We drove about 14 hours on June 1st into Arkansas. It was a really nice drive, and other than the echo's of Samson wanting out of the cage, and the air condition in the van going out...it was pretty uneventful! Arkansas is alot like Ohio, farm fields everywhere. We were able to stop and sleep for the night. Samson and Chloe were thankful to get out of the van!
On Wednesday, June 2nd, we drove into Texas...WOW...that is a long state! We drove for hours and hours. Our air was still out in the van, and it was HOT! We felt sorry for the animals, Chloe was so good, she just ate ice cubes and tried to ignore Samson. We decided to let Samson out of the cage for awhile to see what he would do...
Big Mistake!!
For the longest time he just laid on the floor, panting. Yes, I said panting!! Have you ever seen a cat pant...It's scary!! He laid for the longest time on the floor, and then something upset him. He decided to take his misery out on Chloe, and nip her in the leg. Chloe is such a sweet dog, she ignored the bite, but it really scared me!! Samson started to get a little crazy, so we pulled into a rest stop and got him back into the cage. We knew that we had to get some air conditioning in the van to help the animals. We left the rest stop and pulled into a gas station. We got ahold of someone to help us get some freon for the van...or so we thought.
The man who was supposed to be helping to fix our van, ended up stealing what little freon we had left in the van! He said he couldn't fix it ,and he said we could pay what we thought it was worth for him coming out to aid us. Well, Scott paid him, and off we went. We knew we had to do something, so we stopped to eat and pray!
God is so good, he heard us ,and answered our prayer!
Brad dues called Scott while we were eating, and had mentioned to him that Walmart's usually sell little freon kits that you can use. Scott had forgotten about that. We finished eating and found the nearest Walmart!. They had one! And within minutes we had air! Praise God! Thank you Brad!
We continued our journey, in a nice cold van! Samson and Chloe were so happy, they slept most of the way into Laredo Texas. I have to admit I was pretty happy myself to be cooled down! Before we got into Laredo, we drove through the most eerie Texas summer storm...Wow! It was powerful. Lightening bolts, winds, and the sky showed potential for tornadoes. If any of you know me (Tammy)...I don't like storms!! I prayed hard for God to get us safely into Laredo...He did!
We spent the night at a hotel, and slept Okay. We were a little anxious knowing that tomorrow we would have to cross the borders. After Scott's last experience at the border, we had some fear of the unknown.We again prayed, for God to give us favor...He did!
We got up bright and early on Thursday morning. It was our Anniversary that day...21 years! We said we would never forget this one as we made our way to the border. As we entered into the Mexican side, there were military with guns on all sides of the border...Scary!! They had us pull into a bay and open up all our doors to check inside the van. They asked us what we had and where we were going. Scott then was directed to go and pay the tax on the items inside. I stayed in the van with the animals I sat there for what seemed eternity...Yikes!! I was a little nervous with military on both sides of me and Scott nowhere in my sight. I just prayed for a smooth crossing. Scott finally came back and then we had to go in to get a visa. The guy behind the counter did not want us "Gringos" going into his country, and he wasn't very pleasant. He granted us a visa, and then we proceeded to the second bay. At the second bay, they run a scan of your car. This is where they could have you unload all of your stuff, and sit for awhile. We passed and were waved on into Mexico!
Yippee!
We ha one more stop...registration for the van. This is where Scott and Steve sat for 2 days, and could not cross into the second border. Scott went inside, and got everything with no problems!! We were on our way to the second border. We prayed again for God's favor to cross. We approached the second stop. The man asked for our Visa's in Spanish. We thought he was asking for money! We finally figured it out...hehehe! He looked at them and flagged us on. We were on our way to San Miguel. It is about a 10 hour trip form the border to there.
You hear alot of stories about the border towns, and driving on the highways of Mexico. I have to say I had my fears of driving along those roads! God did protect us that whole journey, and we give Him the praise and Glory!!
The rest of our trip was breathtaking!! We saw so much of God's beautiful country, that we forgot we could be in any danger of thieves. The rest of the trip was snapping pictures. Here are a few for you to enjoy.We made it into San Miguel around 9:30 PM on Thursday evening. God was good once again! They (Military police) were having a random stop, pulling cars over. They flagged us to go on...Wow! Thankyou!
Most of the pictures were taken out the window of the van.
There were water stations(Aqua) and SOS stops along
the highway.
The cactus were so unique!
The mountains were simply breathtaking!
There were area's of extreme poverty.
It was heartbreaking!
Yes, those are a herd of goats along
a two lane highway!
God's creation is so beautiful! He brought us to
San Miguel on Angels wings!!
We give Him the praise and Glory!!
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