First of all I feel that our pilgrimage was full of such grace, provided to us from God, through your intercessions. I have received a significant number of e-mails stating that families were praying for us during this adventure.
I must say, I could feel your prayers.
We set out on this pilgrimage with 2 distinct things in mind:
1. To see if God was calling us to move out of California.
2. To reconnect with our 15 1/2 year old son and repair the damage that California culture had done after he rejoined a "traditional catholic" school after years of homeschooling.
The 30 day pilgrimage was the best vacation /retreat / pilgrimage that we have ever had. And that is stating a lot, since we have had many adventures in Guatemala, Mexico, cross country excursions, etc.
Yet this was the most prayerful, grace filled, pilgrimage and journey ever.
I could feel God's hand in our life each day.
God placed people and events in our path frequently to state and confirm His wishes and direction for our family clearly and unmistakably.
Can you believe that we traveled for 30 days, 8000 miles, in a truck with a mom, a dad, and two teenagers, and the kids never complained once, not even a negative comment...... Is that God grace or what?
Can you believe that while walking down a country road in Minnesota with my son, and discussing my concerns about his year back in Traditional School, giving examples to my son of how the culture separated him from God, and how it produced such negative fruit, my son agreed with me and gave no opposition to returning to homeschooling....... Is that God's grace or what. (To know Sean, how social he is, you would know that this was divine intervention)
And most of all, God clearly showed us just how far the California culture has strayed from holiness and makes it is almost impossible to raise children with catholic values. We have now found a perfect place to raise our children and will be making plans to move this next summer.
As planned, this was much more than a vacation. It was an opportunity to have a prayerful dialogue with God. An opportunity for a family to reunite and heal, to repair the damage that a secular society can instill so quickly, and fill our hearts with such compassion, love, and joy.
You might say that our family didn't seem to be struggling, in many ways we were not, and by many peoples standards we might of been described as a "good family," but yet I knew what was lost over this past year, and I know, only by God's grace, what He is calling us to become; a truly catholic family....... We are now on our way again. Thank you God.
I am sure that we will continue to receive attacks over this next 6 to 12 months as we prepare to move to the Midwest. Please keep us in your prayers that we can be helpful with the promotion of family values and to combating the culture of death.
** Update: November 2009 - After extended prayer and discernment, Liz and I have realized that God does not intend for us to move at this time, we will stay in Redding CA, at least for the next few years. We have a lot of evangelizing to do right here, and given opportunities that we cannot turn our back on. There is a Crisis of Faith and Morality amongst us......
We arrived in Billings at Liz's cousin's (Jim) house
Birthday celebration
The gang 
Out of clean clothes, we stopped to wash them...... We were getting the look from Mom, watch the video below to see why.
Almost to Detroit Michigan......... Do you think Michigan has something to do with cars?
We drove by "8 Mile Road," doesn't mean anything to me, but I am told it is famous and has something to do with 
My other cousin, Kelly just bought a house a year ago down the street. 
The view from the front yard.
I am Hooked!
Almost there.......
We found the church but it was closed. We will return in the morning for Mass at 7:30 am
Taking a break in the square.
With our first negative experience on the trip we decided to call it a night and go to the hotel. We found a great deal at the Iberville Suites.
Doesn't every one's house look like this? NOT!
We traveled in depths as shallow as 10 inches.
Did Sean catch one Too?
It wasn't long and we were served our meal.
Sean had Catfish and Shrimp.
Liz and I split a sampler of: Catfish, Shrimp, Stuffed Crab, Stuffed Crawfish heads, and something else...... I also had a cup of Bisque and a local micro beer.
It was really hot today so we changed our reservation from a tent site to a sleeping (air conditioned) cabin....... Everyone thought it was a good choice..... Me Too!
Here is Mackenzie organizing her Tub..... We did all our laundry at the campground while the kids swam at the pool and made new friends.
Here is our cabin at the Louisiana KOA. It is right on the lake with a beautiful view.
What a great Louisiana evening.... Sean is out fishing in the lake right now.
Our view from the porch.....
Here was our tent site at the KOA campground in Carlsbad New Mexico.
We woke up at 5:00 a.m. and packed up our gear.
It wasn't long and we were back on the road for a 6 1/2 hour drive.
We made better time than planned since the speed limit was 80 mph.
We got our tubes and off we went.
