CONWAY, AR – 963 miles  — That was the subject line of this email that we sent last week to our homeschool and church email loops:

Dear Friends,

Have I got a deal for you! For absolutely no charge, we will take up to 7 lucky collapsible lawn chairs (you know the kind) on the trip of their lives all the way to California and back! Just think of the stories they’ll tell in your back yard if they survive the trip! Your chairs will sit under the soaring redwoods, marvel at God’s creation in the Grand Canyon, glory in the desert heat and enjoy all the attractions of Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska. All your neighbors will want to meet them!

Seriously, like a bunch of dopes, we just realized our lawn chairs were left in South Carolina! And now we are leaving on a 3 and a half week camping/ministry trip 6000 miles to the Pacific and back.

I looked at Wal-Mart, but they are way higher in price for those collapsible chairs than I remembered and we don’t have the margin with all the other expenses this week.

Does anyone have any extra chairs sitting around they would like to send on an adventure? Please don’t send one you’d be heartbroken to lose – this is a looooong trip with a lot of nights on the road and I’m afraid something might happen to it. We are so thankful for all of you supporting us in prayer and so many other ways. This is your ministry, too.

First seven chairs get a seat in the trailer!

Much love to all of you,

Melanie

It was no surprise to us that the chairs of our dear friends the Steinaker family were just as self-sacrificial and accomodating as they are and begged to be allowed to come down out of the attic and join us. Here is their first letter home:

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hello from the Overland Express Tour!

Our first few nights we spent in the trailer, and we thought, “This is no better than the attic! Worse, it smells like motorcycle in here!” But last night they opened the door and brought us out in a beautiful campground. Here we are enjoying the sunrise over the Arkansas River! This is wonderful!

But they seem to be laughing a lot about this place. Could it be something we did? We’re concerned.

Wishing you were here in Toad Suck, Arkansas —

Love,

The Chairs

Well, Toad Suck Park is an absolutely gorgeous camping spot on the banks of the Arkansas River, right at the Toad Suck Dam and Lock. Why Toad Suck? Tuns out barge captains might have had to wait for some time for the river to rise enough to make it through this area. They’d spend their time drinking at the local tavern much to the disgust of the locals, who said the captains would suck on those bottles ’til they blew up like toads. Toad Suck. Much prettier than it sounds!