The Beauty of the Journey

So often when we travel there is a tendency to be fixated on the destination that we fail to embrace and enjoy the journey. This last leg of our trip was like that a bit for me, but a week later I look back and realize how amazing it truly was. We last left off on our way to Denver. It was a fairly uneventful and short drive to "The Mile High City," only about three hours. We arrived and parked our little house in the lot next to our friend Jacqueline's home. She and her family live in a very nice, newly developed area of East Denver. In the excitement of seeing our friend I did something I have not done in a very long time.... I locked my keys in the truck. Thankfully, we have AAA and they were there in no time to take care of it. We spent the next few days in their lovely home as we did some "city" things. We attended the annual Cherry Creek Arts festival near downtown Denver, and enjoyed some of the local fare at The Cherry Cricket (Great Burgers!) and Liks Ice Cream, both of which I highly recommend if you are ever in the area!

Soon we said goodbye to our friends and journeyed west into the Rocky Mountains. The drive seemed short on the map and GPS, so we thought we would be fine on almost 3/4 of a tank of fuel (which would usually take us about 300 miles). However, we did not realize just how steep some of the mountain roads were or that pulling our trailer up these mountains would use a quite a bit more fuel than usual. When we made it to the last steep hill just below KOA, our low fuel light came on and I thought "Thank you God, we are going to make it." No sooner did we pull onto our pad site than we ran out of fuel. We actually had to push our rig a few feet to clear a place for the slide out. Again, I am so thankful to God for getting us there as we could have run out of gas on our way up one of those very steep hills and been in a very different situation. He is faithful.

We spent the rest of the week up in the mountains exploring Central City and the surrounding areas. On our last morning, I took the boys fishing at a small lake that was not too far from our camp site. We saw lots of deer around and some fish jumping, but sadly caught nothing. It was special to me though for it was the first time I had ever taken the boys fishing in Colorado, and I have so many great memories of doing that as a boy with my family.

Anxious to get on the road to Yellowstone National Park, we decided to leave in the evening and drive through the night. So we loaded up and prepared to set out, but not before facing another situation in which God would intervene. As I was backing up the truck to pull around and hook up the RV, I felt my tire crunch on something and thought, "Oh great one of the kids left a bike/scooter/toy etc. out and I hit it." Then as I  was getting out of the truck to see what I had hit, I heard the cry of my youngest son. I rounded the truck to find Ben sitting on his bike crying as he stared down at the broken training wheel on one side that the truck had smashed just missing his leg and leaving only a small scratch. If I would have backed another inch, his little leg would have gone under the wheel. God is good.

So after the trauma of that, we hit the road and drove all night. Around 4:30 am near the Grand Tetons, I finally could go no further and pulled over to sleep for a bit. After a couple hours reset, we crossed the beautiful mountains, and in a few more hours, we were at Yellowstone West. We napped for a bit after setting up camp and then headed for the park for the rest of the afternoon. We saw elk and a huge lone coyote and of course Old Faithful!

We decided to spend all of the next day driving through the park and to bring a picnic lunch to enjoy. It was amazing. We saw more elk (they were everywhere), tons of buffalo (also everywhere), and best of all we got to see a mama grizzly and her cubs!

We found a great spot on the lake to hang out and spent some time there relaxing. The beauty and majesty of God's unspoiled creation is truly breathtaking in this place, and I wish we would have had more time there, but the Journey called us on to Washington. So we headed out early the next morning to cross through four states on our way to the coast. Finally, very tired and a little late, we pulled into my in-law's drive for a few weeks of family time and rest.

So once again, I look back on the journey and realize all of the amazing things that took place in a short amount of time, thankful for where I have been, for the memories, for the safety of my family and God's  loving mercy. To those of you who are followers of Christ I will say this: We are all on a Journey of faith and our ultimate destination is a place far more beautiful than our imaginations can even comprehend. However should we be so focused on the destination that we miss out on all that the journey there has to teach us? 

Finding my family, finding my dog, finding my God

When I plunged my feet into the icy waters of the Arkasas river in Canon City, Colorado, the rush of the  controlled deluge filled my head with images of the past, of all that I had seen this last week. We had a relatively uneventful trip from Canyon, Texas, driving out of the Panhandle plains and into New Mexico by way of Raton. The foothills of the Rockies began to emerge as we came into the mountain pass that welcomed us into Colorado. Thankfully, we had  no problems on those steep inclines. Our truck (Gracie Lou) pulled  our house (Dale) up and down with ease.

We arrived in Canon and set up the house, then met with my sister-in-law, Beckie, to get the lay of the land. She drove me around town telling me about places to go and things to do. I soaked in the scenery enjoying the mountains on almost all sides. We had dinner and made plans to go to Colorado Springs the next day.
We drove into the city of my first memories and found the house I had lived in. I asked the owner if I could take a few pictures of the outside, and he actually said I could come in and see. It was so cool to walk into that space again, and so funny how small everything looked now. Next, we went to Garden of the Gods and let the kids hike around on some of the trails and rock formations. The Garden was even more beautiful than I remembered with  its red stone sculptures jutting up into the clear blue sky.

Next, we made our way to Helen Hunt falls where my family used to picnic when I was a little boy. By now it had started to rain, which was welcomed for more than one reason. First, it cooled us off quite a bit, second, Colorado has had severe drought, which has spurned many wildfires, and lastly, I really summer rain. So, while others sought shelter, I strolled about in the rain and took in the beauty of the falls.

The next day, I went "up the hill," as they say here when indicating that you are going up into the mountains, to visit my niece, Anastasia, who I have never met before, and my two nephews, Billy and Edward, who I have not seen since they were babies. We had a good visit, and then I came back down the hill to visit with my brother, who is currently incararated in Fremont County. We had a good hour long visit, and I have hope that he is getting the help he needs in there.

The hits kept coming the next day, as my sister-in-law took me to see Parkdale, Colorado where my dad grew up. I have a picture of me standing in this same spot with my dad, but I was 3 or 4, so I don't really remember it. Standing there and trying to envison what it was like to grow up in rural Colorado during the great depression and World War 2, it was hard to imagine and yet came easily to mind as I recalled all of the stories my dad used to tell us about his childhood.

Due to the fires,  we could not visit the Royal Gorge, but we did drive up Skyline Drive ( a very narrow road the crests a peak with a scenic overlook) to see the city from on high. We had some amazing pizza at a liitle place in downtown Canon called Pizza Madness, just awesome stuff. The next day, I took the boys to the Pueblo Zoo and to see my Uncle Tony, who I have not seen in almost 20 years. Seeing him brought back so many awesome memories of going on fishing and camping trips as a little boy, as we were often with my uncle on those trips.

Our last night in Canon, we went "up the hill" again to visit the kids and watch fireworks near Westcliffe at Dewiss reservoir. I have never seen fireworks from a mountain top, and let me tell you, they look just the same as fireworks anywhere else, but they do not sound the same. The echo of the shells exploding booms  from the mountains like rolling thunder before a huge storm. Some of the bigger ones even have a strange whooshing vacuum sound when they explode, very cool.

Last, I have to mention a lesson I learned on this leg of the trip. I got a little "me" time as most of the time I have the boys when Martha is working. One afternoon, I set out with my dog, Charlie, for the river park where I could bring my devotion and study books down to the rocky waters edge and read quietly under the bridge while Charlie played in the water, which she loves being part retriever. I sat down and let her off the leash , something I know I am not supposed to do but trusted that she would be okay and stay close. Well it was all picturesque for a moment and then she decided she needed to run, fast. At first I could see her running up and down the bank and then she was gone. I was concerned as she was not coming when I called but I just waitied there knowing that she would come back looking for me soon, and she did but only to get very close to me and then run the other direction. I scolded her and called, tried to get her to play fetch so I could put her back on the leash, nothing worked she ran into traffic and my heart sank as I thought several times that she would get hit. Finally I went to the truck hoping that she would come to me there and she did so I was able to get her back on the leash.  I tell this story to get to this point. As I am driving away, kind of frustrated that I did not get the peaceful time meditating on things of God  I was looking for, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said this. "Did you not see what I was trying to teach you? You are no different than that dog. I desire for you to sit and play with me by the water, but you so often want to run off and do your own thing, not listening to my voice or obeying my commands. I will wait for you and I will never leave you, but my desire is  not far from what yours was today."

Some of you might take offense to this analogy and I am sorry if you do, but take this into consideration
one of the Greek translations for the word worship is Proskuneo, meaning like a dog licking his masters hand.

Next we are off to Denver to visit a dear friend and explore the Mile High City and Rocky Mountain National Park!

Let Go and Let God!
Peace be with you,
Daniel Sandoval

Sodas, windows, and other things.

We left our family and one of our furry friends (Boba, our Boxer) in Tulsa on 06/21 headed for Canyon, TX, a small town just south of Amarillo. On the way, we decided to make a stop at Pops Soda Ranch (http://route66.com) just outside of Oklahoma City. For those who do not know, I am an avid collector of glass root beer bottles and have tried and collected about 75 or so in the last 7 years. I have also started another glass soda bottle collection with my kids. Upon driving into Pops, I was floored. I have never seen such a selection! They have over 600 different sodas, most of them in glass bottles. So, we loaded up a case in no time (six root beers I had not previously tried!)  and went to head out. Oh yeah, I should also mention that they had a diner that had a line out the door and for good reason I am sure; the food smelled amazing, but we were on a timetable.

Well, as we were gassing up to leave, Martha tells me we have lost a window on the RV! I go and inspect the bedroom and was very confused as we had not hit anything or been away long enough to get robbed. So, we turn to the redneck's best friend duct tape!

Just a temp fix until we could get to our next stop. One more thing, our A/C in the truck decided it didn't feel like working, so we had to drive with the windows down. To make it go by a little easier, we decided to sing kids praise songs as loud as we could! We made it into Canyon just at sunset, and with the help of my good friend Roman, we secured the temp fix until a proper solution could be found.

The next day, since every place we called was closed, we decided to go hiking in Palo Duro Canyon (the mini Grand Canyon as it is called in these parts). The state park was only 11 miles from our front door, so it took no time getting there. We headed out on the trails leading into the majestic desert landscape, telling the kids all about erosion and what we knew about the local wildlife.

The kids did great until about the 0.6 mile marker (we had planned on a 1.5 mile hike). Then, the younglings started to miss air conditioning. We decided to push hard back to the visitor center and burned back up the canyon to much needed shade and water refills!

Later that day, we were able to spend some time at the lovely new home of our friends, the Asbills. The boys were extra excited as Roman and Angela have three sons very close in age to ours, and they were all fast friends despite having never really met before. Canyon also has an amazing coffee shop on the town square called Palace Coffee (http://palacecoffee.co), I could stay there all day. Some of the best coffee and atmosphere, not to mention great staff! Thank you so much to Patrick for hooking me up with the best cup of Joe in the best cup in the house!

Last night, we went to the Varsity Theater across from West Texas A&M, to see Monsters University. This gem is a one screen movie theater that has been open since 1947! It was really neat to see a movie in such a classic theater. Today, the boys and I went to Amarillo and checked out the Don Harrington Discovery Center, a hands on science museum for kids of all ages. It has been a great time this week hanging out with dear friends, exploring new places, and trying new things! In two more days, we will be leaving for Colorado, hopefully with all of our windows intact!

Oklahoma Bound

We said goodbye to our house in Anna TX on June 7th and set off for Tulsa OK, our first stop.

 We pulled into the Warrior RV and set about the task of setting up for the first time. The event went smooth despite us never having done it before, trying to figure out whether or not we should hook up the sewer line was a bit confusing, but we managed ( Thank God it did not happen like on the movie RV).

We found that we had not downsized enough and had to store/give away more things to family. My apologies to my brother and sister for taking up most of their garage. After clearing out the excess stuff, we were finally able to organize our new home. Let me say this: Going from 1700+ sqft to a little under 300 is definitely a challenge. However, the freedom that comes with not having a ton of crap is amazing.

This first stop in an RV park was really just a test run for us, to figure out how we were going to do things. For us it is all pretty much trial and error. I would like to say a huge thank you to the Norton family, who posted videos on Youtube of how they live in an RV with 6 kids.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6gow8Vxhcs You guys are amazing! These videos helped give us lots of ideas on how to organize our new home on wheels.

After our test run of a few days, we took off to church camp for a week with the family and then hit the road for Canyon TX, a small town just south of Amarillo where our very good friends, the Asbills, live. This trip was definitely an adventure, which I will fill you in on in the next installment. Until then, don't forget to let go and let God.

The Beginning

About five years ago my lovely wife and my older two sons were living in Carlsbad, NM and we talked about selling all of our stuff and living in an RV. This was possible due to the fact that Martha (my amazing wife if you didn't already know) works from home doing medical transcription, so she an work from anywhere as long as she has a high speed internet connection. The idea died with the thought of buying a house and living the " American dream". So we did just that, the house in the suburbs, the corporate job for me, mini van, soccer practice, cub scouts, the whole shabang! After 5 years of it, we came to the conclusion that it is not all that it is cracked up to be. We work to pay bills, to pay the mortgage, to live, but is it really living? What if you had no mortgage, no car payment, and nothing tying you to one place? Where would you go? What would you do?

So we decided to go back to that idea of living in an RV. We had done some work our first home and put some good equity in, we determined that with the money we would make from the home sale and selling/ giving away all of our non essential items we could pay cash for a truck and RV, and be free to go where we want and LIVE! This decision was not a whim, we put a great deal of thought and prayer into it.
Speaking of prayer, weather you believe in a Higher Power or not, I have to tell you about what has happened since we made our decision, it may change your mind.

We prayed to God and asked for wisdom and discernment involving this huge life change. We asked that if this was in His will that He would open all of the doors, and if not that He would close them. Soon we began to see his hand working. My long lost brother came and helped me fix up the house ( something I could not do all on my own for I am ignorant to the ways of carpentry), we found a family friend who is in our town and with a great real estate agency, we found a great truck  about $4000 under the market value  and the dealer took my car in trade for more than the trade in value, our house went on the market 5/1/13 and we got TWO offers within three hours, and our ended up selling for more than our original asking price on that first day. Now tell me that is not God!

I am sitting in our almost empty home now, we closed on the house yesterday. We have stored what we wanted to keep (not much) with our family in Oklahoma, and Monday we will go get our new home on wheels ( a 24 ft fifth wheel).
 Now some of you may be thinking that we are nuts, and you may be right, living in a small space with 3 kids and two dogs may not be your cup of tea. I invite you to follow us on our adventures on the road as we explore the U.S., and maybe even Canada and Mexico. 

Never stop dreaming! Let Go and Let God!
Blessings,
Daniel Sandoval