East or West? {The time we went to church with Jimmy Carter}

We had planned a quick trip to Vegas to pick up the few things we had left with friends. So that was the plan, Vegas in August, then head up to Maine in October. On our way to Tallahassee, I asked why we were driving to Vegas while it was 115 degrees. There was no good answer, so we swapped trips and now we're headed to Maine, but not stopping there. We'll also visit three or four Canadian provinces and as many national parks as possible along the way.

Our first stop was at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site of his family farm and school where Nicole is working as a ranger.

We saw the gardens, animals, houses, barns and even the outhouse! 

 One of the resident kitties!

Nicole's parents made us dinner after letting our kids harvest some okra and peppers from their garden. My kids LOVE gardening, which is difficult when you live in an RV, so this was super special for them. Later we had a pepper eating party, which was pretty hilarious, but the kids actually ate almost all of the peppers.

The next morning, after breakfast with Nicole and her family, we went to Maranatha Baptist Church to attend the Sunday School class taught by President Jimmy Carter himself! At 92 years old, he is just as knowledgeable and humorous as I imagine he ever was. He spoke about being the person that you want to be and not who other people think you are. His inspiring words reach about 500 people a week, only because of the building's capacity. The line begins forming well before sunrise, some arriving by 4am to get a seat in the sanctuary. Once that is full, an overflow room with a video monitor is filled and last another room with only sound. Once that is full, no one else is admitted.

We were fortunate enough to end up sitting in the fourth row of the sanctuary, directly behind secret service while President and Mrs Carter sat in the next row up. After the worship service, President and Mrs Carter sat for photos with anyone who wanted one, and EVERYONE wanted one! They have this down to a science and manage to get everyone thru in about 20 minutes! Impressive.

On our way to the Smokies, I realized we would be passing close to our friends the Fugates, so we stopped for the night and camped next to them. So good to catch up with our friends again. Asher ended up sleeping in a tent with Teague and Irelynn, his first time tent sleeping without us! In the morning we all swam until it was time to hit the road.