Travel Adventures

Sept 9, 2020

Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.  Oliver Goldsmith from The Broke Backpacker

Well, that about sums up our move to NC. The traveling adventure began Friday, July 24, loaded as you see in the picture. Our first night was to Prescott, AZ to see friends and ministry partners. While making a pit stop just north of Phoenix about 6 pm, Jim noticed the right trailer tire was going flat. He did a Fix-a-Flat repair to be able to drive to an auto shop up the road. By the time we got there it was flat again. The shop was closed and with a storm brewing overhead he changed the tire. Now without a spare, Jim wasn’t taking any chances so we drove back 30 miles to purchase another tire and rim combo. It could have been much worse if all this happened while we drove the freeways of Phoenix at quitting time. God is good.

Where we stayed along the way changed too! We planned to stay in motels rather than homes like we normally do.  So sad to miss seeing family, friends, and partners along the way. We also learned a valuable lesson…always look at the motel reviews. When we arrived and checked in, it looked OK, but when we approached the door to our room around back we immediately had our doubts. The door had been pried open at some point, the window screen was crunched, and too many other things screamed, “Don’t stay here.” But we needed to wash clothes and they had a laundry facility, so we thought we’d stay. After finishing laundry Judy decided to check the mattresses for bed bugs. In all our travels we’d never seen one, but Judy’s suspicion was this could be a bed bug place. And sure enough, while checking under the bed skirt, several scurried away. Yuck and double yuck! That was our exit ticket. Thankfully the apologetic new motel receptionist didn’t charge us.

Major potholes usually aren’t on interstates, but we found one just 30 minutes from our hotel in Russellville, AR. After we hit it, smoke bellowed from the trailer as we pulled onto the shoulder of the busy I- 40. The leaf spring on the left side broke in half, causing the trailer fender to ride on the tire. The shoulder was wide so we could get further from the traffic speeding by at 80 mph. We appreciated the kindness of the drivers as they moved over when they saw us broke on the side of the road.(See pictures and videos in the link below.) Jim jury-rigged a fix for the broken spring and we were able to get to the next exit, just 1 mile ahead. There was a Highway Patrol office at the top of the exit with an empty parking lot. So we felt safe leaving the trailer there while we went to get parts. Later, as Jim changed the spring in the dark, lightening and a storm threatened us, but no lightening came near us, just rain. We finally fell into bed about midnight. Thankful to be alive and grateful for God’s protection.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, which we were glad for. I-40 is a beautiful drive across the nation, lots to see and enjoy. (Jim loves to drive.) At 5 pm on Aug.1 we pulled into the apartment complex where we will be living, (about three miles north of I-40). To our surprise and delight, we found a hand made welcome sign on the door with Jody, our daughter, inside wiping everything down with disinfectant. She also put food in the fridge. What a sweet daughter. We felt very welcome. We even got to visit our grand blessings outside in their backyard, keeping our distance. We were happy and blessed to make this journey with the Lord going before us and your many prayers.

Click this link to view more pictures and videos of our trip.

Praise and Prayer:

1. Thanks for praying us from AZ to NC. What an adventure along a beautiful drive!
2. Thanks for praying for Judy’s mom. She’s doing much better after going off the blood thinner. Still no cause for her low red blood count so please pray for that issue.
3. Jim had major tooth infection and, after seeing a dentist and endodontist in NC, Jim had the tooth extracted on Aug 26. It seems so be healing well.
4. Thanks for praying that we stayed free from Covid-19 and all other illnesses as we drove to NC. We are healthy! We got to see the grands outside for the first 2 weeks. Now every morning we take turns watching Everett (2 yrs) while Jody helps the 4th and 2nd grader do their zoom school. She is very grateful we are here for this crazy school year.
5. We got moved into the apartment the first week. We like our creek side apt. It’s been crazy watching the creek behind us rise up to six feet at times from afternoon thunderstorms.
6. Finding a church is something we need, please pray for that.
7. ScriptureEarth.org work is moving ahead. Jim is finishing the set-up of the Facebook page. Still learning how to do it. Its somewhat different from a personal page. Judy is working on following up with contacts and building content tor the Facebook page.
8. We have a three month lease on the apartment. We want to find other more permanent housing and get moved into it during the next two months. Please pray for that.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and generous support of the work we are doing. Our goal is to give access to the Bible in thousands of languages to people who need to find hope and the organizations that are called to work with them. We are a team!

Jim and Judy McCabe

jim_mccabe@sil.org
520 599-2470
judy_mccabe@sil.org
520 268-3681

Our new mailing address: 1257 9th St. NW, Hickory, NC 28601

Find Scripture Resources in thousands of languages: http://www.scriptureearth.org
To partner in prayer or financially with our Wycliffe ministry go to: https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/JimandJudyMcCabe