Dec 26th - The Rain Seems to Have Stopped

The four of us (Ron, Sheila, Kathy & I) went to the Crossband Cowboy Church 9 AM service. It was an enjoyable service. There were well over 200 people at the early service. The bulletin that there was a total of 981 people at the two services the week before. My guess is that there will that many at the Christmas services,  if not more. Ron and I wallered around in the mud, trying to work a little, trying to work a little and then we had Christmas dinner together.

A single lady lives in one of the big houses on site It is also used for small conferences and meetings. She is gone for the holidays and told Ron & Sheila to use the place while she was gone. It is a very, very nice 3 bedroom home that overlooks one of the larger ponds on the site. Sheila fixed a turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, turnips, yeast rolls, etc. Kathy make a prime rib, potato salad (my request) and pecan pie. Yep, we had far to much for the four of us.

This morning Ron & I worked in the rain and mud for awhile and finally gave up. Ron and Sheila went to Tyler so Sheila could go shopping and Kathy cleaned the motorhome, getting ready for us to leave in the morning. A funny thing happened when I went in to Lindale to mail some letters, get the oil changed in the CRV and pick up some groceries. I mailed the letters and then missed the turn to the oil change place. I went on to Walmart to get the groceries and stuff. Finding the few groceries was easy enough but I also needed some chemical treatment for our sewer tank and I wanted a rain gauge to have in the RV. Finding the chemical treatment and the rain gauge took quite a while. I got the to the checkout line, which wasn't to long, put everything on the belt and reached for my wallet. NO WALLET! (While at Spring Hill this summer, and while here at YWAM, I've gotten in the habit of not carrying my wallet. At Spring Hill I had no need for money, they furnished everything we needed while on site. Here I just stuff a couple of dollars in my pocket in case I want a cup of coffee at the base restaurant.) Fortunately I realized I didn't have a wallet before the cashier actually started checking me out, and there was no one in line behind me. I was able to put things back in the cart and back out of the checkout line. The other good thing was that I didn't stop for an oil change first. I would not have realized I didn't have my wallet until after they had changed the oil. Kathy would have had no way to come in and bring me any money.

I drove back to the base, got my wallet, had some lunch and then went back to town picked up the stuff at Walmart and got the oil changed.

This evening we met with Ron and Sheila and had left overs.

Tomorrow we start our trek for California. We plan to stop in Dallas and have the oil changed in the motorhome. David, my brother, told us to make sure not to miss Silver City, NM and the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Since Silver City is well over 800 miles from here, and we are taking time to get the oil changed, we probably will not get to the Deming/Silver City area until Thursday afternoon.

Deming is over 4,300' above sea level and Silver city is 5,900' above sea level.  It will be colder there, but we want to see both places. Deming's overnight low is forecast to be 20 degrees tonight. Thursday the high is supposed to be 60 and the low 31. Friday temps are about the same. Temps forecast for Silver City are 5-10 degrees cooler, we will stay "down" in Deming.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.