"I will lift up my eyes to the hills--"

I think we started traveling not too long after we married. We moved to Aiken, SC when our oldest son was a year old and of course we drove back and forth quite a bit to "home" here. While there for two years, we made "day" trips. The next three years we had two more children and started camping when our daughter was two and the boys were five and seven. We took trips to New England and to "follow the Mississippi River to Minnesota" the first two years of camping. The next year, I wanted to go to California and John said we could not afford it so I said I would get the money to go. I bought a sewing machine "on time" and took in sewing. The next year, I earned enough to go. We took three weeks and camped across the US and back, and all we spent was $500. Back then we could camp for $1 a night for four or us. We did not take Johny on that trip--he went to Easter Seal Camp that year.

Over the years, we camped in all but three states, but since then we have been in those states (Hawaii, Alaska and Utah). As the grandchildren came along we took them on camping and/or stayed in cabins on trips each summer. John and I have been to Europe four times, to the Holy Land, I have been to Japan, we have been on about 10 cruises and on five continents. I say that we never regret any trip we have taken but those we did not take. We have ridden the Orient Express from Paris to Vienna. We have taken a boat trip down the Rhine River. We have gone swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and had dinner in Monte Carlo. We sat in an amphitheatre where the apostle Paul once preached, We sat on the old temple steps in Jerusalem --- I sat there and ran my hand over the steps and thought how Jesus walked those actual steps!!!

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2