We discovered on very short notice that the World Missions Crusade was to be the weekend of March 27-29. We thank Dene Johnson, minister at Rifle, Colorado, and a former student from IBC, for sending us his newsletter that told of the event. It was not a lengthy debate about whether we should go or not. Three things moved to make a positive decision in this direction:
- We would have an opportunity to make contact with numerous old friends and colleagues. I'm guessing that we did meet around 200 of them as well as their children.
- We would represent MCC at the conference.
- We would get to see our new great-granddaughter in Grand Junction.
We won't tell you which of these items was the most important.
Our trip to Grand Junction is described as follows:
To say that our trip to Colorado was exciting would be an understatement. Disneyland or Six Flags over Manhattan couldn't have produced as spectacular an event as we experienced. I'll try to verbalize it so that you can enjoy the experience as well.
Oh yes, this was one of the God-things that Christians always like to talk about. Some are spreading rumors that I am a Christian. In order to dispel those rumors, I'll admit to it gladly.
The first piece of the puzzle came when our oldest son Geoffrey called to say that he thought he could get time off to go with us to Colorado. Would we like him to come along? The answer was simple: Of course we would like to have him. So after playing a late night ball game, he drove to Manhattan and arrived about 2:00 am on Thursday morning.
Prior to leaving I had some serious reservations about going. The weather reports indicated a bad storm coming into western Kansas. Then I saw reports of a coming bad storm in the mountains of Colorado. Not exactly the formula for a great trip. No beautiful scenery.
I got up at 5:30 and cared for the zoo, ate breakfast, prepared coffee for my class (Mr. Ingmire needs to look into the problem of so many students drinking coffee in the 8:00 am classes), and went to school.
I taught my class and then proceeded home.
Geoffrey and Arletta had the car loaded. I tied my computer to the roof so that it would stay cool (joke). We left around 10:30 am from Manhattan. Breakfast at Mac's lounge and then on the road.
Weather was beautiful as we went, temperature 58 degrees.
With no significant excitement we drove to Hays where we refueled and had lunch at Arby's. But we noticed that the wind changed and the temperature began to drop, but the sky was still clear. As we went by Colby and Goodland the local radio stations were warning people to hunker down, stay off the roads, and get ready for the big blow. Lots of that white stuff on the way. But we continued on.
Geoffrey was now driving. He got a call from a friend in the Denver area who told him that I-70 was closed from the Kansas border to Tower Road (just outside Denver). But we continued on.
When we got to the Kansas border the weather was deteriorating with a little blowing snow from the north across traffic. Perfect for drifting. Traffic was moving along and so we continued also most of the time in the passing lane.
At this point let me give a sales pitch for the Chrysler 300. Without chains we made the entire trip. Only on one very slick stretch did we have any slippage. Other than that the car climbed Lookout Mountain, Eisenhower Tunnel and Vail Pass without a bit of hesitancy. Of course that could be due to the Pirelli racing tires I installed on the car recently. The car is Arletta's and she said she wanted racing tires so that she could really "enjoy" the car. But that car performed marvelously.
We arrived at Limon in a blizzard. The roads were still open. We stopped to take on petrol and make one other important stop. The snow was really blowing now. But the clerk in the store told Geoffrey, "I-70 is now open." Later we would find out I-70 had been closed up to that time. So maybe our guardian angel had made arrangements for our continued progress. We will give Him the credit.
We pulled out on I-70 again into the blizzard, but the road was still drivable. As went along we saw numerous snowplows and highway patrol cars, all going east. The gates were open and the barriers down (although we may have crossed the barriers on top of the snow. We are now driving a Chrysler 300 Snowcat.
The trip from Burlington to Denver was exciting. Part of the time we could only see 100 feet down the road. The wind was blowing across the highway and there were occasional slick spots. But our angel driver did a great job of keeping the big 300 under control. Around Strasburg we ran into ice on the road and even the 300 fishtailed a little.
Finally around 5:00 PM we made it to Denver. We ate supper at the only restaurant in town--the Village Inn. We have eaten at the Village Inn off Federal Blvd since 1960. Actually the rest of the trip was not bad.
We then began climbing the passes out of Denver. The storm had basically passed and CDOT had done a good job of cleaning the roads. Roads were snow packed, but not slick. The Pirelli racing tires bit into the snow and took up the passes and helped control the downward passage.
We did run into some more bad roads outside of Glenwood Spring.
Finally we arrived in Grand Junction about 12:30 CDT. Tad and Nick had waited up for us. I sent them updates along the way so that they knew where we were.
For the entire trip we were either just behind or just ahead of a storm. Our angel was busy. The news reported today that Denver really got dumped on last night. If we had stopped in Denver we would still be there.
A special thanks to Geoffrey and his mountain driving skills. All of our boys are pros when it comes to driving in the mountains. And we do appreciate them. Our girls also know how to drive in the snow. If they didn't they would definitely be stay at home girls.
We did have a wonderful time at the conference. I was among the original people who started this conference back in the 1960s. Erskine E. Scates was a missionary visionary and he wanted the churches of Western Colorado to be involved in missions. As a result "The World Vision Crusade" was inaugurated. Down through the years we had the best of missionary speakers and programs. I am sure that many were influenced to not only go to the mission field, but to support missions with funds and prayers. I can remember well the stirring services we had.
This year the featured speaker was David Butts, a prayer guru. He did a marvelous job discussing the role of spiritual warfare and the place of prayer. He gave me the ammunition for several future sermons inasmuch as I am in a series of messages on spiritual warfare.
We also spent time with our family in Grand Junction, the Mama, the Papa, the Grandma, the Grandpa, the Uncle (Nick) and ultimately the great granddaughter, Olivia Jean Paddock, "Ollie." We oohed and aahed at her by the hour, watching her every movement. "Ollie" is certainly in love with her Grandpa Tad. She has him wrapped around her finger already. My brother and his wife, Doug and Tommye Paddock, came from Moab Utah and we had a great afternoon together on Sunday.
The trip home was much less eventful than the trip to Colorado. On Sunday afternoon high winds hit the Grand Valley followed by an inch of snow. That gave us cause for concern, but our concern was unfounded. Our trip went well all the way to Manhattan.
Reflecting on the weekend, I marveled at the support we received from our boys. It was a great family experience. First, our oldest boy, Geoffrey, took off work so that he could help his parents get to Colorado. Marty took off work to stay at our house with his own children whom we normally watch when his wife is teaching. In fact Marty and Alisha stayed at the house and took care of the zoo while we were gone. Much appreciated, Marty. Finally, Tad and Gloria treated us like royalty. Great food, great hospitality. Special coffee was brought just for the old Grandpa and Tad prepared gourmet meals. We just want our boys to know they are appreciated and a source of joy and pride as we grow older. Thanks boys!
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