Judy and I have sung that song sooooo many times in our life together. It has been wonderful.  We are very fortunate people. Thursday night the house was almost ready for the renters, the RV was almost ready for us to leave, but we were way past exhausted so went out for a quick bite at Chuy’s Mexican Grill. Judy was wearing her “Our Neighborhood” t-shirt from a volunteer event our church, Casas Church. At this high-class joint, one places one’s order at the bar. After we ordered, a man at the bar commented on her shirt and said he also attended Casas and was at that event. My semi-extraverted wife started up a conversation with him and ended up telling him all about ScriptureEarth.org. I think this is what will happen many times on our travels. I digressed a bit.

Dearly beloved, we have departed. Well, sort of. After what seemed like 14 stops to get out of Tucson, we finally made it to Dragoons. Is that a great name for a pile of rocks or what! Google it. The weeks of preparing to get on the road caught up with us. An hour out of Tucson I, Jim, had to have a nap. So we stopped at the I-10 Dragoons Rest Stop for 30  minutes. Poisonous snakes and insects live here too. Yes, this is the desert of the Southwest. Just remember, they are more afraid of you than you are of them.

Nearing Deming we started seeing signs advertising a pizza place. “Forghedaboudit Pizza”     But, we couldn’t find it!!!!      Well, it might sound better if I say my GPS couldn’t find it.  I think this is called overly technology dependent.  Now looking on their website, I wanna go back.

We settled for Dominos, then took the two-lane shortcut via Hatch to the I-25 north of Albuquerque.  Our lodging preference for the evening was to be the Walmart Super Center parking lot. Although we have not yet done this, we were told by a reliable source that the proper social protocol for using Walmart lodging services is to go in the store and ask the manager if its OK to spend the night in their parking lot.  We did and he said yes, but we found out they were not a 24 hour Walmart so there would not be around the clock parking lot security. As soon as we got back to the RV a homeless couple came up and asked for some cash to try and find a warm place to stay. Wow!, What a way to make one feel bad. It was 30 degrees out. A quick prayer, should we invite them in to spend the night? (Did I really wait for God to answer?) No, give’em some cash. Then it’s off to the 24 hour Walmart across town. But on the way, we found a book in the back of the RV about Free RV camping at Casinos. Well, there was one nearby, Sandia Resort and Casino, so we went to check it out. It was huge! The parking lot was full. After wandering the parking lot for a few minutes a security car pulled up next to us and asked to help. He said the free RV camping doesn’t exist anymore. It’s $30 a night now.

Back on our way to the right Walmart we arrive right about midnight. We saw the RV parking area in the north 40 and parked. A delightful night of sleep was had. In the morning it was 34 degrees outside and 44 inside. A simple quick breakfast and we were on our way.

Author: jimjudywycliffejourney

Jim and Judy have been with Wycliffe since 1984. They have served in aviation maintenance/management, motorcycle training, recruitment, and facilities maintenance in the US and Africa. They have recently been assigned to a new role in the America's Area, North Region, Scripture Access services team. They will be crisscrossing the USA in a very strategic method making face to face encounters with churches, ministries, Native American communities, Diaspora communities, refugee aid organizations, and individuals, introducing them to www.scriptureearth.org. Through this website, non-English speakers can access scriptures and other resources in their mother tongue language. Would you consider becoming a part of their Wycliffe ministry partnership team? You can join their prayer or financial team by clicking on https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/JimandJudyMcCabe View all posts by jimjudywycliffejourney