Thursday, June 08, 2017

Visiting Dear Friends - Day 2 of AlCan Road Trip

0430 and Michael was waiting at the airport to pick up Nolan and Alex. They arrived 30 minutes (or so) late. They all opted to sleep when they got back to the trailer. A lazy start is good for us. 

We arrived at the new farm of some college friends, Kevin and Chris. Todd is a bonus friend who helps them. We have enjoyed catching up, telling new stories, seeing what God has done in their lives since we caught up with them nearly 2 years ago and sharing yummy food. Stacia has always dreamed of farming and this was a blast for her! πŸ“πŸ–πŸ„
Stacia and Chris with their pig
 It was a ginormous blessing to walk around their farm and hear the story of how God chose to give them this place.πŸ™Œ Especially on the day our agreement to purchase a home in Alaska terminated.  This is a lovely 215 acre (or thereabouts) farm in SW Washington. They paid about what we will be paying for a home.


I'm not sure we've ever considered buying this much land, but this is more like the dream. The home we buy now is to be temporary, while we wait to see if God will give us the property to do what we dream.  We're o.k. with looking for another home. We found ourselves uneasy with the resell value of the "motel," and the repairs and improvements were going to max our budget, in ways we foresaw drastically changing our lifestyle. It was the cheapest option at the time, but the investment had already mounted to tens of thousands beyond the purchase price. We were prepared to move forward, but their silly choice to refuse repairs allowed us the opportunity to re-think the purchase, with a price list for repairs in hand. πŸ˜‚ If God wants to give us "the dream," He isn't dependent on our finances and budget, He may well surprise us. He certainly surprised Kevin and Chris. We will take the steps we CAN take and see what He works out. Buying a home that will be hard to resell and will max our budget, doesn't seem to be a right step towards "the dream."
Michael and Kevin

Ellie surveys a portion of her domain
It was fun having Nolan as a passenger in Nimo today. He told me about the hike, his thoughts on Alaska, and we discussed our change in house plans.

We arrived early afternoon at Kevin and Chris'. Nolan drove me to the nearest Walmart Super Center - they are EVERYWHERE, aren't they? We bought provisions for the next leg of our trip.

We had our first two mishaps on the trip - and we've not even crossed the border. I turned my laptop off and was waiting for it to close before putting it away. I got side-tracked and went on to other packing up jobs. You know where this is going! It appears my laptop took a HARD fall. The corner of it is crushed. I'm not sure the card reader will work....and trim is loose.....super glue and duct tape are in the near future for this baby.

Michael noted the brake controller in Uchi isn't working. This is rather important. We just happen to have a spare brake controller along with us. πŸ˜€ We'll stop at good ole walmart and buy a harness to finish installing it in the morning.

Onward!