If you’ve read the “We’re in Idaho” blog, then you’ve gotten bits and pieces of the breadcrumbs and confirmations we will be sharing in this blog. However, there are so many more!  We’ve also already given you three major testimonies that deeply impacted us in 2021; Meet Jami, The Black Granite Retreat, and Connected in Idaho, but we’d like to share with you how the Lord faithfully orchestrated our steps from place to place. 

We had booked a campsite at General Butler Resort State Park in Kentucky for 8 days.  We figured we would enjoy our time there at the pool, visit the Creation Museum and the Ark, and pray and wait for the Lord to lead us.  About midweek, Tim and I are talking about our next options. We discuss heading back east to North Carolina to fellowship with a group of believers or heading west toward Idaho (find out why Idaho was even an option HERE).  Tim says, “Well if you want to head to Idaho, we need to do it now or we will have to wait till spring as our weather window is closing.” I responded with, “I don’t want to wait till next year to see if God has something for us in Idaho!” So, he agreed and we started mapping out a potential route and things we’d want to see along the way.

We figured we’d go through Illinois first.  The very next day, Tim jumps on Facebook, which he doesn’t do often, and sees a post from the mom of an old childhood friend. She states, “Getting a new road!!! No more white dust!!!!” He jokingly comments, “Does that mean we could get our rig in there now?” After a bit of back and forth and a phone conversation, she welcomes us to the farm. We get to spend a few days reconnecting with the family and testifying. 

After that, we had planned to go through Iowa. My parent’s (Kim’s) were headed back east from their trip in their fifth wheel, they had traveled through Iowa so my mom could get a state sticker for her map. They already booked a nice city park in Winterset to visit all of the covered bridges from the movie “Bridges of Madison County”, plus my dad is a western fan and was excited to visit the John Wayne museum that is also in Winterset. Knowing this, I jumped online to see if they had availability for a few nights to camp where they reserved.  There was one site available! What are the odds of that? We saw them in Georgia when we first left Florida not knowing when we’d see them again and here we meet in Iowa!!! A true blessing for us and  for the girls to see their Mimi and Papa.

Only God can order that!

Next stop… South Dakota…

Check out the divine appointment we had in Mitchell, South Dakota where We Were an Answer to A Prayer…

another bread crumb, and really more like a whole loaf of bread…

Plans were made to visit the Badlands National Park near Wall, SD.  We found a place to park on the rim of the Badlands. We explored the area for 4 days, what a site to see! 

We continued our journey west to Custer, South Dakota and dispersed camped in the Black Hills National Forest for 2 weeks, shot our introduction video and “happened upon” the Black Granite Retreat; fun-filled, Christ-centered fellowship.  You can read all about how we were led to attend BGR 2021 in our previous post.

Leaving Custer, SD, we booked two nights near Ten Sleep in the Bighorn National Forest… I got an up close and personal view of a moose! Was super bummed I didn’t have my camera on me 🙁

We made our way to the Grand Tetons and couldn’t find a suitable spot, so we settled for a spot tucked back in the Bridger-Teton National Forest; Spread Creek Dispersed Campsites.  We were there for two nights and just felt like something was off. We couldn’t explain it, but both of us felt the urge to move on.  We were super disappointed because we really had our hopes set on exploring the Tetons.  We believe it was the Holy Spirit who led us out of that area because we later found out about the horrific event that occurred there just before we arrived and the investigation that took place just after we left. 

We pulled out of Spread Creek, drove through Yellowstone, stopped at Old Faithful just as it was going off, and crossed the Idaho state line.

YES, of course we stopped so I could get a picture with the “Welcome to Idaho” sign.

We dispersed camped at Targhee Creek Trailhead in Island Park, Idaho.  It was a beautiful spot, tucked down along a creek side.  This spot was close enough to the west entrance of Yellowstone so we could explore a few days. A few days was all we had because freezing temperatures and winter weather was forecasted.

Up and out of Island Park and heading southeast, we found a boondocking spot in Big Eddy-Rainey Campground near Driggs, Idaho where we could stay along the Teton River for up to 10 days.  The first morning there, we wake up to the most beautiful view of the back side of the snow-capped Tetons. It quickly warmed up and we were able to shoot our backstory video. During this time, since we had officially crossed into Idaho, we were praying and pressing in, asking the Lord what He had for us in Idaho.  While in Driggs, we met a gentleman who was camping out of his car.  The last day we were able to share hope with him and pray for him.  

Going on almost 2 weeks, we moved to another place in Idaho, this time off Kelly Canyon Road in Ririe. It’s the end of September, Evy was getting ready to turn 10, and we wanted to celebrate with her. The 7N Bike Park was just around the corner, so we enjoyed a day of play! We also had major truck issues while in Kelly Canyon.  You can read all about it in the Truck Saga blog…

God showed up and I do believe He pulled our camper up and out of that canyon! 

So, the latest stops were planned locations, but we saw God in each stop…some leading us to pray and press in a little harder and others just kept us in awe of our amazing Father!

After we left Kelly Canyon, we booked 5 nights at Snake River RV Park in Idaho Falls.  Here’s another appointment ordered by God! You see when we were in South Dakota at the retreat, we met this amazing family, the Gates, who were also in their camper full time from Florida. Through conversation we shared we were headed to Idaho and they too, were planning on coming through Idaho after they visited Glacier National Park.  We joked that if we wound up in Idaho at the same time, we could connect…

Well it wasn’t a joke in God’s appointment book!

We were both in the same area at the same time!!! WOW!!! They had this campground booked well in advance and we jumped on the opportunity to have several days of fellowship with them and booked in the same campground.  

Before we could meet up with the Gates in Idaho Falls, we decided to spend ONE night in Blackfoot, Idaho at the Idaho Potato Museum.  Read our “Connected in … Idaho” blog to find out the amazing connection God orchestrated for us while in this little town of Blackfoot… thus being the main reason we believe we were led in that direction to begin with! 

We visited with the Gates, got our truck worked on, and got ready to head back to Blackfoot to meet the Kiels… We remained there for 7.5 weeks!

Continuing on with the bread crumbs…

Tim starts feeling the nudge to head out of Idaho.  We pray into that nudge and make a potential plan to spend the holidays in Texas with friends and plan out a possible route. The next day or so I am on Facebook and see a friend post about solar on their homestead.  The background looks desert-like so I ask Tim if he recognizes it… he says, “That looks like Arizona!”  I immediately go to my friend’s FB page and see if she’s listed her “hometown”.  It says Vernon, Arizona. I look back at the route we had mapped out and, don’t you know it, we would be going right through their little town.  I quickly messaged her telling her what we had been doing and where we were headed.  Long story short, (you can catch the long story in an upcoming post about Arizona) we were welcomed on their property, and even though we planned on staying for only a few days, needs were there so we canceled our plans and route and stayed for 2 weeks.  

We left Arizona and headed southeast toward Bulverde, Texas where our good friends were leading discipleship groups and ministering in the city there.  We enjoyed fellowship for two weeks with them and then headed further east to Centerville, Texas. 

Our plan for heading to Centerville was due to proximity more than anything.  We met this amazing couple, again, at the Black Granite Retreat in South Dakota.  They told us that if we were ever in Texas, WE BETTER stop by.  So we did 😉  Again, we only planned on being with them for a few days,

but ended up staying for two weeks! (you can check out the long story in an upcoming post about Centerville) God showed up!

All along the way from Kentucky to Idaho, it was like God was saying, “just keep coming”.  He continued to encourage us and connect us to believers along the way. When we arrived in Idaho and after 3 solid weeks of praying and seeking answers to why we were there, we finally got the assignment and it blew our minds. 

By this time I am well wrecked by His goodness, faithfulness, provision, guidance, and the many divine appointments He set up for us as we walked by faith.

However, He didn’t stop in Idaho! He continued to nudge us, show us the way, and blew our minds even more.  

So, what happened after Centerville you ask?

Well you will have to come back and check out our next post to find out where we went…