Our Friend Jim.......

October 17, 2012

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” 

– Tim Cahill

With Jim in Mesa Verde, CO

I have SO much to tell you guys!  

Remember back two years ago (ya right....I"m sure you remember that) when Chuck and I were on the road and were in Moab, Utah and parked next to a guy from Florida that had just lost his wife to cancer and he made me cry.....no....BAWL???  Of course you do......here's the link to that Blog:

http://murphys-mom.blogspot.com/2010/09/day-77-steeeeeep-ramp-and-man-that-made.html

Anyway, two years and many thousands of miles later, he was returning home from his 3rd trip since that chance-meeting in September 2010 and stopped in to the Etheridge house in Mt. Vernon, Texas for the weekend!  We have kept up with this sweetheart-of-a-guy all this time and were thrilled that he made time to visit with us!

We showed him Countryfest here in beautiful East Texas and introduced him to our friends.........

Took him for his first ride on the trike.....

And helped him get all 468 photos from the past 4 months of traveling off his camera (He's a lightweight....thats the amount of pictures Liz takes in a day......!)

How blessed....BLESSED.....are we to have had the opportunity to meet people like Jim throughout our travels??

Blessed Indeed!!!!

"Adventure is a path. 

Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - 

forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. 

The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. 

Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. 

In this way, you will be compelled to grapple with the 

limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - 

and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. 

This will change you. 

Nothing will ever again be black-and-white." 

- Mark Jenkins