Radical Sabbatical - Days 8-10

Jan 10-12, 2013

On Wednesday we hit the road again and headed northeast for St Louis MO.  Neither Tammy nor I have ever been there, and its on our way to Denver, so it was our next target.  Rolled into town at about 4 pm and started looking for a room. I just gotta say it, the iPhone is the greatest travel companion ever!  Within a few minutes Tammy found us a hotel downtown, just a few blocks from the Missouri River and the arch.


The hotel, the Roberts Mayfare, first opened in 1925, and I tell you the hotel still has the feel of that bygone era (if you're interested in such things, click here).  We felt like we were walking onto the Titanic!  The rooms have been updated with modern amenities, but they still have that 1920’s feel.  I don't usually write a paragraph about our hotel, but this one was an exception. One HUGE complaint though, the heating system is apparently still “old school,” so we had no control over the temperature in our room.  It must have been 80 degrees in the room, which did NOT make for a good sleep.

The next morning we visited the St Louis Arch. I didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it a top-notch park.  The Arch is a monument to the voyage of Louis and Clark, and is considered the gateway of the westward expansion of America. Of course we rode the tram up to the top, where you can see for thirty miles in each direction, but they also had a great museum area that chronicled the westward expansion.  It was a bit heart-breaking to hear how many US agents, and the government, basically steam-rolled over the native Americans in our quest to expand and grow.  Initially the Indian tribes were willing to share the land with the white man, but as is usually the case, western people want more than they currently have.  Little by little we relocated, renegotiated, and even forcibly moved the Indians onto land that wasn't deemed valuable. Oh, and we killed off all of their food sources, namely the buffalo.

Tammy and I both came away a bit torn:  one the one hand, expansion, growth, and new technology are all forces that have greatly benefitted all of our lives.  American drive and ingenuity has not only improved our quality of life, but has done more to help the world than any other nation.  Health, medicine, food production, transportation, freedom of all people regardless of race, freedom of religion; our world would be a very different place were it not for the birth and expansion of the US. But there are some dark stains on our past, and our treatment of the Native American Indians is one of those stains.  Lord, forgive us as a nation for how we have treated others.

After the arch we hit the road again, this time for a LONG STRETCH, as we needed to be in Denver CO by noon on Saturday, because… we scored tickets to the Bronco’s – Raven’s playoff game!  Total score! So on Thursday we drove for eleven hours and made it to Colby KS, about 200 miles east of Denver.  We learned something; the temperature drops quite a bit between St Loius MO and Colby KS, like all the way to thirteen degrees!  We got up early Friday, and hit it again, and the farther we drove, the colder it got, and the icier the roads became.  By the time we got to Denver, it was nine degrees.  But we had tickets to the playoff game, so we layered up, bundled up, and along with 70,000 other people, headed into Mile High Stadium.

Mile High is a great stadium; its clean, well designed, has lots of bathrooms and food vendors, and you can actually see the game!  Even from our top-of-the-stadium-nose-bleed section, we had a great view of the field.  And man, do the Denver fans LOVE their Broncos!  The energy was amazing, and I learned about the “Denver Thunder.”  Each time the team lined up for a play, the entire stadium started stomping their feet on the metal floors, which made the entire stadium shake like thunder.  The Broncos lost in OT by a field goal, but overall it was a great game.  Once the frostbite on my toes and fingers thaws, I should be able to use them again. ☺

Even though we are getting to see some cool places, I think the best time of the trip is when we are driving and praying.  Long hours in the car provide ample time to pray for all the people, and all the things, that due to our busy schedule don't make our prayer list.  So if you are involved in our life in any way, we’ve probably been praying for you!  If you serve the Lord in ministry at CCW or another church, we’ve probably been praying for you!  And if we missed you, I am sure we’ll get to you, as tomorrow we have another long day in the car!

So today (Sunday) is worship, do some laundry, get reorganized, and be ready to head for the Grand Canyon tomorrow.  Oh, and I think we’re gonna go see Zero Dark Thirty tonight.

PS if you want to see the pics from our tours, check it out here

Love you all!


Pastor Clay & Tammy