On that same note, we made it further down the road and a couple of days later stopped at the S Slash Bar in Dry Creek Basin. We were excited to reach it (since we were low on water and we’d eaten someform of peanut butter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three straight days), and were even more excited when the owner/manager, Lonni, shared with us that she was a fellow Christian. Even though the restaurant closed at 2:30, Lonni stayed and talked with us about LOTS of things from about 2:00 until 6:30. Then she offered to let us stay in one of the cabins they rent to hunters in the winter so we could have a warm, safe place to sleep for the night. Needless to say, we were basically overwhelmed with thankfulness.Sadly, we got some sad news that same night. Lindsie’s close, close friend Sara—who some of you may remember as the girl who slipped and fell in paint at our wedding—had been fighting cancer for over three years. Unfortunately, the doctors had given Sara just a few days to a week to live, which was not news we were thrilled to hear, for obvious reasons.

We weighed our options between going back to Sioux Falls to see Sara or sticking to the path and praying for healing for Sara as we walked, and we were slightly torn on which decision to make.

Thanks to Lonni’s kindness, we stayed one extra day at the Slash S Bar while we figured out our next plan. Ultimately, we decided to head back to Sioux Falls. We weren’t sure how we’d get there, but a rental car was our best option. Unfortunately, the closest rental car location was Montrose, which was about 1.5 hours (driving) away from us.

Thankfully, God wanted to show us another example of His provision, as He worked out some timing perfectly for us. Lonni’s daughter, Danielle, and Danielle’s husband Ryan were visiting from Grand Junction (a much larger city about 2.5 hours from where we were) and had room to bring us back up with them the next morning. Suddenly we had a ride to a location with much, much more cost-efficient (i.e. – cheap) rental cars.

We were incredibly thankful for their willingness to pile us into their truck and drive us to Grand Junction. Especially since their generosity ended up saving us several hundred dollars, which was great.

Sadly, we didn’t make it to Sioux Falls before Sara passed away, but we were still thankful we were able to attend the funeral and not only spend time with Sara’s friends and family, but also spend time with our own friends and family. It was one of those mixed blessings where the reasons for going back weren’t our favorite, but being around friends and family certainly made it a better experience.

(I don’t want to shortchange the impact Sara’s life and passing had on both me and Lindsie, so we plan to share a different post about her soon. We just knew this status update-style post would become WAY too long if we tried to include that whole set of thoughts/feelings/emotions/words in it.)

From South Dakota, we journeyed down to our previous home (for a short 10 months), Springfield, Missouri. Lindsie had an opportunity to do wedding photography for a close friend’s daughter and, while it was a complete whirlwind as far as schedules and timelines go, we got to see a few friends before having to pack up and head back up to Colorado again. Lindsie visited with her former co-workers from Assemblies of God Headquarters, and we also were taken out to eat by my former Evangel co-workers. Then we took a picture with my EU co-workers, and our friend Hector…well…he did what he’s doing in that picture you see below. So there’s that.

At that point, we were going to try and make the 17-hour push all the way from Springfield to Grand Junction, CO, in one day, but we soon realized that we were going to have to pay a late fee for our rental car anyway. As a result, we decided to call my college friend, Cole Fricke, who lives in Denver, which would’ve let us call it a night at 8 pm instead of driving until 1 in the morning. Cole was happy to have us stay the night at his place, and he even went out of his way to make a delicious spaghetti dinner for us. (He also made delicious chocolate chip cookies.) Besides catching up with each other, we watched the original Batman movie and quoted Princess Bride for the majority of the evening. Obviously, it was awesome.

From there, we arrived back in Grand Junction to return the car. We found out that our previously-mentioned friend, Lonni, could get us back to her place (where we left from) if we could just get a ride down to Montrose.

After pleading for help on Facebook and Twitter, our friends the Karbachs (who you’ll remember as the people who saved Lindsie’s feet a few months ago in Circleville, Utah) offered to drive up from Circleville to get us in Grand Junction. We told them they didn’t need to do it, but in their typical fashion, they said they needed some adventure and really wanted to do it.

We couldn’t believe it. We went from not having ANY way to get down to Montrose to suddenly having old friends travel 4 hours just to drive us an hour and 15 minutes to get us to Montrose. Talk about a blessing.

The Karbachs also took us out to lunch before bringing us down to Montrose, so all in all, it was an amazing and very welcome blessing to have them come out and save the day for us yet again. We sad another sad farewell and hoped—for their sake—that we wouldn’t be seeing them again anytime soon.

Which brings us to where we are now. If things go according to plan, we should be heading back down to Lonni’s area and picking back up with our travels across Colorado. Although the weather’s getting colder, we’re excited to continue making progress across the state (and the country). There could be snow falling as we make our way through the state, so feel free to pray for warm, dry weather as we walk. We’ll certainly be praying for it.

All in all, we want to thank you for your prayers, your words of encouragement, and for taking the time to read these updates. Don’t be afraid to hit up our Facebook page if you want more updates than just these blog posts, and always feel free to leave comments if you have anything you want to share or add with these posts.

On a final note, thank you to EVERYONE who helped us, hosted us, fed us, and shared company with us during our recent stops in South Dakota and Missouri. It was truly a blessing to catch up with friends and family, and we are so thankful.

Anyway, we’ll be back with more the next time we have internet. Until then, keep on stormin’, everybody!

-Mike and Lindsie