Blessings in Kings County

Moro Rock, from the bottom

Our next stop on the journey was to the Fresno area, Hanford CA, to be specific, to visit some extended family and dear friends, Judy and Phil Bohnsack, who actually live in the nearby town of Laton. (Judy and Phil are the parents of Mark's son-in-law, James Hoffman.)

We arrived there on Saturday, the 18th, and parked for three days at the Kings County Fairgrounds in Hanford. It wasn't bad as campgrounds go. We had full hookups, and the price was reasonable. We weren't there for the amenities anyway.

Sunday morning we met the Bohnsacks at Koinania Church, where they attend. It's been a while since we were in a real live church service and were blessed for the opportunity to worship with other believers. Normally, Mark and I tune in to our Wooddale online service. It's always a good message, but there's no fellowship, something I'm beginning to really miss on this road journey. But let's not dwell on that just now.

After church Phil and Judy treated us to lunch and then they came over to the fairgrounds to see our new house. Our original plan was to drive up to the Sequoias on Monday, but because of an obligation that came up at the last minute with our hosts, we decided instead to make the drive that afternoon.

It's not that far, we reasoned. We should get up there in less than an hour. It was only about thirty miles. So off we went. And we were correct. It took us about an hour to get to the entrance of the park. But we didn't count on how big the park is and how much farther everything was that we wanted to see. I've been there before - many years ago. But I had no memory of the long windy road climbing up and up into the mountains. We drove another forty-five minutes or so and realized we were only halfway to where we wanted to go. Moro Rock was out of the question, but we hoped to at least see the General Sherman Tree. Had we kept going, it would have been dark by the time we got there. Everyone agreed that it would probably be best to turn around and head back down.

No sooner had we turned around and headed down than right in front of us, not thirty feet away, a mamma bear and two cubs crossed the road and headed up into the woods. They were still in sight as we slowly drove past, but by the time anyone could get out their camera and take a picture, they were gone. That was an unexpected treat. Other than a few deer, that was the excitement for the day. We stopped in Visalia and were treated (again) to supper at Marie Calendar's. It was long but very enjoyable day.

Monday we drove to Phil and Judy's home and spent the afternoon with them. Mark helped Phil haul away a pile of branches from a couple of their trees that were trimmed that day to a neighboring orchard were they would be mulched up. And then they harvested walnuts from a friend's orchard and brought home a grocery bag full that they sent home with us.

Thank you again, Phil and July, for your wonderful hospitality and a lovely visit!