We have a confession to make: Even though it has only been a little over a week since our last blog post, we have traveled much, much farther than the blog would have you believe. We’re really trying to get all caught up on the blog, but there’s just so much that happens everyday that it’s hard to keep up. But we will continue doing our best.
As you may remember from the last post, we were just about to make our way out of O’Fallon, Illinois, to continue cruising across the lovely Land of Lincoln. Our first stop after O’Fallon was Trenton, Illinois. And, once again thanks to our friend Josh, we had a connection in the Trenton area. Josh had met a guy named Ryan during his own walk, and we connected with Ryan as a result. Ryan was pumped to meet us (and we were equally pumped to meet him). Ryan also told his friend Mike about us, and Mike was just as excited as Ryan. Mike talked to his church pastor in Trenton, and the church decided to go out of its way to take care of us for a night. Pastor Bob and his wife, Linda, from New Life Christian Center not only took us out to lunch when we reached Trenton, but they let us know that they’d gotten us a hotel room in nearby Breese so we could enjoy a night of comfort.
That afternoon in Breese, Ryan had time to swing by and hang out. We had a blast talking with him and getting some great fellowship in the Spirit, and we were blessed that God worked out the timing so perfectly. Of course, God wasn’t finished filling us up spiritually that day. Later in the evening, a group of people from New Life Christian Center met us for a fantastic dinner in nearby Aviston. It was a full day of blessings, fun, and fellowship, and we were incredibly thankful for everything. On top of that, one of the employees from the hotel, Pam, wanted to make sure Jaeda had enough dog food, so she bought a bag of dog food (along with a few treats) and dropped them off for us at our room. As usual, God had it planned out, because we were one day away from being out of dog food for Jaeda at that point, so the timing was perfect.
After dinner, we went back to sleep for the night. In order to avoid the heat, our new friend Mike was going to pick us up around 4 a.m. to take us back to Trenton so we could get moving again nice and early. We said goodbye to Mike that morning and started walking again, heading toward Carlyle, Illinois. We arrived at the First Baptist Church in Carlyle and were pleasantly surprised to find sandwiches waiting in the fridge for us thanks to one of the church members. Pastor Mark talked with us for awhile and then gave us a tour of Carlyle, which sits right on Carlyle Lake, the largest man-made lake in Illinois. After the tour, Linds and I settled in for the night and enjoyed just spending time together for a few hours.
The next morning we got up for a 19-mile walk to Odin, Illinois. We reached Gospel Lighthouse Church, and talked with Pastor Curt for a few minutes. Although we didn’t know it beforehand, Pastor Curt was kind enough to get us a room in nearby Salem. We were incredibly appreciative for the church’s generosity. However, in order to beat the steadily increasing heat, Lindsie and I needed to pack up again and push a few more miles into Salem. We reached the Super 8 and were thankful to sit down and rest in some air conditioning. Our plan was to get up bright and early the next morning and make the now-shorter trip to Iuka, Illinois. Unfortunately about 5 minutes after we left the hotel, rain started POURING down. Rather than trying to fight through it, we turned around and went back to hang out in our hotel room for another hour and a half. As we dried off and warmed up, we felt like we’d made the right choice.
Once the rain stopped, we got back out on the road again and hit the small-but-lovely town of Iuka, Illinois, a few hours later. Thankfully, Janet from the Iuka United Methodist Church told us we could stay at the church for a night, so we arrived and got settled in, excited for a solid afternoon of rest and relaxation. A short time after we got there, Janet and her husband Wayne stopped in to say hello. We had a great chat with them, and they were kind enough to offer to go grab us dinner. Wayne returned a few hours later with some tasty pizza, which Lindsie and I quickly devoured.
We left the peaceful town of Iuka the next morning and got to Flora, Illinois, after a full day of walking. Once again, a church had offered to put us in a hotel for the evening. Thanks to Pastor David at First Southern Baptist Church, we had another place to sleep for a night. Although we didn’t get a chance to meet Pastor David, we were thankful for his willingness to provide for two strangers.
The next stop on the journey was Olney, Illinois, (home of the White Squirrels of Olney), where the Christian Church had attempted to pay for a hotel at The Holiday Motel and Restaurant. But when the church receptionist tried to reserve a room, the owner of The Holiday, Julie, said she’d just take care of us for the night. Talk about an extra blessing! The Holiday was AWESOME. Formerly a popular 60s motel, The Holiday had fallen under hard times. New owners (Julie and her husband, I believe) took over and have done some heavy renovating to get it up to new standards. We had such a fantastic night of sleep that Lindsie and I decided to stay a second night, and we’re glad we did. All in all, The Holiday gets a thumbs up from us, so make sure you stop in if you’re ever spending a night in Olney.
Following a second night of fantastic sleep, we left the next morning heading toward Lawrenceville, Illinois. We had plans to stay somewhere in Lawrenceville, but, unfortunately, our plans fell through about 3 hours before we got to town. We called as many churches as we could looking for a place to stay, but we weren’t able to come up with a backup option. Thankfully, the Lord was looking out for us once again. Since we had gotten into Kansas, we hadn’t walked past a single National or State Park/Forest, but, two miles away from where we were in Illinois, Red Hills State Park offered camping. We got to the campground and set up our tent, which we hadn’t done since all the way back in Colorado. It was fun to be doing things that way. At least, it was fun until raccoons got into the food cart and started nibbling on our bread at 2:00 a.m. That was a little bit of a bummer. But once I covered the cart back up with our tarp, we had no more raccoon problems.
The next morning, the blessings really started to flow. As we made our way toward Lawrenceville, our plan was to push all the way through Lawrenceville to reach Vincennes, Indiana. But just a few miles after we left the campground, a minivan pulled over along the side of the road. Two women, Nancy and Heather, told us how cute they thought Jaeda was. Nancy was particularly excited because she raises and shows Yorkies (like Jaeda) at dog shows. In fact, one of Nancy’s Yorkies won Best of Breed at the Westminster Dog Show in 2010. Crazy, right? Anyway, Nancy and Heather asked what we were walking for, and when we told them it was to learn to trust and rely on Jesus for provision, they got even MORE excited (if that was even possible). Nancy more or less demanded that we stay at her and her husband’s house that night. All Nancy had to do was mention that Lindsie could see all of her Yorkies and that deal was sealed.
We got to Nancy’s and she told us we’d be staying in her very nice, very comfortable RV that she uses to travel to dog shows. We had no complaints there, to say the least. While we were at Nancy’s, her neighbors from across the street came over to meet us. Caleb and his wife, Heidi, stopped over, along with their kids Destiny, Serina, and Breanna. We had fun talking with them, and then it was time to do some other fun stuff. Nancy’s church, Fountain Fellowship Worldwide, was setting up their booth for the town’s annual Harvest Festival, and we decided to go help out. Heather (who we met on the side of the road) sent her son, Parker, over to pick us up. Parker is a Christian musician who has been a part of several bands that have done nationwide tours, so it was fun hearing some of his stories and adventures as a musician. His current band, As We Are, has some great music out if you’re into Christian rock. Parker is the lead guitarist for AWA, so we’re praying for his band’s continued success.
Anyway, we helped set up at the event for awhile, then Parker was kind enough to swing by Walmart with us before returning home. We chatted for about an hour, then decided we should probably get some sleep.
We got a fantastic night of sleep and got ready to head out the next morning. Even though it was raining, our plan was to power through. We had a 22-mile day to reach Wheatland, Indiana, and we made it about 7 miles before the non-stop rain had taken its toll on us. We were soaked to the bone and our feet were getting blisters thanks to our soggy socks and shoes. We made a pretty pathetic-sounding call to Nancy, and she gladly raced out with Heather to rescue us from the rain. As we warmed up in the comfy RV, we thanked God yet again for providing us with good people to take care of us and a safe place to rest. It seems like in our most disappointing moments of difficulty, God shines through the brightest, and that’s how we felt as we sat warm and toasty in Nancy’s RV, thankful for our new friends.
Fortunately, the weather got nicer as the evening came around, and we decided to reunite with Parker and visit the Harvest Festival for a few hours. We had fun visiting the church’s baked potato booth, riding a few carnival rides, and spending time with awesome people. We were finding it harder and harder to want to leave Lawrenceville, to say the least.
But we did eventually have to leave. The next morning Nancy dropped us back off where we’d left off the day before, and we pushed toward Wheatland, Indiana, this time traveling much more dryly than we had been on our first attempt. We crossed into Indiana (woohoo!) and had a new surprise once we reached Vincennes—Wendy, a youth leader from my high school youth group in Texas (and one of my closest friends from that church) was traveling nearby and wanted to meet us for lunch. Wendy and I hadn’t seen each other since I graduated from high school, so it was so awesome that God provided a way to randomly reconnect us in Vincennes, Indiana.
We got to a restaurant in order to grab a bite to eat, but we hadn’t realized the restaurant was part of a country club. We also hadn’t realized that the restaurant didn’t open until 4:00 p.m., and it was only noon at that point. The problem was that it was the only nearby restaurant within a few miles, and we didn’t have an easy lunch solution (besides a gas station burrito) in the immediate vicinity. We told one of the country club employees about our situation, and he was kind enough to fire up the grill and make us lunch, even though they technically weren’t open yet. Thankful yet again for people’s kindness and willingness to help, we enjoyed a fantastic meal and conversation with Wendy. I was glad she had a chance to meet Lindsie, and we felt blessed that she drove several hours out of her way to reconnect with us and be a part of our journey. Plus, it’s just fun to see old friends and familiar faces on a journey like this.
After saying farewell to Wendy, we eventually arrived at Wheatland Christian Church in the early evening. Pastor Brent came over to let us into the church with his two lovely daughters, Graceanna and Elaina, and we enjoyed chatting with them while they showed us around the church. As an added blessing, the church receptionist, Carol, had left a feast for us in the kitchen. We had a chicken tetrazzini casserole, some fresh bread, a whole plate of cookies, and plenty of cold water. And every bite and drink of it was delicious. After saying goodbye to Pastor Brent and his daughters, we settled in for the night, preparing for a long walk to Loogootee, Indiana.
Although we got a good night of sleep, Lindsie woke up around four in the morning with a migraine. And, unfortunately, migraines make cross-country walking pretty difficult. We asked Pastor Brent if we could stay an extra night at the church since there was no way we’d make it all the way to Loogootee, Indiana, that night. Not only was he kind enough to let us stay, but he offered to let us stay at the guest bedroom in their house. Thankfully, Lindsie’s headache began to go away after a few hours, and we actually put in 7 miles of walking toward Loogootee in order to make the next day shorter. Then Pastor Brent picked us up, brought us back to grab our stuff, and we went to his house.
When we got there, we met his wife, Renée, and got ready for some fantastic lasagna that was calling our name. While at the house, Pastor Brent, a very skilled craftsman (though he’d never boast about it himself) worked on a few pieces of our carts that were still in need of some mechanical upgrades. Then it was time to eat, and eat we did. We had a blast talking with Pastor Brent and the rest of his family, and we said yet another prayer of thanks to God for connecting us with the right people on our route.
The next morning, after a tasty breakfast prepared by Pastor Brent, we headed toward Loogootee (pronounced “luh-go-tee,” by the way). Pastor Ernie and his wife, Shirley, invited us to stay in their church, New Beginnings Community Church, in town, which was awesome. When we arrived, they brought us over to their house for a fantastic dinner of friend chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and more. We were very full, and we enjoyed a night of spirit-filled conversation and story sharing. After a good night of sleep at the church, we got up the next morning for breakfast at Ernie’s. Shirley made MORE delicious food, and we filled up as much as we could handle. Then, because it was Sunday morning, we stayed for Bible study before church. We got to speak with the kids in the youth group, which was a treat. The only bummer was that we had to hit the road before church, but Pastor Ernie said a wonderful prayer for us right before we left, and we were thankful we got to spend time there.
The reason we had to leave early is because we were heading for Huron, Indiana. There’s really not much at all in Huron, so that wasn’t exactly the reason. But because there’s nothing in Huron, Pastor Brent from Wheatland had offered to pick us up to stay at their house one more night, with the plan being to bring us all the way back out the next morning. And because we were coming back to Wheatland, we had an opportunity to talk with the Wheatland Christian Church congregation about our journey. We had a great time answering questions, sharing the miracles God has done for us, and meeting the people from the congregation. We felt blessed to have been there, and we think (and pray) we made it worthwhile for the church members. All in all, it was an awesome night for us.
The next morning, we loaded up in Pastor Brent’s truck and rode back out to the Huron area. We felt very blessed because the road ahead of us was really hilly and curvy, but Pastor Brent had connected with a family in Bedford (the next stop on our route) who was willing to hold on to our carts for us for the day so we could avoid having to push them up the hills. So after dropping us off and saying goodbye, Pastor Brent rode on ahead while we started walking toward Bedford.
And once again, I’ve noticed this post has gotten long. Unfortunately, we’re still behind, but now that we’re somewhat caught up, the next post shouldn’t take too long to get up. If our days weren’t so action-packed and full of blessings, it would be a lot easier to get caught up to where we are now. But as long as we keep being blessed and provided for, the posts will probably continue to be thorough.
Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement as we get closer and closer to our goal. We’re only a handful of weeks away from hitting the Atlantic Ocean, and every prayer we’ve received has been a blessing for sure. The continued support has just been overwhelming, and we are so thankful.
The next post will be coming soon, I promise. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks for the support.
God bless.
-Mike and Lindsie (and Jaeda)
