TransAmerica Day 4

Hello all from somewhere south of Denver,

So today was day four on our cross-country expedition. After checking into the hotel this morning at 4:30! (yes, that's 6:30 in the morning back home), we got a few good hours of sleep before we would resume our journey today. The thing about checking in at 4:30 in the morning is it is completely dark outside... you cannot see a thing. When i woke up this morning and walked out of my room, I was pleased to see a hill (which i formerly would have classified as a mountain) in front of me. Thinking 'hey that's a nice view,' i soon turned the corner of the building, heading for the church bus parked in the rear to see the most magnificent sight I've ever laid eyes upon: the Rocky Mountains. I literally stopped and stared at them for a good 30 seconds. It's amazing to see God's majesty here, it looks like something you'd use as a screensaver.

After loading the bus back, we set out for the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Mosca, Colorado, taking in all the majesty of the surrounding mountains and valleys through the use of our digital cameras and camera-phones. The Sand Dunes was an interesting experience...It looks like a desert/mountain was just placed in the middle of the largest mountain chain in North America. It seems so random. But anyway, the tallest dune was 750 feet vertical, and we made it our personal goals to climb to the top. However we soon realized that this goal was much harder than it seemed. To get to where the dunes actually began to rise was about a mile walk across blistering hot sand and rock. We climbed about three large dunes before many in our group were overcome by the higher elevation and physical exertion...it wasn't pretty, to say the least. We returned to the bus and everyone pretty much got to feeling better.

We'd also like to say hello to all our friends at the sand dune park that we gave pepsis and salutations to, especially Brody, Simone, and Mark (hope the spellings were right) from New Mexico.

(here's the link to the official sand dune website): http://www.nps.gov/grsa/

Man...the air up here is thin.

God Bless,
Davis Richardson and the TransAmerica crew

P.S. (By J.D. Partain)... So I thought I might elaborate on Davis' last sentence regarding the "giving away of Pepsi's" Upon hiking to the summit of the 3rd dune, we had several of our group grow ill due to the unexpected exertion combined with a poor breakfast of pop tarts and 8000-foot altitude air. However, once we returned to the parking lot, I gathered everyone together and discussed several of these mistakes (which were partly my own fault). Interestingly enough, we decided, as a group, to decrease the amount of junk food in our current on-the-road diet, to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables (especially in our breakfast)... But perhaps the most notable resolution was to create a temporary "prohibition" of any and all carbonated drinks (including energy drinks)! I will be the first to admit... I will have a hard time with this. I happen to love my routine Monster energy drink and can't imagine a burger without a cherry Coke. But I am impressed with how intent all of our youth are in this regard.

Which led to the next question: "So what do we do with all the soft drinks we currently have on the bus?" Someone blurted out "Let's give them away to everyone in the parking lot!" And the next thing I knew, everyone was emptying the trailer and the bus of every can of soda, running up to perfect strangers, families, offering them a nice cold beverage. Conversations were created and strange parking-lot-friendships sprang up out of nowhere. It was an amazing time. And yet... there is so much more to still come!

Thanks for all your support and comments! We'll do our best to keep this blog current... it is difficult at times to find an Internet connection, so give us a little patience! Thanks and God bless...

-J.D. Partain (youth minister of BHYM)