Author Archives: Ellen

Thursday Was a North Day!

Our Land That We Love Tour took us north from Dallas into Oklahoma and then into Kansas. We left in the dark and missed the Welcome to Oklahoma sign. This sign lit up the darkness. We traveled 35 north.

I was driving when we entered Kansas so we missed the Welcome to Kansas sign, too.

We stopped at Costco in Wichita and when we got back on the road north we noticed there was a Mennonite Heritage Museum on our route we pulled off and enjoyed a visit there. More to come later.

We made it to our hotel in McPherson, Kansas for the night. On Friday we have a longer day of driving north to Nebraska and then west to Cheyenne, Wyoming. 569 miles which should take us 8 hours.

Serendipitous

On Wednesday we met up with our dear friend from Southern California and her daughter who just recently moved to Texas at the Flower Child for lunch and conversation. It was serendipitous that we ended up in Dallas at the same time and were able to meet up.

It was so good to see them and catch up with the latest in all of our lives.

Heidi and I have been best of friends since our early college days. We had some epic travels together, too.

My brother Leonard, Nicole, Heidi, Myself and Dear. Heidi was one of my brother Leonard’s Sunday School teachers at Bethany Russian Baptist Church in Los Angeles way back when.

Two and a half hours of conversation and it was time to say goodbye till we meet again.

Thank you to my brother who chauffeured us around while in Dallas.

Tex-Mex

On our Land That We Love Tour we went to the fanciest Mexican restaurant we’ve ever seen on Tuesday night, Mariano’s. It is owned by the Martinez family. Mariano Martinez is the inventor of the World’s First Frozen Margarita Machine.

The first machine is now in the Smithsonian.

My youngest brother’s familia.

Dear and me.

Poblano Carbon

Tex-Mex tacos.

It’s Fall y’all!

Today we are meeting up with a dear friend from California who happens to be visiting her daughter who now lives in Texas. Serendipitous to be able to see each other in Texas.

Fun times today and then we hit the road early on Thursday heading north, then west, then north and then west, then west and north to our home! Did you catch our route?

All the Way to Dallas

On Monday The Land That We Love Tour took us out of Tennessee through Memphis then into Arkansas and on to Texas.

Memphis Bass Pro Shop!

We crossed the Mississippi River to get to Arkansas.

The Mighty Mississippi!

We stopped in Texarkana on the Texas/Arkansas border to fuel up the car and us before heading on to Dallas.

We got off on the main drag which has establishments in Arkansas on the north side and Texas on the south side.

The Arkansas side of the road has Arkansas flags on the light poles and the Texas side of the street has Texas flags on the posts.

We are having good fellowship time with my youngest brother’s family.

We are thankful and grateful to God for another safe day on the road.

The Blue Heron

On our Land That We Love Tour we stayed at a beautiful home on Hickory Lake in North Carolina while we attended wedding festivities. There were 10 of us in this home. One morning we enjoyed watching this blue heron.

On Sunday after 4 full days in this home we packed up our car again and had to use our Tetras skills to get it all to fit. We headed west on Interstate 40 through the Appalachians in North Carolina and along the Smokey Mountains into Tennessee and all the way to Jackson for the night.

Dear needed coffee along the way and we stopped at a local favorite restaurant called Aubrey’s and it was a good experience.

On the road again we traveled through some incredible thunderstorms and downpours that slowed us way down because of no visibility. Several accidents had the freeway backed up for miles. Most of the accidents were on I-40 going east which was fortunate for us. We were so happy to finally get to clear skies and dry roads. We thanked God for bringing us safely to our destination.

As I typed this on Sunday evening our kids were in the air headed home to Washington State.

Today Monday we drive 534 miles to Dallas, Texas. That should take us close to 8 hours.

Hope all is well with all of you dear friends!

My Lord, I Did Not Choose You ~ Hymn

 

My Lord, I Did Not Choose You

My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
You took the sin that stained me,
You cleansed me, made me new;
Of old You have ordained me,
That I should live in You.

Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my op’ning mind,
The world would have enthralled me,
To heav’nly glories blind.
My heart knows none above You;
For Your rich grace I thirst;
I know that if I love You,
You must have loved me first.

Words: Joseph Conder, 1836.

All the Bayles Women

What a joyous time to have all of us together in one place at one time. We are only missing the bride in this photo. She’s a little busy the day before her wedding. Our very first niece and our most current grandniece are included in this photo along with all the beauties in between. Tomorrow we’ll have opportunities to get many more photos all dolled up!

On Thursday night we enjoyed a time together at the rehearsal dinner and met the groom’s family and friends of both.

Friday will be the wedding at Providence Cotton Mill.

Early Morning Start

Tuesday September 28th we started early on our Land That We Love Tour south in Kentucky to Tennessee and then East to North Carolina.

We enjoyed a great sunrise.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

We had fog along the way. We had thought about stopping at the Cumberland Gap to see some views but the fog was heavy and we continued on without stopping.

Today was a shorter mileage day but we were in the Appalachians and the roads were windy so it took us a lot longer to travel those miles.

We reached our destination in Boone, North Carolina a little after 1 PM.

Boone is a college town home to Appalachian State University and it is full of young people.

We checked into our hotel found a restaurant to eat in and did a little shopping. We shopped at the Mast General Store and a few smaller shops, too.

Tomorrow we reach our wedding destination and our family will join us in our VRBO. Looking forward to seeing their faces and our extended family. We have wedding festivities on Thursday and Friday and family reunion times before, during and after. I will be very very busy and since my grands will be living in the same house I will be surprised if I have much computer time at all. Enjoy your last days of September y’all!

The Ark Encounter

Today was day seven of our Land That We Love Tour and we were very impressed with this encounter!

What an amazing morning we had in Williamstown, Kentucky visiting the life size replica of Noah’s Ark. Dear forgot that in Noah’s day there were no sunglasses but before I judge they didn’t have eyeglasses either.

Lots of photos were taken and I might have to do a weekly post on all that this experience offered.

On this Monday night we stayed in Berea, Kentucky about 80 miles south of the Ark Encounter at the historical Boone Tavern on the campus of Berea College. It was nice to only be on the road today for about 110 miles. We’ve traveled 2500 miles already.

On Tuesday we travel south and then east to Boone, North Carolina.

Something we saw at the Ark Encounter to think about. This is from the father of lies, the devil, the serpent.

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting while we’ve been traveling.