The Crazy Path Back to Denver
From Minnesota to Colorado, God is still showing up and showing off.
“Wouldn’t it be great if [a certain former client] asked me to stay with her pups for a bit?” I thought.
“That’s weird! Why did that thought go through my head?” was my next thought. It was so random and so specific.
The pet sitting company I sold in 2020 had over 200 clients when I left and I did not offer myself up for overnight stays ever. It was a very strange thought to have, aside from how much I loved her doggies, and it also would be an odd request for her to make.
About a week later, on August 31st, I got a text from that exact former client:
“Hi Andi! How are you and your travels? Your Facebook updates are fantastic and I hope you are doing well.
Quick question/huge favor to ask. Any chance life will/could bring you to Colorado in mid/late Oct? I have a long business trip/vacation planned for almost a year and my friend who was going to watch the dogs just had to cancel!!
…I was curious whether we might arrange some sort of deal … have a break from camping while watching my pups maybe…”
Apparently, God had planned out my October for me. I immediately said, “Yes,” even though my car needed its transmission fixed and I still hadn’t found a mechanic in Minnesota who could take care of it. If God wanted me in Denver mid-October, He’d either have my car fixed by then, or find another way for me to get there. I also figured He’d provide money for gas, too.
The Mustang had limped into Minnesota on August 19th after transmission issues began in Missouri just a few days prior. I was visiting my best friend, Heidi, and her family there and it wasn’t until September 5th that I was able to find a shop that could take the Mustang. Even still, it took another week or so for insurance to agree to cover it.
I was incredibly fortunate that the transmission had been replaced in April, just 4 months earlier, and that the mechanic back in New Hampshire was having his business insurance cover the repairs that would have to take place in Minnesota. Whew!!
The Mustang would not be fixed until October 5th, a week before I would need to leave for Denver.
So, from August 19th until October 13, I had the unbelievable privilege of being a part of Heidi’s family. For 8 weeks, I was grounded in a place where I was so loved and cared for and where I got to connect with some of the most beautiful people. I got to catch up on writing the book, while obviously neglecting this blog a bit. And in all of that time, not one of us got irritated or annoyed with each other. THAT is a miracle!!!
Throughout this journey, I’ve had a general rule of only staying with friends or family for 3 days. Any longer and there’s too much potential for it to get ugly. I like a lot of alone time and also have some quirks and stubborn tendencies that take a special kind of person to appreciate.
Fortunately, Heidi and her family seem to all be those special kinds of people. Or God just blinded them to all my faults. Either way, ALL of us were sad when I left and I am so grateful for the period of rest, community, and time to catch up on writing the book. There’s a light at the end of that tunnel and the next chapter of my life doesn’t get to start until that book is finished being written.
After losing my main job in July, I’ve picked up a few little contract jobs here and there, but the Lord is not allowing me to commit to anything else until this book is done. It certainly makes things monetarily difficult…things that were already difficult before getting fired.
Meaning, I was already homeless when I had that remote job, but most all of us have been placed under financial hardships during the current administration. So, I’ve just been making the most out of it and trusting God to lead me on a wild adventure…and He has!
Heidi and her family have taken in several foreign exchange students over the years, so fortunately, they were used to having an extra body in the house taking up space and eating their food. I would eat with them and Heidi was sneaky about buying my normal groceries before I even ran out, so I barely bought anything other than wine while I was there. I had to contribute SOMETHING, right? (Okay, I did help clean, too.)
Right before I was about to leave, Heidi told me her grocery bill had not changed one bit while I was there. She said she always noticed a huge difference when the exchange students were there and there was no increase over the 8 weeks I was with them.
We both agreed it had to be a God thing. We had both spent a lot of time praying He would protect our relationship and I believe this is just one of the ways He did just that. He would not leave an opening for resentment here.
I have been asked to let go of a lot that is precious to me. Friends, homes, snow skiing, a business, jobs, support systems, the most amazing dog ever, my hair, almost everything I owned, a ton of valuable sports memorabilia from my days at Kroenke Sports, and a lot of other valuable things and people have all been stripped from my life. I feel so very fortunate to have the opportunity to miss so many good things, good people, and a Good Gonzo. How blessed am I that I once enjoyed so many wonderful things and people?
And I am blessed that, at least for now, God has a hedge of protection around Heidi, my car, and my bike…although He did let satan steal it for a couple of hours, but made him give it back after I thanked Him and praised Him “for the crap.” [A Stolen Bike and A Promise Kept]
Before I ventured out of Minnesota on my way to Colorado, I estimated how much gas would cost to get to Denver. I based it on the local gas prices, which were around $3.50/gallon, and figured I would need about $150.
I had $135 and a jar of change. LOL!
I headed out and trusted God to provide whatever I needed. (Of course, I prayed asked for provision first.)
It turned out that $3.50/gallon was a bit low for anywhere else on my journey to Denver. Oh, well. I wasn’t worried.
I would need to fill the tank 3 times to get where I needed to go and, as I got close to needing to stop for the last fill-up, gas kept getting more and more expensive. So, I kept waiting to see how much prices would be down the road.
My dash began to warn me I was getting close to empty. With only 23 miles left to empty, I found the most expensive gas station I’d seen all trip!
I have run out of gas enough times to know that the Mustang lies! Once the gauge passed “20 miles left to empty” the number would begin to plummet rapidly. At 2-4 miles left, the car would usually die.
It is sad that I know these numbers so well. At least I’m good about getting my oil changed regularly, though. ;-)
So, knowing that this $4/gallon station was my last opportunity to not get stuck on the side of the road, waiting for a serial killer to offer me help and a can of tuna, I decided to pull in and pray I had enough money left to get enough gas to get to Denver.
A bus full of people was inside the gas station waiting to pay for their Cheetos and beef jerky. So, as I waited for the line to diminish so I could pay for this gas that must have gold flakes or something super special in it, I asked God what we were doing. He said, “Keep going.”
“Huh? Okay, I’m game for this challenge!” I thought.
I checked my map to see where the next gas station would be. (This was the first time I realized the Google Map posts prices along with gas station locations!)
There was a gas station 19 miles away for $3.30.
“Go to that one!” I heard the Holy Spirit say.
“Okay.” I laughed. “I trust You, Jesus.”
Knowing my car was completely lying about those 23 miles, I dove into this next faith challenge.
Sure enough, after the number on the dash passed “20,” it began to plummet way faster than the actual number of miles I was driving.
As the amount of miles left on the map became more than the number of miles left in my tank, I just laughed and said, “I trust You, Jesus!”
I said that A LOT!
I’ll admit, there were a couple of times I pictured myself having to jump on my bike to finish the trip, then would quickly stop that thought. “Nope! I trust You, Jesus!”
When the map said I had over 8 miles left to go and the dash said 4 until empty, the number where I knew auto death could happen at any moment, I laughed again and said, “I trust You, Jesus!”
I watched the dash tell me I had ZERO miles left until empty. The “I trust You, Jesus!” whispers now came in quicker succession and my palms might have gotten a little sweaty.
I traveled FOUR miles with the car telling me I had NO gas. “ZERO miles left until empty” was on my dash for 4 solid miles as I made my way all the way to the gas station without ever running out of gas.
WOO HOO!!!!!! Jesus is so very good to me!!!
I bought $37.14 worth of gas which was all I had left in my bank account. It wasn’t enough to for the amount of miles I had left to travel to Denver. I found $5 in change and went back in and asked the attendant to set my pump up again. He looked annoyed and confused by how happy I was.
He had no idea what kind of miracle had just happened.
I made it to Denver and my final dash reading said that I had 55 miles worth of gas left in my tank. I had just enough!
I always have just enough!
My God is good!
The next day, that zeroed out bank account mysteriously had $2 in it. There was no reason for it. It just appeared from nowhere.
Then, two late payments for old jobs came through and I was pre-paid for my pet sitting visit.
All was well again and I got to have my faith built up even more!
Life is good and Denver was fun!
I’m in Moab now going off grid for a couple of weeks…