We've been on a two day road trip. Armed with a list of 13 ward members
to locate/confirm/visit and the GPS, we left Wednesday morning and traveled
almost 500 k or 312.5 total miles. Of course, the weather was terrible,
but the miles and miles and miles of vastness were beautiful, as was the
ocean's green color at Beachport. We saw millions of sheep and cattle
along the way and a few horses.
I may have mentioned that driving on the right side of the car on the left side of the road has been difficult to master for my chauffeur (Lee does all of the driving- I COULD drive but no need if we are always together), but add in very narrow lanes, rain and windy conditions, oncoming log trucks, in addition to poor or no road signs or house numbers, and you have a better feel for the adjustment he's made. We were both thankful to get back to Mount Gambier today around 3:00 pm.
Our "finding" success was limited.....we had a couple of very tender mercies though. As we were driving down a long limestone (think miles and miles of packed gravel, not paved ) road out in the middle of nowhere, looking for an address, with no help from GPS, we passed a station wagon pulled to the side of the road. Shortly afterward, we pulled over to check our map and address. Then the same (and only other car we saw) car pulls up beside us and the driver rolls down her window to ask who we are looking for? Turns out she is the mail carrier and told us she could drive us right to it and to follow her. Really? What were the chances we would find the one person who would know where a particular family with only a section number for an address lived, down a very looooooooong, and I mean, LONG desolate road?
As Lee was checking out of the motel Thursday morning in Robe, he was asking questions at the desk about our next stop several kilometers down the road. The guy checked the map for Longbottom Lane. He'd never heard of the road or the family name so then he went into the back office to bring out a local girl who lives out near Longbottom Lane and she drew a map right to it! We were blessed in both instances, for without those two people who were in the right place at the right time, we would STILL be looking for the remote addresses.
There are information centers in most every town and those people were helpful today also.
We stopped for the night by 4:30 (it gets dark by 5:15 and we don't want to drive after dark because although we want to see a kangaroo, we don't want to see it on our windshield :-))
Robe is a beach town and we didn't realize it's mostly closed for winter. We hadn't had lunch and now it was dinner time. Some people (especially me) were starving and getting grumpy and we couldn't find anyplace open to eat...we finally stopped at IGA and bought crackers, ham, and laughing cow cheese and ate it without utensils for dinner and breakfast, along with apples, nuts, and cookies we had in the car. Yum Yum!
Anyway, the highlight of the trip was visiting some members in Kingston. We called ahead to arrange our meeting and they were absolutely wonderful! Their family is long grown and gone, and John and Jean have built their dream home overlooking the ocean. It's remote, and rough, and requires lots of hard work, but they seem happy there. He was kind enough to help us locate another address in the town and he called later in the evening to insure we made it to our stopping point for the day. We invited them to Mount Gambier Ward Conference Sept. 21 and 22 and left invitations at other members homes along the way. From Kingston, it's 97.5 miles to attend church in Mount Gambier. The stake building is in Adelaide approximately 271 miles from here. This information should make it difficult to murmur about minor distances we encounter in the US, huh?
Today, we are back to our regular duties. I can hear the wind and rain howling outside but we must get to it. Until next time......
I may have mentioned that driving on the right side of the car on the left side of the road has been difficult to master for my chauffeur (Lee does all of the driving- I COULD drive but no need if we are always together), but add in very narrow lanes, rain and windy conditions, oncoming log trucks, in addition to poor or no road signs or house numbers, and you have a better feel for the adjustment he's made. We were both thankful to get back to Mount Gambier today around 3:00 pm.
Our "finding" success was limited.....we had a couple of very tender mercies though. As we were driving down a long limestone (think miles and miles of packed gravel, not paved ) road out in the middle of nowhere, looking for an address, with no help from GPS, we passed a station wagon pulled to the side of the road. Shortly afterward, we pulled over to check our map and address. Then the same (and only other car we saw) car pulls up beside us and the driver rolls down her window to ask who we are looking for? Turns out she is the mail carrier and told us she could drive us right to it and to follow her. Really? What were the chances we would find the one person who would know where a particular family with only a section number for an address lived, down a very looooooooong, and I mean, LONG desolate road?
As Lee was checking out of the motel Thursday morning in Robe, he was asking questions at the desk about our next stop several kilometers down the road. The guy checked the map for Longbottom Lane. He'd never heard of the road or the family name so then he went into the back office to bring out a local girl who lives out near Longbottom Lane and she drew a map right to it! We were blessed in both instances, for without those two people who were in the right place at the right time, we would STILL be looking for the remote addresses.
There are information centers in most every town and those people were helpful today also.
We stopped for the night by 4:30 (it gets dark by 5:15 and we don't want to drive after dark because although we want to see a kangaroo, we don't want to see it on our windshield :-))
Robe is a beach town and we didn't realize it's mostly closed for winter. We hadn't had lunch and now it was dinner time. Some people (especially me) were starving and getting grumpy and we couldn't find anyplace open to eat...we finally stopped at IGA and bought crackers, ham, and laughing cow cheese and ate it without utensils for dinner and breakfast, along with apples, nuts, and cookies we had in the car. Yum Yum!
Anyway, the highlight of the trip was visiting some members in Kingston. We called ahead to arrange our meeting and they were absolutely wonderful! Their family is long grown and gone, and John and Jean have built their dream home overlooking the ocean. It's remote, and rough, and requires lots of hard work, but they seem happy there. He was kind enough to help us locate another address in the town and he called later in the evening to insure we made it to our stopping point for the day. We invited them to Mount Gambier Ward Conference Sept. 21 and 22 and left invitations at other members homes along the way. From Kingston, it's 97.5 miles to attend church in Mount Gambier. The stake building is in Adelaide approximately 271 miles from here. This information should make it difficult to murmur about minor distances we encounter in the US, huh?
Today, we are back to our regular duties. I can hear the wind and rain howling outside but we must get to it. Until next time......
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