I'VE ARRIVED!!

I have finally made it to sunny So-Cal!!! I can't even describe what it was like to go through southern Utah and driving by a sign that said, "No Services Next 106 Miles" on Sunday afternoon ... That's kind of freaky.

The views in Utah were either one of two things. Boring or absolutely stunning! The picture does no justice to how amazing some of the rock formations are. At one point during my drive in Utah it started snowing! Yes, snow in May at 11,000+ feet!

Southern Utah at its "finest"

After "getting through" Utah and doing some chatting on the phone, I finally made it to Las Vegas on Sunday evening around 7 p.m. local time. That town is not for me. It just felt kind of evil from the moment I stepped foot outside my car. The fountain show at the Belligo Hotel was pretty cool to watch though but overall, the town is overrated!

On Monday I drove all the way to Monterey, CA to see Jon and catch up with him for a little bit. I got to see the famous 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Club. Oh my what an amazing view!

The famed 18th Green at Pebble Beach!!

Dinner with the Anderstrom's at Bubble Gumps!

So now I am just about done moving into my room at William Carey University in beautiful sunny Pasadena!

SINCE FRIDAY AT 7 a.m.

- Just under 3,000 miles driven
- Around $300 in gas ($3.39/gallon is highest thus far!)
- Countless CD changes and phone calls!

I MADE IT!!

"RELAXING" DAY

So today I just spent time around the greater Denver area. The highlight of the day was finally getting to the top of Mount Evans. It's the highest paved auto road in North America and at the peak it's altitude is 14,264 feet. The pictures below were taken from the drive-up the road that has no guard rails and has about 10 "switch backs" the final two miles of the drive. At the top of the mountain it was roughly 40 degrees with the windchill making it feel about 20 degrees on a day when it was 90 degrees in Denver!

This was my goat "friend" who blocked the road for a little bit!

This picture doesn't even come close to describing how amazing this view was!
Absolutely stunning!

The wind was gusty in this picture and I have nothing to fall back on but a big huge rock. But I've never been at 14,000+ feet so I have to live a little!

After the four-hour round trip journey that only lasted about 80 miles (a lot of slow driving), I went to Red Rocks then Boulder and walked the Pearl Street Mall (an outdoor street basically) for about two hours. I ran into a guy; talk about Buddhism for a little bit. That was fairly interesting then about five minutes after that chat I walked into a store that had a shirt with this quote on it:

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." -- Martin Luther King Jr. hmmm ...

Then I went to Flatirons Church which was about 20 minutes away and it was a great service as they kicked off their "Google Earth" series. Dinner was at Pasta Jay's back in Boulder and now I'm out for the night before traveling to Las Vegas on Sunday!

TRAVEL DAY 1

I have successfully completed the longest day of driving in my life! From South Bend to Denver it took:

15 hours, 50 minutes and 1102 miles. That averages just under 70 mph. I am rather pleased. It wasn't that bad but I'm not sure I would recommend it either. I did get be-fuddled in Des Moines, IA and started going on I-35 South for three miles before I realized what in the world I was doing.

There isn't much of anything to see after Lincoln, NE. The last seven or so hours of the trip were filled with empty fields and a whole lot of nothing. Kind of felt like a Stephen King novel. THEN, in the middle of Nebraska there is this rapid dog in the middle of I-80 pulling along this dead deer in the medium. It felt like the twilight zone!

I found out that full tank of gas gets about 350 miles in my car. After four stops for gas, I spent right around $120 today in fuel!!!

Some other of the highlights included:

2 Rob Bell messages
1 Erwin McManus message
1 John Ortberg message

Keith Urban's "Golden Road"
Passion '05 soundtrack
Bruce Springsteen "Seeger Sessions"
Dashboard's Confessional "Greatest Hits"
David Gray "Life in Slow Motion AND
Norah Jones "Come of Away with Me"

You can also add about two hours of phone time to a variety of people. I'm a big fan of the speaker phone feature on my new phone!

Travel Day 2, no serious driving!

IT BEGINS

Well, I am off on the first leg of what will be an amazing journey. This is were God wants me to be for the summer. There is no doubt in my mind!

Thank You for all your support thus far! None of you will truly ever know how much it means to me!!

Please continue to pray for safe travels and that I will be stretched in ways I have never imagined!

Matthew 11:12

THE TRAVEL PLANS

So you ever wanted to know what mapping out a drive from South Bend, IN area to Pasadena, CA looked like, now you know - HA!

Since I am less than a week of getting out of Michiana, here's what my travel plans toward the west coast are looking like:

Day 1 (May 26): Head westward on the Indiana Tollroad with the final destination of the first day in Denver, CO (South Bend to Denver: 1081 miles, or about 16 hours)

Day 2 (May 27): Spend entire day in Denver/Boulder area and probably visit Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 3 (May 28): Visit Flatirons Community Church before traveling to Las Vegas (Denver to Las Vegas: 748 miles, about 11.5 hours)

Day 4 (May 29): Leave for Monterey, CA to visit Jon and spend the night there (Las Vegas to Monterey: 510 miles, about 8.5 hours) ... This is the first time I'll catch-up with my friend since Jan. 4 so it is worth going out the way.

Day 5 (May 30): Final Day of driving as I head to Pasadena to meet up with everyone at Mosaic (Monterey to Pasadena: 347 miles, about 6 hours)