A day trip to Green River

On July 26, we left California for St. Louis. Along with the ten members of the Palmquist family, we brought our good friend and supporter Clare Aldrich (who generously provided the funds for the trip). We traveled all day until we reached Green River, Utah, where we were met at a campground by Clare's daughter. It was already pitch dark when we got there, so we had some difficulty putting up our three-room tent.

After a short night which was often punctuated by a train going by, we woke up to a beautiful Utah morning. We said goodbye (temporarily) to Clare and his daughter, and continued traveling east through Colorado.

Fun and food in Denver, and a stormy night in Nebraska

In Denver, we stopped to eat at Casa Bonita (a mexican restaurant which features cliff divers), where we were surprised to meet some friends from Bakersfield. After a meal and some fun for the kids, we continued traveling east toward Nebraska.

The dark sky began to look very ominous, and as the sun set, we began to see lightning and thunderstorms all across the horizon. "It looks like tornado weather!" Terri exclaimed. We turned on the radio to hear the weather reports, and listened many times as emergency broadcasts interrupted, warning local residents to get in their basements because of severe thunderstorms. From report to report, we heard specific cities named where the storms were the most severe. Again and again, the cities named were the exact cities we were traveling through.

The rain pounded down on the windshield so hard that Terri had trouble continuing, but her determination to get out of the storm kept her from stopping. Eventually, we saw a highway sign that said "Tune radio to x.xx on the dial for weather information." We tuned to the radio station as instructed by the sign, and it turned out to be a Christian music station.

Incredibly, the music we heard over this station focused on trusting God through the storms of life. We never did hear an actual weather report, but we were blessed and encouraged much more by the music we heard than we would have been by hearing about the progress of the storm.

Quick trip through Iowa and Minnesota to Wisconsin

After a long, difficult, night of driving through Nebraska, we reached Iowa just as the sun was rising. We drove through Iowa all morning, wishing we had more time to stop and visit Tim's parents' hometowns. We did stop briefly near Mason City (where Tim's mom grew up), and drove by Clear Lake (where Tim's parents honeymooned).

We continued north to Minneapolis, then east to Wisconsin. Our goal was to make it to Minocqua, Wisconsin, by 4 pm, because we wanted to participate with the Missionaries to the Preborn's Freedom Tour, which was scheduled to be in Minocqua from 4 to 6.

However, our schedule did not allow enough time for making the necessary "potty-breaks"; for a while it looked like we might not make it to Minocqua until after 6, which could have been a problem, because we were supposed to meet pro-life missionary Mark Gabriel in Minocqua and bring him with us to St. Louis.

But, with Terri behind the wheel, we made it to Minocqua by about 5:30. As we pulled into town, we saw pro-lifers lining the streets, holding signs proclaiming the truth about abortion. As we pulled into the parking lot, they all began to come back from the streets. We had missed the opportunity to participate in the Freedom Tour, but we were able to join in the prayer time, and to visit with our friends Pastors Matt Trewhella and Ralph Ovadahl of MTP.

We picked up Mark Gabriel in Minocqua, and headed south. We wanted to get as far down the road toward Milwaukee as possible before pitching our tent for the night, but we only made it as far as Stevens Point. We spent what seemed like an eternity (but was really less than two hours) going from campground to campground trying to find a place to pitch our tent, but every one was full. The directions to the campgrounds provided by AAA proved to be inadequate, as we continually made wrong turns (we learned that it is not wise to try to find a campground in the dark). Finally, near Amherst, we found a campground where the host made room for us, even though the sign said it was full.

Visiting the Ready family in Watertown

On Saturday morning, the kids enjoyed a few minutes at the lake and playground at the campsite, then we headed down the road to Watertown, where we visited with Michael and Dawn Ready. The Readys first found out about us through our guest appearances on local radio shows regarding the Chinese refugees, but have continued to be regular monthly supporters of our family. The Readys are also involved from time to time in pro-life activities in the Watertown area.

Lunch and love in Libertyville

We continued down the road to Libertyville, where Tim's aunt and uncle and grandfather live. We spent several hours there, enjoying a wonderful lunch prepared by Aunt Peg. Our visit with Grandpa was precious, though Grandpa kept repeating the same story to us. He kept telling us how he saved the life of a man who had been electrocuted by 18,000 volts. From the way he kept repeating the story, adding more details every time he told it, we could see that saving this man's life is one of Grandpa's most important memories. We also looked through letters of appreciation Grandpa had received from his church and various other people for all of his help through the years.

Terri and Aunt Peg spent some time alone together, as Aunt Peg encouraged and comforted Terri over the recent death of Terri's mother. Terri was strengthened by Aunt Peg's strong, empathetic reassurance, as she said "you did everything you could do for your mother."

We wished we had more time to visit with Grandpa, Aunt Peg, and Uncle Dave, but we needed to get to Indianapolis and Aunt Peg and Uncle Dave were getting close to the time they had scheduled to have dinner with some friends, so we said goodbye and continued down the road.

Visiting the Petersons in Indianapolis

It was after 11 pm by the time we arrived at the Petersons' home near Indianapolis. Greg and Sharon Peterson and their children were patiently waiting for us, along with their adopted daughter Zhou, our friend who had been a Chinese refugee in the Bakersfield jail.

They had a kitchen full of Chinese food for us to eat, so in spite of the hour we all gathered around and enjoyed a Chinese feast, and the opportunity to fellowship with the Petersons and Zhou.

On Sunday morning, we had planned to go to church with the Jones family (our supporters who live in nearby Columbus), but Jennifer Jones had to be out of town, so we reluctantly decided to skip our visit. We said goodbye to the Petersons, and headed on the road to St. Louis. On the way, Mark challenged us with Bible trivia questions.

Sunday evening, we arrived at the Drury Inn hotel near St. Louis, to find Clare Aldrich already waiting for us! (He had taken a bus to St. Louis from Albuquerque.)

We quickly checked in, then we headed out to the first evening rally for Operation Save America.