Wow! What a strange day. We were getting things packed up at Ma and Uncle Chuck’s in Victorville, when it was brought to my attention that it was snowing outside! And sure enough, the snow was falling (horizontally, the wind was also blowing 20-30 miles per hour!)! This wasn’t in the game plan!
We finished packing up and loading the car just about the time that the snow stopped, but we drove through a lot of pretty high-desert country with snow on the shoulders and sides of the road all along the way. Very spectacular, and not a problem to drive in, since the snow was everywhere but on the road. It was also very cold (about 34 degrees) and very windy all along the way.
We finally got out of the snow just before we got in Interstate 10, headed for Phoenix. But the wind kept blowing. It was only a small problem for us, just got pushed around a bit in our small car. But some of the semis sharing the road with us were really getting blown all over the road. It made it very exciting to pass them!
We got to the western suburbs of Phoenix about 6:30, and met Linda’s Aunt Cheryl at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and a nice, long visit. Her church here in Sun City West is going through a really hard time. Their pastor died from cancer about 10 days ago, and the new pastor is 4 hours away, and can only be here on Sundays. This has been doubly hard on Cheryl and her husband, Ron, because they were the key couple, as well as the folks who have been doing a lot of the ministry around the church. Please keep them and their church in your prayers as they grieve and make all these new adjustments.
We got to our motel in picturesque (at least I think it’s picturesque – it’s very dark!) Mesa, Arizona. We will be meeting up with Sharla’s Dad and step-mom tomorrow morning and spending a few hours with them. Then we are going to head up to Flagstaff, trying to get there before the snow hits too hard (it’s forecast to move in tomorrow some time). That will make it easier to get to Sun Valley Indian School on Saturday, since it will be all on I-40 instead of little roads up over the mountains in the snow! However, we have heard that if it snows and blows too much, they actually close the interstate. Please pray for the snow to be light and the roads good and clear for us.
I have attempted to put in a couple of pictures that we took through Apple Valley in the snow, as well as a sunset picture near Phoenix. We’ll see how they turn out!