Cali Trip: Day 5… LAST DAY!

So here's what you have all been waiting on… our accommodations in Wendover, NV:

That's right a tent! It was so fun.  Hailee actually had been asking to go camping for a long time but we hadn't really had the opportunity. But here it was.  We wanted to save money on getting a hotel several nights so we decided to check into a KOA campsite and set up a tent we had bought.  Tent is a funny word though; this thing is more like a small house.  It is a 14x14 tent size.  We got there late but we were still set up in about 20 minutes and Here is what the inside looked like:

Is it camping or "camping" when you have a really comfy air mattress and still feel like you are at home?  I mean I think the pool, great showers, convenience store and such were enough to call it "camping". 

You can tell Hailee was SO happy to have camped.  We actually all slept really well.  Since we didn't get there until late we decided to not stake the tent in because it might be loud.  That was our only mistake really.  At 2am we awoke to the sound of heavy wind (something we don't have too much of in GA- or at least not like this) blowing in the sides of our tent.  It wasn't collapsing or anything it was just that the sides weren't staying stiff and really it was more of the noise of wind blowing the canvas loudly that was bothering us.  So Brian went out and fixed that problem by doing what we should have done in the first place.  My hero.  :)



Nevada mountains.  Really beautiful.

This photo was seriously taken about a couple hours after the first, I think.  Well that's about how sure I am- it seriously looked about the same the whole 4.5 hours of Nevada.  It's gorgeous and all but I would seriously call this the most boring part of our drive.   Thank goodness I got a nap while Brian drove.  ;)  Hehe.

Um What?!?  Spelled it wrong.  That is DEATH STAR.  Right Star Wars fans?

So in the morning we woke up, broke down the tent and got on our way.  Brian took the first leg basically across most of Nevada.  At first we thought everything was beautiful, which it was, but quickly we noticed the beautiful scenery was the same.  Then more of the same.  Then even more of the same.  There were very few towns.  At some points there were some small gatherings of houses  but I wouldn't consider them a town, really.  

Close to Reno we stopped for lunch and to switch drivers.  We got off for lunch and didn't want anything too normal.  We knew there were some chains here that aren't available back home where we are from so we tried to look for one of those.  We drove for only a minute until we certainly found one:

Although Weinerschnitzel is actually NOT at all what this place offered, being the traditional German dish, but still looked interesting so we tried it.  As Brian described it, it just looked like a gut bomb:

It was very good, but very messy.  So we got back on the road and it wasn't long until we were in California!!! Hooray!  The scenery didn't change immediately but really, it wasn't long until it did.  Green started popping up everywhere with trees, and trees wasn't something there was in Nevada.  We kept going along and got to a town called Susanville.  When we got there we noticed there was a lot of fog.  That is when I had realized it wasn't fog at all.  I had been checking on some of the pages of people who live up here already and remembered they had been commenting on the fires in CA.  Evidently the fires are mostly out but there is a lot of leftover smoke leftover.  (Don't worry they aren't where we are.)  Here are some pictures of Cali:


Tourists?  Haha.

At the start of California.  Looking like Nevada, but now with cows!  (Did I just come up with a slogan?  You are welcome California.)

Big change here once we got closer to Redding, CA.  Green trees!

There are green trees, however the grass is mostly dead because of how hot and dry it is here.  They said things green up in the winter.  (Winter?!?!) It rains in the winter so I guess that is when it gets watered the most.  

WE ARE THERE.  Or here?  We are here?  Yea whatever- after 4 days in car with kids… I don't even care what the grammar freaks say.  

Hailee looking cool and also happy because we told her we were there.  

We kept driving and got into Redding around 6pm Cali time, which is 9pm where we are from.  I called to talk to my sweet nieces and sister.  It was so awesome talking to them.  Refreshing, really.  We then found a place to stay for the night at the Travelodge and then got in a called my parents.  Brian grabbed dinner while I gave the kids a bath.  We ate, then all crashed into bed.  

We slept very well last night.  Today our goal is to find a place to live.  We would like to find somewhere by the weekend.

Praise requests and prayer requests.  Please join us in rejoicing and in prayer for the these things:

God we praise you for:

-Our safety in getting to Redding, CA. 

-Our kids having a great trip our and being so well behaved. 

-Wonderful places to stay and rest along our journey. 

-Our van doing such a great job getting out here.

Prayers for: 

-Finding the right house for our family.

-Getting adjusted, unpacked and familiar with the area.

-Finding Hailee a school to go to.

-Finding jobs, we have some leads but would like to find something firm. 

-Health for our family.

-Our kids to understand and be adjusted to the big change of being away from most family.  

Thank you everyone for sharing this journey with us, praying with us, loving on us.  Once we get a place, get in and settled we can start to schedule Skype dates.  We give God all the glory for everything he has done in our lives.  Thank you again.

We will be continuing to blog on what is going on in our lives.  They might just not be as frequent because of all that we have going on.  We will do our best though! :)

Love and God's blessings to you all,

The Walker's 

Cali Trip: Day 4

Ahhhh bacon.  That is the smell I (Robin) woke up to this morning.   I got up at the Boudreau's and Melanie was cooking bacon.  Carly, her daughter, was helping with breakfast by cooking the pancakes.  Before long everyone was in the kitchen and we enjoyed a nice morning with everyone together.  Chuck prayed for us this morning and he left for work and took Collin, their son, to school.  

We packed up, gave hugs and got on our way, but not before the kids jumped on the trampoline and got out some of that energy!  It was so wonderful again seeing them and I look forward to many more connections between the Walker's and Boudreau's in the future.  

So we drove north to Denver and then got on 70-West.  I can't believe how amazing this stretch of land is.  We took so many pictures.  The land is so beautiful!  At one point we were up over 8500 feet.  Perhaps more but that is the highest number we saw on a sign.  We kept driving by these adorable, old looking towns.  We loved how quaint and simple they looked amongst the vast beauty of the mountains.  One of those towns where people just hang on their porch but instead of seeing some streets or anything mundane they get to wake up to a tall gorgeous mountain every day.  Wow. Brian and I said that we almost, just almost stopped right there and moved in.  Haha. 

At lunch we stopped in Vail, CO.  Best choice ever!  It was such a cute town.  Nice and obviously a tourist kind of spot.  The first thing we saw when we pulled off the interstate was this sign:

Ack!!! Bears? All their trash cans were put in these huge metal brown boxes.  I guess I get why! Haha.

Just eating lunch beside a mountain, no big deal.  

My hubby and I having some local asian in Vail, CO!  It was so serene.  Ahhh.

 Brian and I snapped this quick picture before getting on the road:

Basically the rest of the day was just driving driving driving.  (Of course)  We got through Colorado and it was beautiful.  The kids loved going through the tunnels in the mountains.  They would raise their hands in the air when it was time to go through one.  Nathaniel kept yelling, "Mountains?!" and of course we would say, "Yes, buddy, mountains!"  We enjoyed the sights quite a bit as you can see: 

As if in a quick blink, we got into Utah. Interesting the change seemed to happen somewhat gradually but also it was sudden that you noticed quite a difference in how everything looked.  It was so beautiful as well.  We didn't really stop for dinner, just ate dinner in the car and kept on the road.  Next we got into Salt Lake City.  I think the show Sister Wives (about Mormon polygamists) is fascinating in such a weird way, so I told Brian we should stop and look for a spouse of some sort.  Brian said we didn't have room in the car.  (Which is true…)  HAHA. 

The other cool thing was when we were in Utah it started raining.  Shortly after the sun started to come through also and that's when Brian almost screamed at the sight of a rainbow.  We had to pull over.  Brian showed Hailee the rainbow and then turned around and saw beautiful sunbeams!  So we took some pictures and we got on the way.  We loved the rainbow and sunbeams because to us it was a sign of God's promise to Noah and it seemed like God was showing us he is remembering our promises and showing us he is going to be faithful to bring them to fruition.  

We left Salt Lake and it was getting dark.  So sadly on the way to Wendover we didn't get to see too much.  We even kinda missed Salt Lake.  I mean we knew we were passing it but it was too dark to really see or take any pictures.  :(   Sorry.  We passed through the Salt Flats on the way to the place where we are staying.  Which will remain a secret until the next post!!!!!

*Evil sounding laugh inserted here*

Fun aside for the day:

So I feel like I've been chasing the sun the last few days.  Driving west all this way and the days seemingly get longer and longer.  I told Brian it was as if I drove fast enough that the sun would never set and we could just keep driving with the sun all day.  Then I looked over because he was quiet.  That's when I noticed the nerdy look on his face.  (A face I have come to know and love through the years…)  I said, "Alright give me the data, how fast would we have to be going…"

Without hesitation he said, "Well I mean the earth rotates once every 24 hours.  That's how we get one day, so we would have to travel 1/24 the circumference of the earth every hour.  Since the earth is about 25,000 miles in circumference, we would have to be going over 1,000 miles per hour."

That is my awesomely smart husband.  He really is so quick on the draw.  I might have gotten there eventually- but it was as if he had already had the answer before I finished my thought about "chasing the sun."  Super smart dude.  

Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow for our last day of our trip and our ARRIVAL in Redding, CA!!! To say I'm excited would be an understatement.  Get me OUTTA this VAN.  Haha.  

Cali Trip: Day 3

Hello everyone!!! Robin here.   Here is our Day 3 of  our Cali trip.  

So we woke up at the Baymont in Warrenton, Mo.  Our accommodations were clean and surprisingly the breakfast wasn't too bad.  They had the make your own waffles and so the kids were happy.  :) 

I took the first leg of the trip.  We drove across Missouri and I don't believe we took any pictures while we were in Missouri.  I guess in comparison there wasn't a lot to see.  I drove to Topeka, KS.  We stopped there for lunch.  While we were driving we saw some people with some very unnerving signs about God hating people and such.  Saddened, I prayed for these people.  They need Jesus' love too.  So we kept on moving and I looked down at my phone to see where we needed to go next and found my explanation.  We were right outside of THE Westboro Baptist church.  It didn't change my opinion; I was still sad and they still need to be touched by Jesus' love, mercy and grace.   It was just a really interesting thing I guess, that's all.  

So then Brian took over driving and I took some pictures of Kansas.  People said it would be boring and mundane but I couldn't get over just how different this area of the country looks compared to where we are from.  We thought it was just beautiful and enjoyed it! 

Some of the scenery in Kansas.

We came across these wind turbines.  I wish the picture did them justice.  As Hailee said they were the "biggest fans I've ever seen!"  I hadn't seen anything like them.  They tower so tall over us and started out only a few at a time.  Then like a suspense movie, you drive over a hill and what you thought were only about 15 turn into hundreds and hundreds of them! It was incredible to see.  While we drove by some that weren't spinning at the time Hailee asked why some of them were "turned off."  She then suggested that "someone probably was cold and turned off the fans."  SO funny! 

This was a beautiful view. There is a reflection off the glass of our drinks but as someone mentioned on Facebook, it looks like flying saucers going over Kansas.  Haha.

So while I was driving my hair was getting annoying and long in my face so I asked Brian if he would help me.  He said, "What do you want me to do?"  I asked if he would put it up for me and he did.  This is the result of an adult male who has never done hair **Edit: Brian states "Hey, I've done hair!"**, doing hair for the first time.   You be the judge. 

Side view of said messy ponytail.  Excited that my hair was out of my face! Haha.

 More Kansas.

 Beautiful clouds and land in Kansas.

 This was in Flagler, Colorado.  We made it to Colorado! Hooray!  We stopped to get gas and Brian took these cute pictures of Hailee.  They are a little dark of her, but you get the idea.  :)

This was when we weren't too far outside of Colorado Springs.  Brian and I were driving together commenting how romantic it felt.  Odd I know- but when you are with your true love, watching one of the most incredible sunsets, on a great adventure with two gorgeous babies you made, it really doesn't get more blissful than that.  <3

 More of the beautiful Colorado sky.

 And we arrived!!! We got to Colorado Springs where Chuck and Melanie Boudreau kindly opened their home to our family.  We were able to crash into bed and sleep like rocks, shower, relax, laugh and visit.  It was not only good for our bodies but our hearts to connect with other people who are after bringing God's kingdom here to earth.  Love love love.
On top of that, I'm pretty sure we have at least one visitor in their family lined up in Redding.  :)

So day three ended at the Boudreau's in Colorado Springs, CO.

Cali Trip: Day 2

Greetings everyone!

This morning we woke up at  Brian's dad, John, and his wife Cathy's house.  Brian stated it was "the best sleep he had gotten" in a long time.  I (Robin) also slept really well. Thanks Pops and CeeCee! (That's what we and the kids call them).  Brian and I packed up the car with the things we had gotten out for the night while the kids played inside with Pops and CeeCee.  We had a quick breakfast and got on the road at 8:30est. 

Hailee sitting with Pops.

Hailee, Pops (John) , Brian and CeeCee (Cathy) just before we pulled away. 

I took the first leg of the trip and enjoyed driving.  I am actually from Illinois and we moved to Georgia when I was young, so I have made this trip many times. There is a place when you get to Chattanooga that I always remember was my favorite part of the entire trip.  You drive around this big curve around a large lake and there are mountains in the background.  I have always thought it was breathtaking. As we were driving around my favorite part, Brian took some pictures so we could share the view with everyone.  

Then we stopped for gas and were going to stop for lunch in Monteagle, TN, but everything in the restaurant was still on breakfast!  I was confused but then realized we had passed the time change so it was still 10:15 where we were.  We drove for a bit then stopped a little further up the road at Manchester, TN.  It worked out wonderfully because of a little open field that was open next to Arby's where we got our food.  We took our food outside with some beautiful weather and fresh air.   The kids had fun running back and forth between two trees.  We chased after them a little bit. 

After that Brian took over driving as we did our next long part of the day.  We drove up into Illinois and I took Brian and the kids through the area where I am from.  My parents went to college after my sister and I were born at Southern Illinois University- Carbondale.  We lived in some student housing.  So we drove through town and I showed Brian the college area and our old house.  

Here are some pictures of us on the road!

We then drove onto Sparta, Il.  This is where I was born!  It is a small town of 5000 and one of those you are able to give the tour in 5 minutes.  It was very important and so special to me that Brian was able to see where I came from, grew up and was raised.  

We arrived at Sparta and had been invited to stop in by some close friends of the family, the Peck's.  They made us a delicious homemade dinner of fresh fish out of their pond and frog legs! Yes frog legs!!! 

Here is a picture of the frog legs on the left, fish on the top, potatoes in the middle and corn on the bottom right.  Sorry I had already eaten a good bit of it.  I forgot to take a picture and was stuffing my face because it was so delicious!!! :) 

We switched drivers, Brian taking over here:

They took us out to see their horses and Hailee rode for a few minutes. She was trembling in my arms when we first walked up to the horse but by the end of the ride she was hanging on all by herself with a big smile. Nathaniel even ended up riding for a few steps. We said our goodbyes and Paul prayed for us before we left.

Hailee on the horse!  She was so excited.  

I wasn't going to let Nathaniel ride because he was so small and I didn't think he wanted to.  However, he kept yelling "horse, horse!" so Paul held him as he rode.

Both of them together.  Clearly the good choice was to let him ride.  He was so thrilled and while I think he might be too young to remember this later- these picture will always be a reminder of how excited he was. It made my heart happy.

Hailee, Rhonda, Nathaniel and Paul.  They took to them so quickly and loved hanging out with them. 

One with Robin!

We then headed over to see Robin's uncle David (Robs brother) and Pam. We visited for a short while as they got to see the kids. We had a great time talking and catching up with them.

The kids (who couldn't stop watching the dogs) with Uncle David and Robin.  Doesn't he look like Rob?!  

After we left, the rain started to pick up and we got really slowed down. Also, we tried to stop at a Starbucks in St louis but it took us forever because the first one google maps took us to is actually in the middle of a (closed) mall. Then, we took a wrong turn trying to navigate around St Louis and get back onto I-64. so, with all the delays we decided we were not going to be able to make it to Columbia, MO, so we stopped in Warrenton.  

We stayed at a Baymont Inn and this is where we ended our second day.