We spent a long, hard day driving today.  We had hoped to be able to make it to Blythe, CA on the border with Arizona, but by the time we got to Palm Springs, we were just glad to be able to find a place to stay!

We started out in orchard country (or are these nut trees?)

We stopped at a couple of rest stops, and…

…I had an interesting encounter in the women’s restroom at one of the rest stops.  I walked into a stall that had pieces of toilet paper all over the floor.  While I was sitting on the toilet, I took a piece of clean toilet paper in my hand and picked up all the pieces and threw them in behind me.  After flushing, I came out and started washing my hands.  The woman who had been in the stall next to mine came up next to me and said, “I pick up toilet paper in public restrooms, too!”  It’s the first time anyone has commented on my habit.  I told her, “Years ago, I took a Christian Homemaker’s class from a woman named Bobbie Hassman.  She said that she wanted us to join her in the Bobbie Hassman Public Restroom Beautification Project, and I’ve been doing so ever since!”  Bobbie Hassman has a ministry called Panache Living for Women (http://panacheliving.com/).  It was a lifesaver for me when I was a new mom, and I’m thinking about taking some of her classes again at my ripe old age!

Up in the mountains again

We cut across the mountains north of LA. We’d do anything to avoid that mess!

Even so, we hit a traffic jam heading to San Bernardino, but the traffic leaving there looked just as bad.

While we were sitting in traffic, Mark looked up one Walmart after another and I called them, but none of them would let us stay there.  We finally went fifty three miles beyond San Bernardino to a Flying J Truck Stop near Palm Springs that said we could stay there if we could find a place.  We are parked so close between two semi’s that we aren’t able to open our bedroom slideout very far.  We are near the gas pumps and the sound of truck engines is rather loud, but we had been afraid that there wouldn’t be any spots available and we prayed on our way here.  We feel that God brought us to the perfect spot for us.  We also had an opportunity to go in and take a shower.  In the morning, we can get gas here and be on our way, so we are satisfied.

Oh yes, one other praise…When we left Milwaukie, I didn’t know if I was going to have a job when I get to Arizona.  I had a computer confirmation that I’d been hired, but no one was claiming me for their office.  Last night after I posted my blog, I had a couple emails from H&R Block saying there are two possible offices that need me.  I still don’t know which office I’m going to, but at least I know there will be a job for me there.  I’m a happy camper tonight!