Road Trips

Who doesn't love a good road trip?  The sites, sounds, and smells.  I've take many road trips in my time, each one is a story on it's own, but as time goes by some of the finer details get lost in the mix.  In an effort not to lose them, here are just a few of my favorite.  As always, in no particular order

During my younger years, I was very involved with different church groups.  Between the highschool group, Maximum Security, and the church missions team, we took all sorts of road trips  I've driven to mountains, deserts, canyons, and even Canada.  From the multitude of trips, a few of them stick out.

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The Camper - It was a weekend to Bass Lake, at least I think it was bass lake, the trip itself is blurry, but the journey home cannot be forgotten.  I think there were 5 or 6 of us in the back of a camper.  I remember myself, Will, Susan, Jess, and either Gloria, or Irby.  (can someone please message me for verification?)  Behind the wheel was our fearless staffer named _____. (let's call her J, to protect the innocent).  Everyone is loaded up and we're off.  Being one of the kids in the back, we were in our own world.  I remember how we were singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in harmony (thanks to Will).  One of the girls thought the words were "We know nothing, we know nothing, ...." instead of "We Mo way".  We got a good laugh out of it.  Having fun, fun, fu....CRASH/SCRAP everything came to a grinding halt. Somehow we made a wrong turn and we found ourselves climbing up some narrow road mountain path towards Yosemite.  The loud noise we heard was the step of the camper being torn off my the low rock railing that separated the road from what can only be described as a long way down.  At this point we had been on the road for about 4 hours, it was dark and we had no idea where we were.  Cell phones were not available at this time, and I don't remember if we had a map.  Most everything else was a blur other than it took another 6 hours to get home, and we had a lot of fun at J's expense.

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Oh how Grand it is - At this point I was on staff with the youth group and had not planned on hiking into the Canyon that year.  I did however plan on visiting some friends in the Phoenix area.  Seeing as I drove a small pick up, I helped the group get to the Grand Canyon, dropped them off, and continued on to Phoenix.  Driving through the northern part of Arizona was beautiful.  Like something out of a movie, I was cruising down Interstate 40 between Kingman and Flagstaff.  I can vividly remember seeing a group of at least 50 horses in full stride running along the country side.  A plum of smoke followed in their wake as they ran along the green countryside.  Unfortunately they were running in the opposite direction so it was fairly short lived.  But it was a site to behold.
 
A few days later I was back at Supai hilltop to pick up the group.  It turned out that someone back home was not doing well.  Our youth pastor needed to get home ASAP, so the two of us took off from Kingman, AZ at a very early hour, while the rest of the group stayed behind and stuck to the normal schedule.  What would normally be a 10 hour drive, we did in about 9.  It was a good time watching the sun come up while heading north on I-5.  I've done that a few times since...

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Via con Dios - If I had a dollar for every time I drove to Mexico, I could get the Steak Tenampa plate from El Tenampa, with a drink!  During my younger years I was involved with Hope Center's Mission to Mexico.  These trips took us to a Ranch on the outskirts of Ensenada called Rancho Agua Viva.  Spending a week in Mexico and serving the people there was always a fantastic experience.  But anyone who was involved in the 90's knows that is was always the journey that made the memories.  We were famous for returning lender cars in better shape then we got them, usually.  We have had alternators go out, fan belts, A/C units, radiators, etc.  As the picture shows, we've even gotten hung up on the simple things. (You'll be happy to know both the station wagon, and utility pole survived)

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As the holiday season approaches and everyone is making plans to go see family, or stay home and family is coming to them.  Enjoy the time you share together, whether it is in a small compact vehicle, or a spacious SouthWest Flight.  Make the most of the time you have with your family and create those memories that will never fade.  My fondest memory takes me way back...

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It was usually around July that my parents would start dusting off the camping gear and make preparations for our annual trip to Pinecrest.  This is something family family has done for the better part of the last 35 years.  And when I say family, I mean family.  Imagine a Maltese version of "Big Fat Greek Wedding", without the wedding (that's another blog).

The day before we leave, we would load up the old pickup with our gear.  We had this down to a science.  She was a 1978 Chevrolet Pickup, complete with a shell.  What made it unique was the back window of the cab was taken out so we had access to the back of the truck.  Right beneath the opening we layered several foam mattresses for my brother and I to sit on.  The mattress stretched from one side of the truck bed to the other.  Behind you was all the camping gear stacked to the ceiling, but supported in a way that it wouldn't crush you.  From the perspective of a kid, this was AWESOME.  My cousin Eric would ride up with me sometimes, so we could "play" during the drive up.  As cool as it was, a 3-4 hour drive for a little kid without a DVD player or iPad, is pure torture.  What I remember most is when we finally made it to the mountains, and the further we drove, the more trees would populate the road sides.  All I could see staring out the little window of the camper shell was pine trees, and more pine trees.  We would open up those little windows and press our face against the screens and smell that scent of fresh pine.

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Happy trails.....to you.....