Ryan & Jordan

with Pioneer Bible Translators

Tag: travel

December 28, 2013

Ned the Silver Bullet Goes East

by Jordee

Though he’d already taken us around 2,000 miles south, Ned was tireless and seemed more than willing to head east, since going any further south would mean going to Mexico. And we weren’t quite ready to leave the US again.

So we found the western-most part of an interstate which spans the country, west to east. We were both looking forward to being on this road, knowing that dear family members in two different states live just a few miles off of it. Ned made his second major turn, and we were on the road which would take us to our new home.

40 road sign

But not before a few stops. Needles, California; Flagstaff, Arizona; Gallup, New Mexico. For the most part nothing but open road, sunshine, coffee, semi-trucks, tumbleweeds, and some Louis L’Amour stories. And plenty of time to debrief and thank God for our time in our first home together. After a night in Albuquerque, we continued east anticipating our next stop and a day off the road at our parents’ home in OKC.

famed2

Feeling blessed by family and refreshed, we passed through Arkansas, then Memphis, and stopped to record our first album in Nashville. Just kidding, but that would be really neat. The next day was our final day on the road, and we passed through the Smoky Mountains as the road became gradually more and more familiar. No matter how long it’s been since I’ve seen them, signs for familiar towns make my heart a bit lighter. And then we pulled into our new driveway in Clemmons, soon to be warmly welcomed by family and an unusually warm, starry night. 4,085.6 miles later.

4085 miles

 

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August 25, 2013

There & Back Again: Day One

by Jordee

beginning

For any who may have noticed the recent lack of posts, we will now explain.

Ryan and I have been on the road, a trip we decided to take just before it began on Saturday, August 10th. Because it has been so eventful and because we have soaked in a lot of life and adventure and conversation and people, we’d like to take you through the trip (mostly) day by day.

As with all my prior experience with road trips, the morning of Day One went as we might’ve expected: waking up early, packing, making checklists, packing, coffee, packing, loading up the car, driving out of the neighborhood excitedly, remembering what we forgot, turning around at the stoplight, a joke about “if we ever leave,” and finally heading south toward the United States of America.

The border wait was the longest we’ve experienced and the traffic was a bit unexpectedly heavy, but we made it to our first stop in Yakima, Washington. There we enjoyed dinner with Ryan’s old friends and my new friends. We got back on the road and continued east toward Pasco, our final destination for the day. We arrived and enjoyed time with family whom I met for the first time, explaining we didn’t have much of a plan for the following two weeks.

Day One: taking things as they come and the sweet times with friends and family foreshadowed the rest of this trip as we would find out soon enough.

Stay tuned for Day Two and beyond.

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