June 18 – “Another Road Trip”

So we took another road trip.  This one wasn’t just for fun, though.  We headed to Arlington yesterday to attend the funeral of a very good friend’s mother this morning.  Condolences to Kay Lynn and her family.  We love you.

As is my usual pattern, I slept for a while on the trip.  I also read some in the novel that I brought along.  Looking Glass Wars.  It’s the story of what really happened when Alice (who actually spells her name Alyss) was in Wonderland.  Lots of fun.  Quite gruesome, though.  Maybe not for young children.  Well, definitely not for young children.

We left our house around one o’clock, thinking we had plenty of time to get there, get a hotel room, get some supper and go to the visitation at 6.  Well … not so much.  From the time we left Galveston I was having to stop my reading to check out on Google Maps why we were getting stopped in traffic.  A wreck here.  Construction there.  Another wreck.  Oh, and then there were the “just drive ten MPH for a few miles for no apparent reason” slow-downs.  It was crazy. 

I finally decided I was bored.  I needed to find some way to interact with the environment around us.  Sadly, no real plan for doing that came to me.  Who wants to play “Find that letter?”  Umm … no.  So I did what I usually do in those situations when my creativity needs a jolt.  I looked.  What could I possibly see “out there”?  Almost immediately Bernie’s Backyard Crawfish Festival came into view.  Now that wasn’t an announcement of an event.  It was an actual place of business and that was its name.  Didn’t look like anyone was at home, though.  Sorry Bernie.  Not stopping. 

We were wished Happy Father’s Day by a Stihl distributor.  Thank you very much.  Not stopping there.

A huge building offered indoor skydiving.  Well, I imagine it was the people inside and not the building doing the offering.  Either way, Chris was not interested.  Besides, how do you do that inside anyway?  Not going there.

There was just a plain old bowling alley.  No frills.  Tempting, but “Been there, done that.”

Cowboy Kia.  Inspirational name.  Well, that certainly made me want to saddle up and buy a car from them.  But not today.

How about this one: Giddy Up Glamour.  Huge pink sign covered an entire billboard.  Jewelry and make up and stuff like that.  That looked a little scary to me.

Speaking of scary, have you ever been to a place called Mr. Hamburger?  Frightening logo.  It looks like a cross between a clown (and you know how scary they are) and an evil Frosty the Snowman.  Not going anywhere near that place.

How about Able Ammo?  I should hope so.  But not in need of ammo right now.

Annette’s Antiques had an old car crashing into the building.  Cute concept, except it was crashing about three feet from the roof.  That thing had been flying around town somehow.  We may have to go back and check that one out.

It took us three hours to get to Huntsville.  The we faced even more wrecks and construction.  Google Siri was working overtime.  She rerouted us in Fairfield for yet another slowdown.  At that point we gave up on our deadline and decided to just enjoy the sights on Old US75.  You know.  Things like the Cooper Farms Peach Orchard.  Pretty impressive.

Aaaaand … yet another detour routed us through the business district of Corsicana where we saw a large gorilla.  A blue gorilla.  With a black face.  Random.  Oh, and That Church.  No, no.  That was the name of that church … “That Church.”  Yep.

We did finally arrive at our hotel in Mansfield.  Even enjoyed a phone call from a friend who now lives a stone’s throw from our old church, South Oaks.  He’s a member of the big Methodist church in Mansfield and he recommended a local spot for supper, Steven’s Garden and Grill.  Several others agreed, so that’s where we went.  Live music and we had good service.  I enjoyed my chopped beef sandwich.  After a drive through our old neighborhood and a look at Josh and Christi’s old house we made our way back to the hotel and settled in for the night.  Can’t wait to see what sights await us on the trip back home …

Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Father, thank you for a safe trip up here.  Please watch over Kay Lynn and her family during the funeral today.  Amen.