Trip out West

I had an idea. I used to have a lot of ideas when I was a little girl, and those days my younger brother Barry would be the beneficiary of my ideas. This time my husband Tim benefited. Well, you say, what was your idea. My idea was to make a shirt trip to visit friends, new friends, ones whom we met on various mission trips. We discussed, made some plans, checked to see if our friends would be home and then....I got sick. 

At first I assumed that I had overdone it with the lilac bush pruning as my back was sore and I had some shooting pains but nothing that my chiropractor couldn’t fix. But the next morning the pain was different and thankfully I decided to get hubby to drive me to the hospital (which was not an easy decision with all the Covid stuff we didn’t know how it would be). Blood and urine tests both showed infection so a CT scan was done. Diverticulitis was the diagnosis.  What? What is that we both questioned. Thanks to today’s technology we soon found out. A prescription for two different antibiotics and I was on my way home. 

Now what? Would we still be able to go away? I had also committed to looking after the grandkids for a couple of nights. Would I be able to do that or not? Lots of questions and no answers. You know what, God is good, all the time, God is good. 

 Not only was I able to have our precious grandkids over (thanks hubby for all the help) but we were also able to take our trip. My idea would be become reality. 

June 30th we left in the middle of the afternoon and made it as far as Caronport, SK where we parked the RV in the lot at the bible college and enjoyed a quiet night and a bicycle ride through town in the morning before heading to our first destination. 

July 1st we arrived in the big metropolis of Rosemary AB. Well, it’s not actually big, it’s actually quite small. Once we got the correct directions we found our way to the home of Laura & Allen just outside of town and had a nice treed yard where we could park the RV. 

Laura was one of the leaders of a group of youth who came down to San Carlos and helped build the home for Blanca and Jorge. Thanks Laura for your hospitality and the delicious food. 

Luke, my 7 year old grandson had just asked me on Monday if leaf cutter bees had a queen and of course I asked google but now we show up in Rosemary where many of the farmers including our new friends have millions (I’m guessing they have that many as they had lots) of leaf cutter bees. Boy am I excited! I get the tour and am shown how leaf cutter bees do their job and no they do not have a queen. But I did not realize how small they are, they are about the size of a house fly. We are bringing some home in a jar so that the grandkids can see them. Leaf cutter bees do not sting but they do bite. 

On the 2nd we had a lovely supper with Laura & Allen, Sharon (another Rosemary leader) and her husband Dwight, and John (another leader) and his wife Anna. What a blessing to be able to share our lives with these new friends. These new friends that don’t really feel like new friends but rather friends that we have had for a long time. 

We also checked out a local dam (the one that provides all the water to irrigate their fields) and a park where we enjoyed a lovely hike.

The next morning we were enjoyed breakfast at the home of Sharon & Dwight and got to hear more about what they do before heading back on the road.  Next stop Canmore, AB. 

These next two couples are ones that were part of our group when we visited Ethiopia. Sam was born in Ethiopia and married a girl that grew up in MacGregor. That girl, Joyce, went to bible college with Joanne, and she married a fella from the UK. We had a great time enjoying food and visiting with both Sam & Joyce and Trevor & Joanne. Joanne even took time to bike ride with us from Banff to Canmore (thanks to Trevor for giving us a ride to Banff). Did I feel healthy this whole time? Not really but I sucked it up because friends are more important. The heartburn burns but this too will pass.

I thought it would be a great idea to have a visit with my cousin Allison and her daughter Melanie as they live in Calgary. We made the connections and ended up going for a little hike just outside of Calgary. It was a beautiful, albeit busy spot, for a hike. We had a good hike, a picnic lunch next to a stream, and a good visit. So glad it worked out.

Here’s a cute story, we were on our way back home and Matt & Kari were on the way to Banff, so we checked where both of us were and ended up meeting in the middle and had a short five minute visit before we each headed our own way. What fun.

We made a quick detour back to Rosemary to pick up a trap for gophers/squirrels and got that jar of a few bees and spent the night at a Walmart in Medicine Hat. Before retiring for the night we had gone for a nice bike ride on a paved trail. And guess what appeared right in front of me on the path. Take a look.

Next stop - Regina. Here we met up with Brian & Vicki and enjoyed food and fellowship. Brian, who also enjoys biking, told us about some of the paved paths in Regina. We drove, parked and got out the bikes and rode. It was starting to get dark so we couldn’t go as far as we had planned. But would that stop us? Well, for a bit while we slept, once again in a Walmart parking lot.  After breakie we drove closer to Wecana (a man made lake) and hopped on our bikes for a ride around the lake. It was beautiful! Sure wish we had more paved bike paths near us.  

On our way to Maryfield SK we stopped in Carlyle to pop in for a short visit with people we had met several years ago down in San Carlos. Blair & Debbie are building a new house and a new career. We pray that God will bless them in their new venture. In Maryfield we enjoyed a lovely meal with Terry (Tim went to bible school with him) & Caroline. These two have recently purchased a small RV and have dreams of travelling and maybe even coming down to San Carlos. So we were able to share with them some of the things we do while we are down there and maybe, Lord willing, we can work with them down there. 

On the road typing as we head home in the dark. Many animals out at this time of night. 

God is good. I was not sure if this trip would happen and now it has and I am so grateful that we had this opportunity to get away from everything and to relax and enjoy each other’s company and the company of good friends. Till next time.