When our last “catching up” post left off, we were on the cusp of reaching Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately, we ran into a slight problem, which we talked about in THIS post about quickly answered prayers, so be sure you take a minute to read that one if you haven’t already.
Anyway, after the generosity of the O’Briens, we made our way down into the KOA, which is only a few miles south of South Lake Tahoe. South Lake Tahoe was our first “major” destination on this journey—sort of a mini-milestone that we’d been excited to reach since starting in San Francisco. Even though the KOA wasn’t particularly eventful, it was nice to have some time to slow down and catch up on life a little bit.
We went down into South Lake Tahoe the next day, and it was beautiful. The lake is huge (our friends the Prestons, who you’ll learn about later, informed us that all of the water in Lake Tahoe could cover the ENTIRE state of California with 14 inches of water. That makes my brain want to explode.
Anyway, we didn’t have a place to stay our first night in South Lake Tahoe, so Lindsie’s uncle Charlie kindly paid for our room at the Super 8. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, the Super 8 was less than stellar, and after a night of almost no sleep at all, we got a refund and booked it out of the hotel.
Thankfully, Charlie had also connected us with Cynthea Preston through his Rotary Club connections, and Cynthea invited us to come set up a tent in her and her husband’s yard. She wanted to offer us a bed, but her son and his family were visiting from Southern California and there just wasn’t room.
To give you some perspective on how generous this offer was, Cynthea offered their lawn to us ON the 4th of July, even though she had family in town and had every reason to blow us off if she’d wanted to. And if she had told us no, we would’ve ended up paying anywhere between $140 and $200 for a hotel room on the night of July 4th. Scary, right?
On top of this kindness, the Prestons offered to let us stay for several days (which Lindsie and I were really hoping we’d be able to do), and then they got even crazier—they offered to let us join them for the world-famous South Lake Tahoe 4th of July fireworks extravaganza. On their boat. IN South Lake Tahoe.
Obviously we said yes, and, as you can see from the video below of the finale, we got to enjoy an amazing fireworks display.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPFYWpWBk50]
The Prestons were just amazing people. Cynthea and Steve were so kind and gracious, and their son Ryan, his wife Åsa and their two kids Hannah and Dean are all just fun-loving, adventurous people, so we sort of felt like we fit right in with them. They’re also incredibly smart, so it was fun listening to all of their explanations about the environment around South Lake Tahoe and some of the history of the area.
All in all, our stay with the Prestons was a huge blessing. Besides giving us a few days to relax and catch up on things (like our blog posts), it was fun to meet a family that just enjoys life so much. From all of their hiking and adventuring to their beautiful home and delicious meals, the Prestons are the kind of family that just seems to enjoy waking up every morning and doing what they love to do.
The most important thing for me and Lindsie was once again seeing how God provides when you ask. We knew paying for a hotel would be bad news bears for us as far as our budget goes, and as we were getting ready to walk to a hotel and bite the bullet on the cost, Cynthea called and invited us to stay at their place. The timing couldn’t have possibly been better.
As far as what’s up next, we’re getting ready for the desert. We’ll be crossing Nevada and Utah over the next several weeks, and, contrary to what you’d think, we’re very, very excited. The land will be flat (finally!) and we’ll have plenty of time to talk, pray, and enjoy some quiet time out on the open landscape. Thankfully, we already have a few connections in Carson City (who we’ll talk about later) that can help us prepare more than we’d expected, so we should be ready to have an amazing (and safe) desert adventure when we start walking.
That said, we’re still very open to receiving your prayers and words of encouragement, no matter how prepared for the desert we might be. It will obviously be hot, we’ll need to carry plenty of water, and there are a few stretches where we’ll be miles (and miles…and miles) between towns.
That said, we know God will be taking care of us and walking along with us every step of the way. We can’t wait to see how He continues to change us throughout this journey. It has been amazing so far, for sure.
Thanks for the continued encouragement and support. We’re so thankful for everyone who reads these posts, comments on Facebook, and tells us in person that they support us.
-Mike (and Lindsie)
