The Journey

Well, I am sitting in Cleveland, Mississippi and happy to be here. The only problem is that my family isn't here with me. I thought I'd tell you a little about my trip.

A little background information for you - I was born in Colorado and I have only traveled east of Colorado one time. That time was to a lake just on the border of Nebraska and Colorado. I have never been east or south, never left the country, and only lived in Colorado, Utah (for school), and California (for my mission). Also, those three states are the only states I ever went on vacations to, so this trip was going to be something new for me.

Christa, Brinley and I went to Colorado and stayed there for a few days until Christa and Brinley flew home to Utah. I left the next afternoon (after fixing the air conditioning in my car) and drove to Wichita Kansas where I slept in my car in a grocery store parking lot.
(The sun was bright and I was really tired, but that's where I slept)
I got up the next morning and drove farther east, touching 5 states - Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and ending in Mississippi.

That night, after some searching, I slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot that wasn't too scary.
I liked this other Wal-Mart that had 3 entrances, one for the food, one for the other stuff, and one for the liquor.
Thankfully, Sunday was the next day and I was able to find the church and ward we will be attending. We will be living in Arkansas, attending the Greenville Mississippi Ward, and be a part of the Monroe, Louisiana Stake. I think that's pretty cool.

Today after church I drove back to Arkansas and checked out where we will be living. Its a really cool town on the edge of a giant lake.
You can see from this lookout the docks on the left. We are hoping to rent a house that is right on the lake to the left by those docks. It is a huge lake and really beautiful. I saw people swimming and playing in it and petting alligators. They are so tame here. There were boats and canoes and all sorts of stuff. Unfortunately I didn't actually see any alligators, but the fact that people were swimming in it means that they probably aren't in the lake. YouTube did prove to me that there are alligators somewhere here.

I liked this stretch of the lake where the trees are growing out of the water. It looks cool. Oh, and sorry the pictures aren't great, I took them with my phone because my camera doesn't have a memory card. I left it in our video camera in Utah. So I can only take like 5 pictures on the camera and I can't put them on my computer. My phone doesn't zoom or anything either, so sorry.

One way cool thing is the new bridge that is being built over the Mississippi river. Here are some bad pictures of it that I took while driving over the current bridge.
I think its pretty cool looking. It will be better than the other one and have more lanes. Here is another picture of the start of the bridge. This picture is what most of the roads look like, minus the bridge on the right and minus the curves in the road.
Anyway, now I am showered and sitting in the air-conditioned house of my new Bishop. He heard that I slept in the parking lot of the Greenville Wal-Mart and offered me a place to stay at his home. He and his wife are very kind and I am so thankful for their hospitality. The members of the ward are so nice and welcoming. Many drive an hour to get to church every week.

Well, I figure I have had a good day and I need some rest. I am really excited to sleep in a bed tonight. It feels good to write this, knowing that this is my way of connecting back home with people I know and love. Have a great night!