Day 19 Denver, PA - Concord, NH

490 miles
Total miles 3630

We were able to leave around 7am to head towards Maine. I intentionally planned a “hotel” stay so we could just relax and “decompress” from all the visiting we have been doing for the past 19 days. I really “waffled” between which route to take, either by skirting the large cities of New York and Boston or by taking a simply longer route and head north before heading east.

We decided to head north and drive through the Pocono mountains. Beautiful drive. The day started off a little rainy, but it cleared up within 1 hour. Just as we were leaving the Yoder’s place, I emailed Jim and Amelia Lantz and mentioned we were driving through their area. I didn’t know exactly where they had settled in, but I knew it was New Hampshire and I know New Hampshire is not a large state.

We stopped along the Interstate in a town called Cobleskill, NY for a roadside picnic. This was just a little picnic table and nice manicured lawn. We tried to find a “letterbox” in this town, but was unsuccessful.

Just after we had lunch, I got a text from Amelia welcoming us to their home and the address. I looked on the map, and we were going to be driving within 45minutes of their house. We rerouted ourselves and head to their home.

We met Jim and Amelia plus their growing family back in the 90’s in Santa Cruz, Bolivia while Jim worked for the oil company and we were missionaries. Then in 1999 they moved and we moved the following year. We have not seen each other since 1999.

What a sweet time to reconnect and remember the fun times we had as families together. One example was when we took the Lantz family out to Ricon de Tigre, a missionary compound serving the Ayore Indians. We took the 15 hour primitive train ride from Santa Cruz to Robore or maybe the stop beyond that. The train came to a rolling stop, and we jumped off the train with hopes that Samuel was there to pick us up in his small private plane and fly us to Ricon. What an experience to then spend the next several days with Sam and Pamfi and learn about their ministry of local church and education for the Ayore Indians. Our accommodations were simple. The water was cold for the showers and the food was simple. Rincon has their own clinic, schools, church and farm. They shoot and kill their meat, raise their own chickens and milk the cows. It was quite the educational experience for us.

All this to say, we are thankful for the long weekend experience of learning about the challenges and rewards of serving the Ayore Indians. And it was a good experience to share with Jim and Amalia.

After a great sandwich dinner out on their back porch, we headed on down the road to Concord, NH. We got a linguistic lesson, as you pronounce this town as “Conquered”. We arrived at the hotel tired and bushed. We only have 4-5 hours for our Sunday drive to Maine.Read more