles. Edmond Summit, the outfitter who geared us up for our trip, mailed us the poles and he included some other goodies as well. Some yummy cliff bars, a nice new insect repellant bandana, a new "Edmond Summit" camp towel, and a new water bottle! Thanks John!! After talking with Grant Kimble, the manager at the store, for a while about what we were doing he showed us a nice little camping place behind the store we could use. It came with a fire pit and everything! He even came out and lit a mosquito repellent torch for us! After setting up camp I soon learned that there was a litter of baby kittens! They were so cute I couldn't hardly stand it. I just wanted to squeeze them all night. Fortunately for them though they were not as exited about the idea and I did not get to catch but one of them, and that took a long time with me sitting and watching them for a good 30 minutes. I got some adorable video and pictures though! That night I did not sleep well, it was hot and I tossed and turned all night. I finally fell asleep a couple hours before we had to get up and was not in the best of moods. My left foot was swollen and aching and lets just say there are days of womanhood when I wish I was a man. So we ate breakfast and saddled up once again and headed down the road. We only got 3 or 4 miles. I was walking extremely slow. I felt like I had been run over by a freight train. Thank the Lord a kind woman picked us up and drove us a few miles to the road which went up to Dolly Sods.

We asked the nice woman if she could take us to the little stone church at the end of the road to see if we could camp there. We wanted to ask permission from the pastor first so stopped at a house which we thought may have been the pastors. We pulled up and there was a license plate that read "God's Way", and thought surely this must be him. We got out and spoke with a man named Mike and he was not the pastor of the church we saw but just so happened to be a pastor of another church. After visiting with him and his wife a while, they said we could just stay in their basement. I said sure but on one condition, you take us to church with you in the morning! They had actually been worshipping in someone's garage lately which we thought sounded perfect. So we bid farewell to the gracious woman who picked us up and set up camp in the Humphrey's basement. The Humphreys had 5 children, nine 6 week old labrodoodles, 4 dogs, 2 cats, and a lot of love!! They took us to eat at this scrumptious Italian restaurant in Keyser and we made a trip to the grocery store. The next morning when we got to church I was mesmerized by the spectacular view from the backyard of the garage we were in. I had to make myself sit still during the service and not run outside to stare at Yahweh's creation. Everyone there were so gracious and it was such a blessing to worship God with them. While we were visiting with the Humphrey family they had mentioned that they owned a bass guitar and had bought it 4 years ago and wasn't sure why. After Jeff got a hold of it they said they now know why they never got rid of it. They had never heard such music come from a bass guitar! I will have to agree, Jeff is quite the artist when it comes to his instrument. Ok enough boasting! Thank you Humphreys for taking us in and giving us a nice cool place to stay. May the Lord bless you and all of your kids, animals, and family members. After a wonderful time with the Humphrey family, the pastor drove us to the top of Dolly Sods because it was raining and my foot was still a little swollen. We set up camp and got in the tent about 6:30 and did not wake up till 8:00 the next morning. We were exhausted!

~Kristin

Upon waking up at Dolly Sods Wilderness Area we sat and talked to a musician and his wife and daughter for a while. His name is Andrew McKnight. He has a CD out called "Beyond Borders" and if you are looking for some really good songs sung and played by a very talented singer-songwriter, I suggest you look him up!! He is in our friends list on Facebook. It was very nice of you to allow us to share your campsite for a night Andrew! Thank you so much for the song too!! We hope to see you on down the road sometime! God bless you.

Dolly Sods is such a wonderous place. It is part of the Eastern Continental Divide and is very similar to a Canadian Tundra. We walked around and found a lookout that offered an amazing vista. I can't even begin to describe the extent of the beauty in this place. We were in awe for several hours until we realized that Jim should be showing up any time. Jim Shaner was the man who is prayer walking across the nation on the ADT. The one who we met back on the C&O canal. He had called and asked if he could join us at Dolly Sods, and we agreed to meet on Monday afternoon at this specific campground. So we started walking back to the campground to see if we could find Jim. We ran into Lois instead. She asked if we were "those hikers who were walking across america." We looked at her puzzled and said, "um...yea I guess we are." She said that a man back at Bear Rocks (3 miles away) told her that he was looking for us, and that he had given our blog to her too! She said that what we were doing must have really touched this guy because he was sure excited to try and find us, and he told her about what we were doing. We thought it must be Jim. She offered to take us over to Bear Rocks in her truck to try and find him so we hopped in. As we were driving we saw a car coming down the one lane road and it wasn't Jim. IT WAS HAROLD!! Harold was our trail angel back in Keyser! We jumped out of the car and ran over to him and gave him a great big 'ol hug! We had mentioned to him that we were headed up on Dolly Sods and he decided to come see us on his way to see his mom! We all went back to our campsite and talked for a while before he had to get on down the road to take care of his mom. We just love you Harold!! Thanks for the cold waters and the lovely surprise up there on top of that mountain! You just made our day! We can't wait for the day we get to run into you again! God Bless You and Keep You!

After Harold left, we decided to go back to the rim (the one with the great view), because that was the "phone booth." We were thinking that Jim should be showing up soon and wanted to call his wife to see what time he had left. After leaving his wife a message and making a few other phone calls, we started back to the camp. Halfway back we saw Jim rounding the corner on the trail with his "One Nation Under God - Walk Across America" shirt on and his signature camera bag slung around his chest! What a heartwarming site that was! Hard to believe that it had already been a month since we met and walked with Jim. Walking down that lonely mountain road on top of the Eastern Continental Divide, surrounded by beautiful PURPLE FLOWERS and the most vibrant butterflies one could imagine, we met Jim for the second time. We walked back to the rim with Jim so he could call his wife and take a few pictures. After that we went back to the campground so we could set Jim's tent up. After a few attempts we finally figured it out and jumped in the car to head up to Bear Rocks. Bear Rocks is an amazing overlook that has fields of wild blueberries, boysenberries, huckleberries, and a few other varieties leading up to it. Jim, Kristin, and I picked our way through the berries and rocks to the look out point. It was breath-taking to say the least. We took pictures and sat and talked for some time. After spending the afternoon at Bear Rocks we went back to camp. We talked and ate some ramen noodles. Oh yea, before we met up with Jim we met two young christian couples who were camping in the same campground. They invited us and Jim to dinner at their campsite. So as evening approached, the three of us went over to their campsite and helped them prepare dinner. They were making hobo dinners. It consists of potatoes, veggies, and meat wrapped in a cabbage leaf, wrapped in foil and placed on an open fire. It was sooooo good! After a wonderful meal shared in fellowship they broke out "Jenga!" Now see, Jim had never played Jenga, and to make a long story short, he has finally earned his trail name. "JENGA JIM!!!" Ha! Love you Jenga Jim!! After we got our fill of Jenga, we all sat around the campfire and talked about God and sang songs. At some point in the evening someone suggested that we wake up early and catch the sunrise out at the rim of the mountain. So we all agreed and said goodnight. What a wonderful evening spent with brothers and sisters in Christ! We can't wait until we meet again.

~Jeff

We set our alarm for 5 a.m and pressed snooze till almost 6. We realized how late it was and rushed out of the tent and headed toward the lookout to watch the sunrise. We met up with the other couples on the way but I think it was too early and everyone had just got up so we remained silent all the way to the lookout. When we got there Jim foresaw that the sunrise was going to be beautiful because of all the big fluffy clouds in the sky. The sun began to poke up out of the mountains and we were all just speechless. This had to be one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever witnessed. I cannot even describe it and the pictures do not show it in its entirety. I wish all our loved ones could have experienced it with us. After the breathtaking display of God's artwork that he painted right before our very eyes we headed back to the campsite to eat a little breakfast and pack up our tent so Jim could drive us into town to see if we could find some better backpacks because ours were starting to take a toll on our bodies. We stopped in Keyser to have some pancakes and gravy one more time at the Royal restaurant. They were delicious! We made our way towards Cumberland MD to meet some friends of Jim's, Steve and his wife who's name is in my head somewhere and I will probably think of it while I am sleeping! We called around some local outfitters to see if we could find one that sold backpacks and the only one we found was actually out of backpacks. So we decided to call up John at Edmond Summit and get some advice and we went ahead and ordered them to be shipped to us. So hopefully within the next week we will have new backpacks that will make our trip much more enjoyable. On the way back to Dolly Sods we stopped at the Humphrey's so Jim could tally them on his list of people that agree to pray for America. I also got to see those precious little puppies again and Jeff got to play the bass one more time. After we left we decided to go check out Seneca Rocks, a rock climbers mecca. We ate at a little restaurant that was over priced and not very good. The people were nice though!! We then went back to Dolly Sods using a different road and stopped at a nice little nature trail loop. When we got back to camp we met Christian and his friend, whose name has slipped my mind. They were some interesting folks. They had just come from a biblical prophecy convention. After conversing with them about an array of topics, mostly all concerning God and the bible, we went to bed and they went on a night hike. Yikes! The next morning we learned they came upon a bear that had growled at them. I am glad I didn't go with them. I thought it would be a good idea if all the christians at the campsite got together to pray before we left and so I asked the two younger couples if they would like to join us for prayer and they said yes. So we all met at one campsite and prayed for one another. It was so wonderful and such a privilege to be able to live in a country where we can do that. To all the brothers and sisters we met at Dolly Sods, may the Lord Bless you and keep you always and forever.

Jim walked us to the trail head of the Blackbird Knob trail, the trail that would take us to Canaan Valley State Park. He said he would meet us on a ridge a few miles away on a park bench. So we headed into the wilderness. It was an absolutely gorgeous hike. So many wonderful plants and scenery and BLUEBERRIES!! Wild Blueberries. I thought I was going to have to drag Jeff the bear out of the woods because he could not stop eating all the blueberries. Every time we turned a corner I was sure there was going to be a bear munching on blueberries and not like to share. Thank God there were no bears. When we arrived at the park bench Jim had already gone. We saw him from across the way but he did not see us. The view at the park bench was spectacular though and we sat and took in the mountain air for quite a while. When we headed down the trail we came to a fork and had to figure out which trail we were to take. We chose on and walked for about 15 minutes and Jeff said, "I hope this is the right trail". I said what do you mean “the right trail.” I had remembered the other trail being on our map so we headed back to it and walked about 10 minutes down it. Jeff then decided we should look at our ADT directions and sure enough the first trail we took was the correct one. Jeff said if we bushwacked due west through the woods it would probably be faster. I said whatever lets just go. So we headed west right through the woods. We got a much closer look at the Monongahela Forest! We had to saw a few limbs down but we made it and right to the place we had turned around on the other trail the first time we were on it! So we took the correct trail and made it to the parking lot where we found a note from Jim which said he had gone to the Ranger Station and would be right back. So we called the ranger station and they said he had just left and reported us missing! We thought it was sweet how concerned he was for us. When Jim got back we hopped in the car and headed to Canaan Valley State Park Lodge where we got a room for Jeff's birthday. It is always so nice to get a shower and a bed to sleep in.

~Kristin

After showers and relaxing, we all went up to the lodge to get some dinner. They were having a buffet that night and it had all kinds of yummy grub on it. Awesome salad bar, roasted chicken, pork tenderloin, pot roast, baked cod, baked manicotti, roasted garlic potatoes, etc... Kristin even had them give me a piece of birthday cake and sing happy birthday to me. Thanks Hunny! The dining room has these huge windows looking out into the valley surrounded by mountains. Down in the grass by the pool we saw a deer walk right up to a young kid and lick his hand! The deer are obviously used to coming up to the lodge and getting a handout or two. That first night I saw 2 nice does and a really beautiful buck still in velvet, and all at about 5 feet away! It was so wonderful, I even had a raccoon come up and sniff my feet! It was a good thing for him I had just got a shower :) That evening we told Jim that we would probably sleep in and he said that he would be gone before 8:00, so we decided to say our goodbyes that night. We went to Jim’s lodge room to pray and he anointed us with oil and had some very encouraging, and uplifting words to say to us. Jim, I can’t tell you enough how blessed we are to have gotten to know you. Thank you so very much for everything you have done for us. You are our very special trail angel and we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers until we meet again, either here or in eternity. Remember Jim, “don’t quit!”

So we decided to stay in the lodge for another night because we hadn’t had time to type the blog and it started raining quite heavily. Jim had told us the trail we were taking was pretty treacherous when it was dry. So we stayed another night. When we woke up we decided to go up to the lodge to get some breakfast. On the way up there we saw Jim! He apparently overslept and had just finished his breakfast. He came over to us and said “come with me, I’m going to make sure you get a free breakfast!” We thought “Cool!” Well apparently Jim had got to talking with the waitress and she and the manager had decided to give Jim his breakfast for free and told him to send us up and they would do the same for us! What a great treat! Thank you to all the staff there in the dining room of the lodge! At breakfast we met Darren and Vicki. They were out for a tour on their motorcycle and had stayed in the lodge that night too. We got to talking with them until we realized that we were the only ones left in the dining room and they had closed the doors and were setting up for lunch. What a wonderful couple they are! We sat around and talked about the things of God and it felt like we had known them our whole lives! God bless you guys!! So we lounged around the rest of the day and then our package finally arrived from my sister in Oklahoma. It is the box our computer came in, chock full of trail mix, energy bars, hand sanitizer, and a funny birthday card from them. Thank you so much! Love you Jenn, Jerry and Mom!! We have finally decided to send the laptop home so I don’t know when our next blog will be, but God will make a way!

So for now, we love you all, we miss you all, and we can’t wait to see all of your smiling faces!

~Jeff

Pouring out His provision!

2010-07-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Day 48

After we left the Perky Bean in Fort Ashbey, W.VA. We went to the Post Office and Mailed a box of stuff on down the line to a town about 5 days away. The box had extra food, a big bottle of shampoo and lotion and other resupply items. It is kind of nice to know that there is a box with cookies and goodies waiting for us in a few days! :) We are also expecting a box from my sister and a box from John at Edmond Summit Company. The box from Jennifer is the original box that our computer came in so we can mail that home. Yes, we have decided to mail our heavy laptop home finally. It is just too heavy to carry through the mountains and we are not going to find that many wireless hotspots up here in the backward hills of West Virginia. We have decided to pick up an Iphone in september when our contract runs out and that will allow us to blog much more often. The package from our friends at Edmond Summit Company has our trekking poles in it! The trekking poles help to propel you up and down the mountains taking a lot of strain off of your knees and back! We can’t wait to get those babies! Thanks once again Edmond Summit Co.! You guys are AMAZING!!

Ok so after leaving the Post Office in Ft. Ashbey, we headed on out of town. We reached the edge of town and by this time it was already 3:30 in the afternoon. We knew we weren’t going to get that far before dark, but we decided to press on anyhow. As we approached our first turn off the main road, Kristin asked if we could call Harold (a nice man we had met a few days prior who lives in a town close to the trail) to see if he would be willing to come get us the next day as we pass close to his town. We wanted to go into town to see if we could find a little alcohol stove to put into our backpack. He said that he would be happy to take us anywhere we wanted to go, and asked us when and where he was to meet us. We then realized just how hard that would be to answer. See we are walking these very remote backcountry roads and no one knows the names of the streets around here. Literally they don’t know what they are called, or they have a nickname that never makes it onto any map! For instance, CR-19 could be called “the ridge road” by one person, or “the road where that big willa tree was struck by lightning, and fell across the road in that snow storm 8 years ago and hank and his boys had to cut it out of the way with martha’s good china and drag it off the road with pygmy goats,” but no one but the map company knows it by CR-19!! So as you can imagine, we had a hard time telling Harold where we were to meet him. So he said, “you know, why don’t I just come and get you now and I’ll put you up in a Hotel tonight and take you to breakfast, and wherever you want to go in the morning.” We were stunned! It was such a blessing, but we didn’t want to burden him with all of that so we told him that He didn’t have to do that, but he insisted. He said, “Let’s just say that someone else is telling me to help you.” So we knew what he meant and accepted his gracious offer. It was so wonderful to sleep in a soft bed and take a real shower! It had been almost a week for me! I mean jumping into the river counts right? :) So as we were waiting for Harold to come pick us up, Kristin read Mark 9:41 which reads, “If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.” We liked it so much that we read it to Harold when he arrived! So we drove a few miles down the road and Harold put us up at a hotel and we went in and dropped our bags. Harold said that he would see us in the morning for breakfast. We decided to run over to wal-mart which was close by to see if they had what we needed in their camping section. Alas, they did not, but on the way we met a beautiful sister in Christ at the Hospital as we passed by and sat a talked with her for quite sometime. Her name was Billie, and she knew instantly that we were working for the Lord. It was so nice to talk with her. After a failed trip to wal-mart and a stop at the local pizza shop, we headed back to the room for showers and sleep! We woke up and phoned Harold to let him know we were up and around and he told us that he would pick us up at 8:00 to go eat breakfast. His wife Becky would be joining us and we were going to “the Royal” for pancakes with white gravy! We had never heard of such a dish and were anxious to try it. The Royal is a little greasy spoon in downtown Keyser, WV, and has that small town charm that you just can’t buy. It only comes from being around for a century or so. So we ate a great breakfast and had some good conversation with Harold and Becky and then Harold offered to take us to a few places to look for a stove. Oh the pancakes with white gravy were AWESOME!! I dare you to try it! Anyway, we went to a few places and didn’t find a stove, but Kristin found a neat straw hat and Harold found the local newspaper editor (at Becky’s request of course:) for us to talk to! So we talked with the newspaper about what we were doing and then they took a picture of us with Harold. After that Harold took us back to the trail and dropped us off at a church that has a fresh mountain spring running under it. You can just walk right up into a room at the church and there is the best tasting water just flowing out of a hole in the wall!!! It was great! We filled up our water bottles and bid Harold good bye. Thank you Harold and Becky for taking us in and showing us around Keyser! Funny thing about Harold: “He’s never met a stranger!” And that’s the Truth!

We left the little church with the spring and walk for about five miles before we happened upon another little church. It is called God’s House of Prayer in Antioch, WV. We were running low on water at this point and decided to ask for some water. Also, the sign out front said that they had a bible study at 7:00 and we felt like we should go. Unfortunately, no one was answering the door at the church, but I happened to glance over to the house next to the church and see two men sitting on the back porch. I told them that no one was home at the church and if they could spare some water. They joyfully said “Sure!” and told us to come on up on the porch and take a load off! So we did, and after introductions we learned that the older gentleman was actually the pastor of the church! We hadn’t so much as sat down when Pastor Kenneth’s wife, Norma Gene, came out onto the porch and introduced herself and her granddaughter Meg. The next words out of her mouth were, “We’ve set two extra places at the table, and dinner is ready. So come in and wash up before supper.” We thought it was strange when she said that because she was looking right at Kristin and I!! It took us a second to realize that she really was talking to us and that she was serious! “Could this be happening? Again? Really God? No way, this is too much,” I thought to myself. I looked at Kristin, and by the stunned look on her face I knew she was thinking the same thing. So we walked on in and washed up for dinner. Pastor Kenneth Ours, his lovely wife Norma, their granddaughter Meg, her husband Mark, and us sat down at the table and had a lovely home cooked meal. They had pork chops with baked potatoes, baked beans, and salad with Meg’s homemade ranch dressing! Wow! It was good. After dinner Meg and Mark had to go home to get ready for their church, and the rest of us sat around and looked at pictures. It was a wonderful time. After a while Kenneth said that he was so glad that we had stopped by, and that he didn’t think that it was any coincidence either. He told me that he and Mark had been building a retaining wall all day (which is quite impressive) and that he hadn’t gotten as much time to study something for bible study that evening. He asked if we would mind just sharing our testimony tonight. We were happy to say yes. He even talked Kristin into singing a song. Which if you know my wife, wasn’t hard to do. :) So around 7:00 we went over to the church and waited for everyone to arrive. After everyone got there, which was 8 people total, Kristin and I shared our story. It is always so great to spend time with like-minded brothers and sisters, and we were so blessed by meeting everyone there that night. After church, we went back to the Ours’ house and talked until almost midnight! Norma is so cute, she made sure that we had eggs and bacon, orange juice and every good thing to eat you can imagine in the fridge at the church before we went to bed. Kenneth and Her had told us that we could sleep in the church and that she had to go to work the next day, so she MADE SURE that we had everything that we could ever need before we said good night! I imagine that there hasn’t been a single soul ever go hungry at Norma Gene Ours’ house. So right now I am sitting at a table in the kitchen of the church, full from breakfast, typing this blog while Kristin catches up on some Zzz. If you can imagine the nicest, sweetest, most caring grandparents you have ever met, that is getting close to the people who are Kenneth and Norman Gene Ours. Thank you both so very much. We will keep you in our thoughts and prayers until we meet again, either here on earth or in eternity! God bless you both.

~Jeff

2010-07-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

So few days yet so many moments have come and gone and are now a memory. The Lord is strengthening us in ways we probably don't even realize yet. We are finally in West Virginia and we had our first day of climbing up some steep hills. We are glad to be off the towpath though. We have had a very interesting time since we last blogged. So after we left the McDonnald's in Williamsport, we happened upon a civil war reenactment at a park nearby. They had brought out the big guns for this one, literally. Both, the north and south, had camps set up with period clothes and tents and carriages and etc... We got to meet General Lee who was the nicest man, with the most kind sky-blue eyes. He had the kindest spirit and said that he would be praying for us on our journey! They were also showing the 1st edit cut of a new documentary film about one of the battles there. We got to meet a bunch of the re enactors who were in the movie, including General Lee and the Director. It was fun! They were showing the film in the largest barn in Maryland, and had a period band playing and serving hotdogs, popcorn, and the like. It was during this time that we had let it slip about where we were when texting Maria. Well, Maria found us and practically kidnapped us and said that she and Rose had a huge surprise for us, but we had to make it by 9:00pm. We finally found our way out of williamsport on a road that Maria knew, and as soon as she realized that we might not make it, she stood up on the gas pedal! We arrived at this dimly lit side road, and turns out they had taken us to eat ice cream at Nutter's in Sharpsburg . It is quite possibly the best ice cream we have ever had! Then she held us hostage and made us sleep in her air conditioned house for the entire weekend! This was a good thing for many reasons. One of course was that we got to spend some time with our new best friend Maria! The other was because we wanted a chance to talk with the christianites again and ask them all the questions that had been going through our minds over the last 5 days. So we woke up on Saturday and got some coffee at Mellow Moods and ran into Jerry who was as exited to see us as we to see him. Even though their fellowship did not allow the women and men to touch at all I wanted to hug him, but I refrained and told him I was hugging him in my spirit! : ) We asked him how the rest of the clan was doing and told him we really wanted to speak with David because he had been on our hearts all week and he said he believed the feeling to be mutual. So he had David call us. We arranged to meet him in town on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday afternoon came quickly and so did the feeling of taking a nap inside an air conditioned apartment. Since Maria was working a double that day she was not too available to hang out until 8 p.m. So I took a 2 1/2 hour nap which was delightful and I woke up to someone doot- dooting the mexican hat song. I had just enough energy to open one eye, and I saw a giant taco standing in front of me and I followed the lettuce and tomato up to a head sticking out of it and much to my surprise it was my husband!! He had dressed up like a taco wearing a comically large sombrero, for Maria's Taqueria, and ran all over town telling people to eat at her shop. I managed to drag myself out of bed and went downstairs to see what happening in Sheperdstown. We ran into Jerry again and sat with him at the wall and sang songs and talked about our awesome God! Since that is what us Christians love to do so much! D.D. came by and sat with us for a while too. Maria even came by and talked with us for a while until the hot sauce salesmen wooed her away to make a hot sauce deal! We found out one of Maria's favorite local musicians, Bob Keel, was playing that night for his cd release party at Mecklenburg Inn, a cute little German Inn that had been turned into a restaurant and bar, so we decided we would check it out. On the way there we stopped at Tony's Pizza and ordered a pie. We ventured to the backyard and there was a arm wrestling contest going on. I tried to get Jeff to enter but he didn't want to embarrass all the other men!! Hahaha!!! We watched a couple sets of Bob's show and we got sleepy so Maria escorted us back to the apartment and we passed out for the night.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the local diner. We decided to go to the Baptist church to have some fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. It is really fun for us to get to go to different churches and meet like-minded people. We always leave with our spirits lifted. We just happened to walk into the Sunday morning bible study and we joined right in. The congregation was small but they were all so warm and welcoming. God Bless St. John Baptist Church congregation. After church we headed down German Street to meet with David and just a block away from the church we ran into Jerry again.

So we walked to the wall that the christianites sit on to play music and witness to people at and David was there waiting for us. We sat and just had small talk for a while and talked to a local guy who came by. Finally David and I were getting impatient to begin talking about what we had come together to talk about so we just scooted back a few feet and started talking. David told us a story about how him and a woman in the fellowship had fallen in love and it turned sour and it left a sore spot in his heart. We discussed what happened the previous week and asked many questions. There were not any agreements on the scripture however, we did agree to just allow God to show us and bring us into one mind, the mind of Christ. After we moved on from that discussion I was flipping through Philippians and found the verse that spoke of exactly what we had agreed to do. Philippians3:¹⁵Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold true to what we have attained. I love it when you read something in God's word right after it happens. It really shows you how his word is TRUTH!!! So we left our meeting with the christianites in peace and went back to Maria's.

Jeff went to play at Open Mic that night and I talked to my mom on Skype till midnight! We woke up the next morning and had breakfast with the Christianites. It was pleasant, and we noticed some other things in their behavior that we did not notice the previous time we were with them. The more we find out about them, the more we see a spirit of religion and oppression among them. They definitely have a relationship with Christ but there seems to be a battle going on in their minds. Ruhama came with Maria and Jeff and I to drop us off on the trail. Ruhama got to share her testimony with Maria and we all ate Macaroni and cheese crackers. Yumm!! It began to rain and Maria and Ruhama headed back to Sheperdstown and we walked an eighth of a mile to the closest campsite.

The next day we walked 7 or 8 miles and camped. It poured on us all night long. It sounded like popcorn popping on top of the tent. The next morning we slept in because it was a pretty restless night. We walked another 10 or so miles and when we arrived at the next campsite I saw a man lying in a hammock reading and he was dressed like the men who we call the christianites. I said, "Are you a brother?" He rose up and said yes and my heart leaped with joy. There were two of them, Timothy and Michael. We spoke with them for a while and decided to share dinner with them that evening. They cooked chile and we provided the rice. Soon after we arrived a boy scout troop in canoes showed up. They asked if they could camp with us and I said the more the merrier! They were well behaved and did not stay up to late, thank goodness. After dinner we talked with the brothers, sang songs with them, and shared our testimony. We thoroughly enjoyed their company. We got to sleep early so we could rise with the sun before the morning chorus was over. For the readers who don't know what the morning chorus is, it's the beautiful chorus the birds sing as the sun is coming over the horizon. It's absolutely splendid!

We met so many other wonderful people on the C&O canal, too many to talk about all of them. We would like to give a shout out to them though! Hello Crash, Egbert a.k.a Roy, Bejamin, Phil, and so many others who I cannot even remember names of. We finally finished the canal the day before yesterday. We hitched our first ride from Paw Paw to Oldtown. We camped out behind the old schoolhouse that has been turned into the local business mall for a day before starting West Virginia, which was such a blessing. We walked our first day in the foot hills of the Appalachian Mountains yesterday and are now in a cute little cafe called "Perky Bean", in Fort Ashbey, West Virginia. Yesterday I got the worst heat rash I have had so far and I did not wear my hat so my face looks lobsterish! We have decided to send this lap top home because I am sick of carrying it. We will probably get an iphone soon so we can just blog from it.

The Lord has been teaching us so much lately. He is really using us to encourage and build other people's faith. It is a blessing when we get reports of how our journey is touching so many people's lives. Our main purpose for this journey is to further the kingdom of God and to edify the church and I pray the Lord is pleased with what we have done so far. There are so many other thoughts I would love to share and maybe when we get an iphone we can blog more often and I can share more. However I don't want to be a burden to the business of this cafe so I am afraid I need to wrap it up. We send our love as always and thank you for all of the prayers that are being sent up for us. We appreciate them so much and they are truly being felt!

God Bless! Shalom,

Truth Walkers

INTERRUPTIONS ARE DIVINE INSTRUCTION

2010-07-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

It is very interesting the ways God speaks to us. Sometimes we may feel that the timing for his instructions are keeping us from getting to the next point on our path but we soon realize that his timing is perfect and the interruptions are necessary in more ways than one.

When we first met Maria she told us about these traveling Christians who came into town on their bicycles several months ago and have not left. She said they seem different than other Christians and they wear strange clothes and stand at the wall and play music and talk to people. We were intrigued and wanted to meet them, but Maria’s door was open and we decided to stay with her as you read on the previous blog. On our way out of town we got about 3 miles down the path and got to a picnic table at the same time as another gentlemen on his bike. We sat down to converse with him and it turns out he was one of the “strange christians”. He really wasn’t that strange though, he was actually a very kind and loving soul, named David. After he discovered why we were hiking he was exited and wanted us to meet the rest of his clan. There are 6 of them that all live together and travel around the U.S on their bicycles. After about 30 minutes of a meet and greet kind of conversation he jumped on his bike to rush back to town to arrange a way for us to come meet his clan. We refer to them as the “Christianites” because they don’t have a name of their own and so I will be calling them that from now on. As David was rushing back to see if he could get a ride for us I remembered a thought I had in what I thought was just my imagination throughout the last month. I thought we would get to a certain place and there would be a certain someone there who had been coming there for 2 or 3 days because they felt like God wanted them to go there to meet someone. David had been in that spot for the third time because he felt like he was supposed to meet someone. Coincident?! I hear coincidents are just God’s way of staying anonymous! :)

~Kristin

Before this journey got underway, we both felt like someone was going with us. God confirmed it in both of us, and although we didn’t know who it was, when we would meet, how many of them there were, or for how long we would travel together, we knew in our hearts that it was going to happen at some point. So after we had met David and we watched him speed away riding as fast a he possibly could, we got really excited about the possibility of traveling companions. We waited there at the picnic table for a bit then I realized that I had acquired the “trail smell” again, and with the prospect of meeting new people I jumped in the river to rinse off. I am glad I did because about an hour later we got a phone call from David and he was happy to report that the woman they were staying with was fine with us coming over. I changed clothes, packed our things and off we went, eagerly hiking back towards Shepherdstown. We made it about two of the three miles back down the towpath and we saw David and a woman named Rahama approaching us on the path! They were so wonderful and immediately we could see the love of Christ in them. When the four of us finally made it back to the bridge over the river where the car was waiting, I realized that we all had to cram in like sardines and man was I glad I had that moment in the river! We met Gail and Jerry in the car. Gail was the woman they were staying with and Jerry was one of the “brothers.” We were all excited and everyone immediately had a lot to talk about. After the short car ride we arrived at Gail’s house. We were invited in and as soon as we entered one of the “sisters” named Deedee, offered to give Kristin a foot massage!! Kristin was grinning from ear to ear because she had been praying for one for a few days, and there is only so much I can do in the tent with sweaty, dirty, hiker feet and a bottle of hand sanitizer! :) As soon as we arrived we set our packs down and washed up for dinner. The other sisters had already prepared the meal and we all sat down to the table. We shared some of our testimony and they shared some of theirs and we talked about God’s Love and Grace. David was especially happy to hear our story because he had been living in a very similar way for the past 30 years, and seldom sees anyone else forsaking all and following Christ. He was actually “down in the doldrums” about it for a while and we were an answer to his prayers. Most of dinner was spent uplifting and encouraging one another. After dinner we all sat down in the living room and sang songs and talked until pretty late. It was such an enjoyable evening spent in fellowship with like-minded followers of Christ.

The next morning we went into town with Jerry, Deedee and Rahama, to talk to the people in the town like they often do. We went to “the wall” where a lot of young people usually congregate. Jerry brought his guitar and we all sang songs and talked with a few people. We also got to share a little more of our story. While we were there, Deedee went to inquire about 2 bikes that someone wanted to give to them. When she came back, her and Jerry went to go pick them up. We were thinking, “hmmm...it is strange that we met in the way that we did, and suddenly they get offered two more bicycles for free.” Kristin and I both felt like they were possibly for us, but that we also felt like God was calling us to WALK not ride. So we decided to pray about it and wait for God’s will to be shown to us. After towing the two new bikes back to Gail’s, Jerry, David, and I started on dinner. Things were looking up and getting very exciting to say the least.

~Jeff

While we were riding back to Gayle’s, Rahama and I were tagging pretty far behind and got stopped by a local who owned a car repair shop. His name I cannot remember but he gave us a brand new bike helmet and a bike lock! “Wow!” I thought, “Is this possibly another sign for us?” Ruhama told the kind gentleman what Jeff and I were doing and he and a friend prayed for us. Ruhama and I hopped back on the bikes and headed to the house to cool off. When we got inside I was feeling like accepting the shower that they had persistently been offering. After a refreshing shower I asked Ruhama if I could borrow something to wear since all my hiker clothes were dirty and smelly! She dressed me up in bright peach and lilac, I felt like a flower! We then enjoyed some delicious dinner and fellowship together and while I was in the shower Jerry had asked Jeff if he could speak to us privately. So after dinner and clean-up we went down stairs with him to talk. He seemed to be having a hard time telling us what he wanted to say. After several moments of silence he brought to us Mark 10:11-12: He told them, “whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her, and if a woman divorces her husband and marries someone else, she commits adultery.” Jerry felt that since Jeff had been married before that he was committing adultery. He then proceeded to ask for the sake of peace that we would sleep in separate beds that night. I immediately felt in my spirit we would have to leave. I became silent and started weeping so I dismissed myself and went to the other side of the room to cry, not because what he had just said offended me or made me feel bad, but because I loved them all so much I did not want to leave them, but God was letting me know in my spirit it was time to go. I dried my eyes as much as possible and came back to the room and Jeff mouthed we had to go and I felt the same way. I told Jerry we would not be staying. I told him I pray that God would give him the peace that he had given Jeff and I about that scripture and I had no doubt in my mind that we were husband and wife. I told him we were not leaving because we were offended, and that I had no problem not sleeping with my husband, but if I did that I would be listening to man and not God. I said that I never put man’s words above God’s. So we had a few more moments of silence and Jeff asked Jerry to tell the others and we packed up. As we were leaving, Ruhama and Deedee were standing at the door and I immediately started weeping again as I hugged them and they both were silent and we all were at a loss for words to speak, so we just hugged and I cried and laughed at the same time.

Earlier that morning when I woke up, before the day began, I went outside to pray and as I was seeking God to show me why we were still in Shepherdstown, I kept feeling like he was telling me we were there for Maria. So after saying goodbye to the Christianites we headed to Maria’s house where we found her, and her best friend Jess, were sitting in the living room. In a way they were actually waiting on us!

~Kristin

Apparently Maria and Jess were feeling kinda tired and decided to stay home, which they said was strange for them. They also said that, “wouldn’t it be cool if ‘the Christians’ (meaning Kristin and I) came back?” It was soon after they started talking about us that they heard us knocking at the back door and they knew it was us!!! How cool is that? Unbeknownst to us, a huge ripple effect had been set in motion in the town because of our time with Maria. She and Jess were telling us how the people we met just a few days before would have normally chased us down the street and out of town for talking about Jesus, but for some odd reason everyone was getting along, and talking about God!! Woah! Giving all glory and honor to God, we were excited for Maria and her friends in town! May God come and water the seeds that were planted in Shepherdstown! We told them what had happened with us the last few days and we stayed up way too late talking, again. ;) The next morning Kristin and I tried to find a church to attend with no luck because we had slept in too late. Oops. So after walking to several different churches, and finding a cup of coffee, we ran into Jerry down at “the wall” and got to talk to him and Deedee for a bit. We asked if they had gotten together to talk about the night before and he said they hadn’t. After a while Kristin and I both went back to Maria’s and she made us the most amazing tuna melt sandwiches EVER and then suggested we go get some “water therapy” down at the river. So Maria, Jess, Rose, Kristin, and I went down to the river with fishing poles, a kayak, and “the Redneck Yacht” which is half duct tape and half queen sized air mattress! Genius! Good times were had by all and we left with plenty of time to run by the grocery store to grab snacks and head off to the mountains to watch the 4th of July celebrations. Maria took us to the top of this mountain to a clearing where we could see for 50-60 miles of West Virginia's rolling hills. We saw two different town’s fireworks, and every local family’s mortar show too! It was as if we were up in the clouds looking down at all these sparkling flowers bloom and disappear all over a green lawn! It was incredible to say the least. Thank you SOOO much for that Maria! After the most incredible evening spent with the most incredible of friends, we went back to Maria’s. Maria and Jess decided they wanted to go to this open mic night, and they really, really wanted for us to go and play, but we felt like we needed to leave in the morning so we told her that we would pray about it. As we were lying in bed praying, Maria walked by our room and whispered, “God wants you to go to open mic.” It was really funny and we all laughed about it, but we knew that He really wanted us to go to bed. Nice try Maria, but it doesn’t work quite like that! ;)

We woke up relatively early and went a few doors down to the local cafe where we got some egg sandwiches and coffee. After breakfast we went back and found Maria and Jess awake. We said our goodbyes and that’s when I realized that I had lost my sunglasses at some point the day before. :( So after a good search of the house and cars, we figured them for lost and said farewell to Maria and Jess. We think about you often and we will miss you a lot. Maria you will be in our thoughts and prayers everyday until we meet again!

~Jeff

Okay! Wow, this blog is long and we are not even finished yet!! Thank God for the AC at the McD’s!! After we left Shepherdstown we headed to the next campsite where I began to feel a cold setting in. I went through all my Kleenex's and half of my roll of toilet paper in a day. So we rested a day at that campsite and met a great boyscout troop and Mr. Cat, the campsite stray who was adorable and by judging his behavior, he was not born a stray. If he had not been rolling in Lord knows what, I would have cuddled with him all day!! We were 100 % by the next morning and we shared the breakfast bench with the boyscout’s one last time and said goodbye to them as they headed towards Georgetown and we headed towards the DETOUR!

The detour is 5 miles of winding country blacktop with no shoulder. You are supposed to take the detour because for 25 years the towpath has been washed out and overgrown with poison ivy, vines, and other various entangled plant life. However, while in town, Tom, the guy who owned the running shop told us it really isn’t too bad if you’re on foot! He said, “oh you might have to slide down a rock or two.” HA! So we got an adventurous hair and decided to go for the woolybuggered lack of trail. We got to a point that had a sign prompting bike’s to take detour and hikers take caution so we proceeded ahead. Then we got to a huge wooden fence with a big WARNING! DANGER! STOP! DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER SIGN! So we said, “hmmph” and walked around it! We were immediately walking through tons of poison ivy, which Jeff is highly allergic to, and sawing through tree branches just so we could get through. Then we got to a part where we had to either start rock climbing, which we had no equipment for, or go through knee deep river. So we got our shoes wet! After a mile or so of that and a gallon of sweat, we came to another spot that we had no choice but to go up. Thank goodness Jeff had spotted a game trail that went to the top of the ridge. It would have made a billy goat pucker, but we followed its ups and downs to a human trail that took us to someone’s boat dock. We ran to it and undressed and jumped in the river, soaped up everything and thanked God for not letting us get hurt! We were also out of water and we had to filter the Potomac, which we later found out was a horrible source of water and most people would not even swim in it! But we are still alive so it must not have been too bad!! We proceeded up the man made trail, possibly trespassing a little, and found our way back to the part of the towpath that had been restored! Thank heavens! We walked about 2-3 miles to the next campsite about to fall over as usual and set up camp, made dinner and crashed out.

~Kristin

Hahaha!! It’s 4:17p.m. and we started writing this at 11:30a.m.! So we slept in again, and then packed up and walked the 9 miles to Williamsport, MD. This is where we met Rev. Luther on the towpath. He offered to drive us to Hagerstown, MD so we could go to the grocery store. He dropped us off at Golden Coral and said that we could stay with him and his wife that evening! God is good! So we ate entirely too much food off of the buffet and waddled over to the grocery store. On the way there, we decided to cut through the big mall to save some time and distance. After lots of strange looks from tons of people clad in designer duds, we made it to the other side of the mall where we met Nick. Nick was standing outside on his break from his Sprint Wireless Store. He happened to overhear our conversation with another mall-goer about our journey. He was very interested and said that he would love to pick our brains about our story, and even offered us a place to stay! Wow, two options for a good nights rest in a house with a shower and a/c! How “cool” is that?!! Fact: it’s been high 90’s - low 100’s for the last few days here. Nick told us that he gets off work at 9:00 and if we wanted a place to stay to meet him there. So off we went to the grocery store where we bought entirely too much food and a new pair of sunglasses for me. During the shopping spree we were fortunate to meet a fellow hiker named “Ewok.” He was very interested in the trail we were hiking because he had thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail before, but never heard of anything like the ADT. We talked for like 25 minutes standing next to the dried fruit and nuts before we suggested we go to a coffee shop or something. We decided to finish up our shopping and meet at the front of the store. After we checked out we found Ewok at the front of the store and he said that there wasn’t a coffee shop close by, so we parked it at the bench outside of the grocery store and talked for an hour or so. Ewok had some great insight and suggestions for us and we were so blessed to have met him! He even gave us a ride in his awesome Jeep back over to the mall to meet Nick! Thanks Ewok!! Give our Love to the kids in India when you get over there!!! Godspeed. And I’m tired of typing again, so.....Herrrrrre’s KRISTIN!!!! TA-DA!

~Jeff

Wow! Okay so we got to the mall and had to wait on Nick to rap things up at work and shut everything down. We hopped in the car with him and his little brother and headed down the street to drop his brother off and then we got a tour of Hagerstown. On the way to Nick’s house he said he had just moved in and he had a roommate that got off of work late but would probably go to the bar afterwards and come home really late so we would not see much of him. When we got to Nick’s house we crashed on the couches and listened to Nick’s stories of traveling around the U.S with his family and being in the Navy. We were both really sleepy and wanted to go to bed but also wanted to be friendly and talk to this Nick guy who so graciously invited us into his home. So we conversed with him a while longer and the conversation opened up for us to tell him our testimony right as his brother was walking in. His roommate also made an appearance to change his clothes before heading out to the bar. He said hi, nice to meet you, bye. Short meeting! Finally around 1:30 Nick decided we looked sleepy enough to go to sleep and him and his brother and their friend Katie went outside. We fell asleep and were awakened at 3 a.m to the roommate angry and drunk screaming and cussing at Nick on the phone that it was rude for him to invite two strangers to crash in the living room without asking him. So Jeff and I quietly got up, packed up and left just so we wouldn’t cause anymore problems between the roommates. We found the first church and popped our tent in the most discreet place on the property and got a couple hours of sleep before people started showing up for 8 a.m. Mass, which we decided to attend as well! We figured after a night like that, a quick mass would do us good even though we are not catholic. It was refreshing and afterwards we headed toward the path, stopped at the laundry mat, the Dollar General for some ponchos, and then ate at Waffle House. Now we are at McDonalds, where we have been for almost 6 hours and are tired of typing and need to upload some pictures before sundown. So I bid farewell for now and God Bless to all our readers and pray God’s grace, peace. and love be with you forever and ever!!

~Kristin

The Vandagriff Weight Loss Program!!

2010-07-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Day 28 today and we are sitting in Maria's Kitchen after a fun night of hanging out and going to the river. More on that later... When we left the family campground we walked to Harper's Ferry and joined up with the Appalachian Trial for a few miles. We met an interesting Thru-Hiker named "Ragtime" who was on the AT and was doing a lot of foraging and such. We got to share a few plant uses and ideas on what to eat and what to use for medicine. We learned new things and he learned new things. It was great! From Ragtime we learned of a nice Hostel in the area that a lot of AT hikers use, so we went over to check it out. When we got there the people were really nice and it was a great facility. We were able to get a private room for really cheap and so we checked in. After we put our packs down we met two more hikers, "Eatmore" and "Sleepy." They were on track to finish the trail in like 4.5 months which is super fast!! They were young guys who were traveling ultralight. Was also met a great couple from Germany who were hiking the trail, and a brother in Christ who's trail name is "Moment." More on him in a "moment" (pun intended). We learned that most AT thru-hikers had packs that only weigh between 20 and 30 pounds. We weighed our packs and they were 40 and 60 pounds!! When we told them how much they weighed, they looked at us like we were freaking NUTS!!! Then when we picked up on of their packs, we started thinking that WE WERE nuts! So they all started giving us advice on how to scale down the weight of our packs and they all were genuinely concerned for us. Hikers are an amazing group of people. The camaraderie and sense of community they have for one another is really great. We also learned that there was an outfitter just across the river in Harper's Ferry that will help you shake down your pack and is really helpful. So we planed to go there in the morning. Now that night we talked and watched Napoleon Dynamite, we ate dinner and popcorn. After talking to "Moment" for a while, we learned that he was a believer. So we were excited because we hadn't had much fellowship on the Canal up to this point, and he was excited because he hadn't had much on the trail either. We wound up staying up until 2:00am talking about God and all the good things that He had done in our lives. It was so great!

~ Jeff

We woke up later than usual at the hostel and ate some make-your-own pancakes. I put some chocolate chips and raisins in ours! Yum! Moment was heading to Harpers Ferry as well to meet his girlfriend who would be hiking the second half of the AT with him so we walked together. We walked over a beautiful bridge where the Potomac and Shanandoah River meet. We had one goal in mind for that town, lose some weight! So we headed to "The Outfitter at Harper's Ferry" to see what kind of weight loss program he had in mind for some quick shedding of some extra baggage! We got there and met Dave. An ex-AT hiker who was so helpful and knowledgeable about how to hike light. Since the ADT does not have many hikers and they are usually months apart this was our first chance to talk to experienced hikers. So we spent about 4 hours with our belongings spread out all over the porch at the outfitters and throwing stuff into a box and going back and forth on what to keep and what to send home. When it was all said and done we sent home a 30 pound box of stuff. Beat that Jenny Craig!! So after giving hugs to Moment and Dave we set off to the next campsite feeling like butterfly's! When we got to the camp there were 22 middle schoolers camped at the site and a small group of boy scouts. I thought, "OH NO, we are NEVER going to get any SLEEP tonight!!" We did not want to walk another five miles seeing as how the sun was almost down so we decided that we would not let a few 12 year olds intimidate us and we popped up our tent in the last little spot and quickly fell asleep. When we woke up we decided to go back to sleep and take the day off so Wednesday we slept all day in our tents in some wonderful weather that would have been great to walk in but it did just fine for sleeping as well.

We woke up Thursday and packed up our now lighter packs and scurried off to a town called Sheperdstown WV, a quaint little college town, to stock up on a couple necessary items. When we were walking through town a guy waved and pointed toward the direction of his shop. So we headed his direction and when he saw us he told us we could drop our packs down at his running shop and check out the town. Tom was his name and He was so kind and generous. He found out what we were doing and offered to pick us up down the trail a ways and he said that he would treat us to dinner and a place to stay! Then he gave us some flavored electrolyte tablets to put into our water bottles! What a great guy! He adamantly recommended we eat next door at Maria's Taqueria, which sounded perfect. We got some yummy mex/southern cal. food and met Maria. Maria is a graduate of Sheperds University who a year ago decided to open a restaurant. She sat down and talked to us for a bit and we told her some crazy stories and I think she decided we were not too bad, because she invited us to hang out with her at her house next door. So we hopped over the fence and put our packs down in her backyard and sat in her comfy patio furniture and met some of her friends who were visiting from out of town. We felt like we had known them forever so we just hung out all night. We went to the river to do a little kayaking, fishing, and swimming. Then we came back to her house and we all went back and forth on what to eat and Maria said she would cook so her and I went to the grocery store and bought dinner. We came back and Maria went at it making us a gourmet meal! It consisted of London Broil, cranberry walnut herb salad, homemade alfredo and linguini, caprese salad, and to top it all off, she made her secret family recipe for peach cobbler. Is your mouth watering yet?!

~Kristin

We are more and more amazed everyday at the people God is putting in our path. One of Maria's friends, Ryan, brought over a guitar and bass and we got to sit down and play some music for a while which was a real treat! Fonz was another friend of Maria's who was in town and he was also a bassist and cook. We had a great time talking about bass and musicians. We also got to meet "Gypsy Rose," another experience AT hiker who had a lot of good advice and stories for us! What a wonderful group of people! We felt like old friends and wound up hanging out until 2:00am! Wow!

God is continuing to refine and streamline us into what he wants us to be, both physically and spiritually, and we are thankful to have days like this! What an amazing journey this has been and it is just the first days! If there are any other ADT hikers reading this I highly recommend you spend some time in Shepherdstown. Especially at Maria's Taqueria and Two Rivers Treads! May joy and peace be with you for the rest of your days!!!

~ WalkingForTheTruth