Whew! What a trip we had to Roca Blanca. It took four full days of travel but was a pleasure all along the way. Let me start at the beginning. Wednesday in Springfield, we met Alan Buster, a farmer from Kansas City, who was going to travel down with us. That day, our first leg of journey was only to Tulsa, Okla. where we were to meet the Olsons. They are a family of four, James, Cassie, their daughter Saralynn, who is 10 years old and Andy, who is 7. They are the new administrators in training at Roca Blanca. It was a foggy and rainy day. Just before reaching Tulsa, we saw a horrible accident with an eighteen wheeler and car. The car exploded into bits and pieces and burned. . We stopped but realized if we didn’t leave quickly, medical and police would keep us backed up for hours. Other vehicles and persons ahead of us were already attending the needs of the scene so we went on and arrived at Joyce’s cousin Sharon’s house on time as planned. While there, we picked up 7 sewing machines a ladies’ group were donating to the Base. We dumped out a couple of containers of truck and tool stuff into the truck bed to insure enough space. A cousin of Joyce, Sharon Honeyman, blessed us with a dinner, a bed to sleep in, and a hearty breakfast next morning before we headed out.
We reached Laredo, Texas the first night and slept well. Wake-up was 5:30am and after finding coffee, we began the border crossing about 7am, finishing around 10 am with a breakfast of muffins in between waiting periods. We paid customs on the sewing machines and the 7 computer towers we were carrying but they didn’t search or harass us. The Lord be praised. So, we pushed on to reach Delores Hildago, Mexico by night.
We chose to take the Mexican toll roads up to where we turned off to go to this village just north of Mexico City as we wished to bypass the capital city with its busy streets. They were very good roads, the drivers were very careful and considerate, and travel was easy. Once we turned off the toll roads, we still had good roads for the most part but we also had topes, big speed bumps. They are at every village before, in between, and after. You had better find them and slow down or suffer pain and sorrow both to your body and your vehicle. We also had a secondary reason for going to Delores Hildago and that was to pick up boxes and boxes of ceramic tile, a sink, and accessories for bathroom and kitchen. Oh my! We somehow got 20 plus boxes in among our already full truck bed and still closed the cover. We want to stop right here to praise the Lord for the truck He truly blessed us with. Even with such a heavy load, it didn’t show anywhere and therefore, even when we later passed several check points of police and/or military, we were never searched. To God be the glory because He knows all things…ahead of time.
You will wish to kick us for not taking more pictures at DH. We arrived late and were tired and had to wind through very narrow streets to find our hotel for the night. John was about to come unglued as he sometimes had to try 2-3 times before he could maneuver a turn. Its not the thing you feel like doing after driving new roads for 13 hours. But the town was wonderfully quaint and we were right on the square next to their beautiful Catholic church. We headed out for a late supper watching the locals strolling leisurely around the square socializing here and there. The first true Spanish town, meal, and culture was exciting to experience even as tired we were. The heavy dark wood furniture as old as could be, the big ceramic vases so full of color, the stucco walls brightly painted, and everything decorated for Valentine Day too. John and I enjoyed our first fish tacos, restaurant style, with mango juice.
Early next morning we were ready to leave and realized there was no one to open the locked front door, the parking lot wasn’t open, and we were going nowhere until after at least 7:30am. So, we waited then went to where we picked up the tile. Awesome, handmade tile and sinks and accessories. Hope you can view the picture well enough to get a good idea of the beauty and craftsmanship. ‘We left DH around 10am after coffee and the last of the large banana muffins. Sure was glad to have them along. Stopped mid-day for a lunch on the tailgate of the truck with sandwiches, chips, cookies and whatever other offerings could be added. That day we went through San Miguel de Ayendo which is an exquisite town of fascinating shops, many tourists, and many retirees from many countries. If we have spelled this correctly, you can probably find it online and view it more in depth. We are all desirous of going back through there and stopping a day to see it. We again stopped late in the evening, found some dinner and went to bed. I especially enjoyed the red snapper soup that evening with hot rolls.
The fourth day, we found our coffee and pushed hard all day with little stopping so that we might reach Roca Blanca by 6:30pm where a lovely dinner was waiting us. We and Alan were given rooms on the bottom floor of the hotel with access to a large kitchen and so far, here we have remained. Thank you so much for your prayers for our travels.
