Sunday, 10/12/25, Went to the Crossing Church, rode up The Talimena Trail, ate at Queen Wilamena’s, came back to campground, Lew and Cindy got here, Everyone else got here too, registered, sat at our table and visited with each other and walked around and visited with other state leaders, dinner was provided at 5, had ham, scalloped potatoes, mixed veggies, salad, and cake, worship and then John Ogden Sr. spoke, went to see Bev and Ron, walked back with Doug and Sue

Worship team at the Crossings Church did great! Awesome songs of praise!

We are in the back, then Bill and Teri in front of us, then Al and Lucy, and Doug and Sue leading us

Bill took a selfie of all of us at the first scenic pull off we went to.  Bill, me, Lucy, Al, Teri, Bill, Sue and Doug

Doug, Sue, Lucy, Al, me, Bill, Teri and Bill

Teri, me, Bill, Lucy, Al, Doug and Sue

Our previous National Evangelist Rayleen and Roger.  We love still getting to see them here.

Jared and Jennifer...awesome worship leaders and amazing teachers of the Word

Becky and John Ogden Sr.

Russ, Bill, Jeff and Kathy at our table

All of us except Bill, Ron and Bev at our table.  Bev and Ron got here after the service

Jared and Jennifer at Leadership training

We all met at Al and Lucy’s campsite to ride together to the Crossing Church.  Worship was awesome.  They sang a lot of Elevation’s Worshis songs.  The pastor gave a good and very touching message and his daughter’s and him gave awesome testimonies.  They were in tears.  The wife of the pastor and mom to the daughter who had the miracle baby, was hold the miracle baby. 

After church, we got gas, then rode up the Talimena Trail.  Mel and Betty decided not to go for lunch because she wasn’t feeling well.  It was another beautiful day and it’s always an enjoyable ride.  We ate once again at the Queen Wilhemena Restaurant.  Bill and I got the same thing we did the other day.  It was so delicious and a great price.  We split a peach dessert with ice cream too.  Yum!   Lew and Cindy called Bill and said they were going to find another campground because the road to where they had to park their camper was too rough.  We suggested campgrounds to call and they found one 4 miles down the road from Iron mountain.  We thanked the Lord because we had all prayed for them to get a close and good campground.  Things are really filled up because of the 50th year celebration for CMA.  We rode back down the mountain the long way and then came back to the campground.  I had left a message with Cindy to call us if we could help them with anything.  We relaxed at our campsite and read our Bibles.  Then we went down to register and to put the candy on the table, the animal crackers and the Michigan Decorations.  Kathy had put some pretty fall decorations on it too.  Everyone was there by the time it was time to eat dinner, except Ron and Bev who were getting close.  The food line was the longest I have ever seen it there.  They had 500 sign up for Leaders Training.  We had 20 people from Michigan with only 2 missing (Debbie and Marcia).  That’s a great turnout.  

The worship was done by and international team and was awesome.  The Board of Director's couples each got up and welcomed us.  Then John and Becky Ogden Sr. welcomed us and Becky prayed over John and us and then he gave a great message.  Jared and Jennifer prayed for us too and he introduced everyone speaking.

It was so warm in there when we first got there that the chocolate candy we put on our table was melted.  Bill got a cup of ice and put small candy bars on ice so they got hard and we age some of them.  

Doug, Sue, Bill and I walked down to welcome Ron and Bev who were still setting up their camper.  We were all happy to see each other.  Then we walked back to our campsite.  Sue had a bright flashlight which was wonderful to be able to see where we were walking.  

It was a really fun and blessed day!  Bill beat me bad at 3-13 and I beat him bad at dice.  We sure laughed and had fun.

 

Saturday, 10/11,25, Went on a great ride to Oklahoma with Doug and Sue, ate At Southern Belle Restaurant, checked on Michigan table for leadership training,

Driving on a fun ride in Oklahoma 

Doug and Sue at lookout in Oklahoma

Bill and I

It was straight down....a long way.  We were very careful!!!

In the train car which is the Southern Bell Restaurant

It was very cool and the food was great

Cutest Smile.....

I got up at 7:15 and got ready, ate, then read my Bible.  Bill got up at 8, got ready and went outside to read his Bible.  It was only 66 degrees out, so I finished reading mine inside today.  Doug came over and was talking with Bill.  I could hear his laugh.  He’s got the best laugh.  About 20 minutes later, Bill opened the door and told me Sue was over.  I went outside and we all visited and planned our trip for today’s ride.  Sue is really organized and loves to plan rides and go to different places.  She had her collection of maps for around here with her.  She showed us the map and where we could go, so we liked and decided it would be a nice ride.  We called Bill and Teri to see if they wanted to go but they had got here late last night and were settling into their cabin and making trips to Walmart for things they forgot.  They didn’t have time for a long ride today.  We decided to leave at 10:30, so Doug and Sue led and Bill and I followed.  We rode down beautiful mountain roads in Oklahoma with hardly any traffic on them.  The roads were newly paved much of the way.  We ended up going to the Southern Belle Restaurant which is a railroad car which now has booths and tables in it.  Lots of people were there.  Our waitress had us wait outside until a booth opened up that she said would be in a couple minutes.  We came back in and there were other people that just came in and sat in the booth we were supposed to have.  There was a table the waitress was clearing off for us.  She apologized and was really nice.  We told he it was ok and we were fine at the table.  Bill and I got burgers and fries.  They were very good.  We kept going through Oklahoma and headed back to Arkansas a different way.

These roads were really hilly with some curves.  So much fun.  Some were pretty thrilling.

Bill did great driving, but his hand was bothering him because the cruise on the bike went out so his hand with his fused wrist got a workout.  I was praying for him.  We ended up back in Mena and stopped at the Pavilion when we got back to Iron Mountain to register.  They changed registration to tomorrow instead.  They had all of the table cloths on for our leadership training and tables decorated for 50th year celebration.  It looked so nice.

We went back to our campers and relaxed and almost got a nap in.  Not sleepy enough though.  Relaxing after our long ride was good though.  At 5:30, we walked down to the pavilion for dinner at 6.  We talked with lots of friends and people we see here every year.  When I got back to our table, there was a young kid sitting very close to where we had our stuff.  We squeezed in.  I introduced my self to him and he told me he was from Switzerland.  This was his first time there.  He owns 3 motorcycles and doesn’t live close to any of his family.  He was there with another CMA member from their chapter.  I thought he was 20 and after talking to him, he told me he was 32.  He had quite an accent, but spoke English very well.  He told me they speak German in Switzerland, but not the same as the Germans.  They have a hard time understanding each other.  It’s like Birish.  Bill’s mom used to speak that kind of German.  His friend didn’t speak much English and had an interpreter.  So interesting to talk to them.  There are people here from Australia too and many more coming from other countries all over.  

The food was good and we especially loved seeing Roger and Rayleen, our previous National Evangelists. There were 300+ there tonight and it’s only leadership and many more are arriving tomorrow.  Should be an exciting week where the Holy Spirit moves in a powerful way.  

We came back to the camper and I did the blog and Bill caught up on his phone.  Time for 3-13 and dice now.  Who will be the winner?  We shall 

It was a very good 3-13 game!  I won!  Dice was close but Bill was the winner 

Friday, 10/10/25, Ate breakfast, sat outside, read our Bibles, Rode to Oklahoma to check out campground that our friends are going to stay at, went to Walmart,, came back to camper, Doug and Sue came over, Rudy, one of the two master grill chefs came over to meet us, went to dinner with Doug and Sue, hung out at their camper afterwards, Facetimed with Kenzie and Rehvyn

Wonderful picture of Evan on the far right and Jack on the far left and all the other kids from Valley that helped build beds for Sleep in Heavenly Peace Ministry.  I’m very proud of them.

I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning.

Read God’s Word out on the patio.  We are having such great weather.  

Beautiful mountains in the background

Lew and Cindy’s campground.  It’s about 20 minutes from Iron Mountain, but a nice drive.  We are so thankful they are coming and found a place to park their camper.  

A little blurry, but this is across from our campground and we were riding home and saw it was on fire.  About a minute later we heard sirens and a firetruck and a fire rescue truck passed us and put it out.  Very thankful it didn’t spread. Things are very dry here.

Bill was negative the whole game and I was negative until the last hand.  Our dice game was very close but he won that too!  Wait a minute...he told me he was negative the whole game, but 0 isn’t negative yet....

Well today, I had my alarm set for 8, but I was sleeping so good and so comfortable, that I turned it off and told Bill I was going to sleep in.  I slept in until 8:30.  It sure felt good.  

I asked Bill if he wanted blueberry or plain pancakes and he said either.  I am so glad he likes blueberries in them now.  They sure tasted good.

We sat out on our patio for a while.  Bill helped put stuff away, then he read his Bible while I did the couple of dishes there were and then did my hair and got ready.  We both went outside after that and I read my Bible and did my prayer books.  

We unloaded the trunk of the trike, and left to go to Oklahoma to check out Lew and Cindy’s campground for them.  It was a nice ride and fun going by CMA Headquarters on our way.  We passed a gas station on the corner where we turned to ride into Oklahoma and gas was $2.60.  It is $2.69 in Mina.  We drove through their campground.  There was a huge rut we let Cindy know about when you drive down to the lower level where they are camping.  I let her know to watch for it when they get here Sunday and to stay to the left.  It’s not marked and is a pretty bad one.  I wanted to warn them incase they get here after dark.  

Their campground was nice and had a lake at the other end.  They were happy we checked it out and sent them pictures.  We came back and went into Mena, to Walmart.  We got some groceries for when Ziggy joins us camping.  We loaded them in the trunk and headed back to our camper.  Doug and Sue were all parked and settling in when we got back.  A man named Rudy stopped at our campsite and talked to us.  He said he has the same trike as us only a 2014.  It’s the same color and he gets lots of compliments on it.  He really liked ours.

He is the master griller cook for the week.  He makes grills that you can haul with your motorcycle.  He showed me a picture of his bike hauling the grill.  Pretty neat.  He told us they told him they need to prepare for 400 people at each meal here.  Wow.  That’s a lot of food and a lot of cooking.  He was really nice and interesting to talk to.  He hasn’t been able to come here since 2012 so said everything has really changed.  The camping spots around us weren’t even here back then.  He loved seeing all of the changes.  Vikki called and I was talking to her for a while, then Doug and Sue came over so I told Vikki I would call her back so that I could say hi to them.    We were so happy to see them.  We introduced them to Rudy and they talked with us for a while.  Then Rudy said he had to go, so left and we visited for a few more minutes with Doug and Sue.  We decided to go to the Mexican Restaurant in town for dinner.  It always has the best Mexican food.  Our waitress was really nice and did a great job.  She wrote God loves you on our receipt, so we talked to her about it and thanked her.  A guy behind me started talking to me and asked where we were from.  He was from Texas and came up for a couple of days to ride.  We invited him to come out and check Iron Mountain out.  Bill explained CMA to him.  I asked him if he knew Jesus as his savior and he said no.  We talked to him about the difference Jesus makes and how important it is to accept Him.  I asked him to pray and ask Jesus to show him how real He is and he said I need someone to pray.  His name is Eric and we told him we would continue praying for him.  A seed sowed, now praying someone comes along to water and God reaps the harvest.  

We came back to the campground and went over and sat and visited at Doug and Sue’s campsite for a while.  Kenzie FaceTimed us and we got to talk to her and Rehvyn for a few minutes.  Rehvyn was cute showing me his red pajamas. Always love seeing them and talking to them.  

We decided we would go on a ride tomorrow where we can be in three states at once.  Then we left and came back to our camper.  Sue brought me some iced tea that she had extra of when she went to pour it in her container for the fridge.  That was sweet of her.  

Now Bill and I are going to play our game of 3-13 and then dice.  

Thursday, 10/9/25, Sat outside for a while, set up clothes rack and hung stuff from our showers outside, shopped downtown and then at BeAlls.went on great ride On the National Talimeha Scenic Bypass, Lunch at Queen Wilamena Restaurant/lodge, Came down the curvy way,

It was 55 this morning.  We started the fireplace to take the chill off.  Still wearing the camping boots my mom made me.  Only wear them when camping.  I love the memory of her.

Bill was pretty excited when he saw this game.  He asked me if we should buy it.  I got a little scared at first, but then decided he doesn’t show me any mercy anyhow so we got it.

Riding up Ouachita Mountain

Halfway up

Bill wanted to stay on the bike at this lookout, so he took a selfie of us with scenery behind us

Almost to the top

Stopped for a picture when we were close to the top

I’m really liking my phone case with the built in stand.  It makes taking selfies easy.  I put it on the motorcycle and took this picture

There’s more writing on the rocks than we’ve seen before.  It used to one section and now it goes way down the road.

Queen Wilhemena Lodge and Restaurant

They have a beautiful lobby.  I didn’t take any picture of us eating this year.  We both ordered what we had last year though.  I got chicken Alfredo and Bill got chicken tenders, mashed potatoes and Coleslaw.  Yum!  It was just as good as ever.  A man came and thanked Bill for his service and talked to us for a while.  Then another man came with his wife and said he wanted to tell us something.  I thought it was going to be about Bill’s service again, but he just wanted to tell us thank you for praying before our meal and how it touched their hearts.  

Our ride back down the mountain.  The girl at the lodge was on the phone reporting that there was a boulder in the road east of the Restaurant.  Bill wanted to see if we could find it.  This road in the picture goes pretty much straight down and is very curvy.  Bill went slow and no boulder was to be seen.  We turned around and went back up and went the long way down the mountain and didn’t see any boulder in the road either.  They must have got their pretty fast to move it.  We saw lots in an area along the road, but good they moved the one in the road.  

                                          Relaxing on our patio when we got back

I was texting with my friend Sue who will be here tomorrow and she told me they were going to be on lot 66.  We walked around to find it and this picture is taken standing on their lot and our camper is on the next row over on the end.  We are going to be nice and close. Yay!

Bill playing No Mercy Uno..Do you see any mercy with all of those cards he just added up for my score?

We were going to sleep in today.  I set my alarm for 9.  I couldn’t sleep any longer than 8, so decided to just get up, get ready, eat, and read my Bible.  Bill got up about 15 minutes after me.  We sat out on the patio for a while, then decided to go into town.  We went into some shops and found my favorite shop from last year.  It has lots of Christian shirts and signs.  Also has essential oils and beautiful candles, plus lots of decorative stuff.  So peaceful in there!  I bought a cute hoodie for $3 and a shirt with a Christian Saying on it for $11,  We decided to go to Bealls after that.  It is our favorite department store in Florida and we love going to the one here too.  I got a super nice sweater for $16.  I’ve been looking for a sweater back home but didn’t see any I liked that well and they were priced really high.  

I got a cute 2 pack of pajama shorts for $9.99 too.  I didn’t think I would be wearing shorts to sleep in, but it is going to be hot for both weeks we are here.  I got a note book for $3.97 so I can take notes here.  My other one is getting full.  Bill found one that was real small to keep in the camper to figure out mileage.  Our mileage was better than our other small motorhome and we were using the generator the two nights we spent at Cracker barrel which comes from the tank we drive with.  

We decided to go on the Talimena Scenic drive and to to eat lunch at Queen Wilhemena Lodge and Restaurant to eat.  We both knew what we wanted.  The same thing as last time!!!

It was so delicous.  Yum!  I brought half of mine home.  We saw a couple sharing a piece of peach pie with ice cream.  We were talking about getting some and our waitress heard us and came closer and told us there was only one piece left.  She said she would set it aside for us.  It was delicious too.

We enjoyed our ride back down the mountain on the short route and back up it.  Then another nice ride going down the long way.  What a fun day!  

My sister, Brenda was doing so good today with hardly no pain.  They took out one cyst with 800 ml of fluid in it and a small cyst with 100 ml of fluid in it.  She sure will be feeling much better with those gone.  

We relaxed more out on the patio when we got home.  We went for a walk around the campground.  It is a big campground so I really got my steps.  Got almost a mile in just tonight’s walk.  We saw Jane and Jay, our National Evangelists come in on their motorcycles.  They stopped to talk to us for a while.  Then we walked a little farther and saw Barry.  He is from Indiana and he and his wife are really nice.  He is 6 ft. 7 inches tall.  I really look up to him lol.  Then I came in and worked some on my blog.  I called Kimmy to see how Jacob was doing in his new apartment.  She has been working so hard switching both boys rooms around.  Jacob will have Adam’s small room because he’s not home very often, and Adam will have Jacob’s larger room.  She showed me videos and they both look amazing.  They will both be happy boys. I got to talk to Melissa and Vikki today too, and texted with my nephew Matthew.  

I am stopping now to play the No Mercy Uno game.  I will add on later how it goes.  Well, we played two hands.  No mercy for sure!  I threw Bill a draw 6+ and he told me he could add to it, so added a 10+ which made me draw 16 cards.  Then he went out so my points were 250 for just the first hand.  Then the secondhand, he threw a 6+ and I put a 10+ on it, but he looked up the rule again and said no you can’t do that.  I drew the 6 cards, then he took his turn, then I put a 10+ down, he drew the 10+, then I still didn’t have the color I made it so I put another 10+ on it.  I still had a turn, so put a 6+ on next.  He had twenty five cards in his hand.  When you have 25 cards in your hand it says you are out.  You have to lay your hand aside, and he didn’t know what you did after that.  We decided to play it when it is earlier sometime and went pack to our fun easy game of 3-13.  He beat me by 8 points.  We played dice after that and I beat him by 2500.  We had fun and enjoyed our usual games and our blood pressure stayed in the normal range lol.  

Wed., 10/8/25, Went to Iron Mt. Pavilion to meet with volunteers, John gave devotion, we helped take inventory, then at 1 went back and packed up things for each cabin and Tent, and John and his helper delivered the stuff, We went and unpacked everything and put it in ,

Nice morning...65 when we walked to the Pavilion to go to the volunteer meeting

Bill sure did a great job parking the camper and lining it up with the cement slab with my guidance.

These cots for the international CMA members that are coming from all over the world were super nice, but very hard to get to stay flat.  Bill figured it out, so it became his job.  He sat on one side, then the other side and that usually did it.  Sometimes it took one more try.

Our ride going down the mountain into Mean

We both had a delicous hamburger and split some fries.  Afterwards Bill had a hot fudge sundae and I had a banana split.  It’s tradition here!

Bill...the plants in the background are beautiful.  I love the yellow hibiscus!

Our new neighbors next to us that got here today

Back at our camper, sitting under the awning

We got up early so we could be down to the volunteer meeting by 8.  We walked there so we were about 3 minutes late.  We stood outside for a while because the leader, John, wasn’t there yet.  We met the other volunteers and talked with them while we waited.  About 15 minutes passed, and a lady came and let us in.  We sat at some picnic tables and got to know one another better.   John got there and gave a devotion, then explained the jobs that needed to be done.  One was moving rocks and raking which they needed 2 guys for, then another was moving tables in the leadership training area while the guy washed the ceiling fans above, and the last one was opening boxes and taking inventory of all the things that were dropped off for the International CMA members to use in cabins or tents.  That’s what we did and about 8 others joined us.  My job was taking the towels out of the box and counting them.  It was kind of weird because there were 41 which is an unusual number to have.  When Connie and I stacked them, that’s what the number was though.  She counted pillows.  There were 38 of those.  Then we both counted pillow cases.  The guys counted cots, sleeping bags, mattresses for the cots, USB charger/plugs, extension cords, and small lanterns There also was 1 heater.  We let John know the numbers when he came back.  He told us we could come back at 1 if we wanted to and put them into piles that were needed for each tent and each cabin.  Bill stayed and helped move tables for the fan cleaner guy.  I walked back to the camper.  It was mostly uphill all the way.  That was good for me.  I relaxed when I got back and in about a half hour Bill came back and we both read our Bibles, then we both relaxed.  At 12:50, we got on the motorcycle and rode down to the pavilion.  John and another worker came, and they would tell us how many of each item we needed for Tent 1 and 2.  They took that load, and put them in the tents, then we would get the next Tent number of items ready for however many tents he told us.  It was a good system and everyone did great helping.  After we were done with that, John asked us if we wanted to go set the tents and cabins up today or tomorrow morning.  We all picked today.  

Bill and I went down by the youth center and set up two cabins down there with everything that had been put in there.  Then we went to see how Connie and her husband were doing.  We helped them in the one they were working in.  Bill told them he knew how to get the cots set up flat, so he did the two in the cabin they were in.  Then we went in the other two cabins they had done and got those two flat.  He had me help sit on one side while he did the other side   I guess he figured I was heavy enough to weigh it down too.

We got on the bike and rode up to where the big 2 room tents were.  I should have taken pictures, but I didn’t.  Bill and I were working together in the tent, and realized we were missing a sleeping bag.  We looked around but didn’t find it.  He went out of the tent and I was closing the windows like John had said too.  I was reaching and discovered the one wall was just snapped in and there was another room for a cot and the sleeping bag was in there.  I had Bill come back and he helped me carry the cot in the other room.  These cots were big and had the mattress, the sleeping bag, their towel, the cord and lantern on it.  Bill was surprised when I told him it had another room.  I guess we are really old school.  

We went to the next tent and started setting everything up in it.  Bill was. hot and thirsty, so went to the camper to get water.  I hurried to see if I could get everything else done before he got back.  I did!  Melissa called me and I talked to her while I was finishing.  Kept talking on the ride back to the camper and then in the camper.  Bruce has to get his vehicle fixed, so they wondered if they could use my car.  I told Melissa of course and told her where the key was.  We talked some more.  After that, Vikki called and I talked to her for a while.  She told me about her fun day hanging out with Caroline’s mom so Isaac and Caroline could hang out at the mall for a while.  They are friends from BayShore.  Peyton went along too. 

We left for Cruisers after I hung up from Vikki.  We rode the trike.  The temperature was 77 when we left, but no sunshine.  Bill and I were both cool when we got to Cruisers, so we put our jackets on and I put my velcro chaps on.  Then we ordered our food on the speaker outside, and ate it at a picnic table.  It was so good and so was our dessert.  We rode back to our camper, then sat outside for a while.  When we came in, Bill took a shower in the camper. That’s the first time we’ve used it.  I’m taking mine tomorrow.  We have full hookup so that’s why we are using it.  He said it was great, the water stayed hot and there was lots of room in the shower.  I can’t wait to try it.  

I worked on my blog and he caught up on his phone.