Here's the view from/of our apartment

Our apartment is at the top of the stairs, in the center.

It would be even nicer if I was a golfer (some free golf for residents), but unfortunately I'm not. Anyway, our apartment is very comfortable, and we are glad to be here.

We found this great store!

Wow! We found this great store in Starkville, MS. It's called Wal-Mart. Wait . . . they have them everywhere don't they? Anyway, the first thing we did was go down and buy $300 worth of supplies. Reminds me of when we got married (in 1973), we went to the store and bought $65 worth of household essentials, and when we got home, we still had nothing to eat.

The news is: We are living in Starkville instead of West Point, though that is still our area of service. The mission apartment in WP is . . . substandard. Really, it was a dump. Most of the places I lived in on my mission in Canada 40 years ago were better than this. Pres. Holzapfel had a feeling that he should provide better housing for us, and we are grateful. We are now on the 2nd floor of a newer 6-plex, looking out on #5 green of a golf course. I will send photos later.

Please disregard the prior West Point address. Our new address for mail is:

Elder & Sister Johnson

42 Snead Way #11

Starkville, MS 39759

We just got internet connected today, so our email addresses work. We are just on the edge of ATT cell service, so some of our calls may get dropped.

Sis. Johnson has been in a cleaning frenzy for the last 2 days, but the apartment is now nearly up to her standards.

We head to Birmingham for a Senior Missionary Conference tomorrow, then back home late for our first Sunday meetings with the West Point Branch.

The last snow - hopefully

We're on the road, east of Albuquerque. Roads were pretty dicey, but the little Liberty handled them, and our U-haul trailer very well. No more snow for us til November!! We'd been in 4WD several times before this. The entire trip was 2125 miles. We only had 2 "incidents" the entire way: One goofball weaving in and out ahead of us blocked the view of a tire tread on the road, so we ran over it, without incident we thought, but when we got to Tupelo, MS, one back tire was low. Luckily, I had a can of slime and a little compressor, so I pumped it up and made it the rest of the way no problem.

The U-Haul trailer was a great idea (Thanks to Ryan Park). We'd never have gotten all our "essentials" packed without it.

On the road

This could be Mississippi, except for the snow. This is actually Fredonia, AZ. We wanted to make the drive through Jacob Lake to Flagstaff, but there was such a storm that we had to re-route through Page, AZ. It was longer, but safer, and we drove through Flagstaff for an overnight in Albuquerque.

I was really tempted!!

I had to give the C14 (Kawasaki Concours 1400, one VERY fast touring bike) one last run. I was really tempted (well, not really) to bring it along. Too bad it's not approved Senior Missionary transportation. It will sit in our St George home, under its cover, on the trickle charger, til I get back.

We're on our way!

We're in St. George, for an overnight stay. Then on to Albuquerque tomorrow, 610 miles. Next to Checotah, OK and finally to Mississippi. Take a look at our rig: The little Jeep Liberty is full, as well as the U-Haul trailer. I'd give you a list of everything that's in them, but it would be too long. Anyway, we should have everything we need. BIG NEWS: We're not going to be living in West Point (though we will still serve that branch). We just got word that we'll be in Starkville. Evidently, President Holzapfel (Mission President), thought that the West Point apartment was too dumpy, even for us. Word is the Starkville apt is very nice, so much for roughing it.

Ready to leave - almost

Our experience in the MTC was exceptional. If I can say that, you know that it was. More on this later. Really, it was great.

Our U-haul trailer will be packed to the gills, we never could have made it without that. A big snowstorm tonight, hope UDOT gets I-15 cleared by tomorrow morning.

Right now its 10:00pm, and Sis. Johnson is still vacuuming!! Enough with the cleaning already!! Let's get some rest and hit the road tomorrow morning.