I thought it would be fun to get out my big, ol’ It’s Always an Adventure book and peruse and reminisce this morning. It led me to realize that a lot of our adventures are unavailable to view via That Which Nourishes! For those of you who are new or aren’t tired of hearing the stories, you can view them all here… —-> It’s Always an Adventure! (<—–click)

In 2010, we took off to see our remaining 13 states (of the 48 continental) with our family and Jack Russell, Lily. We followed business, our noses, but mostly the adventures, and ended up gone for 3 months and almost 12,000 miles — all in our 1988 motorhome, Able Mable. We had the time of our lives together and made a million memories, had several absolute miracles, met some amazing people, and learned an awful lot about ourselves, each other, our big God, and this amazing country. I pray our land is restored so more families can experience this together in the days to come.

I had assigned writing a blog of our trip to my daughter Addie who was around 16 at the time. At some point, I also began adding to the story and everyone else chimed in. There was just so much to tell! Here’s an entry I had forgotten about that I wanted to share with you today since I recently addressed the topic of miracles.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Hey guys! (This is Addie 🙂
It’s been awhile.
Okay, so the last update was right after we went to the Oregon Trail. We had to hurry and get out of Oregon, because the snow was coming :o. It got down to 18 degrees and there was 4-6 inches of snow by the time we woke up in the morning, so we had to get out of Oregon fast before the BIG snowstorm came. We had our RV break down in Klamath Falls Oregon, and a guy named Dave fixed it for us, I think my dad wants to share about that on here. 

Hello all its Christian writing. I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to share what happened in our travels. It is absolutely amazing to me how many things the enemy throws at all of us…everyday trials that are intended to separate us from God in some way. I cling to this verse, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a FUTURE” Jer. 29:11. So the RV won’t start after pumping fuel, turn the key and nothing. Changed the starter solenoid and nothing. Oregon has a law where you can’t pump your own fuel…so fuel guy Amos shows up and says his step-dad, Dave, is a mechanic and available. Meanwhile I’m praying…”God, not sure what is up and who we’re supposed to meet but I’m here.” Dave shows up, come to find out he does street ministry for drug addicts/drunks on behalf of a local church. The day I broke down was his day off and he woke up saying “God, not sure who you want me to meet or want me to do, but I have no fuel and I’m willing!!” Oh, by the way, Dave was a mechanic for years at a Ford garage. Wow! That’s really odd since I need a mechanic for my Ford-powered RV sitting at a gas station where there happens to be fuel for his car!! So the enemy tries to attack my family with yet another break-down, and God uses it to provide for not just my family but for Dave’s family. We had God’s money (tithes) waiting for a ministry to support and God saw that Dave was provided for! What the enemy has planned for your life is NO MATCH for what the Lord has planned. The enemy didn’t create you with purpose, that was God’s doing. A purpose and a plan, plans not to harm you but to PROSPER you!

Addie – After Dave fixed the RV, we drove into Corning, California, and we had to stay put for a day there because a crazy windstorm came through with 60 mph gusts!! That is bad news in the RV because the wind feels like it could blow the RV over. It’s craziness. So after 2 nights there, we made our way down through California, into Coalinga. We just stayed one uneventful night there, and then went down to Morro Bay, on the ocean. 

Justin’s goal was to swim in the Atlantic and Pacific ocean on this trip. So we did just that 🙂 Kyrsten and I hadn’t planned on swimming, the water was freezing cold, but we ended up going out in the water in our clothes, and we just had a blast. We played in the waves for a super long time, and right before we left, we had a seal swim right up to us–he was SO CUTE!! It was an awesome day. 
Then we drove some more to Bakersfield, California. We only stayed one night there, and then we drove some more to Boulder city, Nevada. It was right outside of Las Vegas, and it was right on Lake Mead. It was beautiful. My parents took us kids to a Las Vegas buffet in a casino. Whoa. That’s all I can say about that; like every kind of food that was ever created!! I thought Kyrsten was just going to pass out when she saw the dessert area 🙂 It was very cool. 
Kyrsten’s one wish from the trip was to go trick-or-treating. We ended up going to Kmart two days before Halloween, and going to some random neighborhood in Nevada to trick-or-treat! She had a lot of fun, and got a lot of good candy, so it was nice that she was still able to do that 🙂

After that, we started heading towards Utah, but the RV just stopped going in the middle of the desert on the highway. It literally wouldn’t turn on, so the boys got out and started pushing it to get it off the road. They pushed it for a ways (GO MUSCLES) and then they got back in. We didn’t know what to do except pray and the RV started going again when Dad turned the key, just randomly! PTL. 
We quickly looked up the nearest mechanic, it was 20 miles away, and we made it all the way there without the boys having to push it anymore 🙂 We had a very nice family of mechanics take care of the RV for us. They even gave us a ride to the hotel for the night. We had some time to kill, so we took Lily to her first dog-park. She didn’t love it. She went and stood on a table away from the other dogs, and when we asked her if she was ready to leave she ran over to the exit as fast as she could. She is such a big baby!! 
We stayed at a Best Western, and got to go in the jacuzzi and sleep in real beds. It was lovely. Our RV is running as good as new now, and we made it all the rest of the way to Utah without any other issues. So here we are!! 
Zion National Park…

Tomorrow is a very special day, and I’ll have a lot to catch up on after this weekend! 😉 
Love you all, we’ll check in soon.Posted by The Kirksey Family at 10:31 PM