HoneyMoon Adventure Pt 1

Day 1

Beki and I have crossed over the Flint Hills and have made it to Hays, Kansas. Not much to report on the drive; beautiful plains, rolling hills and a clear blue Kansas sky. As I write we’re in wind farm country, there are wind mill energy catchers (what is the proper name for them) all over, T. Boone Pickens would be proud of his renewable resources twirling away.

We stopped at a rest stop to take a picture and a stranger, headed to his car asked if we’d like a picture together – see, there are good people left. While at the rest stop we were taken for 4 bucks from the USA Today dispenser and a coke machine. Somehow I bet they’re set up just for such a trap! 

I’ve discovered (or only come to realize) that when you leave Kansas City, there is nothing! With wide open vastness one can get bored easy on a road trip. But I have to admit the excitement of being back in Kansas is bringing up childhood nostalgia. 

Seeing a sign for the Garden of Eden I proclaimed with freakish acclimation, “Beki, there’s the Garden of Eden! We can see a dead guy entombed there!” Not to be left out of the joy of seeing someone dead for 75 years Beki said, “We’re detouring.” Oddly I was scared by the excitement she exuded. 

The detour we took brought us to Wilson Lake in which we took some pictures of the panoramic view. The Garden of Eden museum wasn’t all I remembered it as a child; his political statements were not my cup of tea. But I had to admire the effort this man put in to all of these concrete sculptures. He was so far ahead of his day in that regard.

We came into Hays not knowing exactly what to expect, were we going to be in a hotel? A tent? A car? The van Barrett drives? The answer came by way of a beautiful home on a back road just outside of Fort Hays. 

The Glover family opened up their home to us with open arms. Jake and Amy are two beautiful Christians desiring God’s will in all they do. The first thing we noticed was the many faces of their children. Joy greeted us with a beautiful Asian smile and Hope gave us a wonderful hello with her Haitian glow. There was Isaac and his unique character and Grace their youngest who was a beauty. My favorite two were Joshua and Jacob, the two boys adopted before the earthquakes in Haiti.

The hospitality was amazing. We all ate dinner at Gillen’s diner where we discussed everything from the tragedies in Jake’s hometown of Aurora, CO to Jesus’ awesome mercy. After, we headed back to dive off the diving board and slide down the slide of Jake and Amy’s pool. We capped off the night with conversations on how to raise kids and be open and available to hear God’s will. Jake and Amy obviously are pro’s on that subject and Beki and I listened intently.