The Things That Happen Along the Road

My family and I traveled from Louisiana through Arkansas (even Little Rock, just so you know, Bob), Missouri (probably not too far from you Mary P) and even managed to nick through extreme southeast Iowa and into Illinois.  It was an exhausting trip in some ways.  The Illinois visit was in Nauvoo, a very historic spot for LDS folks, and a sweet religious experience for me and my two youngest daughters.

The temperatures were blindingly hot everywhere, but somewhat tempered by the tremendous gift of air conditioning in the vehicles, homes, etc. where we spent most of our time.

On our first and last nights on the road, we got to visit with my second oldest brother and his family, which was a wonderful blessing.  It's been too long since we've been able to visit face to face.  Three of their daughters and their children were so kind and fun to be with.  The grandchildren/cousins had so much fun together.  We're not going to wait so long before visiting again.

The scenery along the highways and byways was, for the most part, very beautiful and interesting.  THEN . . . on the last leg of the trip home, somewhere along I-30, east of Texarkana, I noticed a vehicle parked on the shoulder with a young guy in a white T-shirt and jeans with his back to the road and a young gal on his left, facing traffic, with her cell phone at her ear.  I was a little shocked when I realized that white T-shirt boy obviously didn't learn from his Momma that it's in very poor taste (??) to relieve oneself on the side of the road in full view of on-coming traffic.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

In a similar vein, however, my daughter and I found ourselves in dire need of facilities to properly relieve ourselves (sorry I'm so blunt) a few miles further down the road.  At that point, there were no facilities for nearly another 30 minutes or more.  (In all fairness, maybe T-shirt guy knew this fact and just didn't care to be even slightly discreet.)  We were getting more miserable by the moment--and silently praying the Lord would bless us with some kind of business (on a Sunday evening) where we could find respite.  And then . . . we found our answer.  It was a liquor store (with a gas pump or two in front) just outside of Ida, Louisiana barely south of Arkansas' southern boundary (and according to Kelly, Bob would classify it as being in LA--Lower Arkansas.)

After availing ourselves of the courtesy of the lovely lady (probably a few years past her 50's) working the counter, I mentioned to her that this place of business was an answer to prayer (I didn't mention how fervent or frequent in the last 1/2 hour).  Her expression was one of dismay, perhaps even shock.  It seems she'd never heard such a comment from those not coming in to purchase alcoholic products, but she eventually smiled.  She was so polite and understanding, it was an even further blessing to us.  We purchased a few bottles of nice, cold water--since that's all we'd drink from their stock, and moved on down the road.

I'm so grateful for good people everywhere.