Day 11 - 06/12/2008

I woke up very sore this morning. So sore that I could not lift my right leg more than an inch off the ground without incredible pain. Walking, taking a shower, and getting dressed were all huge chores. And somehow I was supposed to drive to Spokane today! I didn’t even know if I’d be able to move my leg between the accelerator and the brake.

I was able to stand still while cooking some eggs for breakfast. But I knew I was going to need some help getting through the day. My parents and I used to have this joint rub ointment that we found at a drugstore that helped with pain like this. It worked better than Ben Gay, but they must have stopped making it because we haven’t been able to find it in stores for at least a year. I had seen commercials for something that seemed similar, and wanted to try it. So I was going to Walgreens, and Grandma asked if she could tag along. I failed to realize then what a blessing her presence would be.

We moved slowly out to the car, and I eased myself in to drive it around to the curb for her. Since I could switch pedals just by pivoting my foot off my ankle, I would be able to do this. She got in—faster than I had—and we were on our way. When we arrived, I figured out the perk of having her along. She has a handicapped parking placard to hang in my windshield. We had used it the other day at Costco, and it was nice to have the car so close with all she bought. But today, it was Heaven coming down to park right in front of the store.

Grandma bought a book of wordsearch puzzles, and I found the stuff I was looking for, and almost grabbed a thing of Ben Gay too. But I didn’t want to buy both and mess with returning something to a Walgreen’s in a different state, so I didn’t. We slowly left, got home, and then went back inside. I was very disappointed to learn that this new stuff did nothing for me. But getting out and moving around had helped to loosen it up a little, making it somewhat easier to walk.

I said good-bye to Grandma, and she sent me off with some more muffins and rhubarb sauce. I have had so much of while I’ve been here. I got on the road, and decided I would stop by Seattle. I really wanted to see Pike’s Public Market and the Underground City, but knew I wouldn’t be able to handle both. I decided I would do Pike’s, and that I would just stay a little while.

I called Uncle Dan because he had talked about showing that to me, along with a motorcycle he has that used to belong to my dad, and my grandfather before him. Dan works in Seattle, and said he had about an hour’s worth of work to finish up, but then he’d be free. Since it would take me a half hour to get to him, I was fine waiting for half an hour. He’s a mechanic, so I’d be able to see his shop. He gave me directions, and I pressed on. I followed his directions without issue, but was surprised that the directions led me down an alley in a residential neighborhood.

It turns out that Dan rents the garage facing out the back of a duplex as his shop. When I pulled up, he signaled for me to keep my engine running. He quickly locked his shop, and jumped in my passenger seat. He needed a part, so I drove him over to Schuck’s, which goes by Kragen down in California. It was weird to see a new name on a familiar logo, similar to Carl’s Jr. being “Hardy’s” on the East Coast. Dan didn’t end up finding his part there, so he had me drive him back to the shop. He said he could get it later, and so we could go down to the market.

But I wouldn’t be driving. We were taking the motorcycle. I had never ridden on one before, so I was pretty excited. Dan had two sets of leathers, so I donned one over my clothes, as did he. I took a picture of the two of us all decked out. Then he gave me my only job: not to lean when he turned. I had to staying in straight vertical alignment with the bike, and he would balance us out. I knew that this might be a problem for me: surrendering control and trusting someone else, but I kept my mouth shut and resolved to try.

Swinging my leg up onto the seat brought a groan out of me, but I got on. Dan had said the bike would give me enough balance that I didn’t need to hold onto him or anything, but that just didn’t feel okay, so I put my hands on his waist. And off we went. Surprisingly, I did okay with not leaning. He was very complimentary about that actually.

Dan drove through and gave me a tour of parts of downtown Seattle. We drove around for awhile when he stopped under a bridge. He was going to try and get that part at a place nearby. He thought I might want to get off here and take some pictures. He had brought me to the Fremont Troll. Underneath the overpass, someone had constructed a huge troll, with its left claw encasing an actual VW bug. Sorry Peanut, but one of your own was being held against its will. The art of it was incredible. Dan later told me that people would keep stealing the VW, so it eventually had to be bolted in. Dan took me around to some other artistic monuments in the city, and then we went down to the market.

Pike’s is an amazing place, and really something that should be done with a local. Dan knew everything there that a tourist should make sure to see. He used to live down in this area when he was married and was living down here. He said he hadn’t been back in awhile, so this brought him back a little. It also just gave us more of a chance to just talk. We hadn’t done that before this trip, so it was nice to really get to know him like I’ve gotten to know Uncle Dave over the years.

I saw the throwing of the fish. I had forgotten until Dan reminded me that seeing that was a big deal here. So I saw three fish thrown with lots of yelling surrounding the process. We walked around, seeing a lot of the stores, stands, and booths. There were a few street performers sprinkled around the Market. Dan said that permits were required for them to perform there, and most were actually pretty good. There was one pair doing a Bluegrass/Folk-style set, with the guy on fiddle, and the girl on vocals & doing some tap work. Dan had remembered seeing them many times before and said that all of their music was in that style, so I bought their CD. It was $10, folded up in a cardboard holder, and I was surprised to see that there were 16 songs on it.

As we walked around, Dan saw someone he recognized. Nancy runs the dairy shop, which is all decked out in cow paraphernalia. Shelly would love it. Dan had been a guide when Nancy went whitewater rafting. At first she didn’t recognize him, but then remembered who he was, and they talked like they were old friends. Her mom lives in Fresno, and so we had something in common there. Nancy owns this store, and welcomed everyone coming in as old friends. She had an out-there side to her: not a full-on hippie like Carleigh (see Day 1), but was pretty New Age-y. The biggest evidence of this was Sarah, her huge dog that was lying in the middle of the store, and would frequently get up to follow customers or to just wander around and visit other stores.

Dan and I were getting hungry, and so we stopped at Three Girls, a sandwich shop for lunch. We eat got a delicious baked salmon sandwich from there and walked out to the edge of the Market where there was an outdoor picnic area looking out on Puget Sound.

Dan drove us back to his shop, and he gave me some advice on taking care of my car. I really need to pay more attention to Serena. Just because I don’t go to doctors doesn’t mean she should go to hers (a mechanic). She apparently is overdue for a new timing belt.

I started the long drive to Spokane, and encountered a little traffic as I was leaving Seattle. Once I got on the 90, I was fine though. It wasn’t long before I started getting sleepy, and so I pulled over at the first exit I found. As I was parking, I realized my tank was nearing empty. For the miles I’d driven, I guessed I had about another gallon, meaning I could only go about 30 miles. Normally this isn’t an issue, but this freeway was looking pretty rural as it crossed the middle of the state.

As I was stretching to wake myself up (I didn’t need a powernap at this point), I saw a couple (I would later learn their names to be Lucas & Jenny) getting some water from the back of their blue station wagon. So I walked over and asked if they knew the area and if there were gas stations in the town coming up. They didn’t know, but they were heading the same way, and Lucas offered to follow me and pick me up if I ran out to take me to the next town to get some gas and bring me back. I had AAA, but knew that waiting for them if I had to call could take hours. I didn’t want to take the risk of running out when Amy was expecting me. I was very touched by their offer and accepted.

We talked for a few minutes as they packed back up their car, and I found out they were headed to Weiser, Idaho for a folk music festival that was to last a few weeks. I commented that they were hardcore to go for something like that for that long, and Lucas admitted they weren’t going to stay for the whole duration. But Jenny was quick to agree with me that they were hardcore, and Lucas flexed his bicep to add credence to her claim. Lucas also told me I should forget wherever I was going and go on to Weiser for the festival. I was anxious to check a map to see how far it would be from Spokane because I was hoping Amy and I might be able to go out there on her day off.

I got back on the freeway, and they followed me until we got to the next town. It looked developed enough that it might need a gas station, so I honked twice and pulled off, waving good-bye to my new friends. I really wish I could have gotten them more, and hoped going to the festival would be a possibility. I did find a gas station and filled up my tank. I had to go to the restroom, and went inside to find it. It was currently empty, I was surprised to see that all the stalls were contained by saloon-style doors…that didn’t lock…that were high enough off the ground that a small child would have an unobstructed view if he walked in (this wasn’t a locking, single-occupancy restroom). It was very uncomfortable, and if I thought there was someplace else, I would have waited. So I just hurried, and no one else came in.

Pressing on, I began to feel drowsy again. This time I could sense that just a stretch break wouldn’t do it. So I pulled off and tried to get a power nap in. I had to move my car soon after parking because I had parked with the sun hitting my eyes. I didn’t get completely to sleep, but I rested. After getting out afterward to stretch, I felt safe enough to continue.

I couldn’t believe it, but I actually caught Adventures in Odyssey on the radio as I was nearing Spokane. It was an episode I recalled hearing before, where Jessie has a crush on Jimmy, and he tries to figure out how to get away from her unwanted affections.

Entering Spokane, I gave Amy a warning call. She then told me to go straight to where I’d be staying during my visit instead of her apartment, which I would see tomorrow. I was doing fine with the directions, I turned onto the final street, and that’s when the problems started. Very few of the houses were numbered, and after two passes on this small street, I finally had it narrowed down to two houses. So I called Amy to find out the color of the house, but she pulled up as we were talking.

We hugged and then went inside. I would be staying with Amy’s pseudo-family that moved up here from Coarsegold. Todd & Roxie are homeschooling their two youngest children, Grayson & Kayla. But that’s not their story. This family is also a boarding house for six guys attending Moody Aviation School, a five-year program to train missionary pilots and flight mechanics. The school is a part of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but the Spokane program only offers a B.S. in Mission Aviation Technology. Boarding students is the family’s ministry, and one of the students is one of their two other sons Bryce. It’s a two-story house, and the family unit lives upstairs while the guys live downstairs. Of architectural interest, the front door opens to a landing at the middle of the stairs between the two floors. As the semester was to officially end tomorrow but finals were over, two of the guys were already gone for the summer. I would be staying downstairs with the remaining guys.

As I walked in, I saw verses and quotes written on cards on the walls. The whole family was very welcoming. As I arrived, dinner was being prepared, but it was put on hold for family devotions. Todd explained to me that devotions never get done after dinner, and so they started doing them before eating. I’m not sure how Roxie would still manages to serve a warm meal sitting next to Todd for the entirety of the devotion time, but she did. We read from the Bible about God having Samuel anoint David to replace Saul as king, and how Saul tried to subvert that and place one of his sons on the throne. We discussed this at length about how God didn’t want Israel to be ruled by kings, and after giving the people what they wanted (a king), He still had his own plan for the structure of it. This was probably the most in-depth family devotional I’ve ever experienced.

We then walked into the kitchen for dinner. Dinner was ham, baked beans, salad, and bread, served buffet-style. I found out that not only are the boarding students fed here, but several other students also frequently come for devotions and dinner during the school year. Tonight it was just Todd, Roxie, Bryce, Grayson, Kayla, Amy and me. The other three students still around were working and making their plans to depart for the summer. Frank would be serving on an internship in Africa, and Mike #2 (there will be a Mike #1 introduced later who isn’t in the school and doesn’t live at the house) would be spending the summer with family in Wisconsin. The dinner was amazing. I shared a few stories about my trip thus far, and also learned a lot about the family here.

Bryce gave me the tour of the house after dinner, and I really started to see what a ministry-centered house this is. I could feel an encouraging spirit in everyone here. I dragged in my stuff, and Todd made up a bed for me in the smaller of the two bedrooms. It was a vertically small bunk (I couldn’t sit up in it), but after my adventures with that sophomore year at FPU, I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. And this bed was taller than mine that year. Even more, it was a bed. Todd and Roxie warned me about the noise of planes flying over the house, but I doubted they’d be a problem.

After socializing a bit more, Amy drove me out to the beginning of a nice hiking trail that I could enjoy tomorrow while she was at work. The time out gave us some time to talk about the latest news with our families, and really encourage each other. Amy is an amazing friend, and I’m so glad to be visiting her here. She’s going to be working from early morning to midday the next two days, but we’ll have the afternoons and evenings, along with all day Sunday to spend time together.

Amy dropped me off at the house and drove home. I went inside, and saw Todd talking to another guy. Todd started to introduce him, but this guy cut him off and said, “Wait. Don’t ruin it.” as he walked down the half-staircase, and gave me a hug. He then told me that he was Brian, and I found out that he’s from San Jose, and we got to know each other a little. He goes to Moody, but doesn’t live here. I then talked with Roxie for a little while about their friendship with Amy and their ministry here, was told that breakfast was at 6:45, and then I retired to downstairs. They had said I would be able to do laundry, which was a blessing from above because I was nearing desperate times. I would take care of all that tomorrow.

I pulled out my laptop to catch up on my journaling, and went into the common room to see what the guys were doing in there. I met Frank and Mike #1 (who is #1 because I met him before meeting #2). Mike #1 was here to give Frank some pointers for Africa. Mike #1 is in the military, has served overseas, and as a Christian really has a heart for missions and equipping those with that call. I really enjoyed talking with him and the other guys there, too (Bryce, Brian and Mike #2 came in later). I ended up staying up until 1 a.m. talking and typing. It was reminiscent of college conversations, and I loved it.