Way Out West     

April 1-4, 2022

Getting ready for a long trip is challenging.  I've got to pack enough diapers for Grace, enough clothes for her for a week with bibs to match her clothes (because they gotta match), socks, shoes, and barretts for her hair. Then there's food / drink for the road.  I used to give her a lot of Ensures but too much of that stuff is hard on her.  I had a lot of eggs at home so I made eggs salad for all of us.  I pureed a slice of bread with egg salad and contained it in something I could throw away after the meal. Because we're out for a long trip I filled a larger cooler with contents from our refrigerator including a large container of chili, cheese slices, summer sausage, baby carrots, green pepper slices, 3 salads for myself, not to mention all the chips and pretzels. And don't forget to pack school work. Gotta look ahead and make sure I've brought all of the tests and quizzes they're supposed to take.

Friday was uneventful with an all-day drive to Fort Smith.  The usual school on the road - except that after 14 years of homeschooling on the road, I've learned to abbreviate lessons and to use a different approach to subjects like geography and history.  Obviously, we can see things that we might have only read about had we not been on the road.

On Saturday evening we made it to Guymon, Oklahoma.  And the following morning we still had an hour and a half drive to the First Baptist Church of Felt. We have known Pastor Orden and Sister Gayla and their 2 children, Sherrie and Orden JT for 13 years.  Our kids have and are growing up together and we love this family dearly. 

Sunday morning in Felt marked the first time I accompanied our trio on the bass.  I told Bobby a year ago that I had a desire to learn the bass.  He really didn't see the point so he didn't encourage me in that.  In 2018 in La Crete, Alberta we saw a family group sing and one of them played a Uke Bass.  I was amazed at the deep sounds made by this tiny bass guitar.  When in Pigeon Forge last summer for the Inspirational Country Music Awards, I had just dropped Bobby off at the venue for a rehearsal and with time on my hands I decided to drive to the music store on 66 and see if they had any Uke basses.  They did have just one, a Kaia, with pickups, built-in tuner, and a gig bag.  I bought it.  

When Hope left for school, I began moving bedrooms around and when I gave Grace her new room, I decided to put the keyboard in her room.  She loved it when I played for her so I decided to add a bass amp under the keyboard, my bass mounted above it as well as a blue tooth speaker for purposes of practicing the bass with music played from my phone.  Grace is so happy that there's a music corner in her bedroom.  Bobby, Faith, Justis and I have gathered beside her bed with our instruments and practiced a few times to her delight.

Anyway, I took a rabbit trail from our western tour to give you the back story about the bass guitar addition. My habit has been to practice the bass every morning after I dress Grace for the day. It's been working well and we decided that I'd begin playing the bass on stage in April on the tour west.  I'm still getting used to it but it's fun and it's only 3 songs.  We use tracks for everything else. 

Back to First Baptist in Felt.  Gayla fixed us an amazing roast beef and potatoes lunch and then we continued westward another 20 miles to Clayton, New Mexico to Pastor Randall Floyd's church - another friend of many years.  Randall had tables set up in the sanctuary at Clayton Assembly of God and we enjoyed a variety of soups for dinner and then sang. Pastor Randall and his beautiful wife, Cindy, have 3 sons that, just like the Hartley's in Felt, we have watched their children grow up.  

On Monday morning we made our way south through the Texas panhandle to Hobbs, New Mexico where we sang at Full Gospel Assembly of Faith, pastored by Benny Greenlee.  We had a wonderful surprise when 3 couples walked in and introduced themselves as friends from Canada.  Nellie Derksen told us she was Joella's aunt.  Joella is a dear, dear friend from La Crete, Alberta, who, shortly after we sang there in 2019, she came to visit us in Tennessee.  Nellie was with her husband, Carl.  They were visiting their daughter and son-in-law, Joe and Crystal, who live in Seminole, Texas.  The third couple was Joe's parents, Neil and Tina Neufelt.  (We can't figure out why they weren't in this group shot but we got a pic of them in the next post.) We couldn't believe we had La Crete friends at a concert way down in Hobbs!  We were thrilled.