Good news – we FINALLY have internet! Anyway, there are a few update posts coming to make up for the long hiatus from the blog. This is the first one, and we’re hoping to have more soon!
After leaving Carson City, saying sad goodbyes to Jenny and Rob, and setting off into the great unknown (which is actually just the Nevada desert traveling east along Highway 50), we realized that we had a much larger task in front of us than we’d even sort of imagined.
You see, there’s really not much out here in the desert. Shocking, we know.
Our first destination past Carson City was Dayton, NV. It was only a few miles, but we quickly realized that, unfortunately, the weather was hotter than anticipated. I know you’re probably thinking, “Duh, it’s the desert,” but the area we were traveling through was actually suffering from a heat wave so it was even hotter than “normal,” (if you can call desert temperatures normal, that is).
We pushed through the heat and got to the edge of Dayton that morning. There we found a lovely city park right along the side of the road, about 100 feet from a gas station with a Quizno’s. Since we were already struggling due to the extreme temperature, we decided to set up at that park, grab some lunch, and wait out the afternoon in the shade of the trees.
Let me backtrack for a second so I can fill you in on our general plan. The goal was/is to get up as early as we’re able in the mornings—for Mike that’s about 4:30, for Lindsie it’s about 5:30—and start walking until the sun is fully flared up and raging. Then we pull off for a few hours, get ourselves in the shade, and wait for the sun to start going back down again. You would think that a 6-8 hour midday break with nothing to do but read/rest/relax would be AMAZING, but, as much as I hate to complain, it’s not as amazing as imagined. Mostly because there’s a sweltering heat all around you and, sadly, you can only sit and read or listen to music for so long before your body starts saying “Get up! Move around! Do something!” But sitting in the shade is still better (and safer) than trying to walk through the heat, so sit we do.
Anyway, while we waited in the shade in Dayton, I (Mike) quickly realized that the two books I’d bought from Walmart would only last me another few days at best. I told Lindsie, “It’d be great to find a used book store along the way where I could buy some classic books a little bit cheaper than trying to buy books from Walmart.” Once the sun cooled down, we started off again and the very first store we saw, sitting just a little ways up and across the street, was a used book store. Semi-prayer answered.
After loading up with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Life On The Mississippi by Mark Twain, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck, we were on our way again. We ended up stealth camping just outside of Dayton, which was somewhat nerve-wracking but mostly adventurous.
The next day, we spent most of our afternoon camped under the shade of an abandoned gas station between Dayton and Lahontan. It was hot—very hot—and we decided the giant roofed area above the old gas pumps was a better place for shade than trying to set up our tiny rain fly to cool off under. While we waited, an incredibly nice kid named Alex, who lived just a few hundred feet away from the gas station, came over and brought us water. We were thankful, and then we were even more thankful when his mom and siblings came out to give us bread, peanut butter, ham, tuna, and more. It was an unexpected blessing on a hot, tiring afternoon. Later on, a biker named Christian came rolling up. Christian had ridden from Virginia to California and was now on his way BACK to Virginia. We sort of thought he was crazy for doing that, but we’re not ones to talk, seeing as we’re walking across the country ourselves. Regardless, it was great to enjoy some lunch with a fellow human being, and we enjoyed the opportunity to connect with Christian.
After stealth camping again that night a little further down the road, we got up and made our way toward Lahontan State Recreation Area. Around 9:30 in the morning it was already hot enough to pull off, so we set up under some trees near the water, and waited out the heat. Along with three different swims in the lake area (it was so hot outside even Jaeda swam…and she enjoys water about as much as cats do), we hung out under the shade and tried to rest.
After waking up to get moving again, we were feeling a little defeated. It was so, so hot outside and we still had miles and miles and days and days of desert walking to do. There really wasn’t much of an option for us besides prayer, so we said a prayer that God would give us strength and energy, and we were on our way. We had about 16 miles to go to reach Fallon, NV, and thankfully, one of the pastors at Parkside Bible Fellowship, who we’d contacted that morning, told us we would be able to spend the night with his family and, equally as important to us, attend church with them the next morning. We were thankful we at least had something to look forward to down the road.
After another night of somewhat sleepless stealth camping between Lahontan and Fallon, we made our final push toward the city of Fallon itself. Unfortunately, about 2 miles outside of Fallon, Lindsie got a flat tire. We pumped it up, hoping our Green Slime would fill the puncture and allow us to keep moving, but, unfortunately, the slime wasn’t strong enough to keep it full. As we contemplated how we would fix the tire, three bikers pulled up and started chatting with us. They had met Christian, the gentleman we’d met at the abandoned gas station. He’d told them about us, and they’d been keeping an eye out for us as they rode along.
Thankfully, in a coincidence that only God could orchestrate, the trio had an extra tire repair kit they weren’t using, so they offered it up to us so we could use it to fix our flat. We were thankful, obviously, and after fixing the flat, we made our final push on to Fallon.
After all of that mess, we arrived at Fallon’s Super WalMart around noon on Saturday, July 14th. We connected with Brennen Behimer, the aforementioned pastor, and were able to get to his house soon after that. Brennen, his wife Stephanie, and their kids Brianna, Megan, Sophia and Gabriel are all just incredibly fun, outgoing, good-natured people, so it was a huge blessing to arrive to such a welcoming presence once we got to Fallon.
In order to let Brennen prepare for the sermon he was giving the next day, we actually went to the home of some Parkside Bible Fellowship congregation members. Brett and Tree (short for Teresa…or Theresa) Jones, and their lovely 14-month-old Avery, invited us over to have some lunch, take a shower—which was a welcome blessing after 3 days—and just spend time relaxing and chatting. Needless to say, we were incredibly thankful for our entire visit to the Jones household.
Later in the evening, we went back to the Behimer abode, ate some delicious burgers, and spent time hearing their incredible story (living as missionaries in Russia, traveling all over the place, and more) and learning about the many talents of their kids, which was a blast. To be clear, the Behimers weren’t bragging about their kids’ talents or anything; I just kept asking about them over and over because it was fun talking to them.
The next morning, we got to enjoy a great sermon from Brennen about husbands loving their wives—Lindsie obviously enjoyed it quite a bit—and met some people from the church. We also were invited to lunch by Gabby Stone, who works with the church youth group. Gabby was a delight, talking with us about our journey as well as sharing her life with us (and some other exciting details we aren’t allowed to discuss yet), and we enjoyed grabbing lunch at a somewhat-historic Fallon establishment.
After putting on new tires (our old ones had worn away at that point) and putting new inner tubes in, we debated heading out of Fallon. However, it had gotten late, and we decided to take up the Jones family on a previously-made offer of letting us stay at their place on Sunday night if we weren’t ready to leave Fallon. That got us 4 miles further down the road, which was nice, and we had a safe, comfortable place to stay one last time before heading east through the vast desert emptiness.
Rather than making this post a hundred pages long, I’ll go ahead and stop for now. We have much more to update you with sooner than later, but essentially right now we’re just cruising down Highway 50 toward Utah, enjoying the landscapes as much as possible and avoiding the sun as best as we can. We’ll have another update soon, hopefully.
On a side note, if you have prayer requests or anything like that, please don’t be afraid to let us know, either by leaving a comment on the blog, commenting on Facebook, or emailing us directly at StormingJericho (at) gmail.com. We have LOTS of time to be praying and would love to pray for all of the wonderful people who have certainly been praying for us over the past few weeks.
Thanks again, everyone.
-Mike and Linds (and Jaeda)
