Found a Job in Clearwater, Florida!

This update is long overdue! So much has happened, and I've been so very blessed in the past several weeks!

My trip pretty much ended in Gainesville. I had thought of continuing along the east coast and ending up back in Michigan. But, while staying in Gainesville with my brother Brian, I made some contacts in the area. Florida has held some appeal to me for quite some time now – especially since my youngest brother lives there and has had a positive experience. While Gainesville did not hold any openings, I came across an outfit in Clearwater (2 ½ hours to the south and west) that had need for some technicians. I sent an email and received an answer very quickly. I was asked to come for an interview the next day!

The interview went well, and I was offered a job at a Clearwater Toyota. They are constructing a brand new state-of-the-art 46 bay air conditioned facility! Despite a very significant set of changes, I have felt God’s leading and direction in all of this. I started working there on January 7! So finally, after 6 months I have a job lined up!

To those who I missed along the way, I ask your forgiveness for bypassing your place when I was in the area! And to those who I never made it to but had intended to, I ask for your understanding! I returned to Michigan directly from Gainesville. After a short while, I flew back to Clearwater to get an apartment lined up. I drove back down to Florida over New Year’s Eve, sleeping in the car at various rest areas along the way.

I extend an open invitation to any of you who may be in the Clearwater area! You are highly welcome any time! Just give me a shout or send me an email!

Gainesville, Florida

My initial "final" destination has been reached! It's been so very nice to reconnect with my brother Brian! He's got a nice house here in Gainesville, and he's been so very hospitable to his old and boring brother!

Florida is MY kind of place! Forget about the women, (altho I think they are here somewhere!), the weather in just plain gorgeous! I see on my Grand Rapids weather link 29F right now! In Gainesville right now it's a cool 69 (truly cool for this time of year!)! Sure, it does get hot (Lagos hot) in the summer time - actually, come to think of it, it's probably hotter and possibly even more humid! Lagos is always right around the same temperature - year round! 89 -93. This area gets up to the upper 90's, and they are surrounded on BOTH sides by ocean. Yep, it's hot and humid here!

I've started looking for a job in this area. So far, no luck, but I don't expect to find anything right away! I have dropped off resumes and filled out applications where I can and in places that interest me. Gainesville is smaller than I anticipated (95,000). But boy does their weather appeal to me! In the end, I will probably be stuck in Michigan, but I can always dream now that I have that chance, can't I? I certainly do hope that I can relocate to this area! Give me hot weather any day!

Oh, and the SAND is so WHITE along the Gulf Coast! Brian and I went fishing there a week or so ago. Fishing sucked (or the fishermen), but the sand was amazing! So white and very fine! It could be mistaken for salt if you set it on your table! Incredible! Since I have not caught any fish yet, I guess I DO have a reason to come back here! :)

Arizona and Texas

When I thought about Arizona, I thought about the arid dryness that it's famous for. I thought of the cacti and the brown front lawns, the wide open spaces with nothing in them. Well, for the most part, my perception was accurate! It's truly a dry place! Pretty much nothing there. Of course, you do see the odd cactus sticking out of the landscape, and it holds a beauty all of its own. Amazingly, I only saw the cacti in Arizona! Nowhere else! I was a bit surprised by that...

Texas is big, but everyone says that! It's basically the same size as Nigeria, with almost no people (23,500,000). Yes, they have great big cities with huge roads that suddenly widen and become so large you think you're in Los Angeles! But there's really not a whole lot to Texas, from what I could tell! And I know most of my Nigerian friends will think of the weekly show "Dallas" when they think of Texas. Perhaps there is incredible wealth there, but in the areas I traveled, I didn't really see it. I'm sure there is significant affluence some places, but I guess I run in the wrong circles! Of course, when I travel, I like to take roads other than freeways whenever I can. That way, you SEE the country! Driving along freeways is a sure way to miss anything that might be out there of value to see! Driving along the old Western Highways where settlers and pioneers first traveled was really neat! Stopping at the DOZENS of little "Historic Monument" signs was interesting, giving just a hint of flavor of the Old West and what sorts of things went on the very place I was standing.

Interestingly enough, right behind this placard here was a Police car occupied by a sleeping policeman! I thought about running over there to take his picture, but figured he would wake up about the time I took the picture! The thought of another four days in Texas being followed by a patrol officer just waiting for me to slip up so he could seize my camera did not appeal much to me! I just know I would have slipped up somewhere in those four days!!

9,872 miles / 15,887 kilometers

Worship

“The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD's name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.”

It’s not difficult to be in a state of worship when all around me are clear indications of God’s creation and his handiwork! I can see where Isaiah got those words – now more clearly than ever! It’s truly difficult to imagine the scope of the sights that I'm seeing! Words fall far short of what I see! And once again, so do photographs. My eyes cannot fully comprehend the distances I am seeing; they are incapable of taking in the vastness of the vistas in front of me!

Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Glenn Canyon, Natural Bridge National Parks all have unique and inexpressible beauty! Each have a magnificence of their own. To say one is better than another is to make one less impressive or important than the other – and yet all have such tremendous majesty that it would be a travesty to try to rank them! Not only are the parks themselves beautiful, so are the sights between them! One of today’s most remarkable experiences was dropping 1,100 feet in only 3 miles! When we came to the first corner, seeing a sign read “5 mph” we thought that must have been a mistake! But then, upon reaching that corner, it became very apparent why we needed to go that slow! Were anyone to miss that turn, it would be a 1,100 foot free-fall to certain death! The drop-off was incredible! Once again, pictures cannot show the extraordinary view I got from that mountain. Nor can they get close to giving you that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach!

A Pick-up

I am no longer traveling on my own. I was warned that on this trip I may meet someone special and end up taking that person along with me. I didn’t really expect that to be the case, and I certainly wasn’t out looking for anyone! But, they do always say that it’s when you are NOT looking that you stumble across what at one point, you were seeking! So yes, I am traveling with someone now…

My Dad joined me on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas (a preacher, no less, in Las Vegas!). We spent the next day visiting an exhibition called “Body – The Exhibition” (I think that’s what it was called…). It was very interesting indeed and tastefully done. I would recommend you take the time to see it if it comes into a town or city near you!

From there, it was the Hoover Dam and then off today to see Zion National Park. Currently, we are just outside of Bryce National Park staying at a hotel in Panguitch, Utah. We expect to head to Bryce tomorrow and take the time we need to. Dad will be with me for a week, and flies out of Phoenix early Wednesday morning. So we have a leisurely schedule in this area and should be able to do some hiking and trekking much as we did today. The scenery is incredible! It’s hard to believe that this country can have so many varieties of landscapes and sceneries! I am often left in awe at the surroundings! This is indeed, a very beautiful country! If you have not made such a trip, it’s well worth it – never mind the cost!!

I went back to the west coast along California Highway 1. Once again, I saw more clouds and fog than anything else! Perhaps this is normal for this time of the year. Even when I visited Hearst Castle, it was very foggy and I could not see the entire castle for the fog in the air! Still, it’s not the weather that makes the experience pleasant. It’s the freedom to travel and the ability to take the time to do this. What has become boring, tedious and mundane to the familiar is exhilarating, exciting and stimulating to me, a newcomer…