Our route today takes us down the all familiar Route 81. We have traveled this route into Pennsylvania so many times before. We have found gas to be the cheapest at Flying J’s so we are looking for these. After leaving New York state, the gas prices went from $4.12 per gallon to $3.97 per gallon.
At our favorite Flying J across the border into Pennsylvania, we filled up at $3.91 per gallon. Not much to report on a travel day except states we stopped in or passed through. Today they were (New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia…love those “Welcome to signs”)I (Dad) turned on the Ipod that my twin brother filled with Christian music and drove. We like to watch the MPG display to see who is getting better gas mileage. Of course dad always loses. The motorhome seems a little heavy. We are wondering if we brought too much extras…only time will tell.
As the miles go by, we are thinking about leaving our home, our family, our church, our camp,…our friends. It will be different for sure not having the routine of summer life, however, we are ready to do the Lord’s work as we travel as well.
We made our first stopping place at the Wal-Mart Superstore in Woodstock around 6:00 pm. Wal-Mart has a policy that allows motorhomes that need to stay the night, to do so in their parking lot. It is lighted, and most have security camera. We like that. The guide to all Wal-Marts is on line and can be found state to state on a nicely laid out map. They are marked by a blue indicator meaning overnight camping allowed and a red indicator meaning no overnight camping allowed. We call this boondocking. Other businesses allow it too (eg. Cracker Barrel, Lowes, Home Depot, Flying J, etc.). Honestly the nice thing about Wal-Mart is that they usually have other businesses close by. We can do minor fixes and buy necessities. This is very convenient. I looked around and saw 2 other motorhomes. One from Ontario and one from Pennsylvania. We made dinner, spaghetti since boondocking meals usually are easy, and as the sun set, we turned off the generator and went to sleep (boys at sunset below).
Date: June 11; Miles: 440, Destination: Gray Court (Greenville) SC; Weather: Sunny and 3H’s (Hazy, Hot, Humid - 95°F)
I awoke early and prepared the Word. I opened the bible to Nahum. I was about to turn to the gospels but thought maybe this is fortuitous and decided to read the narrative in my bible. Wow! I struck gold once again. It starts out “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” Luke 12:48. What a way to start our trip with that scripture. Our family talked about this and believe that in this our trip will have great meaning. The one scripture that leaped out at me was Nahum 1:3. “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.” Verses 4-8 demonstrates his power. We want to remain in His power.
After the Word and breakfast, we left for my friend Jeff’s. We left Virginia and entered North Carolina and traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains before entering South Carolina. As we traveled through North Carolina, we noticed around Charlotte that there was a Billy Graham Expressway. I later found out he was from North Carolina. Many of you do not know my salvation testimony but it was because of Billy Graham’s television evangelism I was introduced to Jesus Christ. I found a Flying J in Blacksburg SC and paid $3.71 per gallon. We eventually got to Jeff’s and pulled into his camp when it started to pour. Water began pouring into the trailer through the air conditioner. Boy was I bummed, but Jeff told me that after much travel screws come loose and it probable was the case this time. I removed the face plate to find the air conditioner hanging on by 4 turns of the thread! Boy were we lucky. Well we pulled into Jeff’s camp, parked the motorhome and immediately left for a Holy Ghost meeting for the youth in Jeff’s church. The power of God was reaching out to the youth and in many ways it reminded me of chapel in our school. I was glad to see the Lord changing kids lives.
Jeff works at Gartner with me and we have enjoyed many times of personal fellowship, prayer, worship, praise and personal testimony. He is one of my closet brothers in Christ. He and his wife Gail have a beautiful home in Fountain Inn, SC and camp on Lake Martin. They have two children Jeffery and Virginia.
After settling in, we talked for a while and then retired for the night. (see our campsite below)
