Meeting up with the guys/July 4th–by Schylie

We’ve been in a few places with inadequate or nonexistent wifi, so I haven’t been able to give you all an update. I think it’s about time.

Last Saturday, us girls drove to Kooskia, ID, where we would meet up with the guys for the weekend. As we were getting closer to our destination, we realized that we had lost cell reception. The last time we had talked to the guys, Daddy had given us an idea where they were and that they were on their way to Kooskia. Forrest had called Mama and left a message, but all that came through was: “Mama, we’re–” Kind of disheartening. So we drove to the crossroads of two main roads where we thought they would pass, and where we could pick them up. We waited, and waited, and waited…

Finally, Mama decided to take us to the town they were in when they called us. We’d likely pass them on the road and be able to pull over and pick them up. So we did. We drove along a windy road with a rushing river on one side, and a mountain on the other. We found deer and dilapidated, deserted buildings to be quite prevalent.  We finally arrived at Grangeville, not having seen the guys along the way. There we had cell reception, so we called both Daddy and Forrest and left messages for both. We drove around a bit, looking for bikers, bikes, or a bike shop. Finding neither, we dropped by the sheriff’s office. Just as Mama was trying to explain our situation, Daddy called. We were informed that they had taken a different road and were waiting for us in Kooskia. So we loaded back up and took our scenic drive a half hour back to Kooskia. When we finally did reunite, it was wonderful. It’d been a few weeks since we’d seen them, and it sure was good to see them again. We were staying the weekend at a KOA campground motel in Kamiah. We spent the rest of the day swimming, and resting. We marveled at Rocky’s butterfly collection, as well as Forrest’s remarkable scrapes and scratches. Needless to say, we girls Mama’d and sister’d our guys while they were with us. 🙂

During all our driving Saturday afternoon, we passed the First Indian Presbyterian Church in Idaho, as well as the Second Indian Presbyterian Church. We found their phone number and called. The voicemail said they had a ten o’clock service. We got ourselves ready the  next morning and drove off. We drove to the First church, but were surprised to see absolutely no cars.  It was only 10 minutes before service. We wavered a little before deciding to go down the street to the Second church. There, too, were no cars. We waited until 2 minutes before service. Still, no cars. Talk about all dressed up and nowhere to go…

We pulled into the grocery store on the other side of the road and Daddy hopped out. He saw an Indian woman in the parking lot and asked her about the churches we had just visited. She explained that all the Indians were at a huge weekend get-together. Daddy asked if there were any other churches in the area. She mentioned a few, none of which we were interested in. We got back in the car and drove down a few roads. There were several other churches as well: Lutheran, interdenominational… Most of the churches had services at 9, which, of course, we were late for.

Across the street from a nondenominational church was a Nazarene church. We pulled in. Their service was to start at 11. We were about 45 minutes early. Although it would be different than we were used to, we decided to attend at Valley View Church of the Nazarene. It was, indeed, a blessing. The service was different than their normal service, having a shared testimony in place of the sermon. We were encouraged and enjoyed the fellowship both before and after the service. The people of this church were very friendly and hospitable.

Just as we were ready to pull out of the driveway (and just as we were all wondering what to do for lunch), one of the men from the church walked up to our car window. He was someone Daddy had just briefly met. He asked us what we were doing for lunch, and we said we’d be picking some things up at the grocery store. He then invited us, along with his wife, to join them for lunch at a nearby cafe. We happily accepted. We drove to the cafe marveling at God’s Providence.

We had such a lovely time with these new friends, Mody and Dawn. It was wonderful to get to know them and fellowship with them. We enjoyed guessing her age (which was her idea), and finding out that she was quite older than she looked. We also enjoyed asking the age of our waitress (who was quite younger than she looked). We finally parted ways, but anticipated attending the evening Bible study at 6 o’clock.

The afternoon was quiet and restful. We did some more laundry and some more swimming, it being nearly 100 degrees. We played some games, greatly enjoying our time together–and dreading the separation the next day. Later on, I realized that the kids had been bugging Daddy to stay another day. “We’ll see,” he said.

The evening Bible study was a group discussion about what it meant to submit to others out of reverence for Christ. There were several individuals there, many of whom we had met that morning. After the study, we were surprised to behold the large array of edibles they provided. We hadn’t yet eaten dinner, so now our dinner was ice cream, cookies, pie, and chips. Oh well. We parted from our new friends that evening with bittersweet feelings.

That evening, amidst more swimming and more laundry, we pleaded with Daddy to stay one more day with us. He told us to wait till the morning and see. The next morning, we found out they were going to spend one more day with us. We didn’t want to pay for another night at the KOA, so we tried to think of other options. We remembered our friends Mody and Dawn from the day before. They had mentioned all the room their house had, and how they wished we could have seen it. They had given us their phone number. We decided to give them a call and ask if we could crash at their place that evening. We called several times, but didn’t get through. So, after packing up, we thought we’d just drop by their house and say hi (they’d given us their address too). We realized how far up the mountain they were (7 1/2 miles), in the middle of nowhere. It was beautiful.

We knocked on their door and were quickly invited in. They were so happy to see us and so hospitable, even though they didn’t know we were coming! They entertained us the whole rest of the day. We took turns shooting a bow and a gun. Mody showed us how to use a diaphragm to create elk calls. We took walks around their property and rode an ATV/four-wheeler. A few of us visited the cows down the road and fed them grass while watching the calves nurse. Cute picture. We later built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mody and Dawn gave us a feast! We finally crashed for the night, Daddy and Mama in the guest room, and us kids in the finished attic. It was a great day and we were tired.

After breakfast the next morning, we packed up and said our goodbyes. It was again bittersweet, as we did not anticipate seeing them again, this side of Heaven. On our way down the mountain, we were instructed to fill up our water bottles at a spring beside the road. We pulled over and filled up the guys’ water bottles as well as our own, and then hopped in the car again. Suddenly, Mama asked, “Did we forget the towels on the lawn?!” Yes, we did. So, we turned around and drove back up to the house to fetch the towels. Yes, it was anticlimatic. We said goodbye again, and drove off again. Not far down the road, we reached the point of separation. The guys pulled out their panniers and tacked up their bikes, ready to ride on. There were a few tears–we wouldn’t see them again for perhaps 3 weeks. We parted ways…

We started our drive back to Washington. We stopped for lunch in Lewiston and then continued on. In the late afternoon, we arrived at our Grandma’s house and picked up the Drabants. Split between a few cars, we drove to Klink’s Resort on Williams Lake, where we would spend the next few days.

The rest of the day was spent in swimming, eating, having a fire, resting and playing games. Amanda and her daughter, Jordyn, were also here for awhile.

Yesterday (Wednesday), was spent similarly. Swimming, and swimming, and floating, paddle boating, and playing, and reading… Grandma and Grandpa arrived in the late afternoon. After dinner, we swam some more, and Grandpa went fishing from the dock. Unfortunately, he didn’t catch anything. We then played some games for a few hours. We had another fire and roasted some hot dogs. Finally, we retired for the night.

We are just now cooking up some pancakes for breakfast. Later on today, we’ll be packing up here and heading back to Grandma’s house in Spokane Valley.

I’ll post again soon with pictures from the last few days. Hope you are all well. Thank you for your prayers 🙂

Signing off…