Joan had described to us how the Spaniards (who once had held California) built a road for a great part of the length of it, called the The Royal Road (also known as The King's Highway). And for some chunks of our journey we either followed the old route or were close to it (Wikipedia - El Camino Real).

 

We crossed over into the Mojave (pronounced Mohave) Desert north east of Los Angeles and west of San Bernardino. This was what they call the 'high desert'. It leads in the north into a vast valley where a lot of Americas food is grown, an extremely fertile area where some of the Armenian Christians (from the Happiest People on Earth - Demos Shakarian) had settled when God led them to the United States.

 

In its lower reaches there are air force bases and hillsides of electrical power producing windmills.

 

We traveled north over two nights, turning in towards the Sierra mountains at Bakersfield. There we started climbing into the Sequoia National Park.

 

Home of the famous towering Redwoods the Sequoia National Park public roads climb up to just below seven thousand feet in altitude. As we climbed up the steep sides of the river valley that takes you into the main part of the Park, an adolescent bear loolipped out of the hillside above us and made its way across the front of our car to continue down the hill.

 

At REI we had purchased a tent that was on sale and stopped at the park entrance to ask if we would be able to pitch it. We were told that all of the area we were interested in was full up. Nonetheless we believed to persevere, and when we got to the camping ground entrance, the ranger who dealt with us after quite a long look, was very surprised to find that there was one camp spot left unbooked.

 

We believed that we were very blessed of the Lord to have been led to press in and get this campsite. It was at about seven thousand feet, and in a very beautiful spot.

 

Bears were to be kept away from our food (and hopefully us) by placing every conceivably edible substance in a large steel cabinet on the edge of our campsite. And bears had been though the area just days before.

 

In the afterglow of sunset just as we were finished setting up our campsite, Michael motioned to Paul to come around the corner of a large rock and take a picture. He had spotted  a deer that was wandering through the campsites.

 

Our neighbors changed the next day, and a couple Marc and Kelly from near San Diego came in. We soon struck a great conversation together, and later that night Marc and Kelly came over to our campfire and we all shared about our lives, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all still in touch via email.

 

Leaving Sequoia we spent the day going through the Yosemite National Park before starting to head for San Francisco. It is one of those national parks that is perhaps iconic for all national parks everywhere with absolutely breath taking views of mountains, waterfalls (some of the highest in the world), animal life and river valleys.

 

The highlight of the visit was standing at the bottom of one of the waterfalls taking photos and meeting two dear couples from Los Angeles, Christians who were up for a few days camping in the park.

 

We spent hours sharing led by the Holy Spirit. It was an amazing encounter, in an extremely beautiful part of God's creation. And again we are trying to stay in touch via email.

 

Michael was led to share a part of his testimony that it turned out exactly matched what the brother he was talking to was going through. Paul shared with another couple about the Ephesians 4 giftings and callings, touching into areas that the Lord was addressing one particular brother about.

 

Leaving Yosemite we starting aiming for our drop off point for the car at the Oakland Airport in the San Francisco area. There we were to meet up with Phylis Edwinson. And here we need to digress a bit back to the first visit the Lord Jesus had Paul make to the States in 1988.

 

Hollows caused by fire	A huge Sequoia Redwood, just  awesome!	The Congress Trail
Trail To Mora Rock	Sequoia Tree Top View	The General Sherman Tree
The track to the top of Mora Rock	View from Mora Rock's Northern Face	Michael on the way up Mora Rock