Day 7 Saturday.  A day “off” according to Mike.  No concert.  Bryan and I woke up with no particular plan, only knowing that at 6:00 we would be meeting my nieces again for dinner.  We ended up spending part of the day at the nearby mall, which I think is at least twice the size of any mall in Salt Lake.  Bryan had a blast because this mall had a Lego store!  We spent at least 45 minutes in the Lego store, and he even filled a container from the “choose a brick” wall.  Walking down the mall we discovered the most fascinating restaurant called “Rainforest Cafe” where they had life size animatronics throughout the restaurant.  Including elephants, gorillas, and large butterflies.  There was also a starry sky, and every 15 minutes a thunderstorm that brought the animals to life.  This of course was where we ate lunch, vacation is for fun!  After lunch we had ice cream cones and went back to the hotel.  We had dinner with my nieces and their father at a Mexican food restaurant that has been open since I was a teenager.  I recalled having our swim team banquet there while we were eating!  I ended up telling their dad the story about my “loose screw”.  We laughed and laughed again–much like on day4 when I saw them. (mileage days 3-7: 497)

Day 8 Sunday.  Sunday we were driving to Vegas to see the Road Show for the third and last time.  Mike was also flying in to meet us there (yeah)!  In addition to this we knew we were going to meet up with Chip (SaharaChip) from the online stream chat.  Sylvia picked us up at the hotel about 10:00 and off we went.  We met Chip when we got there, and Mike took a taxi from the airport.  Bryan was very excited to see his dad after not seeing him for a week (and so was I).  It was time to go down to the venue at 3:30 since for the Vegas show we all had Donor Passes due to someones generosity towards us.  We all went slighty different ways for different reasons, and all I will say is, in the process of walking to the venue, I went around the building the wrong way!  It was a long walk.  We still got there in plenty of time.  When it was time to line up for the meet and greet we met a gentlemen who worked at the venue named Mike (yeah another Mike).  We had an nice conversation.  When we went into the meet and greet room we had a few minutes to wait, so I asked the whole room if we could pray together while we waited–they said yes-so we did.  In that room while we waited for the guys to come in we prayed together for the ministry that would happen that night.  It felt just like the chat room but only in person!  What a privilege to go to the feet of the Lord that night with all those people who were supporting the ministry that night.  The show was once again amazing.  Each person doing exactly what God had gifted them and asked them to do for Him.  They lifted up His name, shared His word boldly and rightly, and we worshiped as a body of believers.  Once again it was wonderful to share in person the worship experience with someone from the chatroom.  Knowing that regardless of our locations, that the Lord brings us together as one body because of the Holy spirit is beyond my comprehension.  After the show that night I purposefully stayed so that I could get in line with each band so I could to pray with them.  I managed to do this with Sidewalk Prophets, Remedy Drive, and Fee.  To encourage them and lift them up to the Lord, letting them know that their ministry is being covered in prayer nightly by those of us in the chatroom.  The Lord is so sweet and gracious to us, that He would allow us to lift our needs to Him, come before Him, listen to us, and then answer us.  We ought not take that privilege lightly. (mileage: 229)

Day 9 Monday.  Time to go home.  The Road Trip will end.  Not an exciting drive, through the desert.  Turned out not to be as boring as we thought it would be.  Halfway between nowhere and Ely on Hwy 93 Mike saw a sign for a restroom and pulled off the highway onto a little tiny side road and went about a 1/2 mile.  What a huge surprise!!  We came upon one of the most beautiful parts of God’s creation I have ever seen.  A place called Cathedral Gorge.  I would imagine few people even know it is there, much like those Volcanoes and lava fields we saw on day 2.  I have never seen the Grand Canyon with my own eyes, but I would imagine this is like a mini Grand canyon only with spires in it.  It was awe inspiring.  We stayed there about 15 minutes, it was snowing!!  We plan on returning there.  We continued on from there.  On the rest of our journey we saw a small herd of Elk.  Fascinating.   God is wonderful.  We arrived at home after 11:00, pulled into our driveway, and the Road Trip was over. (mileage:425)

Total Mileage on the car-1778.  Mikes estimate 1500.  Over by 278.  I think some of that was the side trips (about 40).  Then there was the getting lost on Tuesday night after dropping Mike off (about 50).  Let’s see,  I think he didn’t add in random driving around Southern California.  Lot’s of miles. Lots of laughs, friends, family, fun, prayers, worship, and surprises.  That is a good Road Trip.  Oh, and Mike’s travel during that time, twice that, since he flew home from Long Beach, then flew to Vegas to pick us up via Long Beach again.  So let’s give him credit for 3400 Miles.

Day 6 of my Road Show Road Trip started with waking up too early. Why?  Because a 9 year will not skip breakfast even though his mother was up too late driving back to the hotel from an amazing show the night before!

After that we took it easy for the first time in days.  We stayed in the hotel and did nothing of significance until lunch time.  Bryan built a house of cards, I wrote my blog, and then we went to lunch at the Quiznos conveniently located across the parking lot of the hotel.  We returned to the hotel and again did nothing of significance for the afternoon until it was time to go to the concert venue!!  Sylvia came and picked us up, and off we went!

In line we met two woman, who have been friends since college and are now both teachers in the same district.  We were able to share our stories, and we even played Yahtzee, which we conveniently brought the parts of for the wait in line!  We had fun with 2 sisters in Christ, except for the ants who interrupted.  Bryan met a little girl and made a friend instantly.  Once again the wait in line was not a chore but a blessing.

We discovered that Ely, who had a donors pass, had saved 2 seats in the front row for us!! (Thank you Ely-amazing and unexpected!)  Why 2?  She did not realize Bryan would be with us.  At first I took Bryan to sit somewhere else, then Sylvia went to sit somewhere else, then it turned out there was one seat in the second row so Sylvia sat there.  So Bryan and I sat in the front row (thank you Sylvia).  In the process of finding the seats I was approached by none other then MMBiggestfan, from the Rock and Worship Road Show live stream chat!  We each knew the other would be there and I told her to look for me since my shirt would be fairly easy to spot–and she spotted it right away!  What a joy to meet a sister in Christ whom you have prayed with, worshiped with, and fellowshipped with for so long.  Then we were able to worship together, fellowship together, and at the end of the show pray together.

Before the show started I told Ely I wanted to pray with some people around us, so her and I gathered a few people, we got together within the chairs, right there in the front, and prayed.  We were just saying “amen” as Sidewalk Prophets walked on stage!  It is such a  joy to me to pray for others, with others, and to show others that praying is such an easy uncomplicated thing.  Once again in the middle of the concert when there was just a couple of minutes down time I turned to those same few people and asked them what they needed prayer for, and we prayed.  They seemed a bit surprised I even asked, and I am glad I asked, for they should not be surprised by prayer amongst the body of believers.  At the end of the show Lisa (mmbiggestfan) and I prayed together, it was so sweet to pray together in person, to hear her voice with me at the feet of the Lord.  Having had the chance to worship together and fellowship together and now pray together.  How divine.

The concert of course was amazing!!  Each of the bands doing exactly, once again, what the Lord has so uniquely and amazingly gifted them to do.  I am at awe the way the Lord has brought everyone in the Rock and Worship Road Show all together.  The bands, crew, volunteers, each person together in such a large tour, to do His work.  Then again I ought not be since He is God and He will do whatever He wants to accomplish His purpose.  I am thankful He gives each of  them protection each night, strength to accomplish it, comfort when they are weak, peace in being away from home, and each other to fellowship with and be accountable to.  I am thankful He is using them in His work because I see what He is doing through them in the live stream chat room and now in the live venues.  The Lord is using them to ensure He is glorified and praised, and His Word is rightly and boldly proclaimed.

For them I will continue to pray.  Pray that they will seek the Lord each day individually and corporately.  That the Lord’s protection, wisdom, guidance, strength, shelter, comfort, and peace will be theirs constantly.  I ask you this question, will you pray with me?  Will you continue to support them in prayer, or start supporting them in prayer?  Will you provide the most powerful thing you can to this ministry by going to the Lord’s feet for them?  Let’s take a roll call.

Day 5 was long but amazing!!  It included sharks, music, and sea shells.  It was packed with fun, rhythm, and meeting others in the body of Christ.  I would say the day was well worth the blisters on my feet.  Note to self, do not wear new sandals, no matter how comfortable they seem, to walk around the aquarium.

The Aquarium of  The Pacific in Long Beach is much larger then the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake, which we frequent quite often.  Bryan was most fascinated by the fact that he was able to touch sharks!  They had sharks in the smaller species, such as bamboo sharks.  He also loved seeing the sea turtle, the guitar fish, and the seals and sea lions.  He told me the seeing the divers in the really large tanks was pretty cool too.  He met a volunteer who was instantly fascinated by his knowledge and understanding of whales when he asked Bryan a question, which of course didn’t surprise me since I said to his aunt “Bryan is about to shock this guy”.

After the aquarium Melissa dropped me off at the Venue, where I waited in line for Sylvia to arrive. Bryan went with his Aunt Melissa to the beach, collected sea shells, and went to Chik-Fil-A for dinner.  While waiting I met one of the guys from Remedy Drive as he went down the line saying hello to people.  When Sylvia arrived she went and spun the Sidewalk Prophets prize wheel and won a really cool little Sidewalk Prophets Van which I will give to Bryan.

When we got into the venue we got seats right of the stage right on the railing, so we were sitting at stage level.  As far as I am concerned this is as good as front row.  A bit before the show we spotted KyleRay and Brody behind the stage on the side where we were sitting.  KyleRay walked by a few minutes later and I called his name, of course he had no idea who I was when he looked!  He realized when he saw “@race_12_1” on my shirt, and I told him.  He said his 5 days off were great!

Just before the show started I asked the few people sitting by us to pray with us for the ministry that night.  They said they would be glad too, so we did.  As they night went on I found out the woman sitting on the other side of me had just returned from the mission field a few months earlier, and wanted to go back.  I told her at the end of the night I wanted to pray with her before she left, and we did.  So I did what I went to do, I took what I did in chat every night out on the road with me, I did what God wanted me to do, I accomplished what he set out before me.  So tonight I will repeat that task, with the hope to expand it even more, for I know God’s intention is greater than what I can even see.

When the show was over we found out JanetPlanet5 was in the building.  We tried to find her, but finally gave up, and waited in line to see Sidewalk Prophets.  While we were waiting, I jumped over to see Francesca Battistelli, and was able to thank her for saying “yes” to God when He asked of her.  Back over to the Sidewalk Prophets line where Sylvia had waited, surprise surprise, there was Janet, 3 feet form us!  So I got to meet her after all.  It was good to finally meet her.  When the guys saw me, they apparently recognized my shirt, because they saw it outside, and a picture of it had been taken.  Cool I suppose.  Told all of them thank you for saying “yes” to God as well, for the impact the ministry they are doing is enormous.

That is really what it all comes down to.  The impact it is all having.  Not numbers, not dollars, but changed lives for the sake of the gospel and growth in it.  The fact that they each said “Yes” when God said “do this for me” means they are doing what God needs them to be doing to have that impact.  He will ensure the work accomplishes it’s intended goal, He just needs us to say “Yes” and remain faithful in the doing of it.

Now that I am sitting down in a hotel room and not in a car, I can give you all an update on the road trip days 1-3.  So far things have been mostly as expected, with a couple of side trips, one planned one not.

On day 1, Sunday, we left West Wendover for church and drove the 120 miles as we always do.  After church we reset the odometer and headed out on our trip.  Our goal that day was to make it to Fillmore, Utah.  We decided to break up the drive to Southern California into 3 days rather then 2 on this trip so that I would not have to endure too many hours in the car, and so we could enjoy those days.  The drive was as expected, and we arrived in Fillmore.  After checking into the hotel my husband discovered we were just a few miles from several extinct volcanoes and the lava fields of Millard County, Utah.  Of course this meant the first side trip on the Road Trip.  We drove just 10 miles out of town to discover amazing lava fields where farmers had planted right up to the edge of it.  Several extinct volcanoes we never knew were there, that you can see from I-15.  Well worth the 30 minute round trip drive.  Then back to Fillmore for dinner and the hotel for the night.  325 miles on our Odometer.

Day 2 we had breakfast in our hotel and our goal was to reach Las Vegas, where we would have dinner at my sister’s house, then stay the night in Henderson.  We arrived in Las Vegas and spent the afternoon at my sister’s house, where she made us a very yummy taco dinner, complete with dessert!  We played Yahtzee, and boggle, and we laughed enough to make my cheeks hurt.  We then went to the hotel, which in google maps looked like a dirt lot with a hotel under construction, we were glad it still wasn’t that way when we found it!  Day 2 Mileage 304 miles -total mileage 629.

On day 3 of the Road Trip our goal, Ontario California where Bryan and I would spend 5 days.  We drove part of the way and stopped for lunch at a well known burger place with a play land.  Bryan very much needed this!  He had fun, and off we went to complete the last of the drive on day 3.  When we arrived we called Bryan’s aunt Melissa, and she came to the hotel to see us and have dinner.  We went to dinner at Coco’s, since they didn’t have a wait and we didn’t have time to wait!  Mike had to fly home to work for the week, so when it was time to take him to the airport, my best friend of 27 years, Sylvia, came and met us.  She is my “chauffeur” for the week (for those who don’t know or don’t recall-I do not drive due to my medical issues).  Sylvia went with Mike and I to Long Beach airport (why Mike didn’t fly out of Ontario airport 5 minutes away–it was way cheaper out of Long Beach!)  Bryan was given the choice to go with us to the airport-or hang out with his aunt, his aunt easily won and he stayed with her.  He got to go to Bass Pro Shops.  He was probably glad he did, since on the way back we had (not planned) side trip number 2.  Sylvia and I missed one of the interchanges coming back from the airport and went about 20 miles out of our way!!  Not so fun in L.A. traffic, and since I haven’t lived here 13 years it took me that long to figure out we were in the wrong place!!!  Well, we were in the car longer then we thought we would be, but we were having fun catching up in the process. Day 3 Mileage 369 Total Mileage 698.

Now it is the morning of day 4 and there is no real plan.  Play it by ear, do whatever, just hang out.  Which is going to have to be ok.  It is ok sometimes to not have a plan when you are on vacation.

If you follow me on twitter, you already know about the insane road trip I have coming up in April!  I am going on a road trip to attend the Rock and Worship Road Show!!  I have started to call this the “Road Show Road Trip”.  This will include 3 show in 4 days with my best friend!  We have been friends since 7th grade,  just over 27 years, so if you do the math you can probably figure out how old we are within a year.

Well this Road Show Road Trip is not that simple to pull off, as I do not drive due to my medical issues, so my dear and loving husband will be doing a bit of traveling to make this happen!  When we begin talking about which on one of the Rock and Worship Road Shows I might go to, we started to joke around about elaborate plans to get me to one.  You see, the closest one to our home is over 300 miles away.  Last year I was driving, and drove the 612 mile round trip to see the nearest show Live and In Person!  Well, that won’t be happening this year, so he is driving my son and I over 600 miles to Southern California, leaving us there with our car for my best friend to drive, and flying home to work.  Then, we will attend the Long Beach and Ontario shows, drive to Las Vegas for the show there, and my husband will fly to Vegas to drive my son and I home!  So yes–this is quite the road trip.  The Roadshow bands and crew will have one more show in the middle of that–as we are not going to the Phoenix show and they of course will be.

After all that joking around about how to get me to one of the Rock and Worship Road Show shows, my husband managed to make it possible for me attend 3 of them.  In the end of all of it I can imagine there will be more then a few people who will think I am a little crazy, not that a few people don’t already think that.  But who cares, I am going to scream loud and pray hard all three nights, and if that makes me crazy then I’ll accept that.