{"id":145,"date":"2016-05-17T05:52:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T05:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=145"},"modified":"2017-05-19T15:11:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T15:11:41","slug":"gods-light-wins-over-dark-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/05\/17\/gods-light-wins-over-dark-clouds\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, May 17 God’s Light Wins Over Dark Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"may-17-15\"SUMMARY:\u00a0 <\/strong>The weather was brewing for nasty right from early morning–dark clouds were moving in.\u00a0 But we had a wonderful breakfast at the Pie-O-Neer Cafe and when we returned to the Toaster House, the wood stove was crackling and purring, hikers and bikers were organizing their stuff, and all was cozy and cheerful.\u00a0 Once we were ready, we headed back to the Pie-O-Neer for lunch, and there were so blessed to meet a wonderful Christian family and have a great time with them.\u00a0 Manuel, the dad, prayed for us, and as it turned out, we sure needed that–we ended up walking in steady rain most of the afternoon, with thunder and lightning nearby.\u00a0 Then we found ourselves in SNOW, on top of MUD.\u00a0 Tonight our tent is tucked under a tree, while the rain continues.<\/p>\n

DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>We had a very comfortable night at the Toaster House and slept in till 7:00 am–time to head over to the Pie-O-Neer for breakfast. Brr, it was cold, and there were some seriously nasty-looking clouds moving in.\u00a0 We had a great breakfast, and equally\u00a0enjoyable conversation with a couple from Virginia, because at the Pie-O-Neer, you don’t sit at your own table–it’s set up more family-style, with long tables.\u00a0 The Virginians were really fun–very feisty, outspokenly political conservatives.\u00a0 “Where we come from, ” they said, “we take care of each other.\u00a0 Nobody ever goes for a government handout.”\u00a0 It also turned out that they work with Morgan horses, and we told them about the Morgan Horse Ranch out at Point Reyes National Seashore, where we often go to hike.\u00a0 The Point Reyes Morgans are being trained as trail horses for rangers to ride.\u00a0 We sang the praises of Morgans–they are smart, curious, and strong for their size. The Virginians told us some funny stories of the mischief their Morgans got into!\u00a0 Turned out that the reason they came to Pie Town was that it’s on their “bucket list” of places to visit.\u00a0 We were glad to have met them!<\/p>\n

Stepping out of the Pie-O-Neer, we were into a very cold and very strong wind, so it was wonderful to get back to Toaster House and find the wood stove crackling and purring (thanks to Masshole) and coffee on. Hikers and bikers were\u00a0making breakfast and organizing their stuff.\u00a0 Everything was very comfortable and warm, in contrast to the weather outside.\u00a0 I finished up my journal for yesterday, then Fixit headed to the post office to mail the journal, while I loaded up our food bags for the hike to Grants.\u00a0 The rest of the hikers were getting ready to go see the “Very Large Array”, which is nearby.\u00a0 Eventually Fixit got back and we hung out just a bit longer.\u00a0 Masshole commented, “Looks like dirty weather brewing.”\u00a0 But Canada was calling, so Fixit and I put our packs back on and headed for one last meal at the Pie-O-Neer.\u00a0 There were black clouds just to the west, spitting lightning.\u00a0 Not good.<\/p>\n

Back at the Cafe, we ended up sitting by a very nice family–Manuel, Rosa, and their son.\u00a0 They were very interested in what we were doing, hiking the CDT.\u00a0 One thing led to another, and we discovered that they were also fellow Christians who know and love and follow the Lord.\u00a0 After that, we had a wonderful time talking about all the evidence we’d seen along the trail for creation and then destruction (the great Flood in Noah’s time), and the many ways God had already taken care of us.\u00a0 Before Manuel and the family left, Manuel said, “I want to pray for you guys.”\u00a0 And he did, right there in the Cafe.\u00a0 Then before we could stop him, he snatched up our check and took it along with his to the cash register to pay.\u00a0 We were blown away.\u00a0 “God bless and keep you,” he and Rosa said as they headed out.<\/p>\n

It turned out we were really going to need Manuel’s prayers and blessing. At about 1:45, as we left the Pie-O-Neer, it began to sprinkle rain and the lightning was getting closer.\u00a0 No problem, we had put\u00a0on our raingear and I had my umbrella.\u00a0 I didn’t like the lightning being so close, but oh well.\u00a0 Less than an hour later, though, the sun came out and I thought, “Yeah, it’s just a passing thunderstorm.”\u00a0 The clouds looked like they were breaking up, and there were patches of blue sky.\u00a0 The sun felt good!<\/p>\n

But it didn’t last.\u00a0 The clouds reconsolidated, the rain returned, this time as real rain, not just sprinkles.\u00a0 We could hear thunder all around us, though we couldn’t see any lightning.\u00a0 The\u00a0CDT here is a dirt road, and it was climbing slowly but steadily higher.\u00a0 Soon we started seeing patches of snow that looked pretty fresh.\u00a0 “Must have fallen last night,” I said to Fixit.\u00a0 As the rain continued, the road became muddier and muddier, with more and more snow.\u00a0\u00a0Since we were still quite full from all the good food at Pie Town, we decided to skip supper and just push on through to the Thomas\u00a0Ranch, 15 miles from Pie Town,\u00a0where hikers can spend the night under cover.\u00a0 We figured we could get there by 7:00 if we hiked fast.\u00a0 But what we didn’t factor in was the mud.\u00a0 The rain continued, and the road had turned into one big\u00a0slippery mudhole, which made for very slow going.\u00a0 By 6:45, we realized we’d never make it to the Thomas’, and began to look for some way to camp.\u00a0 The problem was, all the properties along the road had very fiercely-worded “No Trespassing or Else!” type signs.<\/p>\n

The light was dimming, the rain continuing, all the ground soaking wet and muddy, when we finally spotted a\u00a0road leading to a housing development.\u00a0\u00a0Even better, there was a grove of small evergreen trees where the ground was covered with pine needles instead of mud.\u00a0\u00a0We managed to pitch the tent up close to the trees for some protection from the rain, but it was still pretty tough.\u00a0 Our ZPacks tent is not really the best thing in a rain.\u00a0 The part of the tent where WE are is fine, but the vestibule is not.\u00a0 I tried to rig my umbrella to cover the gap where rain was coming in, but it didn’t entirely work.\u00a0 So the best we could do was drape our wet raingear here and there, crawl into our sleeping bags and say, “Goodbye, cruel world!\u00a0 I’ll see you tomorrow.”\u00a0 But even that didn’t work.\u00a0 We realized we were awfully hungry.\u00a0 So we sat up again and ate some supper in bed before finally\u00a0lying down.\u00a0 It’s very cold and\u00a0maybe it will snow tonight.<\/p>\n

But we have the blessing of Manuel’s prayer and the encouragement of knowing that God’s love and light are WAY more awesome than any dark clouds and rain.\u00a0 We’ll see what happens tomorrow!<\/p>\n\n\t\t