New England in the Fall

One of my Bucket List items was to travel the country in an RV. 

Obviously, I am going to be able to check that one off the "list."
 

Another one of my Bucket List items was to go to New England for the Fall. 

It's pretty cool that I get to check that one off my "list" also.
 

My very favorite time of the year is Fall.  I love the leaves changing; the crisp, cool weather; football games; sweatshirts...you get the picture.
 

This year while on my JOURNEY, I was able to see so much Fall! 
It was absolutely AMAZING! 
The scenery was so SPECTACULAR! 
That's the word I came up with for how beautiful all the leaves were on the trees. 
It was absolutely SPECTACULAR! 

Now, this is coming from a girl who grew up in NJ, but who's lived in Southern California for 30 years, and I don't see very much Fall here.  Our leaves (a tiny bit of them) change around December; fall off by January, and start blooming again in about two weeks.  I don't consider that Fall at all. 

I was one happy girl to get to be in the South for fall; the East Coast for Fall; New England for Fall; Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana for Fall. 
There was a little bit of Fall left in Illinois, but just a little bit!
Then there was Fall again in New Mexico and Utah!
 

After Barry and I left NYC, we went back and picked up our truck in NJ from our friend, Jeff.  He was the great guy who let us park our truck in his driveway and took us to the train station AND when we got back, he had washed and waxed our truck! 
Now, that is an amazing friend. 
That blew us away! 
Thanks again, Jeff!  You're the best!
 

Last year, when I was talking about my trip to my friend, John Graham, whom I cleaned for to raise money for my trip, he told me that he had been to Connecticut last October, and it had SNOWED!  I was like, "Oh, no!  There is no way I can drive a truck and trailer in the snow!  I haven't driven in snow for 30 years!" 
So that's why we decided to leave the camper in NJ and just take the truck to New England. 

It's a good thing we did! 

Barry and I were on a major road (no, I don't know the number of the road.  That's such a guy thing.  My whole trip, guys would ask me, "Did you take Route 2 or 79 or 32 or 52 or 8 or 5 or?"...okay...you get the picture). 
I don't know what road we were on, but it was a major road.  I cannot tell you how many bridges we had to drive under that the camper would NOT have fit under!  It would have been bad....really, really bad!  My camper is at least 9' tall without considering the air conditioner.  There were bridges that had a clearance of only 9'! 
Thank God for John Graham sharing his snow experience, or we would have been in BIG touble towing the camper to Massachusetts and not being able to fit under the bridges of the Northeast!
 

On that road with the low clearance bridges, we headed to Rockport, MA.  We stayed in a cozy, little cottage in Rockport that we rented on a site called AirBnb from a very nice woman named Patricia.

Here's the link to her house:  Sea Mist Cottage. 

It was such a cute place, and Patricia was great! 
 

Rockport is such a quaint, little New England coastal town.  It's the kind you see in the movies (The Proposal was filmed there), and they definitely use their scenery for jigsaw puzzles :)
 

We had a great time walking through the little town and going out for lobster at a really cool place called The Lobster Pool.  It wasn't very fancy...paper plates, plastic utensils and plastic cups, but the view was breathtaking, and it was BYOB, so Barry and I got to share a great bottle of Riesling that my friend, Laurie, bought me for my birthday from Napa! 
Yes, the bottle traveled from Napa to San Diego all the way across the country to Rockport! 

Thanks, Laurie.

All of that was so great, but one thing that blessed me the most was one of the days, Barry was reading his bible on his Ipad (very cool that you don't have to just have that really BIG bible that sits on the coffee table collecting dust anymore). 

He said, "I want to read you something.  I think this bible verse is about you."

Oh, no!!!  That could be really good or really bad!

He read to me Proverbs 31:10-31

"A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!"

Ummmm I don't really knit or sew or make clothes or a lot of other things that scripture says, and
Barry doesn't even know that that's the one part of the bible most Christian women want to be about them! 
I was and am very blessed that Barry thinks that about me.
And if Barry thinks that about me, I thank God because only through God could those things be possible!

Thanks so much, Barry!

Thank you, God!

 

New England coastline - just beautiful!

 

 

Rockport, MA

 

Some Fall :)

 

This is "Motif #1" located on Bradley Wharf in the harbor town of Rockport, Massachusetts, it's a fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as "the most often-painted building in America."

 

Enjoying coffee

This is a hiking trail we took to an old quarry on the ocean

 



 

A sea angel :)

 

We added some stones to the piles

The old quarry

 



 

The Lobster Pool restaurant

 

Me and my bottle of Riesling from Laurie :)

 

 

A beautiful sunset to go with our lobster and wine

 

This is in the little town of Rockport.  I thought it was funny because it goes with a blog post way back in the beginning of my trip.  See:  Can the Maker of Sunrises Make Bad Things Good, Part 1 where God had given me a vision of Gumby for the tire repair guy. 

So funny!

 

This is Patricia, the owner of the Sea Mist Cottage, where we stayed.  She was a great hostess. 

As Barry and I were leaving, we asked Pat if we could pray for her.  She said yes.  We prayed for her, her kids, her business etc.  She was very touched.  She said, "No one that has stayed at my cottage has ever prayed for me before."

We were happy to do that! 

Thanks for everything, Pat.  We enjoyed meeting you and staying in your cottage.

  Hope you're following along on the JOURNEY :)

Miracles on 57th Street, New York City

I'm BACK!!!

 

Yes, I am BACK to blogging! 
And, yes, I am BACK in San Diego. 
I got home November 16th. 
 

BUT I still have lots of stories to tell,
so I HOPE to write about them,

and I HOPE you'll keep reading them.

 

I believe I left you guys in New Jersey. 
Sorry about that.  I guess there are worse places I could have left you.
 
It was just really hard to write my blog when I had visitors with me on my trip
and when I was visiting. 

 

So....after dropping our truck off in New Jersey, Barry and I went to New York City. 

Let me tell you about a couple of things I believe were MIRACLES for that part of the trip. 
We own a timeshare (that was a MISTAKE, NOT a MIRACLE...don't buy one)
 that has a property in NYC. 
I believe we can only make our reservations for that property 45 days before the checkout date....
yeah....that's a little confusing. 
Anyway, I was trying to do that. 
Since it is our timeshare, it should not cost us any money to stay there.  The day I was suppose to make my reservations, there were not three nights in a row available. There was only one night in a studio for Monday; one night in a one-bedroom for Tuesday, and one night in a studio for Wednesday. 
Well, that would be annoying....switching rooms every day. 
After trying to figure something else out, we decided we would do that...switch rooms every day.
When I called to make the reservations,
they told me because I was switching rooms like that,
it would cost me $400! 
What!? 
I have to switch rooms AND pay more money?

So...I said NO, and prayed God would open up a room three nights in a row for me. 
After searching NYC for some other options, I said to God,
"Okay....I'm going to refresh this one more time. 
Please, provide a room for us with three nights in a row."

And after I hit refresh, a room popped up with three nights in a row!!!! 

OH MY GOSH!!!

I was so excited!!!

I quickly put all of our information in and our debit card number to hold our room, and when I pushed the confirm button, the stupid computer took me back to the home page and didn't confirm our reservation. 
I was so upset! 
I quickly tried again to see if the room was available, and it was GONE!!! 

OH MY GOSH!!!
 

I called the timeshare company to cry, complain, curse, etc. 
The lady said, "Mrs. Strickland, you have the reservation."

WHAT?!
 

YES!!! 

I don't know what happened.  All I know is that was a stressful few minutes,
and God answered my prayer. 

Sometimes our prayers are not answered as nice and calm as we'd like them to be,
but He did answer my prayer nonetheless.
 

That was our first MIRACLE!

The second MIRACLE....I'm not sure you'd call this a "MIRACLE," but stayed tuned because you'll see why it was later.
 

The second MIRACLE was that as I was taking a shower....
now, remember I've been taking RV showers this whole time.  For those of you who don't know what an RV shower is...it's a shower that you have to keep turning the water off and on the whole time, so you don't run out of hot water, and you don't overflow your holding tank.
 

So after taking RV showers for a long, long time, I was excited to take a "real" shower. 

The shower I took may have been a LITTLE long. 

And the shower drain could have been a LITTLE clogged,

and the lip from the shower to the bathroom floor could have been LITTLE,

so because of my LONG shower,

and because of the clogged drain,

and because of the LITTLE lip between the shower and the bathroom floor,

there ended up being A LOT of water in the bathroom. 

A LOT of water...like two inches of water! 

I didn't even notice! 
I was too busy enjoying the non-RV shower. 
Barry ended up seeing water running out the bathroom door! 
OH MY GOSH! 
We had to call maintenance. 
They had to come vacuum up all the water flooding the bathroom floor and try to fix the drain.
 

They did vacuum the water up, and they thought they fixed the drain, but they didn't fix the drain, so Barry ended up taking an RV shower where he had to keep turning the water off and on so the bathroom wouldn't flood again.

  Hahahaha.  That is funny!
 

Here's the MIRACLE part....because of our "incident," they gave us $95!

 

Here's the third MIRACLE!
 

The next night, our air conditioner didn't work. 

Was that a big deal?

 No, it wasn't even hot. 

We didn't even know we were going to be blessed for that one. 

As we were standing out front waiting for a cab to leave the City the next day, the manager came running out to us and said she was sorry for everything that had happened to us, and that they were going to refund us a night of points AND to contact her next time we come because she wants to make sure our next visit is enjoyable!

YAY!!!

So...just to review....three nights show up in a row, so it doesn't cost us anything. 

They give us $95,
AND we get a night's worth of points back!!!
 

YAY, God!

Thanks for the miracles on 57th Street! 

 

 

Barry looking quite excited on the train to NYC

 

A model in Times Square

 

This was a truck parked on the street in Times Square

 

Barry and me in Times Square

 

This is a place called the "High Line" where they made a walking path where a train used to run through the city.  This is just showing you where the tracks were.  The walking path they created is very nice and doesn't have a bunch of plants in your way. 

 

There are some things that happened on the trip that were presents just for me.  I'm the only one who understands how important this was for me.  This is a Picardy Shepherd.  I used to have a Picardy Shepherd.  They are very rare in America.  I have a whole miracle story about how I got mine.  The short version is I was praying for one.  My friend, Loretta, prayed I would get one for FREE.  They are very expensive.  I ended up finding a rescue Picardy Shepherd that had been imported from Belgium in my same neighborhood in Alpine!  I got a very expensive Picardy Shepherd for FREE right in my own neighborhood!  That was definitely a MIRACLE! 

Her name was Addy, and I had her for a year and a half, and then she died unexpectedly, but we had a great year and a half together, and honestly I've never felt more loved by an animal in my life. 

A weird thing is (don't tell anyone), I brought her with me on the JOURNEY (her ashes) because I believe she was a gift from God to me, and I brought her along as my little guardian.  So it's just crazy I'd see one in NYC. 

Yes, that was a gift for me! 

The owner was amazed that I even knew what kind of dog it was.

 

God had told me before the trip that He knows the things I like, and that He'd show me them on my JOURNEY.  He said I was to look for special surprises.  This was a special surprise/gift for me.

 

Thanks, God!

 

Barry at Washington Square 

 

 

Barry is half Italian, and we LOVE Italian food and especially desserts. 

We may have gotten a little carried away here.

 

 

We don't have Mr. Softee in San Diego, so we were excited!

 

My FAVORITE part of the year is Fall.  San Diego doesn't really have very much Fall, so that's why I wanted to travel during that time. 

This is Central Park with a little bit of Fall. 

I got to see so much Fall after this. 

It was AMAZING! 

What a beautiful picture God paints! 

\

Next stop....New England!



Barry Joins the JOURNEY

 

After visiting our friends, Dave & Amy, in Virgina, we headed to Pennsylvania to visit our cousins, Lou & Ida and their son, Louis, and his family, so the Panellas. 

 

Let's talk about that drive for a minute...yes, the drive from Virginia to Pennsylvania. 
Let me just say that I am happy I live in California where there are FREEways because I really, really, really can't stand the TOLL roads of the East Coast. 
I stopped keeping track, but I know for sure we paid at least $70 in tolls from Virginia to Pennsylvania. 

It's only a three-hour ride. 

That's ridiculous!!!

The worst was Maryland.  I swear we were on their precious road for about five minutes.  We get to the tollbooth and the girl says $24. 
I said, "What???  Are you kidding me???  $24???" 

That was NOT how you act on a missionary trip across the country!
 

Okay....I'm done complaining now, but THAT is so crazy! 

Illinois was worse in the toll department for different reasons, but we'll get to that in another post.
 

Just a side note...Barry and I are very much into budgeting our money and keeping track of everything we spend (thanks to Dave Ramsey....
see blog post One of the Top Ten Days of My Life (Dave Ramsey),
but on this trip, I audibly heard God say in the beginning when I was keeping track of everything I was spending, "Stop it.  Don't keep track of everything this whole trip.  I'll take care of it,"
and He has...way more than I could have imagined. 

So I haven't kept track, and that's why I don't know EXACTLY what we paid in tolls, and now I'm not going to complain about the tolls anymore...
until Illinois!

We had a nice visit with the Panellas. 
Thanks, Panellas, for dinner and for letting us "camp" in your backyard!

 

This was on a gas pump by Lou's house. 

So fitting :)

Their cute dogs

 

Barry and his second cousin, Louis

 

Louis, Kristy & Alaina

 

There was also Lou, Ida & Brianna, but we didn't get any pictures of them. 

Sorry, you guys. 

 

The next day, we drove to New Jersey (more tolls) to visit Barry's dad's grave. 

 

The JOURNEY mobile driving through the cemetery

 

A great man, Guy Strickland

 

We then went to my Aunt Debbie's to park the camper, so we could take the train to

New York City

 

 

This picture was taken at the lake behind her house. 

So beautiful!

 

We left my aunt's house and went to our friend, Jeff's house. 

He was so awesome! 

He let us park our truck at his house for a few days while we went to NYC. 

 

This is how nice Jeff is....

he let us park our truck at his house;

he took us to the train station in New Brunswick AND

when we got back from NYC, he had washed AND waxed our truck!!! 

 

Are you kidding me?

 

That was so nice!

 

Thank you so much, Jeff!!! 

You really BLESSED us!!! 

We really appreciate all that you did!!!

 

Jeff had said he's been a faithful follower of the JOURNEY blog.  We asked him if he needed prayer for anything.  He said reconciliation with his daughter. 

Barry and I prayed with him that God would reconcile his relationship with his daughter. 

If you would, please pray that for Jeff and his daughter.

 

We're expecting a MIRACLE.

 

Jeff & me

 

Jeff & Barry

 

Jeff took us to New Brunswick, which is where I went to college :)

Thanks again to the Panellas, Aunt Debbie & Jeff.

You guys are the BEST!

Craigslist Joe

Okay.  So we're going to take a little detour (haha....get it?) from the JOURNEY to talk about a few of the things that inspired me to take this JOURNEY to begin with. 

 

As my header to my blog says, part of this was to celebrate 50 years on this Earth. 

Yes, it was my 50th birthday present to myself.

I think birthdays should last at least a week, so, of course, turning 50,
it had to last 2.5 months. 

It only makes sense, right?

 

Another reason I wanted to take this trip was Saige was off to college, and Auston is all grown up.
I felt like I had given my wonderful family 30 years of my life, and I wanted to take a little break. 
I told them I loved them very much, and I'm thankful for all those years, but I wanted a little retreat away from all the things I do all the time.

They were very supportive and understanding and said it would be okay. 

I think they said that. 

I'm not sure because I wasn't listening.
 
I had decided to do this anyway. 

Really...thanks, you guys, for your support and understanding. 
Especially my husband who has had to "run" things at home without me. 
We also have our own business, which I have had to keep working at during this time, but Barry has had to do a couple of "my" things, so thanks, Barry!
 

 

Another inspiration was that right after Victor gave us the JOURNEY sign,
(see my blog post It All Started With a Sign)
I had watched a documentary called Craigslist Joe. 

Here's the trailer if you want to watch it:  Craigslist Joe Trailer

It's a documentary about a guy who decides he's going to survive off of Craigslist for 31 days. 
All he has with him is his license, passport, a laptop, phone and a bike, I think.
He did end up surviving solely on Craiglist by doing things like working for a day to make money, finding places to stay, getting rides, attending events, etc. 

I watched it twice. 

You may not think it's worth watching twice, but it really touched my heart....
the people he met, the things he did! 

I said to myself, "I want to do that, but I want it to be a God road trip.  I want God to tell me where to go, where to stay, who to meet, who to talk to, who to go with me, etc.

Kind of like a missionary trip across America.

After watching the movie, I decided that's what I wanted to do, but I wanted to do the trip in an RV, which I didn't even own yet.

Another person who inspired me was my eye doctor, Greg Giles.  
He's an awesome eye doctor at La Mesa Vision Care 

Dr. Giles & me

He had told me a story about a little missionary trip he and his family had gone on.  They felt like God was telling them to go on an RV trip and visit some people that they know.  They bought an RV and made their plans.  God told Greg that he was going to have them break down during the trip because there were some people God wanted them to meet that they would not have met otherwise. 

I made sure I told God that I didn't want that to happen on my trip.....just sayin.

Anyway, that did happen. 
They did break down. 
The first time they broke down, this man came to help them.  They ended up staying at his house that night.  After talking together, they found out that the man and his wife had been praying for something, and Greg and his wife had the answer. 
(Not sure I have that exactly right, but it was a major God thing that happened).

They also got a flat tire, and a person showed up right behind them that was able to help them, and they had a God encounter with him too.

They also had a little fender bender in a KOA campground, but because of that accident, their insurance company totalled their RV, which still works fine, so the RV they actually bought for the trip ended up being free!

That sounds great too, but I'm not sure I'd like that way of doing things either....just sayin.

So after the JOURNEY sign, the Craigslist Joe documentary, my 50th birthday present, wanting a break from life, and Greg's stories of his God-inspired RV adventure, I wanted to go on my own.
 
That's how this JOURNEY came about.

This is a letter I wrote to God about it:

"Dear God,
I pray you'll show me everything about our JOURNEY...where to go, who to meet, who will meet me and come with me. Help me be a light and a witness to those that are joining me on the trip also. May you be glorified in all that we do together. I pray for safety and protection; to hear from you so clearly and to do your will and for people to be saved, healed, blessed. Glory to your name."

I already shared this letter in another post, but this is what God wrote back:

"Dear Lory, I love you with an everlasting love. I will show you great and mighty things.
We have such an adventure to go on....you and me.
I will touch people with my Holy Spirit. I will be glorified. Glory is your new word.
Look for my glory wherever you go.
I will show you the path to take. I will show you my wonderful ways.
There will be many people you'll meet. All will be touched by my glory in one way or another. Follow close to me. Do not go to the right or the left. Stay on the straight and narrow path. I will show you great things. Look for me in unexpected places.
I'm excited about our trip. Thank you for the faith and courage to take on this task. You will be blessed. We have great things to do together. Listen for me, and you will hear me. I will tell you each step of the way. I will be glorified. Keep listening.
I love you,
God."

So in January 2013, all the plans, prayers, odd jobs to make money for the trip began.

I am writing to you from Albuquerque, NM, and this trip has been way more amazing than I could have imagined, and there's lots more to write about.

Thanks for being part of my JOURNEY.