Four Corners

Four States...all at one time. This has been a dream of Shanes for many years. When he was a young kid he saw some pictures of his grandmother (Mawie) and she was standing at the Four Corners. Every since then he has thought about how cool that would be....well, he finally experienced it today. The day flew by as we left New Mexico, traveled some "CRAZY" backroads and ended up in Provo, Utah. Tomorrow we will complete the driving part of this journey as we arrive in Idaho Falls....Pray that we will find a place to live (either rent or buy) soon and get our kids back into a somewhat normal routine.

1700 miles down...800 to go

Today has been a day for new things. For those that know us know that Shane and I are very much planners. We spend a bit of time each night researching the plan for the next day, hotels, our route, even when we think we will stop to eat and where. Well...we kindof threw all that out the window. As we were driving through the lovely state of New Mexico looking at all the desolate but awesome land, I pulled out the atlas and was looking. I found a "back road" that would lead to a place called Farmington, NM. This was a little town near the Four Corners, which we had planned to stop on Saturday to take pictures of us being in 4 states at 1 time, and we could get there a wee bit quicker if we took this route. I showed Shane and he being adventuous as me said..."Let's do it!" We exited, fueled up and headed down state road 371.(this road was previously state road 666) We saw such beautiful landscape. God truly does amazing work! I will post a couple of pictures but they will not do the scenery justice. After settling in our hotel room, we headed out to see what we could find to do to burn some 2 year old energy. The mall was not too far so we stopped in and had dinner at Fuddruckers. We could not believe they had one in the mall. So after we ate we shopped around and then headed back to the hotel for baths and bed. Tomorrow we are heading to the Four Corners monument and then into Utah. We are hoping to make it to Provo or Salt Lake City tomorrow and then in to Idaho Falls on Sunday. We are hoping to get there on Sunday and start the home search on Monday. Of course we will keep you posted on our journey and thank you all for the prayers for our safe travel...we feel them. Please remember to pray for a buyer for our house....THANK YOU! Love you all!

Oklahoma2Texas2NewMexico

When we walked out of the hotel in Shawnee this morning, the 15 Degree temperature (not counting the wind chill) hit us in the face and actually made of think twice about this move across the US for the first time. As we hit the road, the snow flurries came quickly and we prayed harder than we have prayed the whole trip. As soon as we made it to Texas, the snow seemed to subside and we continued the "nothing but cattle and farm land for as far as the eye could see"... One common theme of the day was: "Wow, there sure is a whole lot of nothing out here". At one point in Texas, we started down a small slope and Kelley said, "what is that up there? It looks like a junk yard but something other than cars..." We soon found out is was nothing but cattle, all corralled up and awaiting the slaughter house. Pretty weird to be right on the Interstate. We thought we would never make it through Texas (I really think a mile is actually longer in Texas than any other state!!) Our outlook really changed once we crossed the boarder into New Mexico. As we crested the first major hill and started the decent, the most beautiful scenery appeared out of nowhere (see posted picture). We finally made the stop for the night in Tucumcari, NM and had a great time driving around the small town and checking out the old, rustic scenery. The Big K is the extent of shopping here and a handful of restaurants. We decided to go authentic and ate dinner at Del's Restaurant...they had great Mexican food. We plan on traveling through Albuquerque tomorrow and finding a room in Gallup, NM (or maybe venture closer to the "Four Corners" sight we plan on visiting Saturday...). Thank you guys for your prayers and we hope you enjoy this blog. Please feel free to leave us a comment, especially if you have advice or have traveled these parts before.

3 States 1 Day....

Today started off in Jackson, TN. We quickly made it through Memphis (sorry we didn't get to visit, Elvis) and into Arkansas crossing over the Mississippi River. The bridge was as big as I remember as a little girl. This time I knew we would go under the big metal beams and not over. We lunched in Little Rock at Jims Razorback Pizza and it has to be some of the BEST pizza ever! We decided to go for Oklahoma and drive in a bit and find a hotel for the night. Needless to say Oklahoma on I40 leaves a little to be desired in the way of plentiful hotels (unless you prefer the Kikapoo Inn). We ended up making it to Shawnee, a little town 30 miles before Oklahoma City and found a rather new hotel with an indoor pool. Denny's was next door so dinner was taken care of as well. After dinner Shane and Shaley took a dip in the pool and hot tub. Micah passed out by 7:30 so I unpacked and got things ready for the night and morning. Shaley returned barely able to keep her eyes open. She had a nice bath, some milk and magic tablet and was out cold by 9. Our kids also napped on the trip today for 2 hours. We are so blessed...we have had good weather and wonderful passengers. Looking forward to tomorrows venture. We are off to Tucumcari, NM.... (look it up on the map :)

Jackson, TN for the night

So we made it through 2 snow showers (both between Knoxville and Nashville) and finally made it to Jackson, TN around 4pm (central time). We are staying the night at the Holiday Inn. They had a great rate for military and also had an indoor pool. Shane and Shaley took a swim after dinner and within 30 minutes of a bath, Shaley is passed out cold...Micah traveled well today and we are truly blessed with two wonderful children. The plan is to blow past Little Rock, AR tomorrow and settle somewhere inside the state of Oklahoma. Please continue to pray for our safety and that the kiddos will continue to be good sports about traveling. Posted here are a few pic's from our journey from NC to Jackson, TN...

and they're off......

January 13.....We are loading up fixing to head out the door. Today we are leaving NC and are hoping to make it to Jackson, TN. That is about a 6 hour drive and we may be able to make it a little bit further. The forecast is COLD! but at least no snow. We are sad to be leaving family and friends and heading to a place we know NO ONE but we are eager to get there and establish a church family. A good friend called last night and said he had talked to a friend that lives there and got a good scoop on a church and school. So we know a little more than we did...Also, the church he found out about has several blended families...they have adopted other races of children...woo hoo! A couple of prayer requests we would love you joining us in are....#1 Safe travel, #2 Kids and our health, #3 A buyer for our house, #4 Our family, especially Heather, that we are leaving behind and #5 All the things that go with moving to a new area...a place to live, church, get to know the area, etc...Thank you all and we are so glad we have you in our lives to share this journey with.
Chat again soon....from TN!
Love, The Cooke's

Micah's B-Day Party / Going Away

So, we had an early B-day party for Micah last night at First Baptist Swannanoa. We enjoyed seeing lots of family and friends and watching Micah get hyped up on sugar...his first experience with "God's source of goodness"...We are packing up today and getting the trailer ready before the trip tomorrow. We hope to see more family/friends today to say "see you later" (Kelley doesn't like the word goodbye). Here are a few pic's from last night, hope you enjoy.