Shepherds Conference Road Trip 2018

Friday morning was a pretty exciting time.  One by one we made our way forward, stopping off at the shower amid-ship and then proceeding past the galley for a quick bite (brownies, and cookies).  The Aero was fired up and the coffee flowed.  Kelley was out of time, if he was to demonstrate his style chops, it had to be today.  His ensemble was inspired by a men's hosiery selection, displaying a strong sense of purpose and independence.  These 'socks' screamed, "Come and Take It-Baby ".   To to further frame the swagger of form and intent, an athletic-cut, sport coat inspired from the hit crime series "Justified (of course)" was donned to  complete the visage.  The entire set was provided by Bounty-500.  Not to be outdone-Rod wore a stylish pair of retro-sneakers.   Before we even left the Travel-Village, Jason slammed on the brakes; "is that Mr. Bill up there"  he exclaimed?  Yes indeed.  Two days, were two days too much for Mr. Bill

Thursday morning opened up with a brisk start to the day.  When we began to cycle through to shower we found out there was no hot water.  As Rod noted, any 'morning enthusiasm'  was greatly tempered.  Somehow we persevered, we are the Fellowship of The Wheel, are we not? Some fresh ground coffee began the process of getting everything right again.  We left slightly earlier with the main intent to find better parking.  On Wednesday evening we were delayed at 30 minutes or so, just trying to leave the North parking lot.  On Thursday we parked on the South lot near the drainage canal.  I think they actually call these 'rivers' in California.  The FoTW team was fresh and looking forward to a great day. Just before the start to the day, Phil was hanging out with the Pastors in the Courtyard.  At the opening it was announced that in a few weeks Pastor MacArthur we will preach his 50th Easter service at Grace Community.  Bob started us off with rousing songs of praise

The day started off pretty early.  The Fellowship of The Wheel (FoTW) members were rising for showers by ~4:30am.  Mostly driven by anxious anticipation.  At first Kelley and I wondered "where's Rod?"  The forward fold out bed was empty. We discovered that Rod had retreated to aft berths.  There is a compressor on the bus that powers various systems.  The cycling on and off in the night defeated Rod's pursuit of sleep and he retreated to the very quiet and cozy berths. It did not take long for the Aero press to put into high volume mode for coffee production.  About this time Jason came by to check on us.  He had been resting in Marv's RV to spend time with his dad.  The following photo was snapped just as Jason shouted "Don't!".   Later we learned that Jason's wardrobe is structured with a sequence of what shirt will match which trousers.  Seems the placement may have become confused curing the transfer to Marv's RV.  I consulted 

It was a wonderful time to kick off the fellowship in earnest.  We met everyone else from Countryside at Sisley's Italian Kitchen.  The air was thick with genuine interest and kind sharing.  From before we even entered the restaurant we received a warm greeting and welcome from Bryan Chandler, we got to know each other better and then we received a name-the ' Fellowship Of The Wheel '. We learned what pastor has serious agility skills in recovering small-denominations of cash from a highway in the wind and whom among us were surprised that when you order an entree it might be served with a cutting board filled with fruit.  Then of course there were many photos shared of our families and lots of discussion about what today would be like. Then it occurred to me, what a strange thing this is.  We are all adult men.  Stable in our rhythms and actions. Our time is typically consumed with the family, work then all of the various actions to keep things repaired and maintain

We cut through onto Highway 8 heading West to bypass the traffic at Phoenix then turned North on Route 85 and joined back in Interstate 10.   Jason wanted to get diesel before we left the state.  Diesel in California is ~$1/gallon more expensive.  When Jason got out, Mr. Bill, Dragonfly and Snowflake all jumped out and were very interested to see how this was done.  Then Mr Bill tried to help and got in a bad situation and had to be rescued.  He is all safe now. Next door to our fuel stop was a very strange sign.   It was a chicken eating a man.  We asked for help from Rod to translate the Spanish, our best guess was this sign noted that something is "not for sale" and "we can do it".  Kelley found a hint.  Seems Hickman's is an egg farm?   Note sure what that has to do with Chickens eating men, but we are open to your guess?  Kelley and Rod surveying how tight the parking was at the gas station, they were right. Jason was mixing a quick cup

As we were crossing New Mexico, the discussions were all about were to stop for the night.  One candidate location was Lordsburg NM. How fitting to start in Paradise and stay for the night in Lordsburg.  But the rest stop was on the other side of the Highway, so we passed it by.  Jason wanted to make it into Arizona.  The rest stop at San Simon is where is ended up staying.  It was newly refurbished and very nice.  After we stopped, we found out from Audrey that the horse's name was actually "Snowball".  I had been relying on Mr. Bill's ability to horse-whisper.  Seems he whispered a little too quietly and misunderstood the name. Mr. Bill fest so bad he wrote Snowball a note. At the rest stop we got out and began to mill around.  The whole area was illuminated by sodium-vapor lamps.  They gave everything a very odd glow. As Rod, Kelley and I wandered around we came upon a very interesting tree, that in any other light would not have seemed so compellin