Zion, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Tucson...more desert!

Zion National Park in Utah was amazing! Very beautiful as you drive the 12 miles through the park. No room in the Inn (campground) in the park so we found ourselves in a family RV/Tent park surrounded by kids and more kids. It was fine though. As we go through this trip we're just happy to have a place to lay our head. We spent the whole day at Zion in the Narrows. The Narrows is a slot canyon (thin canyon) that you hike through water that is sometimes up to the middle of your thigh. The morning started by us getting gear from a local outdoor shop. We met a girl named Lauren at their sister shop the night before and she gave us all the info we needed for the trip. She said it would cost about 34 bucks for the both of us to get outfitted with shoes, walking stick, etc. Well, we showed up at the shop and we met Ryan. He outfitted us with all the gear and all the extras....and it was all free! Ryan is Lauren's boyfriend and she told him about us and they hooked us up with 43 dollars worth of stuff...so cool!!! Then the Narrows. Well, lets just say we went a little too far into the Narrows. After our 7 mile hike through water, we were so spent! It was probably one of the more grueling hikes we've ever experienced, but it was pretty cool. Beautiful scenery. If Kristi was ever going to kill me, it would of been right after this hike.

After Zion and the kids, we went to the Grand Canyon...North Rim. The reason we picked the north rim was because it's less crowded. Once again, no room in the Inn inside the park, so we set up our tent in the campground just outside of the park and it was really awesome! We hiked some of the Kaibab Trail and it was very interesting. Mules use this trail and let me tell you, everything revolves around the mules. When the mules approach, you better move out of the way or you'll disturb God's chosen little creatures. I guess some have died because people have gotten a little too close to them...probably fell off the cliff or something. I don't know. All I know is that they leave treats behind...nice smelly treats. Once again, we've never experienced a hike like this before. It was straight down and then straight back up. Only 3 1/2 miles this time. Now, our take on the Grand Canyon...well, it's nice. I think we've seen so much red rock and different types of formations and canyons, that it all starts to lose it's glamour. Now, we are thankful that we are able to experience all of this cool stuff, I just think we're ready for the ocean. New scenery I guess.
We then went to Sedona and once again, no room in the Inn anywhere. We found this lodge that had an opening. Our very first motel/hotel since we've been on the road. Kristi wasn't feeling well so it was probably better for her to be in a motel room instead of a tent in 100 degree heat. It was really cool. We found out during the night that the air conditioner wasn't working...minor details.

We then hit the road for Tucson as I (Jim) have family there that I haven't seen since I was four...which means I've never met them. It's been fun hanging out with my dad's Aunt Carol, his cousin Maureen and her husband Walt. I would label them as my Aunt and cousin but I don't know how all that works. You know, 2nd, 3rd, etc. We're really staying in the desert this time and it's very educational. We have to keep our hood up on our car so the kangaroo rats don't get into the engine and chew on our hoses. I also got to touch my first rattlesnake skin yesterday...it was almost 6 feet long. It even still had the rattle...pretty wild! Kristi got really close to it and then I scared her and she jumped and it was pretty funny. We also just met my dad's other cousin Barry and his wife Betsy as we all went out to dinner. We talked about the time my dad dropped me on my head at Aunt Carol's and other fun stuff...good times!

Tuesday morning we're heading to San Diego. Yes, no more desert! We'll spend a few days there hanging out on the beach, the zoo and the city. We'll then head to Newport Beach where my buddy from HS lives on the beach. We'll stay there for a few days.

Thanks for all the prayers and if there's anything we can be praying for you about, please shoot us an email (we have a lot of time on our hands).

Peace and love,

Jim & Kristi

Camping Tip From Jim:

Using a Tempur Pedic pillow in a tent is not recommended, especially if the temperature drops below 50 degrees. It reminds me of an old Charlie Brown saying, "I got a rock."

One word for the desert...HOT!

After our last blog in Santa Fe, we drove to Taos, NM. It was raining and cold and almost dark when we arrived at the campground, so we didn't feel like setting up a tent. We called a few B&B's looking for a rainy night discount, but it just wasn't happening. We bit the bullet and set up in the rain. I met a girl (Elena) in the bathroom who had quit her job and was traveling for 6 months with her boyfriend who had also quit his job. We shared some similar stories.

The next morning I woke up with a sore shoulder. I prayed all day that it wouldn't last long or that God would bring me a Massage Therapist(MT). (I had had the same pain for 4 months at one time)

We found Jonathon and Elena at their campsite and shared more similar stories. We went into town for lunch and to check out a Pueblo. Jim was impressed with the history and the simple living of the Taos Indians. I wanted to buy some bread that had been baked in adobe mounds called hornos, but they didn't have a credit card machine.



Later that evening we went out for pizza with Jonathon and Elena and had a great time. We showed them Jim's movie, "Burying Daniel", in the laundry room. We didn't hear any laughing over the washers and dryers...we're pretty sure there wasn't any.





The next morning, Jim made friends with a guy walking by named Evan. He just happened to be a MT. He worked on by back/shoulder and did some adjusting of my spine. I was a new woman. Praise the Lord! I was completely healed by the next day. He worked on Jim, Jonathan and Elena too. We never checked his credentials, but I'm sure he had them handy.



We then drove to the Great Sand Dunes in CO and hiked the dunes. We hiked the mountains the next day. It's been my favorite hike so far...finally some trees!






We then drove to Denver, CO to stay with Jim's friend Beth and her husband Doc. They made us an awesome meal and we hung out late enjoying fellowship with them and their family. It was an incredible time to be refreshed. We did laundry and dishes and slept in a real bed. They were incredibly gracious to us!




We then went to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. We got some great pictures/video of elk...it was amazing to be so close to wildlife! On one scenic stop, we passed a guy walking with a crutch/cane on each arm. I knew he had been in some sort of accident, and I wanted to stop and get his story, but I didn't. When we walked back by him, I told Jim to strike up conversation. (He is awesome at that!) A little into the
conversation, he (Mathew) told us his story without us asking. He had an incredible testimony of Jesus saving him after a car
accident that put him into a coma for 30 days. God has been healing him physically and spiritually for the past 7 years. He was there with his friend Mary and we had an awesome time of fellowship and prayer on the mountain. Matthew told me that he knew I wanted to know his story.

It was late when we got to the bottom of the mountain, so we drove West knowing we wanted to make our way to Utah. By midnight we had enough, so we stopped in Frisco, CO hoping there would be a Walmart where we could sleep. Wouldn't you know it, there it was! We brushed our teeth at the 7-11 and hunkered down in the car in the Walmart parking lot. I woke up laughing histerically when Jim stood in the parking lot with his sleeping bag wrapped around him asking me to take his picture.

We stopped in Vail, CO for a hike (so far Jim's favorite hike and he wants to move to CO). We then made our way to Arches National Park. After sleeping in the desert, we hiked the next day and then drove to Bryce Canyon, UT. On our drive, I looked for a campground with a shower. (It had been a couple of days) Jim wasn't quite ready for a shower and didn't think I needed one either. He doesn't like to pay extra for the better accommodations (hence, the Walmart). We compromised and stayed at a campground with 8 minute showers for 8 quarters. (8 minutes is a lot longer than you think)

The next day, we hiked Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon (red rock is beautiful, but enough already).

We woke up this morning and went rollerblading on a paved trail by our campground. Let me just say, it was not the Silver Comet Trail! Rollerblading in the mountains, I do not recommend. We are at the library in Panguitch on our way to Zion National Park and then the Grand Canyon in a few days.

Prayer Request: Along with some great God stories, there have also been some failures as well. Jim saw this older man and his wife on top of a mountain in Utah filling up their radiator with water in the extreme heat. He didn't stop and felt very convicted afterwards. Please pray that we will be more obedient in this area...to be available and to help people.

Peace and Love,

Jim & Kristi

Northern New Mexico...WOW!!!

Hey all-

Here is a quick update on our travels (bullet points for you quick readers wanting to get back to work).

* My (Jim) bronchitis is gone...thank the Lord! Travels are much nicer now.

* Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico...really cool! We hiked a little through the caverns and the formations were awesome! Saw the bat flight one evening. (Thank you Dr. Stansbury for the recommendation) There's seating and everyone sits around as 200, 000 bats come out of the cave to feed. The one thing that comes with bats is guano (bat crap). There's two places that we know of that you can smell this indescribable smell - Carlsbad Caverns and our car.

* When we checked in at the campsite near the Caverns, I (Jim) asked the lady if there were anything we should be concerned about like rattlesnakes, scorpions, etc. She said there were rattlesnakes. I said, "what do I do when I see one, run?" "Kill it" she said. Kill it?...it's not like we're carrying a shovel. She said I was bigger, so I should be fine.

* We drove through western Texas and southern New Mexico...have no idea why anyone would live there. We would see a few homes in the middle of nowhere with 100 degree heat and then not see another home for 25 more miles. Very baffling! A lot of ghost towns as well. Wish I had gotten some photos as this really intrigues me.



* On our way to Elephant Butte(recommendation from some cool people we met at the campground at the Caverns) we stopped to fill up the ION and saw this homeless guy named Bruce hanging out. We hung out with him for about a half hour under the overpass and prayed with him. I think he was intoxicated.

* Stayed at Elephant Butte. Beautiful lake in the desert...man made of course. I (Jim) talked with our next door neighbor at the campsite....well I listened to him anyway. I found that the best time to talk to him was in the morning. The afternoon and especially in the evening were a bit difficult as he really liked his beer.



* Then we headed up to Santa Fe and here we are. This town is so cool...we definitely could live here! Artsy and very Spanish looking. The park we stayed in is about 7 miles up the mountain and WOW, so beautiful! The people here are very laid back and the filming industry is picking up around here. So much beautiful scenery. We met this guy named Winston who is from Oregon and he's hanging out with his mom at the campground this week. He gave us his number for when we get up there we can give him a call. We took showers at a Japanese Spa on our way into town since there weren't any showers at the campground. It was the best $7.00 we have spent as there were no showers at the campground. Kristi had the opportunity to pray with a volunteer at the campground (Nina) that she saw again at the Spa. Her dad has recently had a stroke.

* We're headed to Taos (sp?), New Mexico. A guy we just met here in the restaurant said it's a must see and is better than Santa Fe. So, that's where we're going next.

* Also, just found out that my (Jim) Uncle Pete passed away Saturday. Please pray for my Aunt Carol and the rest of the family during this time.

* Things are good, but also please pray for unity as the ION is very small!

See ya-

Jim & Kristi

Where in the world are Jim & Kristi?

I'll try to make a long story short.

We closed on our house on May 17th. All went well.

Both Jim and I finished at our jobs on May 18th. I picked Jim up from work as we were down to one vehicle. I'll just say, it was a long process for him to say all of his goodbyes as his coworkers became like family to him after 10 years. (Huge thanks to Jim's coworkers for praying for us before we left)

On May 19th, we moved our stuff into Jim's ex-bosses house as he had a couple of rooms available for storage.

We stayed at our friends, Phillip and Cara's, and hogged their computer looking for a vehicle as mine was not reliable for our long journey. We took a day of rest on Sunday and went to a night of fellowship at our Sunday School teachers house. On our way home, we noticed a car for sale in a front yard. We stopped and called the # on the car and the owner came out to show us his car. It was a five speed, so it wouldn't work for me, so instead, God had brought us there to meet and chit chat with Reubins. He invited us in and we met his son and we think his nephew. They had just bought a trampoline, so Jim and I went out back and jumped on it for a while. An hour and a half after arriving we had the opportunity to pray with Reubins and some of his family. It's always awesome to be reminded that God's plan is much better than ours and that it is not about getting tasks accomplished. We soon forgot that, as you'll see in the next story.

After 3 nights at Phil and Cara's, we moved to Alison's as we still had not found a vehicle within our budget. We spent five more days extremely focused on finding a vehicle so that we could leave for our trip. We hit one dead end after another and we were both exhausted, confused, irritated, and doubtful. Basically, we had no peace. As we prayed, begging God to reveal his will, He made it very clear that we were so focused on the task of finding a car, that we missed out on several ministering opportunities. Jim knew that God was telling us that we had unfinished business in Atlanta. We committed the next day to hanging out with some friends that we had told we would hang out with before we left. It was an awesome day of fellowship and rest. God gave us incredible peace which only comes from Him!

We left the next day (Memorial Day) to Nacogdoches, Tx, in my car, knowing that God would either provide a vehicle somewhere along the way or that my car would make it across America. I was only pulled over once in Texas for speeding. The very tall officer with chew all over his teeth, looked down at my license and said with a very thick Texan accent, "Mrs. Sutton, are you on vacation?" I said, "Yes, Sir." He said, "Slow down", and gave me my license back. I high tailed it back to the car to Jim in his straw cowboy hat, looking like Crawl from the movie Son-in-Law as he laughed at me. After a few days of hanging out with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece, we drove to Lufkin, Tx to meet a car salesman that my brother had met the week before. We got a great deal on a car and were able to trade in my car. It was an exciting day in many ways, but most importantly, God gave us the opportunity to pray for the financial guy and our salesman, who are both going through trials.

We have been at Marc and Lisa's for over a week now, because Jim has been sick with bronchitis for the past two weeks. We thought it was just a cold, so we waited to got to the doctor. He's been on some good drugs for the past 4 days and is feeling much better. We are leaving tomorrow (Wed) morning for Carlsbad, NM to do some hiking at Carlsbad Cavern and see the bats. We are just going with the flow from there. We'll write more when we know.

Jim & Kristi

P.S. Never hold a deer by the legs!