Aboard the Prius - Our Trek to the Pacific Northwest (Pt. 2)

Day 2 - Sunday, May 9


MOTHER'S DAY


Sleep did not dispel the sinus headache.  Mom went to get me a piece of toast so that I could take the allergy medication.  There was a Starbucks next to the hotel, so once we loaded the Prius Dad took me there.  Got to have my oatmeal and coffee for breakfast.  The temperature was a cold 31 degrees.

Packing the Prius

Breakfast

We crossed into Wyoming while I regaled Mom and Dad with snippets from Inglorious Bastards.  Now they want to see it.

Beautiful morning...and cold

My Mom

My Dad, the road warrior...the expeditionist

There were still snow patches on the ground in some places near the Colorado/Wyoming boarder.  We drove down HWY 80 which Dad informed me that some parts of the highway were part of the original wagon trail.  The landscape is stark.  Quite a few number of low buttes and sand--very little grass but lots of bushes that resemble sage.  No houses & very few towns along the road we traveled.  Lonely place.  Such vast empty land with no habitation.  Why are some areas populated?  Why were towns established in those places and not others?  Dad said it had to do with water supply.  Where there's a water source, that's where a town will be established.

Lunch...consisted of a Carl's Jr chicken and bacon sandwich

with a five fruit smoothie from

Jamba Juice

Mom turned on the stereo and put in a teaching CD by Keith Moore.  "We should rejoice in  God's choice for us," he said.  He's talking about our places and graces within the body of Christ. 


I decided to read my Bible.


Romans 12:1 ...that you present (yield) your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable (well-pleasing) unto God...


Acceptable unto God.  According to Genesis 4 and what Jesus taught us, God cannot be worshipped with things made by our hands.  He is spirit.  So how do we present ourselves acceptable to Him?


Romans 8:39  Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Romans 8:13  We are debtors not to live after the flesh.


Makes sense right?  Jesus purchased us with His blood.  He made atonement for us.  We are no longer slaves and under bondage to sin.  God is spirit and we are spirit.  It behooves us then to live after the spirit, not the lusts of the flesh.


Romans 12:2  Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...


A transformation of worldview?


Reasoning...


You are transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Sound reasoning is the key, not mumbo-jumbo fluff.  Once you begin to understand more and more then you'll be able to prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.


To prove.  Proof for yourself.


I think God is more logical than we give Him credit for.  The majority of the church has sadly left logic out while emphasizing faith.  Hence lots of churched people are unable to logically explain the reason for their hope to intellectuals.  God gave us a mind for thinking.


Question: In light of what was learned from Genesis 4 regarding God accepting Abel's offering/sacrifice, what do you think is meant by Romans 12:1 now that Jesus has become our substitution?

---

It is stark this land less populated by people

Balded hills of taupe gray fields

houses and squat silos, twiggy trees yet nude

punctuated by slanted telephone poles

It is the land of the vast empty

where winds do roam untethered and unnoticed

Solitude lives here amongst the sagging roofs

homes long abandoned

It is an island unto itself

apart from civilization

A sense of loss and forgetfulness

We meander along the artery carved between

the hills. No sentries of trees greet us.  No

electric lights to illuminate us, down this

stretch this corridor of west HWY 84

---

Who lives here?  Who would live here?  I can't imagine.  Beyond these hairless hills I once again glimpse the snow-capped mountains in the distance.  Always in the distance.

The clouds hover.  They press near but not too near.  I suppose this an American version of Wuthering Heights.  Heathcliff roams these lands in boots and spurs.  A lone rider upon his horse without a herd.  Life is hard but nature is abundant.

What stories are marked beneath these hills?  What secrets lay buried upon this land?  What kind of people choose to dwell here?  It's a different sort of beauty that makes me ache for home.  My city and the city lights.

There is a green field and farming equipment.  Whose land are we passing and what are their names?  Irrigation machines.  But not a soul.  Perhaps behind these hills are bustling towns and houses.  The urban jungle has not spread to this far flung place.  We're now in Idaho.

"Deer migration crossing next 2 miles."

"Game crossing."

Entered the farm lands of Idaho.  Tilled and green fields.  Homes dotting every few acres. Emerald Lake, a place for couples to picnic and families to gather.  See the edge of the gray clouds.  The evening sun shines and softens the clouds to an opal.  The land is quite pretty here.  It's flatter but looks homier, inviting.

It is 7:12 p.m.  Daylight is still plentiful.  If I were home I would either prepare dinner or tun on the television.  The field beside me are being irrigated.  They are luscious and green.  Greener than the wild grass along the highway ditches.  

One hundred miles to go to our hotel at Mountain Home, Idaho.

Today my meals consisted of:

oatmeal & coffee from Starbucks

a piece of Mom's chocolate ganache cupcakes

one banana & four apple slices around noon

3/4 of a bacon swiss chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr.

1/2 order of small fries

16 oz Five Fruit Jamba Juice

Once we get into Oregon the time changes again.  I forgot to bring my umbrella.  Saw that it rained there today.

The road seems to stretch endlessly before us.  Passing a green farm valley surrounded by bald hills and buttes.  Dad wants to see a potato farm.  What does a potato farm look like? Crossing Snake River.  We're about 27 miles from Mountain Home.  Exiting Glen Ferry to get gasoline.  Wish the town was named Taco Falls rather than the boring Twin Falls.

An Asian looking girl walked to the gas station as we were pulling out.  She looked at us, and I think Mom waved.  She looked at me and we both smiled.  Who is she?  What is here life here like?  Is she happy in this small town?  Or does she wish she could be elsewhere?  Was she curious about us?  Does she have a family...a husband and children of her own?  Is she in love?

No one can know the heart of a person unless that person chooses to let you catch a glimpse.

Town with the gas station

At the gas station

The sun is setting, and the horizon is awashed in apricot, lavender, pink and baby blue.  The buttes are purplish gray.  The land is flat.  Nor more farms.  It's empty again.  Only traffic populates this scenery.


I finished The Lovely Bones earlier this afternoon.  Disappointing ending.  It started out so good then seemed to drag on endlessly.  The body was never found, the killer never apprehended, and heaven was depressing.


The sky is now fiercely pink.  I wish I had a camera that could capture ever nuance of what my mind processes.


The Hampton Inn is such a drastic relief from last night's Sleep Inn.  A most welcoming change.  The room is newer; the bathroom is roomier.  The beds look and feel inviting.  However, I'm not as tired as I was yesterday.  I napped quite a bit today in small doses.  Is there a Starbucks nearby?  According to my app, there are no Starbucks in Mountain Home, Idaho.  It's nearly 10 p.m. and I'm still not sleepy.

Tomorrow we'll be in Oregon.  Per Dad we'll drive along the coastal highway.  We'll be staying in Portland, which surprised me.  Dad said we might travel to Eugene and go near the Washington border.  We won't have time to venture far inland but we'll have a couple of days in Oregon.  It'll be a shorter trip tomorrow.  Lots of time for stopping and taking pictures.

Home is so many miles away.  I remember when we would come every year during the summer to where I am currently living.  How I hated to leave.  It was as if every time I was leaving a piece of my heart behind.  There's that nostalgia feeling every time I'm away from it. 


The last of dreams is elusive.
Flighty and airy I search for your face
   twists and turns
   journeys through life don't pan as expected.
I am not the cartographer.  I designed not the 
   geography.  My life was given as a gift.
   My birth was blessed by God.
A citizen of a land where liberty I can partake
& pursue my own happiness.
   So why have I been taught that in seeking my
own happiness is selfish?  Adhere to family
principles and do what I'm told.
   Is my life my own?  Or will I always be
a child within my family's shadows?

A good night indeed

*All photography were taken with my iPhone.

© 2010 Sriprae P. McDonald