The Great Escape

We finally escaped Texas!  We were beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen for us this summer…

Y’all, we seriously got out just in time.  This has been a brutally hot summer in much of the country, but as we sit in a gorgeous campsite in Iowa, with our windows and doors open and a cool breeze blowing through, our friends and family in Texas are facing weeks of ridiculous, record-setting heat in Texas.  I love Texas.  I do. But, I am not a fan of Texas summers!  That said, I don’t want to be up here in the North in the winter either!  I’ll take these 70 degree days all year!  Yes, I guess I’m a weather snob??  🙂 Seriously though, that heat is no joke.

We spent our last two weeks in Texas, at Cedar Hill State Park awaiting Emily’s church camp the second week of July.  Her camp was in Cedar Hill and we love the state park there, so it just made sense.  Thankfully, we had a nice, shady site to offer a little relief from the heat.

The lake was fun to cool off in, the sunsets were beautiful, and we had full hook-ups at a state park!  We love this park because it’s right off the Interstate, less than 10 miles south of Dallas.  It makes it convenient to get anywhere in the metroplex, but you’re out in nature, too!  We were there for the 4th of July, so we took in a Texas Ranger’s game while we were close. Those are always fun.  Thankfully, it was only 97 degrees that day, so we didn’t die, and though the Astros pulled off the win, we had a great evening.  The fireworks were spectacular!

We also did a little exploring in downtown Dallas.  We went to Dealey Plaza and the site where JFK was shot, and took in the history of it all.  We saw his memorial, the old Texas School Book Depository Building, which gained notoriety when Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and killed the President from a 6th floor window.

It was interesting that people had outlined the “allegedly” on the historical marker.

We also learned a little about the history of Dallas, TX and its founders.

We enjoyed roaming through the longhorn statues at Pioneer Plaza.

But, this was the picture of the day!  LOL!  Paul was being silly.  Tyler gave the good ol’ face palm, and I didn’t catch it until I had already sent the photo to family.  My sister sent the it back with a circle around Tyler and a “Haha!”  So funny!

Emily had a great week at camp.  She wanted to thank everyone again who bought coffee cakes to help her go.

We picked her up from the camp on Friday, July 13th, and she was exhausted!  No rest for the weary though!  We loaded up and headed out on Saturday morning!  We didn’t have any reservations until Tuesday, July 17th.  We just knew we were ready to head north.  The details would be worked out along the way.  Every RVer, especially full-timers would benefit from the Allstays Camp & RV app.  It’s a great way to find places to stay along the way as well as overnight parking, truck stops, low clearances, and more.  When we started getting tired, we used our Allstays app, and found the Wellington KOA to stay in for the night (right off the Kansas Turnpike).  It worked out great.  There was a pool for the kids, and we had a great internet signal.  The pull-through sites were long enough we didn’t have to unhook, but they aren’t much more than a parking lot.  I’m not sure I would want to do more than a day or two there.

The next morning, Sunday, July 15th, we were back on the road…heading up I-35.  Again, we had no plans for where we would land for the night, but knew our trusty Allstays app would help us out!  We drove through Kansas City and were starting to wind down for the day.  I found a great little RV Park on the side of the Interstate…well, about a mile and half off the Interstate.  Eagle Ridge RV Park in Eagleville, Missouri was just a neat little place!  We ended up booking two nights with them.  We had a nice, long, pull through, full hook-up site, a beautiful pool, and the place was just gorgeous.  We even got the fancy camera out to take pictures around the place.  I could, and might do, a whole blog with all the photos we took at this adorable park!

On Tuesday morning, July 17th, we rolled out, and headed for our destination in Iowa.  I will post more about where we landed in my next blog.  We squeezed into our site, which was a little tricky, and went for a little walk to check out the beautiful area.  Tuesday was also our 3rd Nomadiversary!  I cannot believe all we have packed into 3 years…30 states.  That’s crazy!

Anyway, we were walking up to a scenic overlook…I was focused on the magical view ahead of me and stepped wrong on a piece of cracked pavement.  I immediately went to the ground…Foot is fractured.  The medical clinic we went to the next morning was super efficient and everyone was so nice!  Thank you, Lord!  We were in and out in no time with crutches, boot specifics, and instructions to not put any weight on the foot for at least 3 weeks.  We got the boot ordered, and it arrived on Saturday.  Thankfully, the UPS Store in the next town will accept deliveries for us.  Was much cheaper ordering online than the clinic could do!  Not exactly the souvenirs I had in mind for Iowa, but what do you do?

So, I have plenty of time to blog now….there’s that….

I don’t know how much sight-seeing we’re going to get to do the next couple of weeks, but even the drives are spectacular.  We’ll figure out something.  Saturday evening, we came across a local group of skiers who were putting on a ski show on the Mississippi River.  It was pretty neat.  The views of the Mississippi River are breathtaking.  I love all the wild lilies growing along the banks.  Lilies are my favorite.  They are little smiles from Heaven no doubt!

The weather has been incredible since we’ve been here.  It’s been mostly in the 70s and lower 80s.  Perfection!  We caught the tail-end of that storm that dropped the tornadoes northeast of Des Moines, Iowa the other night, but by the time it reached us, it was just a good rain storm.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected by those storms.

This area is gorgeous, the temperature is perfect, and we really can’t wait to get to know the area a little better.  We’ve met several really nice people already.  I LOVE having Our Moving House business cards.  It makes things so much easier than scribbling on scratch paper!  Shameless plug…be sure to like our Facebook and/or Instagram for regular updates and tons of pictures!

Sometimes life throws us curveballs.  If I’m honest, I was pretty frustrated when I fell.  I knew my foot was fractured.  I heard it pop.  I had so many plans…places I wanted to go…things I wanted to see…how was I going to walk through the Field of Dreams??? LOL!

The morning after my fall, I was doing my morning Bible reading, and this verse was a nice little reminder:  Proverbs 16:9 “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”  Well, how appropriate!

I always seek the Lord’s guidance in the places we go in our travels…praying for Him to lead us to the exact place He wants us and place us in contact with the people we are supposed to meet along the way.  Over the past 3 years, I’ve learned to do a lot less planning and a lot more trusting and listening on this journey the Lord has had us on. Everyone kept asking me where we were going…our answer was always “north, until we find cooler temperatures.”  We found them, so now what?  We had tentative plans to spend a couple of weeks here in Iowa and move on to somewhere else…maybe Wisconsin since we had so much fun there last summer.  You can read about that here.  I really just felt like we needed to get here and then figure out what we wanted to do from here.  I don’t know why, but I think the Lord wants us to “Be Still” in Iowa for a while.  We found a beautiful campground we can stay at for a month.  The camping fees at this campground are about a third of our average monthly park budget when we’re on the road.  HUGE savings.  Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!  Looking forward to my foot healing up and watching to see what God has in store for us in Iowa for the month of August….

Be encouraged today that regardless of your circumstances, God sees you!  He is “El Roi”, the “God Who Sees Me”.  You might be walking through a valley today.  Maybe things haven’t worked out the way you planned or anticipated.  If you can loosen your grip on your plans, and let go of some of that control you are trying so hard to hang on to, God will lead you and guide you to where He needs you to be.  He will show you which steps to take if you just take a step back and let Him lead.  Then, the fun part is watching Him work miracles through your circumstances (which often aren’t ideal).  Sometimes the result is more than we could have ever planned for on our own!

As always, feel free to send us an email or a message if there is anything we can pray for you about, or any questions we can answer.

Y’all, this view!  I think I’m in love…with the Creator!